Venerable Matrona of Constantinople

Life

Matrona was from Perge in Pamphylia. Her marriage to a certain nobleman of Constantinople named Dometian quickly became unbearable to her, so she fled, disguised herself in men's clothing, and under the name Babylas entered the monastery of Saint Bassian in Constantinople. But since her husband ceaselessly searched for her, she was compelled to change many locations, such as Emesa, Sidon, Jerusalem, Beirut, and finally came again to Constantinople. She became a nun at the age of twenty-five and struggled ascetically for seventy-five years. She lived a full one hundred years, and as abbess of a monastery in Constantinople peacefully ended her life and departed to the joy of her Lord in the year 492.