Eustolia and Sopatra

The Venerable Eustolia and Sopatra (Sosipatra) were two saints of Constantinople, in the time of the emperor Maurice, who reigned from 582 to 602. Eustolia fell asleep in 610, and Sopatra in 625. The Church commemorates them on 9 November.

Eustolia came from Rome. Her parents, very wealthy people, were Christians. After their death she inherited much property, which she used for charity. After serving in Rome the maidens who needed help because they had committed certain faults, Eustolia went to Constantinople. There she became known for her good works and her spiritual learning, so many people visited her. Among them was Sopatra, the daughter of the emperor Maurice. She preferred a secluded life to the riches of the palaces and so remained beside Saint Eustolia. At the request of his daughter, Maurice gave them a house, in which they made a convent, where pious maidens came, wishing to dedicate their lives to God. Saint Eustolia departed in peace to the Lord, appointing Sopatra as her successor, who governed the convent until her death.

A short life of the saints Eustolia and Sopatra, composed on the basis of an anonymous Greek Life, partly preserved in a manuscript of the tenth century (Vat. gr. 807), is found in the Greek synaxaria and menologia. The fragment was published in 1931 by Delehaye, who noted in his preface that the text is of little interest from the hagiographic point of view, since it contains many long speeches and lacks precise information.