THE HOLY EMPRESS PULCHERIA IN LIGHT OF RECENT RESEARCH

Abstract

As an image of virginity and a model of Augusta, Empress Pulcheria of Byzantium played a remarkable role in the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5 th centuries, being a witness to the rejection of Nestorianism at the Third Ecumenical Council (Ephesus, 431), and equally of Eutichianism (Monophysitism) at the Fourth Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon, 451) where she also participated. According to modern research, her feminine profile is complex, although the Church has kept a pious memory of her, dedicating two days of homage in the Synaxarion to her, on February 17, along with her husband, Emperor Marcian, and on September 10.