Theodora, Empress of the East

THEODORA, Empress of the East. - The most famous among the various empresses of this name, wife of Justinian, d. in 548, not yet fifty years old.

Of modest origin, her early youth must have been anything but blameless, even if it did not reach the wickedness that Procopius claims. In 522, however, when she met Justinian, although she was little more than twenty and very beautiful, she was already living in retirement, devoted to works of piety and passionately interested in the religious questions that were then stirring consciences. Married in 525 and crowned in 527, she knew how to hold her position with dignity, and especially after her virile energy rekindled the resistance to the great insurrection of 532, she exercised a notable influence over her husband's mind, but not as strong as some believe, since she opposed his politico-religious program centered on consolidating the unity of the Church within the unity of the Empire. Justinian, although he associated his wife's name with his own in rescripts and imperial laws, knew how to resist her pressures in favor of the Monophysites, of whom T. was a fervent follower and whose doctrines she would have wished to ensure the triumph of, using her own authority to promote their supporters to the highest ecclesiastical dignities. T. is chiefly responsible for the deposition of Pope Silverius (v.) and his replacement by Vigilius, who, having then not proved sufficiently yielding toward the Monophysites, was in turn arrested (545) and exiled by the will of the Empress.

Gina Fasoli