Empress Eudokia: A Byzantine Ruler in Jerusalem
Born in Athens in 400 A.D., Eudokia converted to Christianity and in her early years was a lady-in-waiting to Pulcheria, the sister of Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II. Pulcheria is known for her piety, and in some sources is said to have been instrumental in Eudokia’s marriage to her brother. But later sources suggest a conflict between Pulcheria and Eudokia, which would later send Eudokia into exile in Jerusalem.
During the reign of Theodosius II, there were many monasteries in Jerusalem, in particular on the Mount of Olives and in the Tower of David.
Upon her first visit to Jerusalem at the age of 38, Eudokia attempted to give the Jewish people in Palestine the freedom to hold processions on the Temple Mount on festive occasions. But a massacre of Jews on the Temple Mount on the holiday of Sukkot (otherwise known as the Feast of the Tabernacles) brought this idea to an abrupt end.
In later years, Eudokia was sent in exile in Jerusalem, possibly due to tensions with the royal family and especially Pulcheria. She became the appointed ruler of the Holy Land and built many churches and other sites in Jerusalem, at the Pool of Siloam, Mount Sion and Tyropoeon Valley. Eudokia also built herself a palace near the Temple Mount, and may have also built a new city wall around Jerusalem.
Though she began as a Monophysite—a branch of Christianity that believed that Jesus was pure pinity even from birth, rather than a human with pine endowments—Eudokia later joined the ranks of Orthodox Christians. In her day, the conflict between Orthodox Christianity and Monophysite Christians was a volatile and immediate issue that affected the highest echelons of the Christian hierarchy.
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