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Theodora: Women
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Theodora betrayed her husband, but soon came to her senses and realizing the seriousness of her fall, she became furious with herself, slapping herself on the face and tearing at her hair. Her conscience gave her no peace, and she went to a renowned abbess and confessed her transgression. Seeing the young woman’s repentance, the abbess spoke to her of God's forgiveness and reminded her of the sinful woman in the Gospel who washed the feet of Christ with her tears and received from Him forgiveness. In hope of the mercy of God, Theodora said: "I believe my God, and from now on, I shall not commit such a sin, and I will strive to atone for my deeds." St. Theodora resolved to go off to a monastery to purify herself by labor and by prayer. She left her home secretly, and dressing herself in men's clothes, she went to a men's monastery, since she feared that her husband would find her in a community of women.
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Theodora rightly foresaw that the future of the Empire lay in the Middle East, while Justinian spent much of his reign in a futile attempt to reconquer the old Roman Empire in the West. In the area of women's rights, she achieved legislation which prohibited forced prostitution as well as alterations in the divorce laws which made them more favorable to women. Justinian allowed Theodora to share his throne, not simply because he adored her, but because he recognized in her the qualities of a true sovereign. Until her death, writes Diehl: "He never refused her anything, either the outward show or the real exercise of supreme power."
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During her time as empress, Theodora fought for the persecuted. She attended to the rights of prostitutes in particular by closing brothels, creating protective safe houses, and passing laws to prohibit forced prostitution. In addition, she passed laws that expanded the rights of women in divorce cases and abolished a law that had allowed women to be killed for committing adultery. Finally, she strove to protect the persecuted Monophysites, building houses of worship that served as refuges.
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Little is know about the early life of Theodora, who rose to become one of the most famous women in Western civilization. She was born of humble origins at the beginning of the sixth century - probably in the year 500 - and died on June 28, 548. Much of what is known comes from the writings of the sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea (d. 565), especially his seven-volume Anecdota (commonly called Secret History). Although an important primary source for the life of Theodora and the era in which she lived, Procopius's Secret History must be viewed as written on the level of a modern tabloid, at least with respect to its factual accuracy. However biased, especially in the case of Theodora, it is felt that Procopius correctly portrayed the decadent lifestyle of Constantinople during the first half of the sixth century.
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Theodora remained a monophysite Christian, and her husband remained an orthodox Christian. Some commentators -- including Procopius -- allege that their differences were more a pretense than a reality, presumably to keep the church from having too much power. She was known as a protector of members of the Monophysite faction when they were accused of heresy. She supported the moderate Monophysite Severus and, when he was excommunicated and exiled -- with Justinian's approval -- Theodorus helped him to settle in Egypt. Another excommunicated Monophysite, Anthimus, was still hiding in the women's quarters when Theodora died, twelve years after the excommunication order. She sometimes explicitly worked against her husband's support of Chalcedonian Christianity in the ongoing struggle for the predominance of each faction, especially at the edges of the empire.
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