Thus wrote St. John Chrysostom to the young widow of Tarasius, a deceased nobleman of Constantinople, counseling her not to enter into marriage for the second time. The Church blesses first marriages with joy, but second marriages with sorrow. Eupraxia the elder, the mother of St. Eupraxia, and a relative of Emperor Theodosius the Great, was left a young widow following the death of her husband Antigonus--with whom she had lived as husband and wife for only two years and three months, then one more year as brother and sister by mutual vow. The emperor and empress counseled her to enter into marriage with another nobleman. She would not hear of it, but took her child Eupraxia and fled to Egypt. What then shall we say about St. Olympias and St. Eupraxia the younger? Like St. Macrina, not only were they betrothed as maidens, but when their betrothed died, they considered themselves widows, and would not even permit the thought of entering into marriage. What purity of heart! What fidelity to their betrothed! What fear of God! What clear faith in the future life, in which a betrothed maiden hopes to see her betrothed!
- From the Prologue Of Ohrid
