A Humble Woman

ὧν ἦν Νικαρέτη ἡ Βιθυνὴ, τῶν παρὰ Νικομηδεῦσιν εὐπατριδῶν ἐπισήμου γένους, ἐπὶ ἀϊδίῳ παρθενίᾳ καὶ ἀρετῇ βίου εὐδοκιμοῦσα. Ἀτυφοτάτην δὲ ὧν ἴσμεν σπουδαίων γυναικῶν ταύτην ἔγνων, ἤθει τε καὶ λόγῳ καὶ διαίτῃ τεταγμένην, καὶ τὰ θεῖα μέχρι θανάτου τῶν βιωτικῶν προτιμῶσαν: ἀνδρείᾳ τε καὶ φρονήσει πρὸς περιπετείας δυσχερῶν πραγμάτων ἀντισχεῖν ἱκανήν: ὡς μήτε πολλῆς πατρῴας περιουσιας ἀδίκως ἀφαιρεθεῖσαν ἀγανακτεῖν, ἐν ὀλίγοις τε περιλειφθεῖσιν, ὑπὸ ἀρίστης οἰκονομίας, καίπερ εἰς γῆρας προελθοῦσαν, τὰ ἐπιτήδεια σὺν τοῖς οἰκείοις ἔχειν, καὶ ἄλλοις ἀφθόνως χορηγεῖν.Ὑπὸ φιλανθρώπου δὲ προθυμίας φιλόκαλος οὖσα, καὶ παντοδαπὰ παρεσκεύαζε φάρμακα εἰς πτωχῶν νοσούντων χρείαν: οἷς δὴ πολλοῖς τῶν γνωρίμων πολλάκις ἐπήρκεσε μηδὲν ἀποναμένοις τῶν συνήθων ἰατρῶν. Σὺν θείᾳ γάρ τινι ῥοπῇ, ἅπερ ἐπεχείρει εἰς χρηστὸν ἀπέβαινε τέλος: καὶ συλλήβδην εἰπεῖν, τῶν καθ̓ ἡμᾶς σπουδαίων γυναικῶν ἑτέραν οὐκ ἔγνων, εἰς τοσοῦτον ἤθους τε καὶ σεμνότητος καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ἀρετῆς ἐπιδοῦσαν. Ἀλλ̓ ἡ μὲν, καίπερ τοιάδε οὖσα, τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐλάνθανεν: ὑπὸ μετριότητος γὰρ τρόπων, καὶ φιλοσοφίας, ἀεὶ λανθάνειν ἐπετήδευεν: ὡς μήτε εἰς ἀξίωμα διακόνου σπουδάσαι προελθεῖν, μήτε προτρεπομένου πολλάκις Ἰωάννου ἑλέσθαι ποτὲ παρθένων ἐκκλησιαστικῶν ἡγεῖσθαι. Ἑρμείος Σωζομενός, Ἐκκλησιαστίκη Ἱστορία, Τομ Η' Κεφ ΚΓ' Source: Migne PG 67.1576a-c

Nikarete of Bithynia, of a noted family of the nobility near Nicomedia, was celebrated on account of her perpetual virginity and the virtue of her life. She was the most modest of all the zealous women that we have ever known, and was well ordered in speech and in behavior, and until death she preferred the service of God to all worldly considerations. With courage and prudence she was able to bear the sudden reversals of adverse affairs; thus when she was unjustly stripped of much of her abundant patrimony she did not display any indignation, but with finest economy, although advanced in age, she supplied the needs of her household, and without complaint ministered to others. As a woman who loved a charitable spirit, she prepared a variety of remedies for the needs of the poor who were sick, by which she frequently succeeded in curing patients who had received no benefit from the knowledge of the customary physicians. Then with a devout strength which assisted her in reaching the best results, she departed. And, to speak briefly, we have never known a devoted woman endowed with such manners, dignity, and every other virtue. But although she was so, she concealed much, for by the modesty of her ways and love of wisdom she always desired to be unnoticed, so that, thinking herself unworthy, she did not seek the office of deaconess, nor of instructress of the virgins consecrated to the service of the Church, although it was frequently urged by John Chrysostom. Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, Book 8, Chapter 23