Widowed at twenty, holding one of the great fortunes of Constantinople, she refused the remarriage the emperor pressed on her and turned her wealth into the budget of the city's poor. Ordained a deaconess, she stood by John Chrysostom into his exile, and was driven out in her turn. The seventeen letters he wrote her from far away were born of her own discouragement.
In their own words
If my King had wished me to live with a husband, he would not have taken away the first.
Her answer to the emperor Theodosius, who wanted her to remarry. Palladius, Dialogue on the Life of John Chrysostom, XVII; taken up by the anonymous Life of Olympias, 3
My past life ought to avert all suspicion from me, for I have devoted my large property to the restoration of the temples of God.
Her answer to the prefect who accused her of setting fire to the church, Constantinople, 404. Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, VIII, 24 (trans. C. D. Hartranft, NPNF, 1890)
Even if you resort to unlawful compulsion, I will not hold communion with those from whom I ought to secede, nor consent to anything that is not lawful to the pious.
To the prefect who offered to drop the case if she abandoned John Chrysostom, Constantinople, 404. Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, VIII, 24 (trans. C. D. Hartranft, NPNF, 1890)