themes she stressed were the love of God and of one's
neighbour, and the importance of practicing Christian
virtues. She fortified the souls of her disciples with divine
Wisdom, and her instruction carried weight because it was
the outcome of an experience: not a lesson was given which
had not been actually lived.
The saintly Syncletiki lived to be eighty years old.
She enjoyed good health almost all her life, unaffected by her
fasts, vigils, or hardships. Towards the end, however, she
became gravely ill, and during her last three and a half years
she could hardly move or do anything for herself. Like Job,
she endured her affliction patiently, and her intimate disciples
tended her with the loving care of devoted daughters.
Three days before her death, she saw in a vision a
host of angels descending from on high and inviting her to
follow in their train. She became transfigured as if enveloped
in a celestial light. Then she breathed her last in radiant
ecstasy.
The biographer and panegyrist of St. Syncletiki is
none other, than Athanasius the Apostolic himself, and this
was an added glory to her who renounced the transient that
she may attain the permanent.^13
D. 191. The example of total consecration, laid down
by Syncletiki, did not die with her. The seed she had sown
bore rich fruit in the years that followed, and many women,
responding to the Grace of God that touched the sensitive
spirits within them, chose to follow the same path. Singly or
in groups, they retreated to far away spots to meditate,
worship Christ and train themselves to follow His example.
Thus they patiently developed their characters.
These consecrated women formed an integral part of
the early Church, for they rendered to It invaluable services.
The life they chose was not one of withdrawal but of