Saint Hypomone | |
---|---|
![]() Icon of Helena Dragaš as Saint Hypomone
|
|
Born | Helena Dragaš c. 1372 |
Died |
Constantinople |
23 March 1450
Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church |
Major shrine | Monastery of Saint Patapios, Loutraki |
Feast | 29 May |
Helena Dragaš | |
---|---|
A miniature from the Louvre MS. Ivoires 100 manuscript, depicting the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, empress Helena and three of their sons - the co-emperor John VIII and the Despots Theodore and Andronikos.
|
|
Spouse | Manuel II Palaiologos |
House | Dejanović |
Father | Konstantin Dejanović |
Mother | Konstantin's second wife |
Helena Dragaš (Serbian: Јелена Драгаш, Jelena Dragaš, Greek: Ἑλένη Δραγάση, Elenē Dragasē; c. 1372 – 23 March 1450) was the empress consort of Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and mother of the last two emperors, John VIII Palaiologos and Constantine XI Palaiologos. Later in life she became a nun. She is venerated as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church under her monastic name, as Saint (Ὑπομονὴ), translated in English as Saint Patience.
Helena was the daughter of Serbian magnate Konstantin Dejanović, a provincial lord during the fall of the Serbian Empire that held Kyustendil. Her mother was Konstantin's unnamed first wife (not his second wife, Helena's stepmother Eudokia of Trebizond) and Konstantin was the grandson of Serbian king Stefan III Dečanski. Her stepmother was a daughter of Alexios III of Trebizond and Theodora Kantakouzene, and the widow of Tadjeddin Pasha of Sinop, Emir of Limnia. Her father fell at the battle of Rovine (1395), while fighting for his overlord, Ottoman sultan Bayezid I against the rebel Mircea I of Wallachia.