Zoe

/zoh"ee, zoh/, n.

a female given name: from a Greek word meaning "life."

Also, Zoë.

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born с 978, Constantinople

died 1050, Constantinople

Byzantine empress.

The daughter of Constantine VIII, she married Romanus III Argyrus in 1028. He died in 1034, perhaps poisoned by her, and she married her lover and chamberlain, who became Michael IV. After his death in 1041, his successor, Michael V, banished Zoe to a convent; she was recalled by public outcry, and Michael was deposed, blinded, and exiled (1042). Zoe and her sister became uneasy corulers, and she married Constantine IX Monomachus to secure her throne.

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▪ Byzantine empress

also spelled  Zoë  

born c. 978, Constantinople [now Istanbul, Turkey]

died 1050, Constantinople

 Byzantine empress, by marriage from 1028 and in her own right from 1042.

      The daughter of the emperor Constantine VIII, Zoe was married to the heir presumptive, Romanus III Argyrus, in 1028 and became empress consort upon his elevation to the throne the same year. She became self-assertive and jealous, exiling her sister Theodora to a monastery; and, neglected by her husband, became enamoured of Michael, her young Paphlagonian chamberlain. In 1034 the emperor became ill, allegedly poisoned by Zoe; and, upon his death on April 11, she at once took control and married Michael, who was proclaimed Emperor Michael IV. Michael IV died in 1041 and was succeeded by Michael V Calaphates.

      When Michael V was deposed by a Byzantine mob, then blinded and exiled to a monastery (April 1042), Zoe and her sister Theodora were proclaimed coempresses on Easter Tuesday, 1042. Quarrels, however, broke out between the sisters; and, in order to secure her position, Zoe married Constantine IX Monomachus, a man of good family, with whom she shared the throne until her death.

▪ Greek Orthodox religious association

also called  Brotherhood of Theologians 

      in Eastern Orthodoxy, a semimonastic Greek association patterned on Western religious orders. Founded in 1907 by Eusebius Matthopoulos, Zoe (Greek: “Life”) brought together groups of more than 100 unmarried and highly disciplined members, bound by the monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; approximately half of the brothers were ordained priests, and the rest were laymen. With the exception of one month spent yearly in a common retreat, they were engaged in various religious activities throughout Greece, including teaching, preaching, administration of schools and youth organizations, and publishing. In the years following World War II, Zoe publications numbered hundreds of thousands of copies a year, but its influence has since diminished, especially after several of its members left the brotherhood and created a competing association (Soter).

      The Zoe movement initiated a remarkable revival of the liturgy and sacramental practice throughout Greece. It was originally frowned upon by the episcopate, which resented its strong independent organization. Its authority and influence were compromised by its close connections with the dictatorship established in Greece in 1967.

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