Vita Matronae

Vita Matronae, pp. 790-93. As early as the time of Ignatios of Antioch, virgins were enrolled in the list of widows. See Ignatios of Antioch, Ad Smyrnaeos, 13.1. 

The Vita Sanctae Matronae did not indicate whether Matrona asked Susanna to assume custody of her child because Susanna was inscribed in the order of widows or if she asked her because of a spiritual friendship between the two women. It is interesting, nevertheless, that a woman described as belonging to the order of widows accepted a young girl abandoned by her mother. In this context one should recall also that as late as the twelfth century, women described as graptai (widows) exercised a supervisory role over the orphan acolytes at the Church of the Pantokrator in Constantinople. ... 

The Vita Sanctae Matronae and the later evidence from the Pantokrator Typikon thus suggest the continued existence of widows who had a special calling to work with orphans. Since the Vita Sanctae Matronae described Susanna as having embraced virginity early in life and... 

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