The Surprising True Story of the Gay Saints and their Holy Homosexual Marriages
Friday 20th June 2008
The Christian Church and homosexuality have a long and rather troubled relationship.
A 7th century icon of Sergius and Bacchus. The icon resembles a traditional wedding scene with Christ as the "best man" blessing the union.
Homosexuality would buy the Church flowers, the Church would have homosexuals tortured and executed; it’s your classic “love/hate” relationship.
More recently the Catholic and Anglican Churches have been embroiled in controversy over homosexuality. Both churches have been quite clear on their position on gay sex (not a fan), but liberal churchgoers and theologians are starting to challenge the traditional views. In the Anglican Church they even made openly gay Gene Robinson a bishop, a move that has now caused a schism within the church over the role of homosexual clergy.
With all the hoopla you’d think that this was the first time a gay person had every been associated with the Church. These saints, however, tell a different story.
S.S. Symeon of Emesa and John
Saints Symeon of Emesa, also known as the Holy Fool, and John were sixth century Christians, originally from Syria. The two men met while undertaking a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and soon after were inseperable.
Both men abandoned their families, and John his wife, to go off with each other and devote their lives to God. They joined a monastery together, where the abbot initiated them and blessed them together in what is believed to be an adelphopoiia ceremony. The adelphopoiia ceremony was, in essence, a same-sex union, although some historians argue it was completely separate from any romantic love.
The two men later left the monastery and spent the next 29 years living together as hermits. Conservative historians argue that they spent those three decades alone together without any physical or romantic relationship, but their life stories are awash with references to marital and sexual imagery. It seems they were a holy same-sex couple.
S.S. Sergius and Bacchus
The saints Sergius and Bacchus were Roman soldiers under the emperor Maximillian. They were also lovers. The couple, deeply pious Christians, were part of a Roman force in modern day Cappadocia when they were ordered to enter the Temple of Jupiter and perform sacrifices to the God. They refused, and in return for their faith they were stripped, dressed in women’s clothes (possibly as a form of gay bashing), then tortured and finally martyred for their faith. Bacchus, who died first, was said to appear to Sergius before his death promising they would be together again in the afterlife. The two then became some of the most venerated saints in the eastern Mediterranean.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Sergius and Bacchus is that they were allegedly married. An ancient icon of the two saints from Mt. Sinai (see above) shows the two as a married couple, with Christ overseeing as the best man. The icon suggests that the Church was not only aware of the two’s relationship, it actually condoned it. Perhaps attitudes on gay marriage were more permissive just a few centuries after the death of Christ.
The Transvestite Saints
Joan of Arc, in male armor, prays before battle.
The rolls of the saints have a surprising number of women who not only dressed as men but actually lived as men, many becoming abbots or monks and only being discovered as women when they died. One of the greatest compliments paid to holy women in ancient Christendom was to suggest that they had a “male soul” in a female body, something also used as a euphemism for lesbians at the time. It’s unlikely that all of the transvestite saints were gay, or all straight, but it’s highly likely that at least a few were gay and that some of them would likely identify as transgender today. Some of the most well-known examples of the transvestite saints are St. Hildegonde of Neuss, who lived as Brother Joseph in a Cisterian Abbey in the 12th century, and St. Joan of Arc, who dressed in a typically male style when leading the French “holy army”.
These are hardly the only saints in the Christian tradition that are suspected of being homosexuals. Nearly 50 Catholic and Orthodox saints have been at least suspected of being gay. More and more research is suggesting that the ancient Church was more accepting of homosexuals and same-sex unions than today’s Church. Perhaps this is an ancient Christian tradition that could be readopted.
by Robert Knox
Sources and further reading can be found here, here, here, here, and here.
Vote for this article on social media sites:
A 7th century icon of Sergius and Bacchus. The icon resembles a traditional wedding scene with Christ as the "best man" blessing the union.
Homosexuality would buy the Church flowers, the Church would have homosexuals tortured and executed; it’s your classic “love/hate” relationship.
More recently the Catholic and Anglican Churches have been embroiled in controversy over homosexuality. Both churches have been quite clear on their position on gay sex (not a fan), but liberal churchgoers and theologians are starting to challenge the traditional views. In the Anglican Church they even made openly gay Gene Robinson a bishop, a move that has now caused a schism within the church over the role of homosexual clergy.
With all the hoopla you’d think that this was the first time a gay person had every been associated with the Church. These saints, however, tell a different story.
S.S. Symeon of Emesa and John
Saints Symeon of Emesa, also known as the Holy Fool, and John were sixth century Christians, originally from Syria. The two men met while undertaking a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and soon after were inseperable.
Both men abandoned their families, and John his wife, to go off with each other and devote their lives to God. They joined a monastery together, where the abbot initiated them and blessed them together in what is believed to be an adelphopoiia ceremony. The adelphopoiia ceremony was, in essence, a same-sex union, although some historians argue it was completely separate from any romantic love.
The two men later left the monastery and spent the next 29 years living together as hermits. Conservative historians argue that they spent those three decades alone together without any physical or romantic relationship, but their life stories are awash with references to marital and sexual imagery. It seems they were a holy same-sex couple.
S.S. Sergius and Bacchus
The saints Sergius and Bacchus were Roman soldiers under the emperor Maximillian. They were also lovers. The couple, deeply pious Christians, were part of a Roman force in modern day Cappadocia when they were ordered to enter the Temple of Jupiter and perform sacrifices to the God. They refused, and in return for their faith they were stripped, dressed in women’s clothes (possibly as a form of gay bashing), then tortured and finally martyred for their faith. Bacchus, who died first, was said to appear to Sergius before his death promising they would be together again in the afterlife. The two then became some of the most venerated saints in the eastern Mediterranean.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Sergius and Bacchus is that they were allegedly married. An ancient icon of the two saints from Mt. Sinai (see above) shows the two as a married couple, with Christ overseeing as the best man. The icon suggests that the Church was not only aware of the two’s relationship, it actually condoned it. Perhaps attitudes on gay marriage were more permissive just a few centuries after the death of Christ.
The Transvestite Saints
Joan of Arc, in male armor, prays before battle.
The rolls of the saints have a surprising number of women who not only dressed as men but actually lived as men, many becoming abbots or monks and only being discovered as women when they died. One of the greatest compliments paid to holy women in ancient Christendom was to suggest that they had a “male soul” in a female body, something also used as a euphemism for lesbians at the time. It’s unlikely that all of the transvestite saints were gay, or all straight, but it’s highly likely that at least a few were gay and that some of them would likely identify as transgender today. Some of the most well-known examples of the transvestite saints are St. Hildegonde of Neuss, who lived as Brother Joseph in a Cisterian Abbey in the 12th century, and St. Joan of Arc, who dressed in a typically male style when leading the French “holy army”.
These are hardly the only saints in the Christian tradition that are suspected of being homosexuals. Nearly 50 Catholic and Orthodox saints have been at least suspected of being gay. More and more research is suggesting that the ancient Church was more accepting of homosexuals and same-sex unions than today’s Church. Perhaps this is an ancient Christian tradition that could be readopted.
by Robert Knox
Sources and further reading can be found here, here, here, here, and here.
Vote for this article on social media sites:
