A Kiev art museum contains a curious icon from St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai in Israel. It shows two robed Christian saints. Between them is a traditional Roman ‘pronubus’ (a best man), overseeing a wedding. The pronubus is Christ. The married couple are both men.
Is the icon suggesting that a gay "wedding" is being sanctified by Christ himself? The idea seems shocking. But the full answer comes from other early Christian sources about the two men featured in the icon, St. Sergius and St. Bacchus, two Roman soldiers who were Christian martyrs. These two officers in the Roman army incurred the anger of Emperor Maximian when they were exposed as ‘secret Christians’ by refusing to enter a pagan temple. Both were sent to Syria circa 303 CE where Bacchus is thought to have died while being flogged. Sergius survived torture but was later beheaded. Legend says that Bacchus appeared to the dying Sergius as an angel, telling him to be brave because they would soon be reunited in heaven.
While the pairing of saints, particularly in the early Christian church, was not unusual, the association of these two men was regarded as particularly intimate. Severus, the Patriarch of Antioch (AD 512 - 518) explained that, "we should not separate in speech they [Sergius and Bacchus] who were joined in life". This is not a case of simple "adelphopoiia." In the definitive 10th century account of their lives, St. Sergius is openly celebrated as the "sweet companion and lover" of St. Bacchus. Sergius and Bacchus's close relationship has led many modern scholars to believe they were lovers. But the most compelling evidence for this view is that the oldest text of their martyrology, written in New Testament Greek describes them as "erastai,” or "lovers". In other words, they were a male homosexual couple. Their orientation and relationship was not only acknowledged, but it was fully accepted and celebrated by the early Christian church, which was far more tolerant than it is today.
Contrary to myth, Christianity's concept of marriage has not been set in stone since the days of Christ, but has constantly evolved as a concept and ritual.
Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University’s history department, discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient Christian church liturgical documents, there were also ceremonies called the "Office of Same-Sex Union" (10th and 11th century), and the "Order for Uniting Two Men" (11th and 12th century).
These church rites had all the symbols of a heterosexual marriage: the whole community gathered in a church, a blessing of the couple before the altar was conducted with their right hands joined, holy vows were exchanged, a priest officiatied in the taking of the Eucharist and a wedding feast for the guests was celebrated afterwards. These elements all appear in contemporary illustrations of the holy union of the Byzantine Warrior-Emperor, Basil the First (867-886 CE) and his companion John.
Some say this must be a case of mistranslation or... uh... that they were just really close, but chaste, not, you know, actually lovers. link, link
2 comments:
The way I read the article is that two saints who lived approximately 300 years after Christ died may have been married. Not sure whether this amounts to modern Christianity's condemnation of homosexuality as being "built upon a foundation of imaginary bricks," but same-sex marriage was sanctioned by some early Christian churches (just as they are today).
At the beginning of current era until after Constantine (300 AD+), Rome was actually open to all sorts of different sects and religions, even Christianity. Various forms of "Paganism," especially among rural people, was common as were the "mystery cults," such as Isis worship and solar-Mithra worship among Roman soldiers (and Constantine himself also worshiped the sun as well as being Christianized). Christianity was merely considered by some as another mystery cult. (What got early Christians into trouble on occasion, and not all the time, is their unique refusal to acknowledge other divinities and deities.) Roman empire was a hodge-podge of ideas, cultures and religions intermixing and blending. That also includes Christianity, which became over time more Roman and less Jewish, especially after it was recognized as a valid form of worship by the elite Roman nobility beginning with Constantine. It wasn't until much later that it began to distinguish itself more as we know it today.
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