Sexuelles Begehren, Geschlecht und monastische Disziplin in den Viten der Euphrosyne/des Smaragdus (BHG 625, BHL 2722, BHL 2723)

Abstract

According to the Greek vita of St Euphrosyne/Smaragdus of Alexandria (BHG 625), the saint entered a male monastery under the identity of Smaragdus, a eunuch from the imperial palace, but had to be locked away from the rest of the monks because they were too attracted to Smaragdus’ eunuch masculinity. This paper argues that both the saint’s gender transition and the moment of same-gender desire are presented rather mat­ter-of-factly, while the transition to monastic authority is the actual focus of the vita. For the first Latin translator, however, the saint’s gender identity seems to have been an issue. In order to disassociate the protagonist from a masculine identity, the translator incorporated frequent reminders that Smaragdus was ‘really’ a woman, and had other characters repeatedly state their belief that he was a eunuch—i.e. only masculine in a qualified sense. The monks’ sexual attraction to eunuch masculinity—an aspect which becomes much more prominent in this version—does not seem to have been a problem for the translator. However, this first translation (BHL 2722) was soon supplanted by a second one (BHL 2723), which hewed much closer to its Greek source text, being less concerned with disambiguating the protagonist’s gender and increasing the focus on the transition to monastic authority. This speaks to the multiplicity of ways in which eunuchs and trans masculine monk-saints—both mostly associated with the Greek East—could be incorporated into Western, Latin monastic ideologies.