"When Brothers Dwell in Unity": Byzantine Christianity and

"When Brothers Dwell in Unity": Byzantine Christianity and Homosexuality

Bankers? They were to be forbidden communion, socially shunned, denied church funerals, and not commemorated during prayers for the dead. Men and womenÂ who committed fornication or adultery? They were forbidden communion for years. Men and women who remarried after divorce or widowhood? They were to be forbidden communion for years and then only allowed communion on a few holy days and even then only after weeks of sexual abstinence. Men who had sex with other men? They were to be denied communion for either 7 orÂ 80 days.

Penances traditionally attached to heterosexual sins--including remarriage after divorce or widowhood--have always been much more severe than those for a variety of homosexual acts or relationships. Just as Byzantine churches have found ways to accommodate sequential marriages and other behavior once stridently condemned, this book argues, it is possible for Byzantine Christianity to make pastoral accommodations for gay relationships and same-sex marriage.

What most disturbed monastic leaders was adolescent males being accepted as novices; adult men were considered unable to control their sexual desires for these "beautiful boys." John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople (397-407), virulently denounced homosexuality, but was virtually the only Byzantine cleric to do so and may have only done so because of unresolved guilt following probable sexual abuse as a student.
Country USA
Brand McFarland
Manufacturer McFarland & Company
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber part_0786495170
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780786495177
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	McFarland
Manufacturer	McFarland & Company
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	part_0786495170
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780786495177
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

"When Brothers Dwell in Unity": Byzantine Christianity and Homosexuality

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