Pelagia

For other uses, see Pelagia (disambiguation).

Pelagia (Ancient Greek: Πελαγία), distinguished as Pelagia of Antioch, Pelagia the Penitent, and Pelagia the Harlot, was a Christian saint and hermit in the 4th or 5th century. Her feast day was celebrated on 8 October, originally in common with Saints Pelagia the Virgin and Pelagia of Tarsus.^{[2][3][n 1]} Pelagia died as a result of extreme asceticism, which had emaciated her to the point she could no longer be recognized. According to Orthodox tradition, she was buried in her cell. Upon the discovery that the renowned monk had been a woman, the holy fathers tried to keep it a secret, but the gossip spread and her relics drew pilgrims from as far off as Jericho and the Jordan valley.

Saint Pelagia
Margarita among her courtesans, as Saint Nonnus prays for her (14th-century MS)
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Syriac Orthodox Church Armenian Apostolic Church
Feast	8 October Tuesday after fourth Sunday of the Exaltation of the Cross (Armenian Apostolic Church)[1]

Saint Pelagia is one of several classical Christian desert ascetics whose gender identity is often up for debate. This is due to physical descriptors used within the mythos often leaning towards masculine.^[4]

Legend

Pelagia's story is attributed to James^[5][6] or Jacob^[7][6] (Latin: Jacobus), deacon of the church of Heliopolis (modern Baalbek).^[8] He states that Margarita was the "foremost actress" and a prominent harlot in Antioch.^[9] During one of the city's church councils, she passed by on a donkey surrounded by her entourage and a "worldly crowd".^[6] Perfumed and "immodestly bareheaded", the outlines of her body were "clearly visible" beneath her gold cloth, pearls, and precious stones, which ran from her bare shoulders to her feet. Most of the fathers were shamed into looking away, but the bishop Nonnus stared openly and confessed himself "delighted".^[6] Mocking his fellows, he condemned both them and himself for taking less care of their souls than she had of her body.^[9]

She appeared at his next Sunday sermon and Nonnus's sermon on hell and the goodness of paradise prompted her to repent. She had two of her slaves trail Nonnus to his residence and then wrote him on wax tablets, calling herself "sinful" and a "servant of the devil" but seeking mercy from God, who "came down to earth not for the sake of the righteous but to save sinners".^[6] Nonnus replied to the anonymous request that God knew her and her past and that he would receive her, but only in the presence of the other bishops.

She went to the basilica of Saint Julian to see them; when Nonnus demanded surety that she would not return to her former life, she fell to the ground and threatened that if she were refused admission to the Church, all her future sins would be held against him at his judgment. The archbishop was informed and sent the deaconess Romana to clothe her in the baptismal gown. Nonnus took her confession and baptized "Margarita" under her birth name Pelagia, with Romana serving as her godmother.^[6]

The devil shortly afterward arrived to complain, but was driven off when Pelagia made the Sign of the Cross and breathed upon him. He returned the next night to renew his complaints and was driven off the same way. On the third day, Pelagia directed her steward to inventory her possessions. She then turned them over to Nonnus, who disbursed them to the widows, orphans, and poor of the city. She freed her slaves, male and female, "taking their golden torcs off with her own hands".^[6] She then began living with Romana.^[6]

The night before it came time to remove her baptismal gown, she stole out in the dark wearing one of Nonnus's chitons. She headed for Jerusalem, where she built a cell on the Mount of Olives.^[10] According to Latin translation, her cell consisted of four walls and a single window.^[10] In Syriac translation, the cell is a structure that is able to be physically left.^[11]

She lived there for three or four years, disguising herself as a male recluse and eunuch under the name Pelagius.^[6] She then died, the cause having been alluded to extreme asceticism, which had emaciated her to the point she could no longer be recognized. According to Orthodox tradition, Pelagia was buried in her cell.^[12] Upon the discovery that the renowned monk had been a woman, the "holy fathers" tried to keep it a secret, but the gossip spread and her relics drew pilgrims from as far off as Jericho and the Jordan valley.^[6]

The Latin and Syriac translation states that the narrator, James, visits Pelagia one time before she died, encouraged by the Bishop Nonnus.^{[11] [10]} Upon finding the cell Pelagia resided in and knocking on her window, she instantly recognizes him. Regardless of her recognition of him, he does not recognize her, and believes he is seeing the monk Pelagius for the first time, rather than Pelagia, the female convert.^[10]

The story appeared in the Greek Menaea.^[13] It significantly omits dates and (on eight occasions) the name of the archbishop under whom Nonnus served.^{[14][n 2]}

History

The historical lives of saints have long been used as a tool of inspired conversion.^[17] Saint Pelagia of Antioch's life is often compared to the several other desert bound female aesitics, such as Mary of Egypt or Saint Thaïs. Many of these Lives have a somewhat clear origin and development, often orally passed down. Saint Pelagia however, has murky origins, her story leading to great controversy among scholars.^[18] Due to this controversy, two major theories about her origins have formed. The first theory states that the historical Saint Pelagia of Antioch as described by Saint Ambrose, which had appeared almost a thousand years prior to James the Deacon's account is the origin of the monk Pelagius discussed in this article.^[18]

Queer/Feminist Perspective

Saint Pelagia is a highly debated figure within not just religious studies, but feminist and queer studies as well. Some feminist scholars view the transformation Pelagia underwent, changing into the ascetic monk, Pelagios/Pelagius as ancient representation of gender non-conformity and trans identity. ^[19]

On the opposite side of this are those that believe, even if her story displays gender-nonconformist ideals, they need to be viewed in the context of the time-period, class/social standings, and understanding how Christian ideals differed in this ancient time, and to very rarely, if at all, apply modern ideas of gender to non-modern peoples.^[19][20]

Another question within feminist theory is what name to use for this saint, and what pronouns best fit. One could use Pelagia, as that is the Christian name given to the saint, or the use of Pelagios/Pelagius, the name chosen when the saint dedicated themself to a spiritually ascetic lifestyle. Were saints like Pelagia masculinized, or were they 'queered' in direct opposition to traditional Roman ideals?^[21]

Similar accounts

Saint Marina, the Latin equivalent of "Pelagia", was a bride who disguised herself as a monk, in her case to escape an unwanted marriage.^{[14][n 3]} Aspects of her story was apparently combined with apocryphal accounts of Mary Magdalene,^[22] Biblical accounts of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and of Jesus and various women in the New Testament.^[23]

The historical St Pelagia, mentioned by St Ambrose^[24][25] and in two sermons by John Chrysostom,^[26] was an Antiochene virgin who was martyred because of her refusal to offer pagan sacrifice during the Diocletianic Persecution. Chrysostom's c. 390 sermon also mentions an anonymous (but apparently famous) actress and prostitute "from a wicked city in Phoenice" (possibly Heliopolis) who seduced "the empress's brother" but converted "in our own day".^[27]

See also

• Saints Margaret the Virgin and Marina the Monk, both of whom are sometimes confused or conflated with Pelagia
• The Jerusalem tomb venerated since the Byzantine times as Pelagia's
• Saint Pelagia, patron saint archive
• Agia Pelagia, village in Crete where Pelagia is venerated and a local legend mentions people finding her icon in a cave

Notes

1. The Roman Martyrology eventually distinguished the dates of the other Pelagias, removing them to other months.^[3]
2. One Greek account^[15] refers to the archbishop as Flavianus (r. 381–404), although Cameron dismisses its testimony.^[16]
3. A third St Pelagia of Antioch was Saint Margaret, whose name derives from its earlier form "Margarita".

References

Citations

1. Domar: the calendrical and liturgical cycle of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Armenian Orthodox Theological Research Institute, 2002, p.516.
2. Greek Synaxarion.
3. Kirsch (1911).
4. Ward, Benedicta (1987). Harlots of the desert: a study of repentance in early monastic sources. Cistercian studies series (in englat). Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications. ISBN 978-0-87907-406-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
5. Coon (1997), p. 78.
6. James the Deacon.
7. Cameron (2016), p. 85.
8. Bunson & al. (2003).
9. "Venerable Pelagia the Penitent", Orthodox Church in America
10. Ward, Benedicta (1987). Harlots of the desert: a study of repentance in early monastic sources. Cistercian studies series (in englat). Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications. ISBN 978-0-87907-406-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
11. Upson-Saia, Kristi (2011). Early Christian dress: gender, virtue, and authority. Routledge studies in ancient history (1st ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-89001-4.
12. "Venerable Pelagia the Penitent", Orthodox Church in America
13. Butler (1866).
14. Cameron (2016), p. 87.
15. BHG 1479g.
16. Cameron (2016), p. 88.
17. Ward, Benedicta (1987). Harlots of the desert: a study of repentance in early monastic sources. Cistercian studies series (in englat). Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications. ISBN 978-0-87907-406-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
18. Beresford, Andrew M. (2007). The legends of the holy harlots: Thais and Pelagia in Medieval Spanish literature. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK ; Rochester, NY: Tamesis. ISBN 978-1-85566-144-8.
19. Bodnaruk, Mariana (1 December 2021). "Intersecting Inequalities: The Representation of Religious, Gender, and Sexual Identities in the Life of Pelagia". Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu. 13 (3): 419–436. doi:10.2478/ress-2021-0041. ISSN 2359-8107.
20. Upson-Saia, Kristi (16 February 2012). Early Christian Dress. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-65541-8.
21. Salés, Luis Josué (1 September 2020). "Queerly Christified Bodies: Women Martyrs, Christification, and the Compulsory Masculinisation Thesis". Journal of Early Christian History. 10 (3): 83–109. doi:10.1080/2222582x.2020.1845572. ISSN 2222-582X.
22. Coon (1997), p. 77–78.
23. Coon (1997), pp. 80–82.
24. Ambrose, De Virg., III, 7, 33.
25. Ambrose, Ep. xxxvii. ad Simplic.
26. Chrysostom, Hom. in Matth. lxvii. (in Latin)
27. Cameron (2016), p. 86–87.

Bibliography

• Bunson, Matthew; et al. (2003), "Nonnus", Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, Rev. ed., Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, p. 611, ISBN 1-931709-75-0, archived from the original on 1 October 2015.
• Butler, Alban (1866), "October 8: Saint Pelagia, Penitent", The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints: Compiled from Original Monuments and Authentic Records, Vol. X: October, Dublin: James Duffy.
• Cameron, Alan (2016), "The Poet, the Bishop, and the Harlot", Wandering Poets and Other Essays on Late Greek Literature and Philosophy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 81–90, ISBN 978-0-19-026894-7.
• Coon, Lynda L. (1997), "Pelagia: God's Holy Harlot", Sacred Fictions: Holy Women and Hagiography in Late Antiquity, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 77–84, ISBN 0-8122-3371-9.
• Jacobus Diaconus (James, or Jacob, the Deacon) (1628), "22: The Life of Saint Pelagia the Harlot [Celebrated in the Roman Martyrology on October 8] by Jacobus Diaconus, translated into Latin from the Greek by Eustochius", Vitae Patrum: De Vita et Verbis Seniorum sive Historiae Eremiticae, Vol. I, Antwerp{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link).
• Jacobus Diaconus, The Life of Saint Pelagia the Harlot, English translations from the Latin available online:
  • Translation Archived 2 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine by Sr. Benedicta Ward, S.L.G., "Pelagia, Beauty Riding By" in Harlots of the desert: a study of repentance in early monastic sources. (Cistercian Publications, Inc., series: Cistercian Studies (Book 106), Kalamazoo, 1986. ISBN 9780879076061.): Latin Text in PL 73, 663–672)
  • Translation by Revd Benedict Baker, Bronllys, UK. Accessed on 25 July 2018.
  • Orthodox Classics in English, "The Eighth Day of the Month of October: The Life of Our Holy Mother Pelagia the Nun, who was Once a Harlot, Written by James, a Deacon of the Church of Heliopolis, from The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints, Vol. 2: October, compiled by Saint Demetrius of Rostov". Chrysostom Press, House Springs. Archive copy accessed on 25 July 2018.
• Kirsch, Johann Peter (1911), "Pelagia" , Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, Vol. 11, New York: Robert Appleton Co.
• Usener, Hermann (1879), Legenden der heiligen Pelagia, Bonn{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link). (in German)

External links

• Delehaye, Hippolyte (1911). "Pelagia, St" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). p. 62.