This is seen in the three categories of gendering that occurred – widowhood, androgyny, and the temptation of sexual desires… These women of deep Christian character and action broke the prescribed female nature and strove to exemplify the masculine qualities found in Christ. Their quest for ascetic perfection was not bound to villages allowing them to venture into the desert where their female characteristics disappeared and they became men (Elm 1994, 262). When the Church Fathers encountered virtuous women such as the Desert Mothers, it challenged the notion that women were miserable, abject creatures that fell from Eve (Mellinger 2007). As a result, these women sought out the solitude of the desert which in turn offered these women a greater sense of physical and spiritual autonomy (Swan 2001, 10). By critically examining gender theory its application to other female ascetics in antiquity, the abatement of the Desert Mothers sexuality takes on a greater meaning in how these women are portrayed through their sayings and the stories of their lives…īy playing a significant role in the ministry and leadership of ascetic Christianity, the Desert Mothers proved to make male leaders uncomfortable with their public roles. This gendering is seen primarily through three different categories of women: widows, battling with fornication, and androgyny. As such, the Desert Mothers tended towards adopting more masculine-gendered traits to achieve acceptance into desert monasteries and cultivating authority within the ascetic movement. This autonomy is seen in the lesser known writings of the Desert Mothers who “did not allow cultural norms and expectations for women to thwart their call nor limit their pursuit of God” (Swan 2001, 18). Women who moved from the home-centered subordinate lifestyle of mainstream society transitioned into a new arena of freedom found in the ascetic lifestyle. By moving into the desert, men and women ascetics replaced the voice of the martyr’s blood and became the voices of the desert (Chryssavgis 2008, 143). Revered as the father and founder of desert asceticism, the movement grew as an alternative form of martyrdom creating a community of renunciation in the desert. This shift from the mainstream life to a simple life of solitude was catalyzed by the physical, geographical movement of Saint Antony. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven.”Īs the early Christian church began to flourish under Constantine’s rule in the fourth century Greco-Roman world, so too did the ascetic movement. Jesus said, “Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. Hate the sickness, but do not hate the sick person.Simon Peter said to them, “Make Mary leave us, for females don’t deserve life.” "Why hate the person how has harmed you? It is not the person who has done the wrong. It is possible to be a solitary in one's mind while living in a crowd and it is possible for those who are solitaries to live in the crowd of their own thoughts." "There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town they are wasting their time. Her feast day in the Orthodox Church is celebrated on 5 January. Before she died she told those around her the day and hour which she would die and this came to pass as she predicted. She is believed to have died in her 80's, around 350 AD. Syncletica is regarded as a "Desert Mother" and her sayings are recorded with those of the Desert Fathers. Her holy life soon gained the attention of locals and gradually many women came to live as her disciples in Christ. When her parents died Syncletica and her sister gave all their inheritance to the poor and without haste, abandoned the life of the city and chose to reside in a tomb or crypt that belonged to a relative and adopted the life of a hermit. From childhood, Syncletica was drawn to God and had a great desire to dedicate her life to Him. She was from the great city of Alexandria, was of a wealthy background and is reputed to have been very beautiful. Amma Syncletica was an Egyptian 4th century desert dweller.
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