Non-Standard Masculinity and Sainthood in Niketas David's Life of Patriarch Ignatios

Eunuch saints presented Byzantine hagiographers with serious challenges. Thought to suf fer from an inherent and egregious lack of self-control, how could members of this marginalized group meet the minimum requirements of good Christian behaviour, let alone aspire to sainthood? Niketas David's tenth-century Life of Patriarch Ignatios of fers one medieval exploration of this question. In depicting his eunuch protagonist as an exemplar of specif ically masculine virtues, Niketas suggests a def inition of masculinity more complicated than that of the traditional eunuch/non-eunuch binary current over more than a thousand years of Byzantine history. By locating Ignatios beyond these traditional categories, the Lifeof fers an unparalleled model for integrating non-conforming masculinities within the otherwise strictly gendered norms of Christian hagiography.