The Italian city of Ravenna boasts the highest concentration of mosaics from the Late Antique period of Roman history. And featured here you see one of the most famous — a scene from the Procession of the Virgins in Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. Set against the tiled background of shimmering gold, these two women calmly march forward. They wear fine gowns and their hair is adorned with jewels, and extended in each of their outstretched arms is a laurel wreath — the hallmark and prize of their martyrdom for Christ. See their halos? But importantly, these young women were identified for their virginal status — being celibate was the highest expression of pious devotion, right behind dying for their faith.
Central to the celebration of Christian renunciation of sex was a belief in free will. “Indeed, if mankind were not endowed with the faculty to flee shameful deeds and choose excellent ones by their free will, they cannot be responsible for whatever deeds they commit,” wrote Justin Martyr (d. 165).
It turns out, pagan, Jewish, and Christian Roman intellectuals were all very interested in the question of free will in the second century, but for Christians it was extremely important to imagine that every person — from slave to high-born — was possessed with the ability to choose one’s actions “regardless of circumstance”. Historian Kyle Harper argues that this issue came to the forefront among these early Christians specifically because of the significance of sex in defining their moral character. The choices that men and women made about their sexual comportment were completely their responsibility and would determine the fate of their eternal souls.
Source(s): Of _From Shame to Sin_ by Kyle Harper, Harvard UP, 2013. Pp. 117-118, 129.
