Saint Euphrosyne the Monk-Virgin

This is a 14th-century painting of Saint Euphrosyne of Alexandria, who was one of the “monachoparthenoi”, a Medieval Greek term for “monk-virgins.” These were young women who disguised themselves as monks so that they could avoid marriage and live a life devoted to spiritual contemplation in male monasteries. It was a bit of a trend, and it’s fascinating on so many levels.

Like the sources of so many Medieval saints, documentation for Euphrosyne’s life is sketchy. But Medieval people thought of this “monk-virgin” as extremely holy and worth venerating. Born in the 400s in the bustling Roman city of Alexandria, Euphrosyne was the only child of extremely wealthy parents, whose father wanted to marry off. However, Euphrosyne wanted none of that, and, after encountering a monk who agreed to give the virgin a tonsure — the short haircut with the bald center worn by monks — escaped to a monastery. There, Euphrosyne went by a new name, “Emerald,” (“Smaragdus,” in the Greek), and a new gender.

But plot twist. Emerald’s father, bereft after the loss of his daughter, visited his child’s monastery many years afterwards to gain spiritual support in his grief. Many years later, he was speaking with Emerald, and found out the monk was soon going to die. At that moment, Emerald came out and revealed the truth about the past. Euphrosyne and father reconciled.

Did you notice how I avoided assigning a gendered pronoun to Euphrosyne? The trend among modern historians is to use non-binary terms (them/they), reflecting our own culture, but acknowledging trans people’s historical existence. The above painting also shows a desire to convey this idea. Here, the Latin words label “the monk Saint Euphrosyne” as “sainte” in the feminine, while keeping the word “monk” masculine. Furthermore, Euphrosyne’s white hair covering is not the male tonsure (it resembles a hair covering worn by the Virgin Mary in another part of the manuscript), but the attire is a traditional monk’s robe.

Medieval people didn’t consider Euphrosyne’s gender switch as transgressive, but devout.