Pater Don't Preach: Byzantine Theology, Female Sexuality, and Histories of Global Encounter in the "English" Paenitentiale Theodori

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: IN THE LATE seventh century, a woman asked Theodore of Tarsus (602–690), archbishop of Canterbury and primate of all England, a question about marriage. She was one of many people who flocked to Theodore and his learned companion, the North African–born Abbot Hadrian (d. 710), after their arrival in Canterbury from Rome in 669/670. This nameless woman revealed that she had been married previously and, after the death of her husband, had vowed never to take another spouse. However, eleven years later, she was now remarried but still felt conflicted about her earlier vow. Her question reflects a deeply Christian understanding of marriage as a union making two people literally into carne una (one flesh), as Jesus had put it in the gospel of Matthew. Theodore would have been familiar with local debates over the interpretation of this passage, though [End Page 1] he was probably even more familiar with Eastern Orthodox theological opinions, such as John Chrysostom's influential treatise De non iterando coniugio (Against Remarriage).