syneisaktism

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek συνείσακτος (suneísaktos, “(adjective) introduced together; (noun) participant in syneisaktism”), from συνεισάγω (suneiságō, “to bring in together”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + εἰσάγω (eiságō, “to bring in, introduce”).

Noun

syneisaktism (uncountable)

1. (historical, religion, Christianity) The practice, from early Christian until mediaeval times, of a man and woman living together in a non-legalised relationship while observing vows of chastity.
   • 1993, Dyan Elliott, Spiritual Marriage: Sexual Abstinence in Medieval Wedlock, Princeton University Press, page 34:

     Elizabeth Clark argues cogently that syneisaktism provided a couple with a rare opportunity for friendship between the sexes. […] John Chrysostom, for example, who wrote two treatises against syneisaktism, was also a powerful advocate for female virginity, which he occasionally presented as a means of escaping Eve's curse of subordination.

   • 1998, Kenneth B. Steinhauser, “The Aesthetics of Paradise: Images of Women in Christian Antiquity”, in Joseph Martos, Pierre Hégy, editors, Equal at the Creation: Sexism, Society, and Christian Thought, University of Toronto Press, page 55:

     John Chrysostom (d. 407) wrote two treatises on the practice of syneisaktism - spiritual marriage between male and female ascetics - which was popular and widespread after the second century. Some assert that it represented the solution to a practical problem; since few convents were available until the fifth century, syneisaktism gave female ascetics a place to live without going off into the desert.

   • 2017, Jana Marguerite Bennett, Singleness and the Church: A New Theology of the Single Life, Oxford University Press, page 211:

     Some have read in this text the possibility of a form of syneisaktism, or “spiritual marriage,” which would have involved living together but would not have involved sexual activity. Paul clearly separates syneisaktism from getting married, which is why I am naming it here as a form of cohabitation.

Usage notes

The practice was often viewed with suspicion and disapproval. Females so "introduced" into a man's household were sometimes called virgines subintroductae — "virgins introduced secretly" — or simply subintroductae; other, less negatively loaded terms are Agapetae (“beloved ones”) and syneisaktoi.

Alternative forms

• syneisactism

Synonyms

• (practice of non-legalised chaste relationship): spiritual marriage

See also

• asceticism
• celibacy
• chastity
• virginity

Further reading

• Mariage blanc on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Religion and sexuality on Wikipedia.Wikipedia