Self-castration  

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A number of religious cults have included castration as a central theme of their practice. These include:

  • The cult of Cybele, in which devotees castrated themselves in ecstatic emulation of Attis: see Gallus.
  • Some followers of early Christianity considered castration as an acceptable way to counter sinful desires of the flesh. Origen is reported by Eusebius to have castrated himself based on his reading of the Gospel of Matthew Matthew 19:12, although there is some doubt concerning this story (Schaff considers the account genuine but cites Baur et al.in opposition) and Origen himself argues against such literal interpretations of other passages from Matthew in his First Principles.
  • Boston Corbett was likewise inspired by this same verse Matthew 19:12 to castrate himself (Corbett was the 19th-century American soldier who is generally believed to have fired the shot that killed John Wilkes Booth.)
  • Bishop Melito of Sardis (d. ca 180) was a eunuch, according to the church history of Eusebius of Caesarea, though, significantly the word "virgin" was substituted in Rufino's Latin translation of Eusebius.
  • Skoptsy
  • Heaven's Gate

While Deuteronomy expels castrated men from the assembly of Israel, Isaiah|56:3, gives a much more accepting view of eunuchs, and in Acts 8:34-39, a eunuch is baptized.

See also




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