ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to expose the ways in which age, gender and status are aligned with family roles in Byzantine hagiographies composed between the sixth and twelfth centuries. Gender studies have highlighted disparities between concepts of masculine and feminine sanctity and looked at the non-consummated marriage as a means to achieve both filial obedience and pious chastity. Byzantine authors normally introduce their biographical writings with an overview of their subjects' status, gender and age. The chapter draws upon evidence revealed in 42 saints' lives that were composed between the sixth and twelfth centuries. Looking at hagiographies specifically, Caroline Bynum, and more recently Judith Butler, found that saintly characters could invert the normative attributes of their sex in order to highlight themselves as exceptional. Elizabeth Clark argued that women could overcome the limitations of their sex, taking on the attributes of men, and surpassing gendered expectations.
