Gender variance in Christianity: Difference between revisions

Other Christians have believed that in this passage, Jesus did recommend being a eunuch for spiritual reasons. One such Christian sect originated in Russia in the 1760s.<ref>[https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%AD%D0%A1%D0%91%D0%95/%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B9 Селиванов, Кондратий] Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона (1890—1907).</ref> Followers of this movement called themselves White Doves (белые голуби), though outsiders called them Skoptsy (скопцы "castrate"). The White Doves included those who were assigned female at birth as well as male, and a minority of them practiced voluntary castration (depending on the individual, including [[emasculation]], [[orchiectomy]], and sometimes [[genital nullification]]), as well as [[mastectomy]]. They did this without anesthetic.<ref>Karl R. H. Frick. ''Licht und Finsternis. Gnostisch-theosophische und freimaurerisch-okkulte Geheimgesellschaften bis zur Wende des 20. Jahrhunderts'', vol. 2; Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005; ISBN 3-86539-044-7</ref> They believed Original Sin had come into the world by the first coitus between Adam and Eve. They believed that human genitals were the mark of Original Sin: that after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had the halves of the forbidden fruit grafted onto their bodies, forming testicles and breasts. They believed that Jesus had been a castrate, and that his example had been followed by the apostles and the early Christian saints. This was because they believed the removal of the sexual organs restored a follower to the pristine state before the Original Sin. In the White Dove interpretation of the passage Matthew 19:12, especially together with [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+18%3A8%E2%80%939&version=KJV Matthew 18:8–9:] (reading in part, "if thy hand ... offend thee, cut them off"), they believed these body modifications were important for rejecting sin.<ref>Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Skoptsi Skoptsi]". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.</ref> The White Doves endured centuries of social ridicule and governmental persecution. Despite suffering this, and even though they had no children, record of their presence continues throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, even to 1999.<ref>Александр Кампов, [http://intersed.com.ru/sekty-i-sektantskaja-ideologija-v-rossii Секты и сектантская идеология в России].</ref><ref>Lane, Christel (1978). [https://books.google.com/books?id=VSmdHtacha8C Christian Religion in the Soviet Union: a Sociological Study]