The Coptic Patriarch Demetrius I (c. late second/early third centuries) Was Castrated

I was just flipping through Meinardus' Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity and noticed some reinforcement of my argument connecting the early Alexandrian Church to Marcionitism. Citing a miracle attributed to Demetrius in Coptic tradition, Meinardus notes:

the miracle was attributed to the fact that had made himself a eunuch of his own free will so that he was more glorious than those that are born eunuchs and therefore the fire had no effect on him nor on his garments nor on his wife because he had extinguished the flames of lust [p. 108]

Just another proof that Origen was NOT some idiosyncrasy. The whole ecclesiastical hierarchy of Alexandrian Christianity were castrated BEFORE baptism and like the Marcionites one could not receive consecration as priests if this ritual wasn't performed.

The bottom line is that we don't know in what state Heraclas or Dionysius' genitals were preserved in the period, NOR SHOULD WE EXPECT TO HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT FAMOUS PEOPLE'S PRIVATE PARTS. The point however that TWO towering figures in early third century Alexandrian Christianity fit within a pattern of castration in the Church generally make it highly probably in mind that the tradition was connected with Marcionitism.

After all, let's not forget that Origen's patron Ambrose was a (repentant) Marcionite and we would expect him to have a 'mutilated finger' like all those of St. Mark in the period, no?

If you are interested in reading how this observation fits within my greater understanding of the workings of the original Alexandrian Church please go here

If you want to read more about how Alexandrian Christianity was rooted in the Jewish traditions of Alexandria, Philo of Alexandria and more feel free to purchase my new book here