syneisaktism
syneisaktism noun: 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.
Noun
syneisaktism (uncountable)
- 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.
- 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...1993, Dyan Elliott, Spiritual Marriage: Sexual Abstinence in Medieval Wedlock, Princeton University Press, page 34
- 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...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...
- Synonyms:
- spiritual marriage
Examples of syneisaktism in a sentence
- 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.1998, Kenneth B. Steinhauser, “The Aesthetics of Paradise: Images of Women in Christian Antiquity”, in Joseph Martos, Pierre Hégy, editors...
- 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.2017, Jana Marguerite Bennett, Singleness and the Church: A New Theology of the Single Life, Oxford University Press, page 211:
Synonyms of syneisaktism
- spiritual marriage
Forms of syneisaktism
| alternative form | syneisactism |
|---|
Origin of syneisaktism
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”).
Questions about syneisaktism
- What does syneisaktism mean?
- Syneisaktism means 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.
- How do you use syneisaktism in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is syneisaktism?
- Syneisaktism is a noun.
Words near syneisaktism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: syneisaktism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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