Methodius’ Banquet of the Ten Virgins

Little is known about Methodius, born around A.D. 260, aside from the fact that he was bishop of both Olympus and Patara in the region of Lycia. He may have later become bishop of Tyre and, in 312, was caught up in the great persecutions and was martyred.

The text presented here is Methodius’ only complete, surviving work: the Banquet of the Ten Virgins, also known as the Symposium on Chastity. The work purports to record a series of discourses given by ten virgins invited to a banquet. As far as content is concerned, it does not necessarily cover new ground: Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Cyprian also praised chastity and virginity. Rather, this document confirms and affirms the extent to which the Early Church praised this particular expression of faith. In the highly sexualized Greco-Roman culture, where men were virtually free to do what they wanted, it is worth remembering that chastity was an important point of counter-cultural distinctiveness for the Christian Church.

If you would like to read more of the writings of the Early Christian Fathers, please visit ccel.org to view the full collection.