Randy is part of a very long tradition of castration to better serve God. It far predates Christianity and was much more commonly practiced in the early Christian community than is generally known.
Celibacy is an important theme that runs through the entire New Testament and many Christians, both as individuals and as groups, have seen castration as one way to attain it. Matthew 19:12 and Revelation 14:4 are the most cited verses, but there are many others that enjoin celibacy. The issue was debated in the early church and, despite the First Canon of the Council of Nicea which states that those who castrate themselves may not become Christian clergy, eunuchs remained an important part of the church hierarchy in the east until the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. The Skoptsi, a sect of the Russian Orthodox Church
should be castrated and continued to recruit members at least until the beginning of the Second World War. They described themselves as the Lambs of God and believed that Christ would not return until 144,000 had been castrated to serve him. There is little doubt that they attained that number.
Randy is unusual in the modern church, but is certainly not unique even today. He fits into a long tradition within the faith.
It is the responsibility, however, of the collective membership of the Eunuch Archive community to ensure that anyone who arrives here seeking advice is asked to deeply examine his motives before taking any irreversible step. A test-run of chemical castration is an important part of that self-examination.
Even after talking with Randy, Im still not convinced that he adequately examined all of his options before choosing surgery. He is an extremely likeable and intelligent young person. I have enjoyed talking with him and hope to spend more time with him in the future. I just hope that he will be as happy with his decision in twenty years as he is now.
