Saint of the Month: Elnatan and Berhane

The coffee-table book “Unholy” by F. G. Borghi (images) and Björn Koll (text) is billed as the first “almost complete hagiography of gay saints” — and, true to devotional art tradition, those iconic male figures aren’t confined to a single volume anymore. They’ve grown into a postcard collection and a calendar, and now they’re part of our lineup as well. Here with us, we pause monthly to honor the gay saint or saints of the month. In March, the spotlight shines on Saint Elnatan and Berhane.

The Tanach (the Jewish Bible) comprises 24 books, and the early Christian Old Testament gathered 54 books before medieval editors trimmed the corpus to 46. The Protestant canon ends up with 39. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, by contrast, are blessed in a special way: their Bible contains 81 books. In fact, it would be 82 if “The Book of Elnatan and Berhane” hadn’t vanished here just as it has in the other sacred scriptures.

The text meanders in an expansive, sometimes roundabout way, written in florid prose, telling the story of two princes from Aksum. In essence, though, it functions as a guidebook for how two gay men should best run their life together. Lengthy passages spell out what should be washed and cleaned, which foods are suitable for their intimate life, when to simply say “Yes, you are absolutely right!” and when to keep quiet. In a livelier voice, the book reads like a blend of sex manual and life-coaching guide, and it could still be a blockbuster today.

Saint Elnatan and Berhane are both celebrated on March 30 and are sought for help by aspiring bestseller authors who are hunting for a publisher.

This text is an excerpt from the book “Unholy” by F.G. Borghi (Illustrations) and Björn Koll (Text), published by Salzgeber. In the foreword it states: “What you read in this book falls into the category of Historical Fiction; some may even call it historical nonsense. What it means: none of the saints described here ever lived, and nothing claimed about them is true.” All “Unholy” products as well as many other non-heteronormative books and films are available, among other places, at Salzgeber.Shop.