“Ringrose puts forth the charming thesis that our image of angels was directly modeled on eunuchs in the pre-Christian and early Christian world. Paintings from the Byzantine court show the emperor flanked by beardless men, understood to be eunuchs. Angels in the religious art from about the same time show them as beardless entities, flanking God in a similar fashion.

The prime task of angels in the Christian tradition is to sing the praises of the Lord. Angels are also emissaries of God, the Lord’s trusted messengers, just as eunuchs were messengers for Byzantine emperors.

Angels are non-reproductive. Often angels are depicted as taller than mortals. When we say that someone has an “angelic” voice, we think of a higher pitch and a softer voice than that of adult men. All of these traits characterize eunuchs who were castrated before puberty.

If a successful kingdom on Earth could only be maintained with the help of eunuchs, isn’t it logical that a kingdom in Heaven must have a similar class of citizens?

Indeed, the link between eunuchs and angels was so strong that urban myths from Constantinople occasionally confused the two. Stories tell of an angel walking among humans and being mistaken for a court eunuch. Others recount how a court eunuch was mistaken for an angel.”

The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide; 5/1/2004; Wassersug, Richard