Clothes Make the Bishop: Masculinity, Materiality, and Authority in the *Life of St. Matrona*

In late antiquity, several hagiographies of assigned female saints who presented themselves as men were popular among Christian audiences. One such saint, Matrona of Perge (5th century), entered a monastery in Constantinople as a eunuch named Babylas. In the earliest version of Matrona’s hagiography, Matrona was given permission to found her own monastery and to wear traditionally male habits. Moreover, she was made an *episkopos* (overseer/bishop) and given the power to lay on hands. The use of male habits and this level of authority held by someone assigned female has yet to be fully examined. Through the use of transgender studies, this presentation will argue that authority can be understood as yet another form of masculine embodiment represented through male habits, rather than view masculine presentation as a way for Matrona to gain authority.