Folia Canonica 8. (2005)
STUDIES - Grigorios D. Papathomas: An Open Ecclesial Communitarism: Dispar-Mixed Marriages and Adult Converions
DISPAR-MIXED MARRIAGES AND ADULT CONVERSIONS 157 III. Mixed (Interchristian) Marriage Mixed marriage shows the same difficulties in being accepted, but it is more easily legalised, because it is contracted between Christians, albeit heterodox Christians. The marriage ceremony for all types of marriage, as celebrated nowadays aside from the Holy Liturgy, is the natural liturgical area for celebrating a mixed marriage. At this point, let us add that this ceremony of marriage is also the natural liturgical area for contracting a dispar marriage. Or, more accurately, the marriage ceremony in question was established for dispar marriage and is perfectly valid for contracting a mixed marriage. Here, another question is raised: how can it be that the Orthodox Church celebrates the same marriage ceremony between two Orthodox-members and between an Orthodox and a heterodox Christian, putting them on the same mysteric/sacramental footing? Precisely because this ceremony was created specifically for persons of different religions, because it keeps the formal structure of the Holy Liturgy intact, without being the Holy Liturgy itself, as well as the eschatological perspective of the fact-marriage without necessarily imposing participation in the holy communion (for the case of a heterodox Christian), exactly as in the case of dispar marriage, where the holy communion is not offered to an unbaptised person, or to a person professing a different religion, but is replaced festively and symbolically by offering the cup of red wine. IV. Civil (according to State Law) Marriage This marriage, issue from religious wars of Europe (Napoleon 1st), is not accepted by the Catholic Church, for ideological reasons, whereas the Orthodox Church, for the theological reasons mentioned above, accepts it as accomplishing the mystery and purpose of life. Actually, despite the initial negative reaction at the time when it was institutionally established - a symptom of the “Babylonian captivity of Orthodox theology” (G. Florovsky) - in majoritarily Orthodox countries, like Greece (1982), where civil marriage is an alternative to ecclesial marriage, a conciliar decision was ultimately taken by the Church of Greece recognising civil marriage as a valid marriage (2002). This decision specifies that no ecclesial marriage shall be contracted after the contraction of three civil marriages. In other words, a 4th (ecclesial) marriage cannot be contracted after three civil (recognised) marriages, according to and consistent with the practice ever applied by the Church. However, this “exterior” marriage can also be justified as a “Mystery of love”, originating from the “Mystery of love” of Trinitarian communion, by a significant word of Christ: at a time when somebody from “outside” His circle of disciples was accomplishing miracles “in His name” and his disciples “tried to prevent him because he [did] not follow [them]” (Mark 9:38; Luke 9:49), Christ an-
