Folia Canonica 11. (2008)

STUDIES - George D. Gallaro: Oikonomia and Marriage Dissolution in the Christian East

OIKONOMIA AND MARRIAGE DISSOLUTION

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forbids in the most absolute manner those who have married twice to enter the ecclesiastical state.”34 This means that in the fourth century this was an actual law which had been observed from time immemorial. The eighteenth apostolic canon states: “Whoever marries a widow or a divorcee, a prostitute, a servant or an actress, cannot become bishop, priest or deacon, or at any rate become a member of the clergy.”35 The logic behind this law is obvious: since it is an economy law it is meant for the weak and imperfect believers; but it is not applicable to the clergy who must be above reproach.

This legislation was confirmed by the Sixth Ecumenical Council which is still in force in the Byzantine Churches.36 In the first half of the 1800s, a famous cantor of the cathedral of Constantinople, Peter Visandios, lost his wife and remarried; he had to leave his position of cantor of the Church.

Obviously neither the second nor the third marriage was considered sacramental; therefore they were not blessed with the crown (which is the sacramental sign). Moreover, the widowed man who married again was not allowed to receive Communion; he had to refrain from receiving it for a year and to spend the time in various prayers and penances. At the end of this penitential time he was readmitted to the Eucharist. Whoever married a third time (we are still speaking of a widower) had to do penance for three years and stay away from Communion.

This discipline is reasserted by Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople (f 828) in his second canon which states: “The widower who remarries will not be blessed with the crown and will stay away from Communion two years; whoever remarries a third time will stay away three years.”37 In addition the priests were forbidden to attend the nuptial festivities of widows or widowers who remarried. Thus the seventh canon of Neocaesarea (315) states: “The priest should not sit at table of widowers who remarry; indeed, if the widower should ask the priest what penance he was expected to perform, what could the priest reply since he has already given his approval by his presence?”38

As can be seen from this Neocaesarean council, already before the First Nicene Council, it was a universal law to keep away from Communion for a set time the widowers who remarried. This is confirmed by St. Basil in his 199th Letter: "... There is no legislation for the widower. For him the penalty provided for those who enter a second marriage is sufficient.”39

34 P. Joannou (par), Les canons des Pères Grecs, Grottaferrata 1963, 113.

35 Percival, op. cit.

36 Tanner, op. cit. Also see P. Joannou (par), Les canons des conciles oecuméniques, Grottaferrata 1962, 98ff; L. Patsavos, A Noble Task: Entry into the Clergy in the First Five Centuries, Brookline (Ma) 2007, 245fF.

37 J. Travis, St. Nicephorus: In Defense of the Faith, Brookline (Ma) 1984, 112IF; G. Ralli-M. Potli (eds.), Syntagma, Athens 1966, V: 277fF.

38 P. JOANNOU (par), Les canons des synods particuliers, Grottaferrata 1962, 78.

39 Saint Basil, Letters, op cit., 52f.