Folia Canonica 11. (2008)
STUDIES - George Gallardo-Dimitri Salachas: The "ritus sacer" of the Sacrament of Marriage in the Byzantine Churches
FOLIA CANONICA 11 (2008) 135-157. GEORGE D. GALLARO-DIMITRI SALACHAS THE “RITUS SACER” OF THE SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE IN THE BYZANTINE CHURCHES Eastern Theology on Marriage and Sacred Rite; The Byzantine Celebration of Marriage; Second Marriages; Conclusions. The Codex canonum ecclesiarum orientalium (CCEO) canon 828, in line with the previous legislation of the Eastern Catholic churches establishes that: “§1 Only those marriages are valid that are celebrated with a sacred rite, in the presence of the local hierarch, local pastor, or a priest who has been given the faculty of blessing the marriage by either of them, and at least two witnesses...” “§2.The very intervention of a priest who assists and blesses is regarded as a sacred rite for the present purpose.”1 In drafting this canon, the consultors of the commission for the revision of the Code of Eastern Canon Law held “that this fundamental norm has to be maintained, since this makes the necessary condition in the Eastern law for the validity of the ordinary form of the celebration of marriage beside the active assistance of the priest, the sacred rite or priestly blessing.”2 Moreover, the same consultors, looking at the possibility of extending to deacons the faculty of blessing marriages, “reject that a deacon, in conformity with the Eastern tradition and for ecumenical reasons, should not be considered as minister before whom a marriage could take place in its ordinary form.”3 The Latin Church regulation in this matter is different. In fact, the Codex iuris canonici (CIC) canon 1108, establishes that: “§ l.Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the local ordinary, pastor, or a priest or deacon delegated by either of them, who assist, and before two witnesses... 1 CLSA, Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Latin-English Edition, Washington (DC) 2001. 2 See Nuntia 8 (1979) 21. 3 Ibid.
