Folia Canonica 11. (2008)
STUDIES - George Gallardo-Dimitri Salachas: The "ritus sacer" of the Sacrament of Marriage in the Byzantine Churches
144 GEORGE D. GALLARO-DIMITRI SALACHAS Spirit stays united to that of the Son inseparably and always in reference to the Father, the beginning and the end of the economy of salvation. This triadic dimension is present and operative in all the sacraments. The Holy Spirit sanctifies and transforms all the sensible elements (visible signs) that are necessary for celebrating the sacraments. In the sacrament of matrimony, the Holy Spirit transforms the two spouses, who with their irrevocable consent establish a lifelong partnership, into the icon of the union of Christ and the Church, so that they can share in the creative work of God and live the sacramental grace as a reflection of life everlasting. Saint John Chrysostom reminds us that: “Matrimony is a mysterious icon of the Church.”40 The emphasis placed on “icon” is particularly meaningful, and is also highlighted in the new Eastern code. The Latin code speaks of the matrimonial pact between baptized persons, elevated by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament, underlining that, “a valid matrimonial contract cannot exist between the baptized without it being by that fact a sacrament.”41 The Eastern theology and polity did not completely follow this contractual conception of the Latin norm still persisting even after Vatican II. The Eastern code, in fact, stresses that, “by Christ’s institution, a valid marriage between baptized persons is by that very fact a sacrament in which the spouses are united by God after the pattern of Christ’s indefectible union with the Church, and are, as it were, consecrated and strengthened by sacramental grace.”'2 Moreover, an essential element of the canonical form of the celebration of the sacrament of matrimony in the Eastern code is the sacred rite (hierologia), or rather the priestly/sacerdotal nuptial blessing. That means that it is the priest (bishop/presbyter) who celebrates the matrimony with the couple. Not only does he assist in person and ask for the manifestation of the couple’s consent in the name of the Church, as the Latin code prescribes,43 but he himself blesses the matrimonial union/covenant. The sacrament of matrimony has its own epiclesis, and the priest is its minister. This is the reason for the very intervention of the priest who assists and blesses the matrimony. He assists because he asks for the manifestation of consent and receives it in the name of the Church; and he blesses by invoking the Holy Spirit over the spouses in order to transform them into an icon of the unfailing union between Christ and the Church. Thus the sacramental grace is poured on the newly wedded so that they might five their conjugal life as a reflection of the Trinity and create the “domestic Church” spoken of by Saint Paul.44 Saint Basil the Great said of matrimony that it is a 40 PG 62: 387. 41 1983 Code, c. 1055 § 2. 42 CCEO c. 776 § 2. 43 1983 Code, c. 1108 § 2. 44 Romans 16: 5.
