Folia Canonica 11. (2008)
STUDIES - George Gallardo-Dimitri Salachas: The "ritus sacer" of the Sacrament of Marriage in the Byzantine Churches
THE “RITUS SACER” IN THE BYZANTINE CHURCHES 151 honor of God. The bishop presides at the Eucharist and blesses the nuptial table. The blessing by the priest is confirmed implicitly by canon 7 of the Synod of Neo-Caesarea (314-319).73 It is around this act of crowning—visible sign of the sacrament—that the liturgical books of the Byzantine tradition have composed the liturgical rite of matrimony as the constitutive moment of the sacrament. “In Cappadocia, in Antioch, in Constantinople, the bishops placed the nuptial crown on the head of the spouses (as attested by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus and Saint John Chrysostom). In Armenia, this rite is recognized as early as the pontificate of Nerses I, in the fourth century.74 It is also recognized in Egypt.”75 The Byzantine matrimonial liturgy clearly highlights the divine intervention that works the sacrament of matrimony. In fact, in some traditions before placing the crowns, at the moment when the celebrant joins the right hands of the spouses, he prays in an epicletic manner and says: “Holy God, you formed man out of earth, then fashioned woman out of his flesh and joined her to him as a helpmate, for it seemed good to your majesty that man should not be alone on earth. Now too, Master, reach out your hand from your holy dwelling and unite these two servants, for by you is the woman joined to the man. Unite them in one mind. Wed them into one flesh. Grant them fruitful offspring, the delight of fair children.”76 77 The priest, then taking the first of the two crowns and placing it on the head of the groom, says, “The servant of God (Name) is crowned in marriage to the servant of God (Name), in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This formula is repeated three times starting, as we just said, with the groom, and then it is repeated three more times with the bride. The biblical readings from Ephesians (5:20-23) and John (2:1-12) follow with two litanies and the recitation of the Our Father J1 The use of crowns in the marriage ceremony is definitely not a mere survival of an ancient pagan ritual, expressing the sheer joy of married life. In fact, the use of crowns has been imbued with biblical symbolism. The crowning has a triple meaning. Above all, the exchanging of crowns between the spouses fits in strict reference to the teaching of Saint Paul on the likeness of the union of man and wife with the union of Christ and the Church. With his death and resurrection, Christ has taken the Church as his crown; and the Church has, as her crown, Christ crucified and risen. Saint Paul exhorts, then, that a woman 73 Percival, 82 and Joannou, 78. 74 Prader, II matrimonio, 221. 75 Ibid., 222. n Aghiasmatarion 1, 89-90; Sacraments and Services, L. Contos-S. Kezios (eds.), Northridge (Ca) 1993, 58-59. 77 Ibid.
