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

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On the basis of this teaching, even the Latin rite of marriage was revised.20 Moreover, it is evident that both these canons make reference to the definition of matrimony given by the Roman jurisconsult Modestinus:

“Marriage is the union of a man and a woman, a lifelong partnership involving divine as well as human law.”21

It is the very same definition taken up by the Justinian Digest. The twelfth century Byzantine commentators found this definition to be in conformity with the spirituality of marriage22 Such a definition, which emphasizes the “lifelong partnership”, does not explicitly mention procreation, although it is presupposed. The Russian theologian Paul Evdokimov (f 1970) observes that:

“The modem Western distinction between the objective aim (procreation) and the subjective aim (the nuptial community) is inadequate; it does not take account of the basic hierarchy. The texts of the Orthodox Church, when they are not showing the influence of Western handbooks, are unanimous in placing the aim of nuptial life in the spouses themselves.”21

In Eastern theology, more emphasis is placed on the mystêrion of the matrimony, resulting from the analogy or, rather, from its real, substantial and internal relationship to the mystêrion mega of Christ’s union with the Church. The liturgical celebration of the mystêrion is clearly underlined by the text of the sacred rite. The mystêrion of Christian matrimony is organically united to and participates in the nature and character of the mystêrion of the unfailing union of Christ with the Church. This does not form a symbol or an imitation of the union; nor is it just an image of it, insofar as it originates from Christ’s union with the Church. Rather, it is governed and inspired by this union in such a way that the nature and duties of Christian spouses flow from it as from its archetype and its source. The grace of the sacrament of matrimony, conferred on the couple, consists in consecrating them in Christ’s union with the Church and making them participants in God’s creating love. Evdokimov again takes up the traditional definition given in the Eastern matrimonial handbooks:

20 See Rite of Marriage, in The Rites of the Catholic Church, Collegeville (Mn) 1990, 715.

21 The Digest of Justinian, ed. A. Wetson, Philadelphia 1998, 1, 23,2.

22 See Syntagma ton theion kai ieron kánonon, ed. G. Rhalles — M. Potles, Athens ed. 1966— 1992, 2, 472; 4, 188-189.

21 P. Evdokimov, The Sacrament of Loue, Crestwood (NY) 1995, 119; see also S. Harakas, Covenant Marriage: Refections from an Eastern Orthodox Perspective, in Covenant Marriage in Comparative Perspective, ed. J. Witte, Grand Rapids (Mi) 2005, 92-123; A. Calivas, Marriage: The Sacrament of Love and Communion, in Inter-Marriage: Orthodox Perspective, ed. A. Vrame, Brookline (Ma) 1997, 34—61; J. Meyendorff, Marriage: An Orthodox Perspective, Crestwood (NY) 2000.