Folia Canonica 11. (2008)
STUDIES - George Gallardo-Dimitri Salachas: The "ritus sacer" of the Sacrament of Marriage in the Byzantine Churches
150 GEORGE D. GALLARO-DIMITRI SALACHAS “I, (Name), take you, (Name), to be my wife/husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.”67 68 Then the priest, receiving their consent, says: “You have declared your consent before God. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings.”“1 In the rite itself, after the priest blesses the rings, the spouses themselves exchange the rings, the one placing the ring on the ring finger of the other, with these words: “(Name), take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”69 B) The Service of Crowning In the Byzantine liturgical tradition, the service of the crowning (stephánóma) begins in the same way as the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, precisely to show their close sacramental similarity. The Church manifests itself as a true “assembly” when it gathers as a Eucharistic synaxis. When the local church celebrates the Eucharist, the event of the risen Christ is actualized and made manifest. In like manner the “domestic church” is actualized and made manifest in the sacrament of matrimony. In the context of the letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul himself bases his doctrine of matrimony on the mystery of the Church. He speaks elsewhere of the “domestic church” (hé kát’óikon ekklêsia)70. Clement of Alexandria defines the family as “the house of God”, and applies to it the words referring to the Lord’s presence: “I am in your midst” (Mt 18:20).71 Saint Ignatius of Antioch affirms, “Where Christ is, there is the Church”.72 Consequently, the Eucharistic, ecclesial nature of the conjugal community is clear. The central rite of the wedding is the crowning, the visible sign of the sacrament, celebrated by the priest. As already mentioned, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, in his Letter to Polycarp, asks that those who are getting married not do so except with the bishop’s consent, so that the matrimony might be according to the Lord and not according to the desire of the flesh. All should be done in 67 Ibid. 68 Ibid. 69 Ibid. 70 Sec Romans 16:5; Colossians 4:15. 71 PG 8: 1169. 72 PG 5: 713.
