Folia Canonica 11. (2008)
STUDIES - George Gallardo-Dimitri Salachas: The "ritus sacer" of the Sacrament of Marriage in the Byzantine Churches
154 GEORGE D. GALLARO-DIMITRI SALACHAS cup explains this rite: “O God, who in your power created all things and made firm the universe, and adorned the crown of everything you made: bless with a spiritual blessing this common cup, which you offer to those joined in marriage.”82 Another significant and symbolic gesture must also be emphasized. After the crowning, the priest takes the hands of the spouses and all of them together make three rounds about the tetrapod (a small table in front of the iconostasis) upon which the Gospel is placed, while the same tropars (hymns) as in the sacred ordination rituals are sung. “It is a dance of joy and, at the same time, the reminder that Christian life is a bold choice that requires martyrdom and continual witness in every day life.”83 The chant of these hymns, the same sung after the ordination of the sacred ministers (deacon, priest and bishop), signifies the intimate relationship between the sacrament of holy orders and the sacrament of matrimony. The priestly state, just as the matrimonial state, are two vocations both of which originate from the Holy Spirit, both of which require martyrdom, sacrifice and witness in the Church and in the world. The deep similarity between the sacrament of holy orders and the sacrament of matrimony consists in the fact that the ordained man is a priestly icon of Christ-church, while the spouses are a nuptial icon of Christ-Church, though also a priestly one (because of the royal priesthood of the people). In this sense these two states cannot be compared in terms of superiority or of inferiority, of greater or lesser grace. Second Marriages From ancient times the Eastern Church has had great reservations about second marriages. By this we obviously mean new, legitimate matrimonies following the death of a spouse. The previous codes of both the Latin and the Eastern Catholic Churches included norms identical in tone, according to which, “although chaste widowhood is more honorable, nevertheless, second and subsequent marriages are valid and licit.”84 In the new Latin code as well as the Eastern no norm concerning second marriages appears. This seems to be left to the particular laws of the single churches sui iuris. Tertullian (c. 164-240) in his work De exhortatione castitatis, obviously influenced by his Montanist tendencies, disapproves of second marriages, putting them on the same level as adultery. To a widowed friend of his, he advises against a second marriage because God, by depriving him of his wife, was choosing celibacy for him. For Tertullian God does not permit second mar82 Contos, 68-69. “ E. Fortino, La liturgia greca a Roma, Roma 1970, 138. M PETERS, 392 and Pospishil, 212; see also A. Palmieri, II rito per le seconde nozze nella Chiesa Creco-ortodossa, Bari 2007.
