The time when same-sex marriage was a Christian rite

[MrScorpio]

One of the most common arguments against same sex marriage is that “one man, one woman is the way it’s always been for thousands and thousands of years.” Yeah, but no. Humanity has and continues to practice almost every arrangement possible in the name of love, politics, religion and economics. While a man and a woman has been the most common due to biological impulse, it’s not everyone’s preference. Hell, between the 10th and 12th centuries, Christian churches had little problem performing same sex marriage.

These church rites had all the symbols of a heterosexual marriage: the whole community gathered in a church, a blessing of the couple before the altar was conducted with their right hands joined, holy vows were exchanged, a priest officiatied in the taking of the Eucharist and a wedding feast for the guests was celebrated afterwards. These elements all appear in contemporary illustrations of the holy union of the Byzantine Warrior-Emperor, Basil the First (867-886 CE) and his companion John.

A Kiev art museum contains a curious icon from St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai in Israel. It shows two robed Christian saints. Between them is a traditional Roman ‘pronubus’ (a best man), overseeing a wedding. The pronubus is Christ. The married couple are both men.

Is the icon suggesting that a gay “wedding” is being sanctified by Christ himself? The idea seems shocking. But the full answer comes from other early Christian sources about the two men featured in the icon, St. Sergius and St. Bacchus, two Roman soldiers who were Christian martyrs. These two officers in the Roman army incurred the anger of Emperor Maximian when they were exposed as ‘secret Christians’ by refusing to enter a pagan temple. Both were sent to Syria circa 303 CE where Bacchus is thought to have died while being flogged. Sergius survived torture but was later beheaded. Legend says that Bacchus appeared to the dying Sergius as an angel, telling him to be brave because they would soon be reunited in heaven.

http://www.iheartchaos.com/post/22806986381/the-time-when-same-sex-marriage-was-a-christian-rite

[eShirl]

1. k&r

[Mnemosyne]

2. ...

[mmonk]

3. Spread this and watch heads spin.

[Delphinus]

4. Thank you for posting this.

I had read it a few years ago and totally forgot about it.

[wyldwolf]

5. This is absolutely fascinating. Facebooked!

[LibertyLover]

6. Boswell's book - Same Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe

is very good. I bought it when it was first published and was fascinated by the information he was able to unearth - much as I was by the book When Women Were Priests. Sadly, my copy is in storage at the moment and not likely to be available to me for some time, so I'll check the library and see if they have a copy because I'd like to re-read it. I highly recommend it.