About the Religious Marriage: From the Marriage by Confarreatio to the Marriage as Sacrament (μυστήριον/sacramentum)
Abstract
The marriage, one of the ancient institutions of mankind, was initially regulated by divine law (both natural and positive), hence its religious character, that also can be found in the Roman marriage known as the confarreatio marriage. According to the provisions of the ius civile, a man and a woman enter into a marriage through a contract. But, by an imperial constitution promulgated by the Emperor Justinian, only the civil marriage contracted by a written contract in a Church is a iustas nuptias (‘legal marriage’) (cf. Novel 74).
The marriage as institution — provided by ius civile — has evolved into the sacramental act of marriage when it was raised to the rank of a Holy Sacrament of the Church by our Savior, Jesus Christ, at Cana of Galilee (cf. John 2:1—11). And, from apostolic age, the Holy Sacrament (Mistyrion) of Marriage has been accompanied by the administration and reception of the Holy Eucharist by the groom and the bride, that is, by the man and the woman. And, this sacramental act of marriage was regulated by church law, that is the canon law of the Eastern and Western Churches (cf. can. 3 Trullan Council). From the year 893 the subjects of the Byzantine emperor had to receive the Sacrament of Marriage after they were contracted the civil marriage (cf. Novel 89 of Emperor Leo the Wise). Only in this way a marriage could be bearer of legal effects.
Keywords
religious and civil marriage; Roman law; Byzantine law; canon law; Christian theology of marriage
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