Gabriel Radle

The Development of Byzantine Marriage Rites as Evidenced by Sinai Gr. 957*

Among the manuscripts in the library of St Catherines Monastery at Mt Sinai, Egypt, there exists a medieval codex catalogued as Gr. 957. It comprises what remains of a Greek euchology, containing an incomplete formulary of prayers for use in the celebration of the liturgy and sacraments. Of relatively small dimensions, measuring only mm 123 ! 87, it consists today of 86 folia, only a portion of its original form. The codex begins interrupted, during an ambo prayer for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, and ends interrupted, during the eighth Sunday Matins gospel reading.1 Paleographical and liturgical indications in Sinai Gr. 957 have allowed scholars to suggest a Palestinian origin.2 It is generally catalogued today as belonging to the tenth century,3 although Dmitrievskij, who published a partial transcription of the manuscript in 1901, dated it to the ninth-tenth century.4 Both the tenth-century dating,5 as well as Dmitrievskijs ninthtenth century dating,6 have found acceptance among liturgical scholars. An early tenth-century dating would correspond with the year 933/4 given on the inner cover of the manuscript. The euchology appears to be a synthesis of Constantinopolitan and local
* Originally given as a talk at the international conference of the Society of Oriental Liturgy, which met in Volos, Greece, May 2010. Abbreviations employed in the text are found at the end of the article. 1 G. Radle, Sinai Gr. 957 (Unpublished PIO Licentiate Tesina, Rome 2010) 10. An adapted version of this work is being prepared for publication. 2 Jacob, Note 142; Parenti-Velkovska, Barberini 49. 3 K. Clark, Checklist of Manuscripts in St. Catherines Monastery, Mount Sinai, microfilmed for the Library of Congress, 1950 (Washington, D.C. 1952) 10; M. Kamil, Catalogue of all manuscripts in the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai (Wiesbaden 1970) 110; K. Aland, Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments (Berlin 1994) 273. 4 Dmitrievskij 1. 5 Parenti-Velkovska, Barberini 49; Jacob, Note 142. 6 M. Arranz, Les prires presytrales de la Tritoekt. Ire Partie: Textes et Documents, OCP 43 (1977) 85; I. Fountoulis, !"#$"%& '"()*+,-(./0, vol. 1 1,(23.)4 (Thessaloniki 1969) 6; Passarelli, Stefanoma 389.

OCP 78 (2012) 133-148

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following marriage seems to have its origin in these rites and customs surrounding the bridal week of marital consummation. 4. The rites of marriage found in present-day Byzantine euchologies do not, as is often stated, simply take their origins from two rites, the Offices of Engagement and Marriage. Rather, they also originate from a third place: the home. The group of marriage rites originally performed at home would especially include todays Prayer of the Common Cup and the above-cited Prayer for the Removal of the Crowns on the Eighth Day (j.1QC*' I'3'*3E8'*3#% ). Sinai Gr. 957 gives us a colorful example of how, prior to the practice of marriage within the church building, Christian peoples celebrated marriage with priestly blessings at home. The Church came to the couple, entering their home as they sought to begin their journey forming a new household together at the inauguration of their conjugal life. Such nuptial-chamber blessings can be found throughout the Christian world. As we saw, rites of this nature traditionally exist among Chaldean Catholics and Assyrian Orthodox. The West even has its own tradition of nuptial chamber blessings. Some folk customs involving the nuptial chamber can still be seen to this day in Europe, particularly in Greece. The act of associating marriage with the sexual life of a couple is a natural phenomenon, tied to the essence of being human. For Christians, who see the self-giving sexual bond as an icon of Christ and his Church, bed blessings, whether via folk traditions or priestly prayers, are precisely what one would expect to find. List of abbreviations employed in this study
Arranz, Eucologio Costantinopolitano = M. Arranz, LEucologio Costantinopolitano agli inizi del secolo XI. Hagiasmatikon & Archieratikon (Rituale & Pontificale) con laggiunta del Leitourgikon (Messale) (Rome 1996). Badger = G.P. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. II (London 1987). Baldanza = G. Baldanza, Il rito del matrimonio nelleucologio Barberini 336. Analisi della sua visione teologica in Ephemerides Liturgicae 93 (1979) 316-351. LHuillier = P. LHuillier, Novella 89 of Leo the Wise on Marriage: An Insight into its Theoretical and Practical Impact in The Greek Orthodox Theological Review 32/2 (Brookline, MA 1987), 153-162. Jacob, Note = A. Jacob, Note sur la prire -3J83' 32* iH:3C* de LEuchologe Barberini in Byzantion 56 (Brussels 1986), 139-147. Kashani-Posner, Marriage = R. Kashani-R. Posner, Marriage in G. Wigoder (ed.), Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem 1996). Koulap = V. Koulap, Coniugalia Festa. Eine Untersuchung zu Liturgie und Theologie der christlichen Eheschlieungsfeier in der rmisch-katholischen und byzantinisch-orthodoxen Kir-

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GABRIEL RADLE

che mit besonderer Bercksichtigung der byzantinischen Euchologien. Das stliche Christentum, Neue Folge, Band 52 (Wrzburg 2003). Moussess = C. Moussess, Les livres liturgiques de lglise chaldenne (Beirut 1955). Muraviev = A. Muraviev, Les rites du mariage dans les glises de langue syriaque in tudes Syriaques 3. Les liturgies syriaques (Paris 2006). Neusner (et al.), Life Cycle = Life Cycle in Judaism, in J. Neusner, A. Avery-Peck, W.S. Green (eds.), The Encyclopaedia of Judaism (Leiden 2000), 803. Parenti, Matrimonio = S. Parenti, Matrimonio. In Oriente. in A. Chupungco (ed.), Scientia Liturgica. Manuale di Liturgia (Rome 1998), vol. IV, 267-285. Parenti-Velkovska, Barberini = S. Parenti Elena Velkovska, LEucologio Barberini gr. 336. Seconda edizione riveduta con traduzione italiana (Rome 2000). Passarelli, Stefanoma = G. Passarelli, La Cerimonia dello Stefanoma nei Riti Matrimoniali Bizantini secondo il codice Cryptense Gb VII (X sec) in Ephemerides Liturgicae, 93 (Rome 1979), 381-391. Pentkovsky, Mariage = A. Pentkovsky, Le crmonial du mariage dans lEuchologe byzantin du XIe-XIIe sicle in Le Mariage. Confrences Saint-Serge. LXe semaine dtudes liturgiques (Rome 1994), 259-287. Ritzer = K. Ritzer, Le mariage dans les glises chrtiennes du Ier au XIe sicle (Paris 1970). Yousif = P. Yousif, La clbration du mariage dans le rite chalden in La Celebrazione Cristiana del Matrimonio. Simboli e testi (Rome 1986), 217-259. Zheltov = M. Zheltov, 8&*43$-'+- 1 /.%9: /+/$-:&9"- "&;6&$-'+- + <-.9"1'"- =+'"3"&$-)"1%'+- in !-&%2)1- 3#"'1&: (-)#"&-,4 +*5/*)*1&)#,%46 2#7&%-"*1. (#859%-"*5%*: $*/*2,*12'*: '*%;#"#%<&& =922'*: ."-1*2,-1%*: 3#"'1& ."-1*2,-1%*# 9>#%&# * <#"'*1%&46 !-&%2)1-6 (Moscow 2007), 198-206.

SUMMARY
The tenth-century Palestinian codex Sinai Gr. 957 contains one of the oldest redactions of the Constantinopolitan nuptial rites of Engagement and Marriage. In addition to copying the marriage practices of the tradition of the Byzantine capital, the euchology also includes local marriage rites celebrated at the nuptial bedchamber. These nuptial-chamber blessings have been overlooked or misinterpreted by Byzantine liturgiologists. This article dispels the misunderstandings surrounding these prayers, places them in their historical context, and shows how these prayers from the Byzantine periphery came to influence the development of the Byzantine Rite of Marriage as we know it today.

Pontifical Oriental Institute Rome, Italy

gabrielradle@gmail.com

Gabriel Radle

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