Greek Orthodox sanctions for same sex unions?

[JackintheGreen]

A friend of mine pointed me towards this in the Medieval Sourcebook. Interesting to say the least, but I'd be curious to hear thoughts, especially from our G.O. DUers.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/2rites.html

In 1994 John Boswell published a book - Same Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe (New York: Villard, 1994) which claimed, essentially, that the adelphopoiia rite known to have been used in Orthodox and Greek rite Catholic Churches constituted, in usage at least, a form of ecclesiastical blessing for homosexual unions. To say the least this claim has been highly contested. Boswell was not able to show that any high church body gave approval to such a use of the rite, but was able to show, as most critics allow, that the rite was both fairly widespread , and that it probably was used by some same-sex couples to give some outward sign to their relationship. There are contrary indications about the entire ceremony. The late 18th century Orthodox law text known as the Pedalion or Rudder does indicate that the ceremony was used in this way. From a much earlier date, St. Theodore of Studium in his Reform Rules seems to relate the ceremony to marriage. On the other hand, the Life of St. Mary the Younger, which is quite willing to use strong marital imagery about male-male relationships, describes the development of one such relationship, between Mary's brother and a drungarius, in which the couple agree that the bonds of kinship need to be added to their bond of love - and so the drungarius marries Mary. [I should note that I had made this observation, in an unpublished paper, some time ago. Alice Mary Talbot of Dumbarton Oaks strongly doubted that interpretation, but it is supported in the forthcoming translation and commentary on the Life by Angeliki Laiou, also of Dumbarton Oaks.