The text of the ceremony is misleading to modern, western eyes.

Those in the Eastern church who read the books of liturgy would know these liturgies in detail. They used very many liturgies and they were put together by stringing together standard sequences. So the written form of the liturgy (as Boswell translated it) sometimes contains disconnected or nonsensical lines, which make no sense, but when they are the opening words of a prayer or sequence of prayers well known to the congregation, they make perfect sense.

Certain actions, objects and arrangements are assumed or implied.

For instance, in one liturgy it mentions that the priest swaps the order of the couples hands as they are placed on the Holy Gospel. It has not mentioned that their hands were on the Gospel: we are expected to know this.

Another example; the prayers in this liturgy are intended to modify a short form of communion service. The heterosexual marriage ceremony is similar in this respect, and that makes these two blessings very unusual. So it is likely that it modified the marriage ceremony.

The ceremony itself is extensive and important. So the Making of Brothers itself probably lasted the whole day, if not three days, and the liturgy performed in full would last between 40 minutes and 110 minutes.

Almost every word was chanted or intoned, and the text specifies the music precisely.

And wherever things are specified precisely, there would have been strong local variations and they were all equally authoritative. So the musical forms, the priest's robes and many other details would make the self-same ceremony surprisingly distinctive in different regions. The different historic texts show that there was a lot of variation across the countries and ceremonies. Our reconstruction has tried to steer a middle road, and it is open to criticism for doing so. What matters is whether significant material has been misrepresented.

The Blessing Table was placed at the front of the Church. It's less than a metre square and more than waist height. The priest would generally stand behind it, facing the assembled congregation. In the adelphopoiesis ceremony the couple stood one on each side.

Behind was an arc-shaped platform, called the bema. It was here that the deacon stands when he calls upon the priest to begin the blessing ceremony.

Behind the bema was the screen that divided the inner sanctuary. The screen was covered in images and called the iconostasis. In the middle was the royal door, and it would be open revealing the altar, and on the altar the Holy Gospel, which was itself an icon, was stood upright, facing the congregation.

It is in this context that the ceremony took place.