What were the ceremonies like?

Not what John Boswell thought they were like!

Boswell translated the texts and looked at them as a historian. But he was neither a theologian nor a liturgist.

Accordingly he took the prayers and rubrics and assumed that they described the ceremony as they would in the western church today.

In fact the Eastern church had many ceremonies and a wide range of sacraments, quite unlike the Roman wing of Christendom, and even more unlike the reformed Church. Very few of them incorporated the short form of communion service. These few included the blessing for heterosexual couple, what we call a wedding, and the blessing for a same sex couple.

The blessing for a same sex couple is based on the short communion, or more probably, on the short communion once it has been modified to the heterosexual blessing. Whichever it is, the ceremony is between 40 mminutes and a couple of hours long - not the three or four prayers that Boswell analysed.

The ceremonies begin by referring to the way the blessing table is used. This shows to the contemporary reader that this is a blessing ceremony, and would therefore use the familiar format of the blessing ceremony.

The prayers themselves suggest where they are placed in the blessing ceremony, or are accompanied by context to show where they are inserted or what they replace.

For instance the litany at the beginning is not complete. It shows how the standard opening litany is to be altered to fit the occasions where the two persons, and specifically their relationship, are to be blessed.

So when Boswell quotes certain unconnected words and pronounced by the priest, like 'Most holy most pure', this indicates the hymn of praise to Mary, and thereby tell the priest where the accompanying prayer fits in the blessing ceremony.

The text of the re-enactment ceremony gives a good idea of what the day and the ceremony would have involved - though it's nothing like as long as the ceremony itself.

Updated 6/11/03. One big mistake has already been corrected on this page. It originally stated that all blessings were based on the short communion service - which was certainly not what the writer intended to say. If you can correct or contribute, or just want to comment on this page click here.