Back When Men Could Marry Men: When Brothers Dwell in Unity--the Surprising History of the Orthodox Christian Church

    NEW YORK, NY, January 15, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Justice Anton Scalia's position on same sex-marriage was never in question when he doubted that any society prior to the 20th century ever permitted marriage between men. The Chief Justice agreed. "Every definition prior to a dozen years ago defined marriage as a unity between a man and a woman," said Roberts. Both Justices were wrong--according to research uncovered by Stephen Morris in his important new book When Brothers Dwell in Unity: Byzantine Christianity and Homosexuality (McFarland, paper, $45.00).

Morris, a former priest of the Orthodox Church who served as the Orthodox chaplain at Columbia University, unearths a trove of liturgical evidence to solidly back his contention that, far from forbidding man-to-man relationships, Byzantine Christianity even had rites akin to marriage to sanctify them. "Many Orthodox Christians assume and assert that homosexuality is liturgically forbidden," says Morris who was forced to resign from active parish ministry when he came out twenty years ago. "They'd be very surprised to find out, as I did, the actual historical practices of the Church."

When Brothers Dwell in Unity makes the case that not only did early Byzantine Christianity offer adult males a "brother-making" same-sex union ceremony known as adelphopoiesis, but that canonical prohibitions on anal sex found male-on-male sex to be the least objectionable of eight categories of the behavior--the most opprobrium being reserved for husband and wife. "Penances traditionally attached to heterosexual sins--including remarriage after divorce or widowhood," Morris explains, "have always been much more severe than those for a variety of homosexual acts or relationships in Orthodox Cannon law." Indeed, the research suggests, the strident liturgical anti-homosexuality of Archbishop of Constantinople John Chrysostom--patron saint of arguers against same sex marriages--was a total anomaly in Church history. He denounced homosexuality, in general and in specifics, quite definitively. But he was virtually the only Byzantine cleric ever to do so.

Morris, who studied Byzantine and medieval history and theology at Yale and St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Academy, builds on the scholarship of Dr. John Boswell, whose 1994 Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe set the stage--and in many ways made it more difficult--for a lucid discussion of the Orthodox Church and homosexuality. "Boswell got the premise right," says Morris, who studied under Boswell at Yale. "Unfortunately, he got some of his supporting fact material wrong; many scholars, as a result threw away the baby with the bathwater." When Brothers Dwell in Unity sets the record straight with impeccable research, the facts of which are indisputable. "Whatever moral conclusions people come to in the face of these facts is up to them. But the facts are presented," says Morris, who has written extensively on patristic preaching and exegesis as well as medieval and Byzantine hagiography.

The critical response has been overwhelming. Wendy Mayer, author of The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom--Provenance, Reshaping the Foundations, calls When Brothers Dwell in Unity "fearless in dealing with sensitive subjects," claiming its "pastoral conclusions are insightful and helpful for discussion of the subject within all Christian churches, not just Orthodox Christianity." Claudia Rapp, professor of Byzantine studies at the University of Vienna, calls the work "original and significant." Mathew Kuefler, author of The Manly Eunuch: Masculinity, Gender Ambiguity, and Christian Ideology in Late Antiquity deems When Brothers Dwell in Unity a "fascinating study of homoeroticism in the Byzantine and Orthodox worlds."

Morris's prodigious research extends beyond the Church's attitude toward homosexual unions to paint a richly detailed portrait of Byzantine culture seen through the filter of sexual and marital relations in general. In discussing rules for everything from first marriages to fourth, from strictures defining divorce and widowhood to liturgical discussions about sleeping with one's in-laws, When Brothers Dwell in Unity makes for a fascinating glimpse into the lives of early Christians and the degree to which they lived up to the prescribed rules of gender and sexuality of the time.

But Morris's heart is clearly in the issue of how the historical practices of the Church differ from today's commonly held beliefs about the acceptance or rejection of gay sexuality. "If one boy or young man in North America can benefit from this work, it will have been a success," says Morris. "If the Russian Orthodox Church can use this study to distance itself from the laws against 'gay propaganda' promulgated by the Putin government, then it will have been a success."

As a means of furthering discussion, When Brothers Dwell in Unity is already a success. It is a timely, engaging study in light of the ongoing debate about marriage equality.

About the author

Stephen Morris is an independent scholar who lives in New York City. He has studied Byzantine and medieval history and theology at Yale and St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Academy with Dr. John Boswell, Fr. Aidan Kavanaugh, Fr. John Meyendorff, and Fr. Alexander Schmemann. He has written on patristic preaching and exegesis as well as medieval and Byzantine hagiography. For more information, visit http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-9517-7

Media contact: Victor Gulotta
Gulotta Communications, Inc.
617-630-9286
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