If you have been lurking around on the internet recently, you may have come across a link to an article titled When Same-Sex marriage was a Christian Rite. The article is based on the research of the late Prof. John Boswell of Yale University on Adelphopoiesis and the icon of two 4th century martyrs, Sts. Sergius and Bacchus. Later documents talk of the love between Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, which has led many to believe that these Saints were married under an ancient liturgical rite of same-sex unions called Adelphopoiesis. The article is reasonably convincing and throws around enough big words and acronyms to make the reader think that this is sound scholarship and begin to suspect some sort of conspiracy on the part of Rome to cover it up and ruin people’s lives. It of course isn’t a giant conspiracy, nor is it even particularly fine (or even unbiased and honest) scholarship. The first thing to take into account is our use of the word “love.” As modern day Americans our culture is absolutely saturated with sex and the idea that love and sex are somehow interchangeable words. If two people go “make love” there is no doubt in our minds what is actually going on. The writings in question, however, are not modern. They are from hundreds of years ago and they are Church writings. Church writings frequently use the word “love” to mean something completely different from mere carnal union (sex). The idea that two Saints must be gay just because they were best friends seems to be a bit of a stretch. This is where an appropriate and accurate understanding of the word Adelphopoiesis is so important. Prof. Boswell chose to translate the rite of Adelphopoiesis as the Rite of Same-Sex Union. Adelphopoiesis is a compound of two other Greek words, Adelphos, meaning “brother” and Poiein meaning “to make.” So rather than being a Rite of Same-Sex Union, it is really a Rite of Brother Making. The Rite itself even states that the union is spiritual, not carnal. To insist otherwise is completely dishonest. Interestingly enough this Rite is still used by some Christians in parts of the Middle East. It is something more like the idea of becoming blood brothers than anything sexual. Even when Prof. Boswell wrote his book promoting his view of the translation of Adelphopoiesis back in the early 1990’s, it received very unfavorable reviews from his peers for its poor scholarship. All in all this article serves as a warning for us to be careful about what we read and believe on the internet. Just because someone with the letters PHD after their name said something, that doesn’t make it true. The Church has never had some super-secret Rite of Same-Sex Unions, and it never will. We have always believed that God made marriage to be between one man and one woman. Above all, we are all called to chastity, no matter who we are attracted to. Jesus commanded us to “love one another as I have loved you” and we all know he wasn’t talking about sex.
Jimmy Akin has a video interview here where he does an excellent job of breaking down the whole debate
