Article written about same sex marriages once accepted by religion... you decide

Contrary to myth, Christianity's concept of marriage has not been set
in stone since the days of Christ, but has constantly evolved as a
concept and ritual. Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale
University’s history department, discovered that in addition to
heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient Christian church liturgical
documents, there were also ceremonies called the "Office of Same-Sex
Union" (10th and 11th century), and the "Order for Uniting Two Men"
(11th and 12th century).

These church rites had all the symbols
of a heterosexual marriage: the whole community gathered in a church, a
blessing of the couple before the altar was conducted with their right
hands joined, holy vows were exchanged, a priest officiatied in the
taking of the Eucharist and a wedding feast for the guests was
celebrated afterwards. These elements all appear in contemporary
illustrations of the holy union of the Byzantine Warrior-Emperor, Basil
the First (867-886 CE) and his companion John.

Original Article or

A
Kiev art museum contains a curious icon from St. Catherine's Monastery
on Mt. Sinai in Israel. It shows two robed Christian saints. Between
them is a traditional Roman ‘pronubus’ (a best man), overseeing a
wedding. The pronubus is Christ. The married couple are both men.

Is
the icon suggesting that a gay "wedding" is being sanctified by Christ
himself? The idea seems shocking. But the full answer comes from other
early Christian sources about the two men featured in the icon, St.
Sergius and St. Bacchus, two Roman soldiers who were Christian martyrs.
These two officers in the Roman army incurred the anger of Emperor
Maximian when they were exposed as ‘secret Christians’ by refusing to
enter a pagan temple. Both were sent to Syria circa 303 CE where Bacchus
is thought to have died while being flogged. Sergius survived torture
but was later beheaded. Legend says that Bacchus appeared to the dying
Sergius as an angel, telling him to be brave because they would soon be
reunited in heaven.

While the pairing of saints, particularly in
the early Christian church, was not unusual, the association of these
two men was regarded as particularly intimate. Severus, the Patriarch of
Antioch (AD 512 - 518) explained that, "we should not separate in
speech they [Sergius and Bacchus] who were joined in life". This is not a
case of simple "adelphopoiia." In the definitive 10th century account
of their lives, St. Sergius is openly celebrated as the "sweet companion
and lover" of St. Bacchus. Sergius and Bacchus's close relationship has
led many modern scholars to believe they were lovers. But the most
compelling evidence for this view is that the oldest text of their
martyrology, written in New Testament Greek describes them as "erastai,”
or "lovers". In other words, they were a male homosexual couple. Their
orientation and relationship was not only acknowledged, but it was fully
accepted and celebrated by the early Christian church, which was far
more tolerant than it is today.

Contrary to myth, Christianity's
concept of marriage has not been set in stone since the days of Christ,
but has constantly evolved as a concept and ritual.

Prof. John
Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University’s history department,
discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in
ancient Christian church liturgical documents, there were also
ceremonies called the "Office of Same-Sex Union" (10th and 11th
century), and the "Order for Uniting Two Men" (11th and 12th century).

These
church rites had all the symbols of a heterosexual marriage: the whole
community gathered in a church, a blessing of the couple before the
altar was conducted with their right hands joined, holy vows were
exchanged, a priest officiatied in the taking of the Eucharist and a
wedding feast for the guests was celebrated afterwards. These elements
all appear in contemporary illustrations of the holy union of the
Byzantine Warrior-Emperor, Basil the First (867-886 CE) and his
companion John.

Such same gender Christian sanctified unions also
took place in Ireland in the late 12thand/ early 13th century, as the
chronicler Gerald of Wales (‘Geraldus Cambrensis’) recorded.

Same-sex
unions in pre-modern Europe list in great detail some same gender
ceremonies found in ancient church liturgical documents. One Greek 13th
century rite, "Order for Solemn Same-Sex Union", invoked St. Serge and
St. Bacchus, and called on God to "vouchsafe unto these, Thy servants [N
and N], the grace to love one another and to abide without hate and not
be the cause of scandal all the days of their lives, with the help of
the Holy Mother of God, and all Thy saints". The ceremony concludes:
"And they shall kiss the Holy Gospel and each other, and it shall be
concluded".

Another 14th century Serbian Slavonic "Office of the
Same Sex Union", uniting two men or two women, had the couple lay their
right hands on the Gospel while having a crucifix placed in their left
hands. After kissing the Gospel, the couple were then required to kiss
each other, after which the priest, having raised up the Eucharist,
would give them both communion.

Records of Christian same sex
unions have been discovered in such diverse archives as those in the
Vatican, in St. Petersburg, in Paris, in Istanbul and in the Sinai,
covering a thousand-years from the 8th to the 18th century.

The
Dominican missionary and Prior, Jacques Goar (1601-1653), includes such
ceremonies in a printed collection of Greek Orthodox prayer books,
“Euchologion Sive Rituale Graecorum Complectens Ritus Et Ordines Divinae
Liturgiae” (Paris, 1667).

While homosexuality was technically
illegal from late Roman times, homophobic writings didn’t appear in
Western Europe until the late 14th century. Even then,
church-consecrated same sex unions continued to take place.

At
St. John Lateran in Rome (traditionally the Pope's parish church) in
1578, as many as thirteen same-gender couples were joined during a high
Mass and with the cooperation of the Vatican clergy, "taking communion
together, using the same nuptial Scripture, after which they slept and
ate together" according to a contemporary report. Another woman to woman
union is recorded in Dalmatia in the 18th century.

Prof.
Boswell's academic study is so well researched and documented that it
poses fundamental questions for both modern church leaders and
heterosexual Christians about their own modern attitudes towards
homosexuality.

For the Church to ignore the evidence in its own
archives would be cowardly and deceptive. The evidence convincingly
shows that what the modern church claims has always been its unchanging
attitude towards homosexuality is, in fact, nothing of the sort.

It
proves that for the last two millennia, in parish churches and
cathedrals throughout Christendom, from Ireland to Istanbul and even in
the heart of Rome itself, homosexual relationships were accepted as
valid expressions of a God-given love and committment to another person,
a love that could be celebrated, honored and blessed, through the
Eucharist in the name of, and in the presence of, Jesus Christ.


_________

Here is another link regarding the same painting in the Kiev Museum

http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Sergius.htm