Yesterday I posted "My Two (Penguin) Dads I: Altruism", about how the somewhat controversial book "And Tango Makes Three" might be used to teach about altruism, especially towards the huge number of homeless and abandoned children in the world. I while ago, I also posted a diary on the history of marriage in/and the church, available here. I recommend at least taking a glance at those before covering this one, though it's not necessary.
You see, if this penguin book story gets big, someone's going to say something that's going to piss me off. In fact, even if it doesn't get big someone's going to say it. I don't know whether it'll be someone on the right who will say it or someone on the left. But, for some reason it seems to come up way too often whenever people in this country talk about sexuality.
The thing someone's going to say will be something like: "The church has always been against same-sex relationships."
The reason it'll piss me off? It's just not true.
Marriage in the church is a somewhat difficult concept. As I've written before, marriage is not a church invented relationship any more than, say, friendships are. Marriage is a state institution, and the church has at times acted as an agent of the state in conducting marriages. This isn't to say that there haven't been certain marriages recognized by the state that the church has refused to recognize (and, to be fair, relationships recognized by the church that the state was against), but the church's role in marriage has tended, historically, to be on blessing a state institution, not of performing/legitimizing all marriages.
But, the church has always been against same-sex romances, though, right?
No. Well, maybe not.
Historically, 'romance' is a difficult concept. First, romance has been defined in different ways at different times in different places, and its relationship to institutions like marriage can be very murky. Second, in any particular relationship in history, unless it's directly spelled out, which it often isn't, it can be difficult to tell whether there is a romance or just a close relationship. It's also true however, that the difference between true friendship and true romance/love in much of European history isn't all that great. If there aren't historical (or pseudo-historical) examples of same-sex romance in church history, there are at least examples of very, very close friendships. Moreover, there are rites that recognized these very, very close friendships in much the same way as wedding ceremonies recognize marriages.
People
There are many examples of people in Christian history who appear to enjoy very close relationships with same-sex partners. In the Hebrew Bible we find David and Jonathan, and Ruth and Naomi. In the Christian Bible there are Jesus and John (and, if it's a different male person, Jesus and the Beloved Disciple). Sculptures of Jesus and John often depict John's head on Jesus' shoulder, their right hands clasped together, a traditional symbol of an affectionate and intimate relationship (the clasping of right hands [ dextrarum junctio ] is seen on Roman wedding rings).
If we wander outside the Bible, we can find other examples of major Christian figures in same-sex unions. Saints Perpetua and Felicitas are often remembered in tandem. In the accounts of their martyrdom, their husbands (Perpetua was almost certainly married, though Felicitas was quite possibly not) are never mentioned. Perpetua gets a tender scene with her father, but not her husband. Perpetua and Felicitas kissed (as did the men they were martyred with) before their death.
Saints Polyeuct and Nearchos were called "brothers, not by birth, but by affection." It has been said that their friendship was stronger than "blood or relationship," and that souls were bound "tightly together," each "believing that he lived and breathed wholly in the other's body." Their friendship was further described as a "passionate union." If one reads the entire story of their relationship, it becomes difficult to imagine that these two were not romantically involved.
Saints Serge and Bacchus, perhaps the most archetypical of paired male saints, were "brothers" (though not biologically) who "abide[d] in oneness". They possibly maintained a single household together. No spouses are ever mentioned. The Greek word used to reference their union, moreover, is sundesmos, the strongest union word available. In art, they are sometimes depicted with Christ in the position of pronubus ("best man").
These are not, of course, the only examples available. There is also no conclusive evidence that any of these pairs, or any other pairs, were homosexual in a way that we would understand that term today. However, the idea that the church has never recognized same-sex unions is ridiculous in the face of these couples and the many others that appear in Christian stories. Some same-sex unions, whether or not they were in fact sexual or romantic, were celebrated, and their participants beatified.
Rites
If the examples of Biblical figures and saints aren't enough, there are prayers and rites for same-sex unions. As just one example, the Grottaferrata Gamma.Beta. VII, from the tenth century (original is in Greek):
O Lord our God, who made humankind in thine image and likeness and gave it power over all flesh everlasting, and who now hast approved thy saints and apostles Philip and Bartholomew becoming partners, not bound together by nature, but in the unity of the holy spirit and in the mode of faith, thou who didst consider they saints and martyrs Serge and Bacchus worthy to be united, bless thy servants, N. and N., joined not by nature... But [grant them] to love each other and to remain unhated and without scandal all the days of their lives, with the help of the Holy Mother of God and ever virgin Mary. Because to thee belongs all glory, honor, and worship.
The same tenth century text includes other prayers for same-sex unions. The Gottaferrata Gamma.Beta II (eleventh century, Greek) includes an entire ceremony, as well as prayers. The Paris Bibliotheque Nationale Coislin 213 (11th century, Greek) likewise contains prayers for same-sex unions. The Sinai Euchologion (11th or twelfth century, Old Church Slavonic) likewise contains prayers and ceremonies for same-sex unions. These texts only begin to scratch the surface of rites and prayers available to the church for same-sex unions.
So, What Does it Matter?
The above is hastily written and incomplete. Even beginning to describe the number of same-sex unions in the church, historically, would be far too large a work for a dailyKos diary. If you want more info, I recommend John Boswell's Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, although there are numerous other books on the topic available.
Why does it matter, though? Well, as a Christian, I'm tires of the 'common knowledge' about Christianity and the church being common knowledge of intolerance, violence, and hatred. Don't get me wrong, the church certainly has its share of these things. It seems, though, like too many people are ignorant of the histories of the church, the 'hidden histories' if you will. When someone on the right says that the church should continue to be against same-sex unions, they are ignoring all of the church history that lends support to such unions. When people on the left say the church should do something new in blessing these unions, they imply that the church has no history of doing so. Blessing same-sex unions in no way breaks from tradition.
Next time a discussion of same-sex unions comes up (whether in the context of civil unions or marriage equality), and someone brings up the church's 'traditional' stand against such unions, please, mobilize a little history. Despite all of its failings, the church does have a strong tradition of standing on the side of love. To deny love is to deny the history of the church (not to mention to deny God).
In other words, next time someone says that the church, or Christianity, has always been against same-sex unions, tell them they're wrong, and remind them of Serge and Bacchus, David and Jonathan, Perpetua and Felicitas, Jesus and John, Polyeuct and Nearchos, or whoever else you might discover. Reclaim the history of the church and of Christianity in its support of love in each and every form.