Gabriel Radle

Manuscript of the collection in the monastery “St Catherine” Sinai Gr . 973, 12th c., and Archimedes Palimpsest (copied in the 13th century on top of reused parchment) contain very similar features of the Palestinian rite of marriage. Each of these two euchologia preserved texts constituting evidence of combination between Constantinople liturgical tradition and local materials. However, along with this, even the local materials appear to be combinations of different sources. In other words, the local texts in these two euchologia cannot have originated from a single original of the wedding ritual. There is a combination of multiple components of alternative or variant practices, some of which are in the same euchologia. The variety of wedding practices spread along with variant practices for marriage in other sources of the region, Sinai Gr. 957 (10th c.), Sinai Gr. 958 (11th c.) - both in Palestine and in the Georgian euchologia. Because of the wide variety of wedding practices found in Palestinian sources and a relatively limited number of early texts for marriage ritual, it is difficult to establish the exact origin of many local traditions in these manuscripts. One thing is certain - there is a wide variety of texts for marriage among Orthodox Christians in the Middle East. Despite the variety of practices Sinai Gr. 973 and the text of the Archimedes Palimpsest in euchologia helped to understand common characteristics of the ritual of marriage in this specific region.

Reviews