Convoluted conjugality: Hymnographic repression, transference and co-optation in the Byzantine sanctoral's commemoration of married saints

Abstract

This thesis examines the hymnography of the services for married saints in the Byzantine-Rite Menaion ("Book of Months"), with a view to identifying the theology of marriage that it presents. It is an exercise in liturgical theology, as conceived of by Alexander Schmemann. The first part of the paper introduces the topic, its contemporary relevance and the methodology that will be employed in the study. The second surveys the thought of representative Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine-Rite Catholic theologians regarding marriage, in order to establish a theological reference point for the liturgical analysis of the hymnography. The third part provides a historical contextualization of the theory and practice of marriage in Middle Byzantium and of the development and codification of the Menaion. The hymnographic texts themselves are categorized and critiqued in the fourth part. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of the theology of marriage that obtains in the Menaion, a consideration of its discrepancy with the thought of the theologians surveyed in Part II, and a reflection upon the consequent pastoral implications.