Summary of the Previous Article:

1. In the previous issue, we explained that these marriages are religiously forbidden and are considered among forbidden relations, because the wife’s sister is regarded as a sister to the husband, and the husband’s brother is regarded as a brother to the wife, and it is not permissible for a person to marry his sister.
2. In the Old Testament (Lev. 18:16), marriage to a brother’s wife was forbidden. For this reason, John the Baptist rebuked King Herod.
3. We said that the only exception in the Old Testament was the case of a brother whose brother died without offspring. The Law commanded him to take his brother’s wife in order to raise up offspring, a name, and an inheritance for him. The son born would become, according to the Law, the son of the deceased brother, inheriting him and bearing his name!

This matter has no existence in the Law of the New Testament, nor can it practically happen now, nor is it accepted by the laws of the state or the laws of the Church. It had its own circumstances in the Old Testament which have now ended…

The Laws of the Church Forbid These Marriages:

We begin first with the laws of Saint Basil the Great, one of the pillars of the Universal Apostolic Church and the author of the Basilian Liturgy…

• Saint Basil forbade marriage to the wife’s sister and to the brother’s wife, and ordered that believers should not associate with these couples and that they must be separated…

This is in Canon No. 25 under the title “Concerning one who married two sisters, or one woman who married two brothers.” He said that “a great punishment is due to these two.” He also said: “Nor should anyone associate with them as long as they remain thus…” His prohibition of believers associating with them means that they are expelled from the communion of believers, because the Church does not recognize their marriage; it is invalid and considered like continual adultery.

• In Canon 24 of Saint Basil, adultery with the wife’s sister or the brother’s wife is considered incestuous adultery and carries the same punishment.

In Canon 23 of the Letters of Saint Basil to Amphilochius, he says:

• “It is not permitted for a man to marry two sisters, nor for a woman to marry two brothers. He who marries his brother’s wife is not accepted unless he puts her away.”

And if he puts her away, meaning separates from her, this does not mean that he is accepted into the communion of believers immediately, but rather he is accepted as one under discipline, upon whom the Church imposed a punishment depriving him for a period from communion. This period was specified in Canon 78 of the same Letters of Saint Basil.

• Canon Two of the Council of Neocaesarea (318 A.D.) rules with nearly the same judgment:

For it states that “if a woman marries two brothers, let her be expelled (from communion) until her death, unless she consents to dissolve this marriage. Yet at the hour of death—as an act of mercy—repentance may be accepted, provided she declares that she will dissolve the marriage if she recovers. But if the woman or the man dies in this marriage, the repentance of the surviving party is exceedingly difficult.”

Just as this canon forbids a woman from marrying two brothers, it naturally forbids the second brother from marrying his brother’s wife, and commands him to separate from her because it is an unlawful marriage.

• The laws of Cyril Ibn Laqlaq, issued by the Holy Synod in 1240 A.D., also forbid these marriages:

In Chapter Two (4/4), it states as follows:

“As for relatives by marriage, no one may marry his wife’s daughter (if she is the daughter from a previous deceased husband), nor her descendants, nor her sister, nor the descendants of her brothers and sisters, nor her aunt, nor the wife of her uncle, nor her maternal aunt, nor the wife of her maternal uncle, nor her mother…”

Thus, it not only forbids marriage to the wife’s sister, but also to all her female relatives who fall under forbidden relations.

This canon supports our opinion that the unity of the spouses in marriage makes all the wife’s relatives as though they are relatives of the husband, and his relatives become her relatives.

Consequently, those forbidden to one spouse become forbidden to the other spouse as well.

This was stated in another canon in Chapter Two of the Laws of Cyril Ibn Laqlaq (4/6), which says:

• “…And everyone whom a man is forbidden to marry by reason of his own relatives, he is likewise forbidden to marry their equivalent among his wife’s relatives…”

That is, if it is forbidden for him to marry his sister, maternal aunt, or paternal aunt, likewise it is forbidden for him to marry her sister, maternal aunt, or paternal aunt… Similarly, his forbidden relatives are forbidden to the wife, so she may not marry his brother, paternal uncle, maternal uncle, etc.

The same canon continues, stating:

• “Just as her daughter and sister are forbidden to him, likewise his son and brother are forbidden to her. And whoever is found in such forbidden marriages, let them be separated.”

We also notice in the Apostolic Canons an implicit indication forbidding these marriages…

Just as Apostolic Canon 18 forbids from the priesthood anyone who married a divorced woman, a harlot, or a woman involved in entertainments and games, we see that Canon 19 states:

“Any man who has married two sisters, or one woman and her niece, cannot become clergy at all.”

Therefore, marrying the wife’s sister or the daughter of that sister is unacceptable, and the one who commits this—even if he repents—may not advance to any rank of the priesthood…

• In the laws published by Ibn al-Assal, the prohibition of these marriages is also mentioned. In Chapter 24 concerning marriage, under No. 35:

He said concerning forbidden relations: “And among the wife’s relatives are her grandmother, her mother, her aunt, her maternal aunt, her sister, her daughter, her father’s daughter, and the wives of her relatives in this degree. And whatever is forbidden to the woman is likewise forbidden to her husband.”

• Although the publisher of Ibn al-Assal’s book had his own opinions regarding marriage, monasticism, and virginity, yet in his appendices concerning the chapter on sin (p. 277), he mentioned Canon Two of the Council of Neocaesarea which forbids marriage to a brother’s wife. Then he said afterward:

“Most Christians have agreed that the forbidden degrees of marriage in practice are as follows…” Then he listed 30 forbidden relations for the man and 30 corresponding forbidden relations for the woman.

Among them:

17, 18: Forbidden for the man are his wife’s sister and his brother’s wife.

17, 18: Forbidden for the woman are her husband’s brother and her sister’s husband.

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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in El-Keraza Magazine – Year Eight (Issue Thirty-Two) 12-8-1977

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