Annulment of Marriage
Question:
We hear about the annulment of marriage. What is the annulment of marriage? What are its causes, and what is the difference between it and divorce?
Answer:
Annulment of marriage means not recognizing the marriage at all, as if it never happened.
As for divorce, it means the dissolution of a marriage bond that had actually taken place.
Divorce is caused by adultery (Matt. 5:32), (Matt. 19:9), (Mark 10:1), (Luke 16:18). Divorce may also be granted in the case of change of religion (1 Cor. 7:15).
As for the causes of annulment of marriage, they are:
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If one of the spouses had been previously married and is still bound by a marriage that has not been dissolved ecclesiastically.
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If there is a degree of kinship between the spouses that prevents marriage.
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If the marriage took place under coercion, without consent and approval.
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If one of the spouses was insane (before the marriage) and unaware of what was happening.
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If the husband is not fully male (castrated, impotent, or hermaphrodite). Likewise, if the wife is not fully female.
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If the marriage was documented civilly despite the religious rites not being performed.
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If the marriage was based on fraud or deception in a fundamental matter, such as a man marrying a woman believing she is a virgin and it is proven that she is not…
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in El-Keraza Magazine – Eighteenth Year – Issues 35 and 36 – dated October 12, 1990.
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