www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Defect of form - Orthodox marriage.

My daughter (Latin Rite) has recently dated a Syrian. Turns out he is Antiochian but not practicing and divorced from a marriage outside of his own church. He is Christian in a non-denominational style.

Things have cooled off but I was wondering if a Catholic declaration of nullity would be a formality here inasmuch as his marriage is (I think) not valid in his own communion. If he were Melkite, I think this would be a straightforward case of defect in form.

The Catholic Church recognizes the marriage of any Christian, regardless of the laws of that person's Church or ecclesial community (i.e., even if the couple were not married according to the other Church or ecclesial community's laws, they would have been married according to the Catholic Church's laws, because marriage is a divine establishment, not a human establishment, and is not restricted even by ecclesiastical laws).

If your daughter wanted to marry the Orthodox person, a declaration of nullity MAY apply. If nullity is not applicable, and the Orthodox person wished to translate to the Catholic Church, the Petrine privilege can dissolve the former marriage. Since the former marriage already ended (a condition for the applicability of the Petrine privilege), this could very likely occur. If the other spouse in the former marriage was a non-Christian, the Pauline privilege permits dissolution of the former marriage.

Hope that helps.

Blessings,
Marduk

There are so many could be's and maybe's in regard to the validity of the guy's marriage that it would be better to take this to the RC diocese your daughter lives in. His marriage may not be valid and then again it might be. Get expert advice from the experts.

I agree with Pavel. You need to contact the local RC diocese and check with the Marriage Tribunal. They will give the case to an advocate who is trained in marriage cases.
Blessings! Silouan, Mary's monk

Thanks. The question is probably moot but strictly speaking the Catholic Church does not recognize any marriage involving a Catholic that is performed outside the Church. This is called defect of form and the anullment is a mere formality.

The question is, with respect to sister churches like the Antiochian Orthodox, would the Catholic Church recognize a similar defect of form and grant an anullment as a routine matter.

I suspect that no one other than maybe a Melkite canon lawyer could give a straight out answer to the question.

Like I say, the question is moot at this point.

Any Catholic Marriage Tribunal should be able to answer the questions you have. As the recognition or not of the marriage is the same for all Catholics.

CRW,

Again as in the case of the Roman Catholic Church, the case would have to be examined in the Orthodox Church and then a ruling would have to be given by the hierarch as to whether or not a marriage existed or if it has to be sent to a tribunal for an Ecclesiastical Divorce. Either way by Catholic or Orthodox means, you will be unable to get a real determination without contacting the church first and submitting to a review of the circumstances. Until then, I would presume at least from an Orthodox standpoint an impediment does exists until a determination otherwise from the hierarch is made.

A few posters have already recommended such already in submitting the case for a review. The longer it is delayed the longer it will take to have the matter resolved and cleared, so that if marriage is seriously being contempleted the arrangements for it can go foward only after that.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+