So Jonathan and David made a solemn compact because each loved the other as dearly as himself.
Jonathan pledged himself afresh to David because of his love for him, for he loved him as himself.
---the Lord stand witness between us forever to the pledges we have exchanged.
Then they kissed one another and shed tears together…
O Jonathan, laid low in death!
I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;
dear and delightful you were to me;
your love for me was wonderful,
surpassing the love of women.
- Bible; books of Samuel -
While only six feet wide, the Great Hall is fifty feet long, stretching all the way from the East to the West walls of my web home. Staircases at either end provide access down to the first and up to the third floor. In this Great Hall are hung many Portraits, Paintings, and Objects of Art. Prominent among them is a seventh century Icon of Sergius and Bacchus pictured below.
This Icon has also been used to decorate the dust jacket of the book entitled: Same Sex Unions in Premodern Europe by John Boswell. I was most pleased to find out that Professor Boswell mentioned me in the preface of his book saying "...and John S. Morgan has faithfully contributed for years to the research expenses for the project."
The union ceremonies discussed at length in his book were performed in Catholic and Orthodox Churches for over fourteen centuries in locations where Greek or Old Church Slavonic was spoken, which at one time was most of the Christian world. Some think these ceremonies bear strong resemblence to heterosexual marrige ceremonies. Others insist that they were most likely some kind of blood brotherhood ceremony. A wealth of information is available on the subject through search engines on the internet and from these articles listed below.
What constitutes heterosexual marriage has altered greatly over the centuries. Marriage is much older than the Christian Church. It was originally a property arrangement providing for the transfer of the bride [part of the property], from her father to her husband -- this is where giving the bride in marriage comes from. In about the 12th century the question of consent of the bride became an issue in the western church. In 1215 marriage was declared a sacrament by the western church .
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