Adelphopoiesis

Adelphopoiesis, or "adelphopoiia" from the Greek αδελφοποίησις < αδελφός (adelfos) "brother" and ποιώ (poio) "make", literally "brother-making" is ceremony practiced at one time by various Christian churches to unite together two people of the same sex (normally men). It is documented by the historian John Boswell in his book Same-sex unions in pre-modern Europe, also published as The marriage of likeness. The ceremony was mainly practised by the Eastern Orthodox church - Boswell gives text and translation for a number of versions of this ceremony in Greek, and translation only for a number of Slavonic versions.

External links

• http://www.samesexunions.org.uk/
• http://www.learnedhand.com/shaw_boswell.htm