§ 191. 2) Affinity

Affinity (ἀγχιστεία, affinitas, пријатељство [amity], близочество [nearness of kin]) is the relationship that arises, in consequence of marriage, between two families. This affinity, as the bond between two families through one marriage, is called in the canonical sources ἀγχιστεία ἐκ διγενείας (two-stock affinity), to distinguish it from the other affinity, which arises between three families through two different marriages, and which is called ἀγχιστεία ἐκ τριγενείας (three-stock affinity).

I. In determining the degrees of affinity between persons of two families, church legislation, and alongside it Greco-Roman legislation, follows the same norm that applies in this respect to kinship by blood. The reason for this lies in the concept of the unity of husband and wife and of the mutuality between them of everything that each separately has in kinship relations; and in consequence of this unity and mutuality, not only do the wife’s kin enter into a kinship bond with the husband, and conversely the husband’s kin with the wife, but in that very degree in which the husband’s blood relations stand to the husband, in that same degree do they also stand to the wife, and conversely—with the difference only that the blood relations (συγγενεῖς) of one spouse are called in-laws (својте; ἀγχιστεῖς, affines) of the other, and the relationship between the two families is not kinship in the strict sense (συγγένεια, cognatio) but affinity (ἀγχιστεία). Accordingly, in the same degree of kinship in which a person stands to one of the spouses, in that same degree of affinity he stands to the other.

Like kinship, affinity too is divided into the direct line and the collateral line; affinity may therefore exist: 1) between one spouse and the ascending and descending lines of the other—for example, between me and my wife’s mother, grandmother, etc., or her daughter, granddaughter, etc.; 2) between one spouse and the collateral lines of the other—for example, between me and my wife’s sister, aunt, niece, etc.; 3) between the lines of one spouse and the lines of the other—for example, between my father, or my brother, on the one side, and my wife’s sister on the other; 4) between one spouse and his lines on the one side, and the lines of the other spouse from a first marriage on the other side—for example, between me and my stepdaughter. The reckoning of degrees in affinity is the same as in kinship: as many generations, so many degrees. The rule mentioned, that husband and wife are one body and therefore do not constitute any separate degree, is of chief importance in determining the degrees of affinity.[1] When, therefore, the degree of affinity between two persons is to be determined, whether in the direct or in the collateral line, one must first keep before one’s eyes the rule that husband and wife are one, and then begin to count the generations, as in kinship, from some blood relation of one spouse, and continue the count along the line concerned until one comes to the designated blood relation of the other spouse; and the number of generations found in that count shows the degree of affinity between the two persons concerned—that is, between the blood relation of one spouse and the blood relation of the other spouse between whom the degree of affinity is sought. Here is an example: I (E) and my wife (Đ) are one; toward her, her mother (G) stands in the first degree of kinship, since there is one generation between them, and I therefore stand toward my mother-in-law (G) in the first degree of affinity. My sister-in-law (D) stands toward my wife (Đ) in the second degree of kinship, since there are two generations between them; I (E), being one with my wife, therefore stand toward my sister-in-law in the second degree of affinity. My father (V) stands toward my sister-in-law (D) in the third degree of affinity, for there is one generation between my father and me (E), one between my mother-in-law (G) and my wife (Đ), and again one between my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law (D)—three generations in all, hence three degrees. My grandfather (A) and my sister-in-law (D) stand in the fourth degree of affinity, for between my grandfather and my father (V) there is one generation, between my father and me again one, and going on, between my wife (Đ) and her mother, my mother-in-law (G), one, and between that mother-in-law and her other daughter, my sister-in-law (D), again one generation—four generations in all, and consequently four degrees. My first cousin (Zh) stands toward my mother-in-law (G) in the fifth degree of affinity, and toward my sister-in-law (D) in the sixth. That same cousin of mine (Zh), having taken to wife a widow (Z) who had by her first husband (J) a daughter (I), who is thus his stepdaughter, stands with that stepdaughter of his in the first degree of affinity, for his stepdaughter stands in that same degree of kinship to her mother, who is now his wife and one with him.[2]

□ A. G □. V ○, B ○. D △, Đ △ ‿ ○ E. Zh ○ ‿ △ Z ‿ ⊗ J. △ I.

The same result in the reckoning of degrees of affinity is reached by another method of counting, namely, when one counts the generations first in one family from a given person to one spouse, and then in the other family from the other spouse to the person concerned, and adds these generations together. By the first method we saw that my cousin (Zh) stands in the fifth degree of affinity with my mother-in-law (G). Reckoning by this other method, we find in my own family, from me to my cousin, four generations, hence four degrees, and from my wife (Đ) to my mother-in-law, or the wife’s mother, one generation, hence one degree; and adding together the degrees found in the one family and in the other, we get 4 + 1 = 5, hence the fifth degree.[3]

The basis of Orthodox church law in determining the degrees of affinity as an impediment to marriage is this: that in a marriage to be contracted between two persons who stand in affinity there must be no confusion of names (σύγχυσις τῶν ὀνομάτων, confusio nominum, слитіе именъ)—that is, that as a result of the marriage the designations and the natural kinship relations between two persons must not be disturbed, so that older relatives do not take the place of younger ones, and younger ones are not put in rights which do not belong to them by kinship, and thus do not usurp the place of older ones. This basis was laid down by Basil the Great in his 87th canon, and it was afterward accepted by the lawgivers of all later times.[4] In view of this fundamental rule, the degrees of affinity within which it is forbidden to contract marriages are determined in church law. In the direct line, as in kinship by blood, all marriages are forbidden in affinity as well, between persons in the ascending and descending lines. Even after the death of one spouse, the other is not permitted to marry relatives in the direct line of the deceased spouse. This is the prescription of canonical and Greco-Roman law alike,[5] and likewise of present-day church legislation.[6] In the collateral line marriage is forbidden altogether up to and including the fifth degree.[7] In the sixth degree marriage is permitted, if no confusion of names appears; thus my stepson may take the daughter of my cousin, who are in the sixth degree with one another, for there is no confusion of names; but my grandson may not take my wife’s cousin, although it is the sixth degree, for in that case my wife’s cousin would become my granddaughter, and my wife would become her cousin’s grandmother, and that is already a confusion of names.[8] Marriage is forbidden in the seventh degree also, if only a confusion of names appears. For example, my son cannot take my wife’s second cousin, who stands to him in the seventh degree, for in such a case I and my son would become pašanci [co-fathers-in-law].[9]

II. In the second affinity, which arises through two different marriages between three families (τριγενεία), the determination and counting of degrees proceeds in the same manner as in the affinity that arises through one marriage (διγενεία). This second affinity exists: 1) between one spouse and the spouse of a relative of the other spouse—for example, between my brother-in-law, that is, the husband (B) of my sister (V), and my wife (D). Here, as may be seen, there are three families: mine (G A V), my brother-in-law’s (B), and my wife’s (D)—B and V are one, G and D likewise one, since husband and wife are one; G and V are in the second degree, since they are born siblings, and the kin of the husband (or wife) stand toward the wife (or husband) in the same degrees; hence my brother-in-law will be with my wife in the second degree of the second affinity (τριγενεία). Counting proceeds in this way further among the relatives or in-laws that one spouse and the spouse of the other spouse’s relative may have. 2) Between one spouse and the in-laws of the other spouse, married for the second time, from his first marriage—for example, between a stepfather (A) and the stepdaughter (E) of his stepdaughter (G): G stands to B in the first degree of kinship, as daughter to mother, and in that same degree of affinity to her stepfather A; E stands to D likewise in the first degree of kinship, as daughter to father, and to G in the same degree of affinity, as to her stepmother; so there are two degrees in all, and by the fundamental rule that husband and wife are one, the stepfather is with the stepdaughter of his stepdaughter in the second degree of the second affinity. 3) Between the relatives of two persons who married the same third person one after the other—for example, between my brother-in-law (V) by my first wife and my sister-in-law (E) by my second wife: V stands to G in the second degree, and Đ to E likewise in the second degree, four degrees in all, and so V to E stands in the fourth degree of the second affinity. I (D), who alone represent the third family here, cannot be taken into account in counting the degrees, for in affinity a single person by himself counts no degree, and therefore, on the basis of the rule mentioned above, in my relation to the relatives of my first wife (G) or my second wife (Đ) I cannot count a separate degree.

□ A. B ○ ‿ △ V, G ○ ‿ △ D.—B △. A ○ ‿ △ ‿ ⊗ V. G △ ‿ ○ D ‿ △̽ Đ. △ E.—○ A, ○ B. ○ V, △̽ G ‿ ○ D ‿ △ Đ, △ E.

Until the middle of the thirteenth century only one degree constituted an impediment to marriage in the second affinity, namely between a stepfather and the wife of his stepson, and between a stepmother and the husband of her stepdaughter.[10] After that time attention began to be paid here too to the confusion of names (σύγχυσις τῶν ὀνομάτων), and marriage was forbidden wherever that confusion appeared, even though the affinity was not remote. The third degree was set as the final limit of the prohibition of marriage in the second affinity, and marriages in the fourth degree of the second affinity are permitted.[11]