ANNO DOMINI MLXXXI.
NICEPHORUS BOTANIATES AUREA BULLA
Confirming the synodal decrees concerning incestuous marriages and betrothals, made under John Xiphilinus, the most holy and ecumenical patriarch, after whose death the following golden bull was offered to the Church.
A It is confirmed by the divine and wise Word that God is always present in the greatest administrations, and we all know and do not doubt that the greatest affairs that are conducted are brought to completion in this way. If, then, among the greatest works of God is also human life, and if the procreation of these and their growth into this life depends upon His own dispensation, then much more is marriage recognized as resulting from His care and command—that marriage which is lawful according to the laws and not separated from God; just as it is alien and pagan, that which retreats from and is divided from His commandment. For if He Himself clearly declared and proclaimed that those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder, as the evangelical and divine voice says, who would deny that according to His will incestuous marriages are prohibited, and that those marriages have a place B according to His verdict which are contracted by mutual consent in accordance with the sacred and ecclesiastical canons and are not forbidden? Or if anyone should contumaciously reject those things which are performed according to the prescription and excellent order of the sacred and synodal laws, would this not be openly to oppose God and to fall away from Him? But truly, lest anyone be so furious, and so far depart from his senses, as to wish to fall into the hands of a greater and inexorable judge, by opposing what is good and declining toward evil—therefore, if the divine law and the synodal law compel even those who are unwilling to be brought to better things, lest they be cast out by the holy sentence of the synod, it is much more worthwhile for the prince himself, C along with the synodal and pontifical suffrage, to also decree and to present himself as, so to speak, a partner and assistant