If a woman shall have married two brothers, let her be cast out until her death. Nevertheless, at the hour of death she may, as an act of mercy, be received to penance, provided she declare that she will break the marriage, should she recover. But if the woman in such a marriage, or the man, die, penance for the survivor shall be very difficult.
While polygamy has had a wide acceptance, the same cannot be said of the reverse. A moral society might accept and even promote a man taking more than one wife based either on cultural norms or rationalizing from the biblical patriarchs and kings. And marrying sisters might even be considered acceptable from Isaac's example with Leah and Rachel. Only the most corrupt would consider such a relationship for a woman with multiple husbands and being brothers besides.
If a polyamorous woman had been brought in as a believer, she was to be excommunicated without mercy until her deathbed. At that point allowing a penitential position of the woman is allowed if she agreed to be rid of her extra husband through whatever means.
In the event that one spouse might die, the other would be hard-pressed to find mercy even to be penitent. So great was the sin committed by virtue of the union that the church assumed those in the relationship could not be a true follower of Christ.
While polygamy has had a wide acceptance, the same cannot be said of the reverse. A moral society might accept and even promote a man taking more than one wife based either on cultural norms or rationalizing from the biblical patriarchs and kings. And marrying sisters might even be considered acceptable from Isaac's example with Leah and Rachel. Only the most corrupt would consider such a relationship for a woman with multiple husbands and being brothers besides.
If a polyamorous woman had been brought in as a believer, she was to be excommunicated without mercy until her deathbed. At that point allowing a penitential position of the woman is allowed if she agreed to be rid of her extra husband through whatever means.
In the event that one spouse might die, the other would be hard-pressed to find mercy even to be penitent. So great was the sin committed by virtue of the union that the church assumed those in the relationship could not be a true follower of Christ.
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