Правило 46 Василия Великого

She married the man who was abandoned for a time by her wife out of ignorance; then, because of her return to him, the first wife, who was released, committed fornication through such a union, however, out of ignorance. Therefore, marriage will not be forbidden to her: but it is better if this remains so. (Trul. 93; Basil Vel. 9, 31, 36). This rule was included in the 93rd Trullian rule, and in the interpretation of it, this rule of Basil the Great was interpreted in the main. In interpreting this rule, Zonara draws attention to a similar injunction of St. Basil in his 9th rule. In the 9th rule, Basil the Great says that any wife who leaves her husband and goes to another person is an adulteress. The husband abandoned by her is worthy of leniency, and the woman cohabiting with him is not guilty; in the present 46th rule, he says that any wife who marries, even out of ignorance, a man whom his legal wife has left, even temporarily, is a harlot, and subsequently, upon the return of that legal wife, will be released. There, Saint Basil does not condemn (ού κατακρίνεται) a wife living with a man abandoned by his wife, but here he says that such a wife has fallen into fornication (έπόρνευσε), even out of ignorance. To clarify this, it is necessary to take into account that Basil the Great in the first (9) rule speaks of a man whom his wife has left completely (διόλου) and does not want to return to him anymore, which is why Saint Basil condescends to such a person and does not condemn the woman who entered into a second marriage with him; in the present (46) rule he speaks of a wife who, for some reason, temporarily (πρός καιρόν) left her husband. Therefore, if any woman enters into a marriage relationship with a man whose legal wife has temporarily left him, and the woman in question knew about this, in this case she is guilty of adultery, for she has appropriated someone else’s husband, as stated at the end of the 9th rule of St. Basil; if she knew nothing about this, for it is possible that she is from other lands, and subsequently the wife who temporarily left him will return and thus the first marriage will be restored, then the second wife is guilty of fornication, albeit out of ignorance (έν αγνοία). And since this woman did not intend to commit fornication, but to get legally married, she is therefore not prohibited from marrying another person again. However, it would be better if it remained like this, i.e. not to get married at all, says Vasily, following in this, among other things, the requirements of civil legislation, according to which, when concluding marriages, one must pay attention not so much to what is permitted, but to what is honest (ού τό έπιτετραμμένον, άλλα τό εύπρεπές, non tam quid permissum est, quam quid honestati conveniat) 94. Af. Synth., IV, 196. Cp. Digest., XXIII, 2, 42. You might be interested in: