Expanding Kinship: Transformations Through Marriage and Baptism

Today, our society is witnessing an exciting process of expanding traditional kinship boundaries. Modern characteristics of forming baptismal kinship demonstrate how, in addition to blood relations, family ties are significantly enriched through marriage and the sacred rites of baptism, creating new levels of interconnection.

At the core of this renewed approach lies the principle that marriage unites not only the spouses but also their family lineages. In this process, traditional blood ties “mix”: relatives of one spouse acquire new relationships with members of the other family. The summation of degrees of kinship through the so-called property accounts for how many family lines converge in one marriage. Such multifaceted kinship becomes an integral part of the family system, strengthening togetherness and mutual assistance among relatives, even if previously they were united only by blood bonds.

Another fascinating aspect of modern kinship is spiritual kinship, which forms during baptism. Thanks to religious and canonical norms and the acceptance of sacred rites, the circle of kinship relations is extended not only among those who are baptized, but also among their descendants. Thus, for families, spiritual kinship becomes an additional mechanism of integration, strengthening ties both among those already connected by blood and among completely unrelated people united by spiritual experience.

This combined system—marital and spiritual bonds—creates a much richer network of interconnections, providing depth and multifacetedness to the family structure. As a result, even traditional family relationships are undergoing dynamic transformations that allow them to meet modern realities and the society's spiritual needs.

What modern features of forming baptismal kinship allow even blood relatives to enter into such relationships in this context?

Modern characteristics of forming baptismal kinship are based on the fact that, in addition to blood relations, additional connections are included in family and spiritual relations through marriage and the sacrament of baptism. Thus, marriage not only unites husband and wife but also “mixes” the kinship connections of their blood relatives. As a result, relatives of one spouse become relatives of the other through the so-called property (heterogeneous kinship), in which the degrees of kinship are summed. For example, if the blood relatives of the husband are of the 2nd degree of kinship with him, and the blood relatives of the wife are also of the 2nd degree with her, then between them a 4th degree of kinship is established by property. This phenomenon is described in detail in the material, which states:
"Marriage, by uniting husband and wife into one flesh as if into one person, makes the blood relatives of both spouses close to each other. This type of closeness is called property (in Slavic - closeness), or heterogeneous kinship. Depending on how many family lines interlace through marriage, i.e. join together by property, that kinship is referred to as twofold, threefold, etc. Thus, the blood relatives of the husband are in a twofold kinship with the blood relatives of the wife and in a threefold kinship with her property relatives (for example, with the wife of her brother or with the husband of her sister)." (source: link )

Furthermore, within church rules, the concept of spiritual kinship develops, which arises through the reception of holy baptism. Here, in addition to those baptized, this bond extends to their descendants, allowing connections not only among unrelated people but also among those who are already recorded as blood relatives. According to the prescribed norms, the children of the receiver and the ones being received are considered to be of a certain degree of kinship (for example, the children of both are of the 3rd degree, and grandchildren of the 4th degree), which expands and deepens the circle of interconnections:
"c) Spiritual kinship takes place through the reception of holy baptism. By the canons of the universal Church, marriages are forbidden between receivers and the parents of those being received (of course, if they are widowed). But subsequently, Byzantine church rules, based on the notion that spiritual kinship surpasses biological ties, extended this bond, similar to property, to the descendants of both the receiver and the one being received up to the 7th degree inclusive (the children of both were recognized to be in the 3rd degree of kinship with each other, grandchildren in the 4th degree, etc.)." (source: link )

Thus, modern features of forming baptismal kinship allow the emergence of complex kinship ties even among blood relatives through two mechanisms:
1. Through marriage, which, via "property" (heterogeneous kinship), unites representatives of two family lines by summing the degrees of kinship between them.
2. Through spiritual kinship, which is formed during baptism, where canonical norms extend kinship ties to the descendants of both receivers and recipients, thereby defining their degrees of kinship.

Together, these mechanisms ensure the formation of additional, often complex, kinship bonds that supplement pure blood relations and, in some cases, allow those already connected by blood to engage in further forms of kinship within the family-spiritual organization of society.

Supporting citation(s):
"Marriage, by uniting husband and wife into one flesh as if into one person, makes the blood relatives of both spouses close to each other. This type of closeness is called property (in Slavic - closeness), or heterogeneous kinship. Depending on how many family lines interlace through marriage, i.e. join together by property, that kinship is referred to as twofold, threefold, etc. Thus, the blood relatives of the husband are in a twofold kinship with the blood relatives of the wife and in a threefold kinship with her property relatives (for example, with the wife of her brother or with the husband of her sister)." (source: link )

"c) Spiritual kinship takes place through the reception of holy baptism. By the canons of the universal Church, marriages are forbidden between receivers and the parents of those being received (of course, if they are widowed). But subsequently, Byzantine church rules, based on the notion that spiritual kinship surpasses biological ties, extended this bond, similar to property, to the descendants of both the receiver and the one being received up to the 7th degree inclusive (the children of both were recognized to be in the 3rd degree of kinship with each other, grandchildren in the 4th degree, etc.)." (source: link )