Berlin female Protestant Pastor celebrates "Poly Wedding" of Four Men.

Polygamy is illegal in Germany. A Berlin pastor claims to have blessed four men before God nonetheless. The Protestant church distances itself.

Berlin pastor Lena Müller has publicly revealed that she married four men in a "poly wedding"—sparking controversy. The church is distancing itself from the pastor's actions, stating that it was not a church wedding.

What happened?

Müller, who has nearly 8,000 followers on her Instagram account, posted about her "first poly wedding" last weekend. She included pictures and a video of the ceremony, showing the four men. “Four young men said ‘I do’ to each other,” writes Müller. They placed themselves under God’s “colorful blessing” and chose the Bible verse “Love never fails.” “That they firmly believe in it was already clear in the preliminary discussions, when they spoke of the warmth, generosity, and openness in their polycule,” writes Müller.

Wedding not recorded in the church register

The small church service took place as part of the pop-up wedding festival of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO), Müller told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.” People can attend a wedding there without prior registration. This year, the festival was celebrated as a “Pride Edition” for queer people. The four men introduced themselves there. “You could see immediately that there was a lot of love between them,” said Müller. “That’s why we in the team quickly agreed: What could God possibly object to there being four of them instead of two?”

Polyamory, or relationships with multiple people, is legal in Germany. Polygamy, or marriage involving multiple people, is prohibited. Accordingly, the ceremony was not an official wedding. “We couldn’t register the marriage in the church register because a civil ceremony had to have taken place beforehand, and that wouldn’t have been possible in this constellation,” Müller told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. “But I am absolutely convinced that they were truly married before God.”

Internally, she received no criticism for the ceremony with the four men, Müller said. She only read a few negative comments on Instagram.

Church distances itself

The Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia has now publicly distanced itself from "blessing ceremonies presented as weddings that are intended to unite more than two people through love." It maintains "that weddings and marriage ceremonies are forms that bless two people before God." The ceremony conducted by Pastor Müller "was not a church wedding or marriage ceremony."

Berlin Bishop Christian Stäblein stated that the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia only performs civil marriage ceremonies for couples who have already been legally married in a civil ceremony. "Allegations of polygamy in this context are baseless and unfounded."

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