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Last
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March 18, 2007
The
Orthodox Church: A Visual Journey
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“O Lord crown them
with glory and honor!”
-from the Wedding Service of the Orthodox Church
God declared marriage to be honorable by His presence
at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. Thus, it is only fitting that all
marriages be performed in the Church as the couple dedicates their new life
together to God. The Orthodox wedding ceremony is the original form of
marriage in the early Church and continues unchanged to this day. There are
different parts of the ceremony with many symbols to express God’s love
towards His creation and His blessing upon the couple.
The ceremonies begin at the back of the Church where
the couple exchanges rings and enter together into God’s Holy House. There
are a set of prayers called a “Litany” which asks God’s blessing upon the
couple, the people and the Church. The rings are then exchanged by the
couple three times in remembrance of the Holy Trinity and placed on the
fourth finger of the right hand. It is traditional for the couple to wear
their rings on the right hand as it is the hand of blessing from the Bible.
There is then another prayer which cites the many examples of Godly
marriages in the Bible and extols the couple to follow their example. The
priest then leads the newly betrothed couple to the center of the Church.
In the center of the Church is a table upon which sets
the liturgical items used in the ceremony. There is a set of crowns which
the priest places on the heads of the couple to bless them and to remind
them of the crowns which the martyrs wear for their witness to Christ. There
is a common cup which the couple drinks from to symbolize their unity. There
is a pair of candles that the couple holds to show that the light of Christ
shines in their lives. There is a handkerchief which the priest binds the
hands of the couple together as a symbol of their unity. Finally, there is a
Gospel Book which the priest reads from and a cross which he blesses the
couple.
The service begins with the chanting of Psalm 128
which reminds the couple of the blessing of God upon Jerusalem. The priest
then gives lit candles to the couple and inquires both of them of their
intentions. There is again a Litany and prayers of blessing which reminds
the couple of their obligation towards God and each other. The priest then
blesses the couple with a crown and places it on each one’s head. Following
the crowning, there is a reading from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the
Ephesians (Eph 5:20-33) which speaks about the obligation of marriage
and compares it to Christ and the Church. There is then a reading from the
Gospel of St. John (John 2:1-11) which speaks of Christ’s blessing of
the wedding in Cana.
Following the readings, there is another Litany and
prayers. The couple then partakes of the common cup three times to unite
them. He then binds their hands together and takes up the cross. There is a
procession three times around the center table while the choir sings a
beautiful hymn. Interestingly this hymn is the same one used in the
ordination of clergy. Following the procession, the priest blesses the
couple, unbinds the hands and removes the crowns. Usually there is a sermon
following this followed by the final blessing. With this, the couple is
united in Christ to each other in Holy Matrimony.
The Wedding is not simply an exchange of vows or a
contract but a Sacrament of the Church, which as all Sacraments unites us
with Christ. The newly married couple is not just united to each other but
joined together with Christ and His Holy Church. It is not a private affair
but one witnessed by the Church as the Body of Christ bringing them in
closer communion with all. Through marriage their lives are transfigured as
together they seek salvation in this world.
In the theology of the Orthodox Church man is made in
the Image of the Most-holy Trinity, and, except in certain special cases
(such as monasticism, for example), he is not intended by God to live
alone, but in a family situation. Just as God blessed the first humans,
Adam and Eve, to live as a family, to be fruitful and multiply, so too
the Church blesses the union of a man and a woman. Marriage, however, is
not a state of nature, but is rather a state of grace, and married life
is a special vocation (no less than the special calling of monasticism),
requiring a gift or charism from the Holy Spirit - this gift being
conferred in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
That Holy Matrimony has divine sanction comes no less from the words of
the Lord Himself, Who says: Have you not read that He Who made them from
the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a
man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the
two shall become one flesh' [Gen. 2:24]? So they are no longer two but
one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put
asunder (Matt. 19:5-6).
The Holy Apostle Paul sees this mystical union of husband and wife as
reflecting the mystical union of Christ with His Church: Wives, be
subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of
the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, His body.... Husbands,
love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for
her.... Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He
who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh,
but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the Church, because we
are members of His body.... This mystery is a profound one, and I am
saying that it refers to Christ and the Church... (Eph. 5:22-25, 28-30,
32).
The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony consists of two parts: Betrothal and
Crowning. The Betrothal is, in some way, the civil act, sanctified by
the blessing of the Church. It sanctifies the intention of two persons
to enter into the martial union and reflects Old Testament customs, when
on those who had expressed their intentions to marry, rings were placed.
This exchange of rings in the Office of Betrothal is an outward token
that the two partners join in marriage of their own free will and
consent, for without free consent on both sides there can be no
Sacrament of Christian marriage.
The Office of Crowning also contains an Old Testament element in the
crowning itself, which reflects the ancient practice of placing crowns
on the heads of the betrothed. This is the outward and visible sign of
the Sacrament, signifying the special grace of the Holy Spirit received
by the couple. These crowns are crowns of joy and martyrdom - joy for
the new union and martyrdom since every true marriage involves
immeasurable self-sacrifice on both sides.
In the Greek Churches, the crowns are usually made of leaves and
flowers, while in the Russian Church they are usually made of silver or
gold. Customarily in the Russian Church the crowns are held over the
couples' heads by the best man and maid of honor, but in many places (as
in Romania, for example) they are actually worn by the bride and groom.
The Gospel for the day contains the account of the Wedding in Cana in
Galilee (John 2:1-11). The blessing, given by God to man in Paradise was
renewed by Christ in the New Testament, when, at the beginning of His
ministry, He performed the miracle of changing water into wine. Thus, at
the end of the Marriage Service the newly-married couple drink from the
same cup of wine, which recalls this miracle of Our Lord. The common cup
here is also a symbol that henceforth they will share a common life with
one another.
Divorce and Remarriage
The Holy Orthodox Church does, however, permit divorce and
remarriage, quoting as her authority the words of the Savior: For your
hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the
beginning it was not so. And I say to you: Whoever divorces his wife,
except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery (Matt.
19:8-9). Here Our Lord allows an exception to the indissolubility of
marriage, and so, too, the Church is willing to allow an exception.
While in principle the church regards the marriage bond as lifelong and
indissoluble, and condemns the breakdown of marriage as a sin and an
evil, she still desires to help the sinners and to allow them a second
chance. Thus, when a marriage has ceased to be a reality, the Church
does not insist on the preservation of a legal fiction. Divorce,
therefore, is seen as an exceptional, but necessary concession to human
weakness. Yet, while helping men and women to rise again after a fall,
the Church does not view a second or third union as being the same as
the first and thus, in the ceremony for a second or third marriage,
several joyful ceremonies are omitted and replaced by penitential
prayers. Orthodox Canon Law permits a second or third marriage, but more
than that is strictly forbidden. |
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Jesus Christ,
Our Lord and Savior
    
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