Căsătorie

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Marriage (also matrimony) is one of the seven holy mysteries or sacraments in the Orthodox Church, as well as many other Christian traditions. It serves to unite a woman and a man in eternal union before God with the purpose of following Christ and His Gospel and raising up a faithful, holy family through their holy union. It is referred to extensively in both the Old and New Testaments. Christ declared the essential indissolvibility of marriage in the Gospel.

Holy Matrimony

Married life, no less than monastic life, is a special vocation, requiring a particular gift or charisma from the Holy Spirit, a gift bestowed in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The same Trinitarian mystery of unity in diversity applies to the doctrine of marriage as it does to the Church. The family created by this sacrament is a small church.

The Orthodox Church teaches that man is made in the image of the Trinity, and he is not intended by God to live alone, but in a family, except in special cases. And just as God blessed the first family, commanding Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, so the Church now gives its blessing to the union of man and woman. The sacrament of Christian marriage, in the Church, gives a man and a woman the possibility to become one spirit and one flesh in a way which no human love can provide by itself. The Holy Spirit is given so that what has begun on earth is fulfilled and continues most perfectly in the Kingdom of God.

Marriage service

Nunta din Cana

For the Orthodox Christian, the marriage service (wedding) is the Church's formal recognition of the couple's unity, a created image of God's love which is eternal, unique, indivisible and unending. The early Church simply witnessed the couple's expression of mutual love in the Church, and their union was blessed by their mutual partaking of the Holy Eucharist.

When a marriage service developed in the Church, it was patterned after the service for baptism and chrismation. The couple is addressed in a way similar to that of the individual in baptism. They confess their faith and their love of God. They are led into the Church in procession. They are prayed over and blessed. They listen to God's Word.

The service contains no vows or oaths. It is, in essence, the "baptizing and confirming" of human love in God by Christ in the Holy Spirit. It is the deification of human love in the divine perfection and unity of the eternal Kingdom of God as revealed and given to man in the Church. There is no "legalism" in the Orthodox sacrament of marriage. It is not a juridical contract, it is a spiritual bond.

The marriage service is divided into two parts, in earlier times held separately, but now celebrated together.

Office of Betrothal

At the Betrothal service, the chief ceremony is the blessing and exchange of rings. The rings are blessed by the priest in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The couple then exchange the rings, taking the bride's ring and placing it on the groom's finger and vice-versa. Then they exchange them again, symbolizing that each spouse will constantly be complementing and enriching the other by the union. This is also an outward symbol that the two are joined in marriage of their own free will and consent. It is celebrated in the vestibule of the church building before their procession into the nave of the church.

Office of crowning

The second part of the service is the ceremony of coronation, in which the heads of the bridegroom and bride are crowned by the priest. In the Russian tradition, the crowns are gold or silver, while the Greek tradition uses crowns of leaves and flowers.

The crowns are crowns of joy, but also crowns of martyrdom, since marriage involves a self-sacrifice on both sides.

At the end of the service the newly married couple drink from the same cup of wine. This common cup is a symbol of the fact that after this they will share a common life with one another. This also recalls the miracle at the marriage feast of Cana in Galilee.

Căsătorii mixte

Sfânta taină a căsătoriei este doar pentru cei care fac parte din biserică; aceasta este doar pentru membrii botezaţi.

Văduve şi văduvi

Tradiţia Creştină Ortodoxă încurajează văduvele şi văduvii să rămână credincioşi soţilor lor morţi în această lume dar vii în Hristos.

Divorţul

Ortodoxia priveşte căsătoria ca indisolubilă, şi condamnă ruperea căsătoriei ca păcat şi un dezastru. Biserica Ortodoxă permite divorţul şi recăsătoria ca o excepţie, o concesie necesară condiţiei umane păcătoase. În timp ce condamnă păcatul, Biserica doreşte să ajute păcătoşii şi să le mai dea o şansă, printr-un act de iconomie. Când o căsătorie a încetat definitiv să existe, Biserica Ortodoxă abordează această situaţie prin filantropie (bunăvoinţă iubitoare).

A doua căsătorie

Biserica Ortodoxă învaţă că a doua căsătorie nu mai poate niciodată să fie la fel ca prima. În slujba pentru a doua căsătorie, o parte din ceremoniile pline de bucurie sunt scoase şi înlocuite cu rugăciuni de penitenţă.

Viaţa de familie

• Creşterea copiilor în Hristos, Compasiune şi implicare by Fr. Peter E. Gillquist (Again Magazine and Beliefnet)

Vezi şi

• Linii pastorale călăuzitoare pentru cununii

Linkuri externe

• [1] - Textul întreg pentru slujba de Logodnă şi Cununie
• The Right of Betrothal and Crowning - Holy Ghost Orthodox Church, Ambridge, Pennsylvania
• Marriage (sacramental) - Credinţa creştină de Fr. Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus of St. Vladimir's Seminary, Crestwood, NY.
• Marriage (Christian life) - Credinţa creştină