Marriage According to Eastern Orthodox
Christianity has several branches with the largest one being the Roman Catholic Church, which has approximately 1,100,000,000 followers. The second largest is the Orthodox Church with 225,000,000 followers. Eastern Orthodoxy became a distinct branch after the 11th century when they realized that there were too many technical differences in belief between the eastern and western sides. Following all of Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy relies greatly on doctrine. They follow the Bible, believe that there is only one God, and must go by other “laws” of their religion. A subject of importance to them is marriage, which has specific laws of its own.
According to oca.org, marriage is the most perfect natural expression of God’s love for men. In order for the love of a man and woman to be that which God has: perfectly created it to be, it must be unique, indestructible, unending and divine. In the sacrament of marriage, a man and a woman become one spirit and one flesh in a way which no human love can provide by itself. Marriage is seen as one of the biggest deals for Eastern Orthodoxy. There are rules that must be followed and if broken it is a huge sin.
There are certain things that are forbidden until a couple is married. One of the biggest rules is sex. A couple is not allowed to have sex before they are married. Temporary “living together” and sexual relations are seen as sins to Orthodox Christians. As Sebastian Dabovich mentions in his book, “It is so little understood and honored virginity, that virginity, forever bereft of marriage, was to it an object of lamentation”. Virginity is a sacred thing and one is meant to stay a virgin so that they can be pure and share that pureness with th...
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...he biggest ones. Something so sacred and special should not be taken as lightly as it is today. Kids just go out and get married without thinking of what it truly means or what they are doing. They do not understand what marriage means in the long haul. The sacred promise between a man and a woman and God is perhaps one of the most difficult yet fulfilling promises to keep. Eastern Orthodoxy, like many other religions, puts marriage on a pedestal. That is exactly where it belongs because that is exactly where God intended it to be.
Works Cited
“The Sacraments of Marriage”, Orthodox Church in America. Web.
Dabovich, Sebastian. The Holy Orthodox Church : or, The ritual, services and sacraments of the Eastern apostolic (Greek-Russian) church. Wilkesbarre, PA., 1898. P. 77 Print.
The adoption of Eastern Orthodoxy by the Slavs marked a new era for the culture of Russia. In the Primary Chronicle we come across many tales that illustrate the transformation from staunch paganism to strict Orthodox Christianity that was adopted by the state. The tale “Vladimir Christianizes Russia” is one such story that glorifies Vladimir’s great triumph in choosing Eastern Orthodoxy and delivering the Slavs to salvation. Through justifying the adoption of Christianity, emphasizing the importance of aestheticism in ceremony, and illustrating the overwhelming Slavic transition from paganism to Christianity we are able to glean the importance of Vladimir’s success in transitioning the Slavs to Eastern Orthodoxy.
Marriage in Judaism is recognised as a very blessed tradition. This sacred bond is actually called a Kiddushin, which translates to ‘purification’ or ‘commitment’. The dedication of marriage demonstrates that the couple now have a select relationship and they are “one spirit in two bodies”.
The Clergy of the Orthodox church is set apart through ordination and is divided into three orders, Deacons, Priests and Bishops. I found out by talking to Father Constantine that a priest can be married or celibate, as long as he is married before he is ordained. If a priest is ordained single, he must stay celibate. Celibate priest, generally belonging to a monastic order called "Archimandrite." Bishops are usually chosen from the ranks of the Archimandrites.
The Greek Orthodox Church is one of the three major branches of Christianity, which "stands in today's society as one of the communities created by the apostles of Jesus in the region of the eastern Mediterranean, and which spread by missionary activity throughout Eastern Europe" .The word orthodox comes from Greek, this means right-believing. Currently, the orthodox religion has more than 174 million followers throughout the world.
Behind the elaborate fresco paintings and splendid architecture, Eastern Orthodox Church has played a significant role in the preservation of Christian tradition throughout history. Since the transfer of the imperial capitol of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople, the Eastern Orthodox Christianity has evolved into a distinct branch of Christianity (Steeves). As Timothy Ware, the author of The Orthodox Church, suggests, major intellectual, cultural, and social developments that were taking place in a different region of the Roman Empire were not entirely consistent with the evolution of Western Christianity (Ware 8). These traditions and practices of the church of Constantinople were adopted by many and still provide the basic patterns and ethos of contemporary Orthodoxy. The Eastern Orthodox Church has adopted unique organizational features, beliefs, and traditions constituting itself as a unique branch of Christianity.
Although the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church ultimately had more differences which ended up causing their split, they once had quite a few a similarities. The churches shared “many of the same prayers and liturgies” (“Eastern Orthodox”, 2001 para.1). Both the Eastern and Western churches had a difference in opinion in defining and numbering sacraments but they did agree on what the seven major sacraments for their churches should be. They also agreed upon that the male clergy should consist of bishops, priests, and deacons.
When we think of marriage, the first thing that comes to mind is having a lasting relationship. Marriage is a commitment of two people to one another and to each other?s family, bonded by holy matrimony. When a couple plans to marry, they think of raising a family together, dedicating their life to each other. That?s the circle of life--our natural instinct to live and produce children and have those children demonstrate your own good morals. I have never been married; but I don?t understand why when two people get married and vow to be together for richer and poorer, better or worse, decide to just forget about that commitment. A marriage should be the most important decision a person makes in his or her life.
Fairfax, “Marriage is one of the core values of society. Almost 20 years ago, the well renowned black scholar and psychologist Dr. Na’im Akbar (1991) penned the following: ‘‘marriage is such an important lesson in manhood (womanhood) development. It is no wonder that every society requires some form of it’’ (p. 13).” This coincides with the values that I stated above that were considered important in my culture. Marriage is important to more that my culture obviously but in my culture there is always this well-known quote from the bible: “He who finds a wife, finds a good thing (NKJV Proverbs 18:22). That is basically religion and love in the same
Marriage is a human reality founded on mutual consent and reciprocal love. Its very nature is prepared towards the interests of the partners as well as for the birth and rearing of children. The purpose of marriage is the increase of the people of God and mutual help for the partners in loyalty and love. As a sacrament, marriage reflects the covenant between Christ and His Church and is the efficacious sign of this New Covenant. It is symbolized in marriage by the reciprocal and indissoluble commitment of the spouses. Sacramental marriage is more than an example of the New Covenant. It is also a means of accomplishing it. Like the Eucharist, marriage is ordered to the building up of the Body of Christ. The place of the Eucharist in a marriage relationship is made clear when marriage and the family are considered as the basic Christian community or a "little Church."
People feel as if it’s in their right mind to stay celibate for god himself, and it’s a wrongdoing if they commit the act of sexual encounters before they are married. In the bible there are three main reasons for someone to stay celibate. In the bible the First Corinthians 6:18–20 states, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
God intended for us to be united with the opposite sex since the beginning of time. The book of Genesis tells us: "God created man in his image, He created him in the image of God, man and woman, He created them. God saw what he had done and said, "This is good, it is not good that man should be alone."(McLachlan 5). Marriage is inherently good and pleasing to God. It was part of God's original plan for mankind. It is also shown that Jesus held marriage in great esteem, for it was at a wedding where he performed his first public miracle. Furthermore, it is Jesus who raises Marriage to a Sacrament of the New Law. Our Lord is also the one who told us that divorce was wrong. He says, "What God has joined together, no human being must separate."(Matrimony 1).
In Islam, marriage is one of the methods to form a family and also to produce our own descendants. Besides that, marriage is also a law of nature that can not be altered or wedding sidelines at every generation and age. Lies within every human being, there is a feeling to share feelings and passion, or so to the opposite gender. Thus, Islam requires people to get married to meet their individual needs. Islam does not see that marriage is only to consolidate between men and women or satisfying human desires but far more than that.
Even in the Eastern churches, though, there have always been some restrictions on marriage and ordination. Although married men may become priests, unmarried priests may not marry, and married priests, if widowed, may not remarry. Moreover, there is an ancient Eastern discipline of choosing bishops from the ranks of the celibate monks, so their bishops are all unmarried.
Sex out of wedlock, divorces, childbirth out of wedlock, etc. are all seen as normal circumstances currently. Marriage is an indissoluble bond which means it cannot be broken for the rest of the life after the bond is made. The Church wants to stress the importance of marriage to a relationship and the significance of marriage in reference to Jesus’ loving sacrifice to all. Marriage is a symbol of the sacrifice Jesus made of himself out of love for mankind. Through marriage, the Lord allows us to experience that love with one another as Jesus loves us. Conjugal love can reach that extent of love which all married people are called
From the book of Proverbs, we are also told that God designed marriage and sex not only as a means for bringing children into this world, but also as God's appointed means for a man to find pleasure in his wife. In the New Testament, we are told that Jesus attended a wedding in Cana of Galilee and miraculously provided wine when their supplies were exhausted. The Apostle Paul also had a great deal to say about the covenant that God ordained between man and woman. Paul assumed that elders and deacons would be married and have bare children. Paul also encouraged younger widows to marry and he claimed the right as an apostle to lead a wife.