Life in the Body of Christ—that is, in the Church 1—is both divine and human. The human element, incorporated into the Church, progresses towards union with the Divine—in other words, with uncreated divine Grace—in order to fulfil man’s sole purpose on earth, which is his deification. Therefore, man, in his entirety, is affirmed and embraced by the Lord and Head of the Church, that is, by [the Saviour] Jesus Christ, as soul and body. Deification refers to man as a whole, as a psychosomatic unity and totality, in the words of our Holy Fathers: Christ ‘took me up whole and united Himself whole with me whole, so that He might grant me whole salvation; for that which is not taken up is not healed’2
The assumption of the whole human being, as a psycho-somatic unity, but also as a social being, as man and woman, is realised in the Holy Sacrament of Marriage 3, which integrates the couple’s social and interpersonal life into the Body of Christ, in communion with Christ. For this reason, from the very beginning, Marriage, as a Sacrament, was linked to the Divine Liturgy, and thus to the liturgical assembly and the blessing of the Church. The bishop’s blessing, which affirms the ecclesiastical nature of Marriage, is attested as far back as the post-apostolic era. Saint Ignatius Theophorus († 107) states that those who marry must ‘be united with the bishop’s consent, so that the marriage may be according to the Lord and not according to desire’4). Biological life is integrated into the Body of the Church, so that the earthly bond may be transcended and transformed into a churchly bond, that is, into a communion of grace. The physical bond is consecrated into a supra-individual personality, in order to establish the family in Christ.
2. Saint Paul’s correlation of the Holy Sacrament of Marriage with the bond between Christ and the Church 5 already clearly confers Christological dimensions upon it and reinforces its sacramental character. According to my colleague, Professor Hristea Vulgáris, ‘the nature of the union between Christ and the Church is essential, and their union is real. For, by correlating the union between man and woman with the union between Christ and the Church, [St Paul] wishes to emphasise its reality, that is, ‘in one body’ (Eph. 5:31). In this way, marriage does not become a symbol of the union between Christ and the Church, but an imitation of it 6, that is to say, an extension of it in the individual members of the Church”7. Those united in the Holy Sacrament of Marriage are bound, as members of the Body of Christ—that is, of the Church—within the ecclesial Body, incorporating their personal lives into [that Body], whilst the physical fruit of their union adds new members to the ecclesial Body. These new members are the children. This dynamic character of Marriage is encapsulated in the phrase ‘into one body’, within the ecclesial context. In this regard, St John Chrysostom observes: ‘But how are they united into one body?… And the child is a kind of bridge [between them], so that the three become one body, for the child unites both parties, one with the other’, that is, the man with his wife 8. The ecclesiological hypostasis of the physical unity of the spouses, which is realised in the Holy Sacrament of Marriage, overcomes death, for it transcends the separation of biological individualities. And communion with the Body and Blood of Christ (Holy Communion) unifies and brings their lives into communion with the Church.
The ecclesiological hypostasis of the physical unity of the spouses, which is realised in the Holy Sacrament of Marriage, overcomes death, for it transcends the separation of biological individualities.
Given these premises, it becomes clear that the Holy Sacrament of Marriage ‘is a matter concerning the whole Church, for it is only within the Church that a person can feel themselves to be a member of the universal brotherhood; only in the Church can a person open themselves in love to all people’9 According to the late Father Alexander Schmemann, “along with the whole of man’s physical life, Marriage was to enter the Church, that is, to be evaluated, redeemed and transformed into a mystery of the Kingdom”10.
3. This path from the natural to the supernatural, through the incorporation of Marriage into the Church, is evident in the order of the Service of the Holy Mystery. The betrothal is performed in the narthex. It is the Christian affirmation of physical marriage and its Christian expression. The couple is then led into the church, into the assembly of the Body, which takes place in the naos 11. Through this symbolic act, marriage is ‘introduced’ into the Church and into the world to come, that is, into the Kingdom of God. Therefore, at the end of the Service of the Holy Mystery [of Marriage], the priest, removing the wreaths from the heads of the newlyweds, says: ‘receive’, addressing [the Lord Jesus] Christ, “their crowns into Thy Kingdom”. But the cyclical dance (“Isaiah dances”, “To the Holy Martyrs”, “Glory to Thee, Christ our God!”) signifies nothing other than the eternal journey that has already begun within the confines of church life.
This eschatological perspective of the Holy Sacrament is expressed in the final prayer of the Service, which also marks its conclusive end: “The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity, one in essence and life-giving, one Godhead and one Kingdom, may He bless you and grant you long life and the birth of good children.” This perspective seals the connection between the Holy Sacrament of Marriage and the Divine Eucharist.
4. From the very beginning, the other [Holy] Sacraments of the Church have been inextricably linked to the chief ecclesiastical Sacrament of the Divine Liturgy, just as have teaching and preaching. According to the Areopagite writings, the Divine Eucharist signifies the ‘fulfilment’ of the Holy Sacraments, and without it ‘each of the hierarchical services remains unfulfilled’12 Beginning with Baptism, all the Holy Sacraments, as well as the other liturgical services, were (and still are) performed within the Divine Liturgy or in conjunction with it, and indeed inseparably, as is the case, for example, with ordinations, the consecration of churches, marriage, the consecration of Holy Chrism, and even the Service of the Lesser Blessing of Water. The Holy Mysteries, in their interconnection with the ‘Divine Eucharist’, do not affirm human nature [alone] as a mere biological hypostasis, but lead to its eschatological transcendence and transformation’13 It should be noted that the liturgical interconnection of the other Holy Mysteries with the Divine Eucharist is mentioned as far back as the 17th century.
If the centre of church life is the Church’s worship—being the space and time par excellence of its affirmation as the Body of the Lord—it follows from the above that the Divine Liturgy, with the Divine Eucharist contained within it, represents the core and purpose, the beginning and the end of the Church’s worship. In this way, all the liturgical practices that take place in the life of the Church form a whole, as regards the continuous and universal sanctification of the Body, converging towards the Divine Eucharist, that is, towards the absolute centre of the Church’s existence and unity. Consequently, there are no autonomous and independent liturgical practices in the life of the Church; rather, they all together form a firm unity, at the centre of which lies the ‘mystery of mysteries’14—that is, the Divine Eucharist. Every public prayer service is seen as a preparation for participation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, in which the Church is realised as ‘a new creation’, that is, a new creation, transcending the boundaries of the institution and becoming the Body of Christ.
The Divine Eucharist represents the ‘supreme reality’ of the Church, its manifestation ‘as the world to come’. For this reason, the Eucharist can never be perceived as a means to something else. It is in itself the end and fulfilment of ecclesial reality and the ascension of the Body 15 from history into post-history 16.
There are no autonomous and independent liturgical practices in the life of the Church; rather, they all together form a firm unity, at the centre of which lies the ‘mystery of mysteries’, that is, the Divine Eucharist.
5. Therefore, just as with the other Holy Mysteries, so too the Holy Mystery of Marriage ‘has been linked from the very beginning to the Divine Eucharist’17 The absence of a special service for the Holy Sacrament of Marriage in the early centuries is easily explained, given that ‘the fulfilment of marriage by Christians was their common participation in the Divine Eucharist’18 The establishment of the Service of the Holy Sacrament of Marriage by Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886–912) does not imply that the Church’s blessing of this Holy Sacrament was established specifically in the 9th century. According to my colleague, Professor Vlasie Fidas, a historian, ‘the integration of the blessing of Marriage into the Divine Eucharist limited the development of the specific elements of a special service for the Sacrament of Marriage, which [service] was encompassed both by the special prayers for the sanctification of marital relationships and by the entire service of the Divine Liturgy”. Of course, he adds, “the earliest simple forms of blessing and sanctification of marriage bonds were developed by drawing on relevant elements from the Old and New Testaments, but without becoming independent of the Eucharistic framework or evolving into a separate service of the [Sacrament of] Marriage’19”.
Also of interest in this context is the following view expressed by the Metropolitan of Pergamon, John Zizioulas: “It would be a mistake to regard Marriage as a mere certification and blessing of a biological fact. United with the Eucharist, [Marriage] serves as a reminder [to] the newlyweds [that], although they have the blessing to establish a family of their own, nevertheless, the ultimate and essential interweaving of the bonds that constitute their hypostasis is not the family, but the Church, as expressed in the Eucharistic assembly. This eschatological transcendence of the biological hypostasis is also signified by the crowning of the newlyweds, but it is truly and existentially lost the moment the Marriage service is severed from the Eucharist20].
In the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Sacrament of Marriage “finds its true meaning and essential mission, which are the spouses’ experience of Christ’s love and the transformation of their bond into a sign of the Kingdom of God. In the Eucharistic assembly, in the presence of the Mother of God and all the Saints, with the blessing of the Triune God, the faithful accept that a new couple may share in God’s mercy and gift and transform their union into a mystery of the Kingdom’21 Certainly, it must not be overlooked that all this can take place in this way and be fulfilled when there is full integration of the newlyweds into the Body of the Church and into life in Christ, as this was outlined by the Holy Apostles and continued by the Holy Fathers. But this life is scarcely possible, if at all, within the conventional and entirely non-ecclesiastical perception and experience of marriage, as is evident in our secularised parishes today, where the distinction from the world is limited merely to the letter and not to the spirit, and marriage has clearly taken on a worldly character.
Even the structure of the Service of the Holy Mystery of Marriage, even as it is usually celebrated nowadays outside the Divine Liturgy, confirms the connection between this Holy Sacrament and the Divine Eucharist. This is recalled by the ekphonesis ‘Blessed is the Kingdom…’, the Great Litany—which also includes special petitions—the readings from Holy Scripture, the Triple Litany, the prayers of intercession, ‘And make us worthy…’ with ‘Our Father’, the prayer of the bowing of the heads, the communal cup and the chinonic (‘The cup of salvation…’). In the manuscripts, the singing of the triple hymn ‘Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal…’ is also recorded in its usual place. The late, distinguished Greek musicologist Simon Karás, in a special study on the subject based on manuscripts, highlighted inthe analogies and similarities between the Service of the Holy Sacrament of Marriage and the Services of other Holy Sacraments and liturgical practices, which are performed in connection with the Divine Liturgy 22.
It is indeed worth noting that, based on the tradition recorded in manuscripts from the 11th to the 17th century, the Service of the Holy Sacrament of Marriage was closely linked to the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, a practice which, as has been noted, was very widespread. However, it is reasonable to ask: what was the reason for this practice? In response to this question, the late liturgist Ioan Fundúlis cites several reasons: ‘probably the need to separate the wedding from the major church gatherings of the entire parish community, especially on Sundays, feast days or patronal feasts; probably the fact that it is celebrated at times other than the usual hours of the Liturgy; probably a combination of these reasons, or possibly others as well, contributed to the search for and adoption of this practical solution’23 And, quite rightly, he concludes that this solution also reveals “the emphasis on the connection between the Liturgy and Marriage”24.
6. It must therefore be emphasised that for many centuries, up until the middle of the period of Ottoman rule 25—referring to the Greek context—our Holy Fathers succeeded in preserving both Baptism, as well as Marriage, linked to the Divine Eucharist; yet ‘the last two dark centuries of bondage were enough to cause this link to disappear’ 26. Thus, through the dominance of a scholastic spirit, together with the standardisation arising from the transformation of faith into tradition, the Holy Sacraments have been severed, in recent centuries, from the Divine Liturgy or severed from their connection with it and, by extension, with the Divine Eucharist, becoming separate services for individual sanctification and the conventional fulfilment of religious obligations. For example, the Holy Sacrament of Penance, which was once an act of reconciliation with the Church, is understood today as a formal-legal settlement of our relationship with the wrathful Deity and a reconciliation with Him, within the confines of a transaction. Moreover, penances have come to be regarded, rather than as means of healing, as akin to papal punishments, for the redemption of sins or their atonement before God. The same applies to the Holy Sacrament of Unction, which has become a substitute for the Holy Sacrament of Confession, as preparation for receiving Holy Communion.
In this context, the Holy Sacrament of Marriage has also been stripped of the possibility of the transfiguration of physical marriage within the Church and is perceived merely as a simple blessing and a Christian validation of marriage, for the legal physical cohabitation of the spouses. For this reason, the Chalice of the Eucharist has been replaced by a cup, which symbolises their life together, but within the limits of the untransfigured natural order. However, in this way, the connection between the Holy Sacraments and the life of the entire Church Body, as well as their ecclesiastical character, has become confused, and the meaning of community and communion has been lost, as has that of the assembly, which brings about the building up and growth of the Church in Christ. All the worldly elements that have crept into the celebration of the Holy Sacrament of Marriage vary from place to place, contributing to the secularisation of the Holy Sacrament of Marriage, a secularisation that goes hand in hand with the loss of its ecclesiastical character.
It should be noted, however, that in Greece, at least in recent decades, there has been an increase in the number of people wishing to have the Holy Sacraments of Baptism and Marriage celebrated within the Divine Liturgy. This development should be viewed with optimism, even if there are undoubtedly sentimental and pietistic motives driving it. Nevertheless, even if in certain cases it is merely a matter of romantic sentimentality, a return to Tradition—even if only superficial—represents a positive step towards the revival of [the authentic way of living and expressing faith in Christ]. Just as the severing of the link between Marriage and the Divine Eucharist, as well as that between Baptism and the Divine Eucharist, may be regarded as an easy solution for cases of definitive separation from the life of the Church, the reconnection of these Holy Sacraments with the Church, by those who have an understanding of their theological and ecclesiastical content and are eager for their traditional celebration, represents a true blessing, and so this restoration of the bond ought to be welcomed with praise by us, the clergy, as well.
However, the ecclesiastical character of the Holy Sacrament of Marriage is undermined, even irreparably so, in situations where the understanding of Marriage within the Church, as well as its very essence, is denied. Such cases include:
a) Fornication: as a disastrous perversion of the genital function and its dynamism, fornication represents a separation of man from communion with God and with His Grace, which cannot then work and function salvifically within man. It is, therefore, a spiritual death for man. That is why, in our Tradition, any sin is regarded as fornication. According to Saint Gregory the Theologian, ‘it is not only sin concerning the body that is called fornication and adultery, but also any sin you may have committed and, above all, the transgression of the law in relation to the Divine’27). He who indulges in carnal fornication submits to impersonal biological instincts and self-centred carnal pleasure, which has become autonomous, consisting in a hypertrophic development of the reproductive instinct; this instinct, instead of being used in a theocentric manner by man for his salvation, is allowed to dominate and guide him. For this reason, given the degeneration of the instincts, the Stoic philosophers said that ‘the greatest virtue is to conquer oneself’. Debauchery, in every possible form, involving the belittling and exploitation of one’s fellow human beings for the sake of egocentric pleasure and gratification, represents a tragic fall from the communion which the Church embodies and realises.
The only preventive and therapeutic means against falling into debauchery is asceticism and the spiritual life. ‘The essence of asceticism and empirical knowledge is purity’, according to Saint Icumenie, Bishop of Trikki 28. Where the aim of transforming the body into a temple of the Holy Spirit prevails, there the inclination towards debauchery is rejected; this inclination can also infiltrate the bond of marriage, in cases where spouses, failing to experience the spiritual life, perceive one another as ‘a vessel of carnal pleasure’. However, according to the same Saint Icumenie, the one who is dominated, in this case, by the spirit of debauchery, ‘sins in all things. For their transgression extends to the whole body of the Church’, a body from which they are ‘separated’ until they repent, just as happened to the person who committed incest, mentioned in the First Epistle to the Corinthians 29.
Where the aim of transforming the body into a temple of the Holy Spirit prevails, there the inclination towards fornication is rejected…
b) Adultery: just as with fornication, so too does adultery or marital infidelity, as a betrayal of marriage and a failure to honour it, represent a turning away from God and a rejection of His Grace. According to Saint Gregory of Nyssa, whilst ‘the bride’s best man’30 in Marriage according to Christ is God, ‘the bride’s best man, as the instigator of adultery’, is the devil 31. The socio-ecclesiastical nature of adultery lies in the fact that those who commit it—that is, the adulterers—by their actions destroy not only their own marriage, effectively breaking it up, but also another marriage, from the moment that ‘what God has joined together’—that is, the two spouses who, through the Holy Sacrament of Marriage, have become one flesh—‘is divided into two’32 Adultery is an injustice not only towards the other person, but also towards ourselves. Therefore, the person who commits adultery not only loses God’s Grace, but also falls away from the Church, severing their connection with it and their nourishment from its life-giving juices. Because of this reality, adultery, like fornication, is classified as a mortal sin. This is because it brings about the spiritual death of the Christian, which only repentance can overcome, leading to the spiritual resurrection of the fallen person. This fact is made clear by Christ’s words to the sinful woman: ‘From now on, sin no more’33; for, according to Eftimie Zigaben, He understood her and she repented from the depths of her heart 34. Just as with every sin, so too in the case of adultery, repentance is the remedy for the affliction, so that the one who has sinned may be reintegrated into the body of the Church.
c) There is yet another important issue which contributes to the undermining and, in fact, the denial of the ecclesiastical nature of Marriage. This concerns so-called ‘mixed marriages’, which distort the identity of Orthodox and ecclesiastical marriage. However, this subject requires special treatment, both because of its scope and its importance 35.
7. Through the Holy Sacrament of Marriage, in its various forms, the spouses realise the experience of love after Christ, as a unifying force both for the Church’s Body and for the spouses’ interpersonal bond, just as this bond develops within the ‘little church’, that is, the family. In this way, we return to the connection and interrelation between the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony and the Eucharist and the Divine Liturgy. The Holy Sacrament of Marriage embodies a way of life, namely the Eucharistic way of life of communion in Christ. Through their ongoing spiritual struggle and their union with the Body and Blood of the Lord, spouses overcome within the Church any conflict and tendency towards division that stems from self-centredness. In the Church, selfishness and all related passions are crucified and put to death, so that love in Christ—the foundation of the family—may live. The commemoration of the Holy Martyrs during the Divine Liturgy of Marriage relates to the very essence of Marriage, as martyrdom for Christ and His lordship over our lives, as well as to the daily witness to the presence of Christ’s grace—and consequently, of the uncreated element—in our hearts and throughout our whole being. In this context, all individualism and self-centredness are transcended through openness towards others and reaching out to them, given that true love is communicative, a characteristic of the life of the Church.
In the Church, selfishness and all related passions are crucified and die, so that love in Christ—the foundation of the family—may live.
This transformation, which takes place through man’s energetic response to God’s love, presupposes the seeking of that love in the Holy Sacrament of Marriage. Therefore, participation in the Sacrament of Marriage is subject to certain prerequisites, and for this reason, the efforts of certain bishops and priests to catechise future bride and groom36 in accordance with the teachings of the Church are to be commended. I believe this is also taking place within the Romanian Orthodox Church, just as it has already become widespread in many of the Metropolises of Greece. It is not merely the catechetical message of these meetings, but also the cultivation of a spiritual bond with the catechist, whether a bishop or parish priest, who guides the steps of the prospective bride and groom towards the church assembly, the Divine Eucharist and ‘the offering of our whole life to Christ our God’, in the words of our liturgy.
- 1
Vol. I, 24. For an earlier version of this translation, see Mehedinți: History, Culture and Spirituality, 5–8 June 2011. 190 years since Tudor Vladimirescu’s Revolution of 1821. 2011 – The Commemorative Year of Holy Baptism and Holy Matrimony in the Romanian Patriarchate, 4, Didahia Severin Publishing House, Drobeta Turnu Severin, 2011, pp. 43–52 (translator’s note).
- 2
Saint Gregory the Theologian, Epistle 101 to Clidonius, in Patrologia Graeca (hereinafter: PG) 37, 181/4; Saint John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, III, in PG 94, 1005 B.
- 3
Or the Wedding (translator’s note).
- 4
Saint Ignatius Theophorus, Epistle to Polycarp of Smyrna, V, 2.
- 5
See Ephesians 5:32.
- 6
That is to say, of that union (translator’s note).
- 7
Chr. S. Voulgaris, The Unity of the Apostolic Church, Thessaloniki, 1974, p. 436.
- 8
PG, 62, 388.
- 9
Stavros S. Fotiou, Marriage as a Mystery of Love according to the New Testament, Athens, 1994, p. 209.
- 10
P. Alex. Smeeman, So That the World May Live, Athens, 1987², p. 130.
- 11
The late Father Gheorghe Metallinós refers to the traditional division of the church into three parts: the Holy Altar, the naos and the pronaos, with a porch sometimes added. In liturgical practice, both the Betrothal Service and the Wedding Service are celebrated together in the nave (translator’s note).
- 12
On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, Book III, Chapter 1, in PG 3, 424 C.
- 13
Ioannis Zizioulas, Metropolitan of Pergamon, From Face to Face: The Contribution of Patristic Theology to the Concept of the Person, Athens, 1976, p. 319.
- 14
“… the mystery of mysteries… and the service of all services combined” (Simeon of Thessalonica, in PG 155, 253).
- 15
This can refer both to the human body, in the narrow sense, and to the Church as the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world and the Son of God (translator’s note).
- 16
See the Anaphora Prayer: Remembering, therefore, … his second and glorious coming.
- 17
See I. Pheidas, Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I, Athens, 1992, p. 270.
- 18
P. Alex. Smeeman, op. cit., p. 130.
- 19
See I. Feida, op. cit., p. 271.
- 20
Ioannis Zizioulas, Metropolitan of Pergamon, op. cit., p. 319, note 52.
- 21
Stavros S. Fotiou, op. cit., p. 206.
- 22
Simon I. Kara, The Byzantine Wedding Service, Athens, 1988, p. 20.
- 23
Ioannis Fountoulis, Answers to Liturgical Questions, Vol. III, Athens, 1991², p. 199.
- 24
Ibid.
- 25
The period of Ottoman rule over the Greeks, from 1453, the year in which Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, until 1821, the year of the Greek Revolution and the beginning of Greece’s liberation from Ottoman rule (translator’s note).
- 26
Ioannis Fountoulis, op. cit., p. 200.
- 27
Saint Gregory the Theologian, Homily 37, 19, in PG 36, 304.
- 28
See PG 119, 85.
- 29
See 1 Corinthians 5:1; PG 118, 721.
- 30
That is, the person who leads the bride to the groom (translator’s note).
- 31
See PG 46, 496.
- 32
Commands of the Apostles 6:28, in PG 1, 984.
- 33
John VIII, 11.
- 34
See PG 129, 1281.
- 35
See Archimandrite Gregory D. Papathoma, ‘Open Ecclesiastical Communion: Illegitimate and Mixed Marriages and the Conversion of Adults’, in Canonical Amorphs (Essays on Canonical Economy), Athens, 2006, pp. 231–249 (translator’s note).
- 36
That is to say, to introduce the bride and groom – and their godparents, if any – to the mysteries of the Church, so that they may become familiar not only with the Church’s teachings concerning the Holy Sacrament of Marriage or the Wedding, but also with the authentic way of living it out (translator’s note).