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Marriage & Family
Married couples and families, you make God and His Church
visible in the world. What a challenge in our contemporary
society!
Husbands and wives, through your mutual self-giving in a
life of Christian love you show the world God’s own
self-giving love. Your spousal love shares in and reflects
Trinitarian love. You make God visible by the way you live
and by the way you love.
Likewise, your Christian family is a living icon of the
Church present and active in the daily lives of individuals
and of society. You show the world how the Christian
community lives, works, loves and nurtures individuals in
the faith.
Our Church is a community empowered by the Holy Spirit “to
set hearts on fire.” This happens on every level from the
laity to the hierarchy, from the infant to elderly. We are
heirs to the Divine promise that “I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men
shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the
handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit” (Joel
2:27-29).
Your Father has called you by name. His Holy Spirit has
empowered you. Like His only-begotten Son, He has sent you
to make God present to the world in which you live.
MARRIAGE
What is Marriage?
The Holy Mystery (Sacrament) of Marriage is one of the seven
Mysteries of divine grace, instituted by Christ. Christian
Marriage constitutes a vocation, a special call by God.
Through this Mystery, a baptized man and woman receive a
“special gift of God” (1 Corinthians 7:7) and enter a
perpetual union devoted to the service of a new life in
Christ.
Where does it come from?
Marriage exists from the dawn of creation. Adam felt lonely,
since there was “no suitable partner” for him (Genesis
2:18). Therefore, God created a woman. When he sees the
woman Adam recognizes a suitable partner equal to himself,
and he exclaimed: “This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my
flesh! … That is why a man leaves his father and mother and
clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body”
(Genesis 2:23-24).
God gives Adam and Eve the command to “be fertile and
multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28).
Humanity receives a vocation to cooperate with God in the
propagation of the human race.
Jesus Christ sanctified and elevated Christian marriage to
the dignity of a Mystery (Sacrament) by His presence at the
wedding in Cana of Galilee. This is why the Byzantine Church
reads the Gospel of the wedding feast at Cana during the
marriage ceremony. (John 2:1-11) Marriage sanctifies and
supports Christian family life.
Why do Byzantines use crowns?
Through the ceremony of crowning the Church officially
recognizes the spouses’ union. The crowning comes from the
Old Testament (Isaiah 61:10). It symbolizes the “glory and
honor” of Christian Marriage.
The crowns remind the spouses that in their marital union
they must help each other to attain the “unfading crown of
glory” in heaven (1 Peter 5:4). That is why the priest prays
“O God, our God, ... accept their crowns into your kingdom,
keeping them pure, blameless and above all reproach.”
Various traditions crowns are followed: some use gold
crowns, some prefer wreaths of greens.
I’m thinking of Marriage, what should I do?
Be sure to stay close to the sacred Mysteries (Sacraments).
Pray every day. Popular media and contemporary culture make
Christian marriage increasingly difficult. Share your
thoughts and feeling with your parish priest. Today more
than ever, Marriage means a profound commitment and a
radical witness.
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