“Crown them with glory and honor.” Marriage in the Orthodox Church

Marriage is a sacrament in the Orthodox Church because it reveals the heavenly kingdom to the world through the couple and their life together. Marriage is not a state of life, but a stage in the life of Christ for the couple, an essential dimension of their salvation.

As Elder Aimilianos of Simonos Petros Monastery on Mt. Athos wrote many years ago, “When two people get married, it’s as if they're saying: Together we will go forward, hand in hand, through good times and bad. We will have dark hours, hours of sorrow filled with burdens, monotonous hours. But in the depths of the night, we continue to believe in the sun and the light.”

The marriage service in the Orthodox Church is divided into two parts: The Rite of Betrothal and the Rite of Crowning. Both rites are filled with images and references from the Old and New Testaments. In addition to praying to God for the couple being married for a blessed life together, these references offer role models of married couples, aids in our understanding of the symbols, and teach about the meaning of married life.

Source: GOARCH

If you are interested in celebrating your marriage at St. George, please contact the church office:

• Email: office@stgeorgechicago.net

• Phone: 773.525.1793

A couple walks outside of St. George after being married, December 2021

Na sas zisei!