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Getting Married at St.Matthew’s The Church understands that a couple “applies for permission” to be married, providing certain spiritual and canonical requirements be met with the blessing of the local Hierarch. 1. One of the couple (if not both, ideally) must be a fully practicing Orthodox Christian and a member in good standing (meaning full participation and presence physically as well as in sharing time, talent and treasure) of St. Matthew’s or a canonical Orthodox Parish.2. If one of the couple is “non-Orthodox”, he or she must be a Christian baptized in the Name of the Trinity (by water) and willing to learn and commit to take on the responsibilities of living in Christ as a married couple. If this is not the case when the priest is first approached, then the couple would commit to enter into the counseling process to be spiritually at this place by the time of the Wedding.3. The Orthodox parties are attending Church regularly for some time prior to the Wedding 4. The couple will participate in several counseling meetings with the priest as well as the PREP program and any professional counselors (as the need may be determined by the priest) well in advance of the wedding date. (If a couple can spend indeterminate amounts of money on a reception, etc., then they certainly can spend of it on their future.) The date of the Wedding may be postponed or even cancelled if the perspective Bride and Groom realize that there are serious issues (spiritual, emotional, psychological, etc.) needing resolution before the Sacrament can be celebrated. 5. The couple will participate in the Mystery of Repentance (Confession) prior to the Wedding. Our Concern at St. Matthew’s is not that one have fantastic wedding but a great and blessed married life. An Orthodox Wedding is not primarily about the Bride and Groom any more than, despite what he might have thought, all of the hullabaloo on Palm Sunday was about the proverbial donkey colt rather than the One he carried. The Wedding Service is about a woman and man being joined together by the Holy Spirit, as in the Eucharist, to become a Sacramental Presence of Christ and His loving bond to (and confirmed by) the Church. Our Parish is there to help and support a couple entering into this Mystery responsibly with understanding and commitment. Our commitment to each other happens only to the degree that we reflect and draw upon the Lord and His loving commitment to us.
Saint Matthew's Greek Orthodox Church O Holy
Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, intercede to our merciful God, |
