Marriage in the Melkite Catholic Church

Background Marriage is a one of the sacraments of the Church in which a man and woman are united by the Holy Trinity. Their conjugal union is blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ through the Church. God's grace is imparted to them to live together in His love, mutually fulfilling and perfecting each other. The ceremony of the sacrament of marriage (or mystery of marriage as is called in Eastern Church theology) is full of symbolism. The Fathers of the Church, especially St. Epiphanius (+403), St. Augustine (+430), and St. Cyril of Alexandria (+444), are unanimous in teaching that Jesus Christ sanctified and elevated Christian marriage to the dignity of mystery (sacrament) by His presence at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, where He also performed His first miracle. This is the reason why the Gospel of St. John, describing the miracle at the wedding in Cana, is read at the marriage ceremony. (Jn 2:1-11) The Church Fathers, from early times, insisted that Christian marriage be celebrated in the church, being solemnized with the religious rites. Already St. Ignatius of Antioch (+110) ordained: "It is proper for those who marry to be united with the consent of the bishop (presbyter), so that the marriage may be according to the Lord and not according to lust." (cf. his Epistle to Polycarp, 5) And St. John Chryostom: "Do you want Christ to come and sanctify your marriage? Then invite the priest. Through His servant, Christ will come and sanctify your marriage, just as He did it at Cana." (cf. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, vol. XLI, col. 210) Over the centuries, the ritual of marriage was subject to various changes and additions. It received its present form only in the middle of the seventeenth century, when two originally separated rites, that of Betrothal and of Crowning, were combined into one Ritual of Marriage (cf. P. Mohyla, Trebnyk/Ritual/, Kiev 1646). It was Metropolitan Peter Mohyla of Kiev who finally inserted the Ring Ceremony into the Marriage Ritual in his ritual book, called Trebnyk, printed in 1646. The wedding rings symbolize the pledge of fidelity between the spouses. Since Christian marriage is indissoluble and its validity depends on the free consent of spouses, Metropolitan Mohyla also inserted an explicit and public exchange of the marital vows before the crowning ceremony. While exchanging their vows, the spouses join their right hands and place them on the Gospel Book, and the celebrating priest covers their hands with the epitrachellion. The ceremony of joining the hands is very old and is already mentioned by St. Gregory Nazianzus (+389). It symbolizes the presense of Christ who, through his servant-priest, confirms the marital union, saying: "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder." (Mt 19:6) The exchange of vows is followed by a moving ceremony of crowning, mentioned already by St. John Chrysostom (+407), by which the marriage becomes officially recognized by the Church. The crowning of spouses was adapted from the Old Testament (Is. 61:10). It symbolizes the "glory and honor" of Christian marriage, since it was instituted by God and elevated by Christ to the dignity of the holy mystery (sacrament.) The crowns should remind the spouses that in their marital union they must assist and help each other to attain "unfading crown of glory" in heaven (1 Pet. 5:4), as suggested by the concluding prayer, recited by the celebrant: "O God, our God, ... accept their crowns into your kingdom, keeping them pure, blameless and above all reproach." Symbols used in wedding ceremony The rings The ring is circle-shaped, i.e. has no ending point indicating that marriage is binding forever. The rings are blessed by the priest who takes them in his hand and, making the sign of the cross over the heads of bride and groom, says: "The servant of God ...is betrothed to the maid of God ... in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The couple then exchange the rings, taking the bride's ring and placing it on the groom's finger and vice-versa. The rings, of course, are the symbol of betrothal and their exchange signifies that in married life the weaknesses of the one partner will be compensated for by the strength of the other, the imperfections of one by the perfections of the other. By themselves, the newly-betrothed are incomplete: together they are made perfect. Thus the exchange of rings gives expression to the fact that the spouses in marriage will constantly be complementing each other. Each will be enriched by the union. The candlesThe bride and groom are handed candles which they hold throughout the service. The candles are like the lamps of the five wise maidens of the Bible, who because they had enough oil in them, were able to receive the Bridegroom, Christ, when He came in the darkness of the night. The candles symbolize the spiritual willingness of the couple to receive Christ, Who will bless them through this Mystery. The joining of the right handsThe right hand of the bride and groom are joined when the priest reads the prayer that beseeches God to "join these thy servants, unite them in one mind and one flesh." The hands are kept joined throughout the service to symbolize the "oneness" of the couple. The crowningThe service of the Crowning, which follows, is the climax of the Wedding service. The crowns are signs of the glory and honor with which God crowns them during the Mystery. The groom and the bride are crowned as the king and queen of their own little kingdom, the home - domestic church, which they will rule with fear of God, wisdom, justice and integrity. When the crowning takes place the priest, taking the crowns and holding them above the couple, says:"The servants of God, (names), are crowned in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." The crowns used in the wedding service refer to the crowns of martyrdom since every true marriage involves immeasurable self-sacrifice on both sides. The common cupThe service of crowning is followed by the reading of the Epistle and the Gospel. The Gospel reading describes the marriage at Cana of Galilee which was attended and blessed by our Lord and Saviour Christ, and for which He reserved His first miracle. There He converted the water into better wine and give of it to the newlyweds, in remembrance of this blessing, wine is given the couple. This is the "common cup" of better life denoting the mutual sharing of joy and sorrow, the token of a life of harmony. The drinking of wine from the common cup serves to impress upon the couple that from that moment on they will share everything in life, joys as well as sorrows, and that they are to "bear one another's burdens." Their joys will be doubled and their sorrows halved because they will be shared. The walkThe priest then leads the bride and groom in a circle around the table on which are placed the Gospel and the Cross, the one containing the Word of God, the other being the symbol of our redemption by our Saviour Jesus Christ. The husband and wife are taking their first steps as a married couple, and the Church, in the person of the priest, leads them in the way they must walk. The way is symbolized by the circle at the center of which are the Gospel and the Cross of our Lord. This expresses the fact that the way of Christian living is a perfect orbit around the center of life, who is Jesus Christ our Lord. During this walk around the table a hymn its sung to the Holy Martyrs reminding the newly married couple of the sacrificial love they are to have for each other in marriage - a love that seeks not its own but is willing to sacrifice its all for the one loved. The blessingThe couple return to their places and the priest, blessing the groom, says, "Be thou magnified, O bridegroom, as Abraham, and blessed as Isaac, and increased as Jacob, walking in peace and working in righteousness the commandments of God." And blessing the bride he says, "And thou, O bride, be thou magnified as Sarah, and glad as Rebecca, and do thou increase like unto Rachael, rejoicing in thine own husband, fulfilling the conditions of the law; for so it is well pleasing unto God." Compiled from: http://www.angelfire.com/me2/byzantinelinks/byzmarriage.html http://russian-crafts.com/customs/marriage.html