Marriage: The Great Sacrament

Nobody would dispute that the most important day in a person’s life, after his birth and baptism, is that of his marriage.

Marriage is a school for many virtues

To love one’s spouse for as long as we both shall live certainly does not mean that one feels warm and fuzzy about one’s spouse as long as both are alive.

“You kept the good wine till the last”. The Gift of Life

The birth of Christ restored the equality of the sexes. At the beginning of human history, a woman, Eve, was born, without female intervention, from a man, Adam, so in this rebalancing of history, a man, Christ, was born of a woman, Our Most Holy Lady, this time without male involvement. Christ brings the good tidings of the harmonious relationship between us and God and, by extension, with Himself, other people and nature. Love is restored to its place as the mystical axis of life.

Encyclical on Marriage and Family Issued by the Orthodox Church of Greece

The following encyclical issued by the Sacred Synod of the Church of Greece is meant to uphold the Orthodox Christian principles of marriage and family, and its opposition to the so-called Free Cohabitation Agreement issued by the Greek Government, which is positioned as an alternative form of permanent cohabitation and should not be considered a “soft” marriage.

A Monk Defends the Marriage of the Clergy

If we are to understand the events at the beginning of the 4th century related to the above title, we need first to make a brief historical review of the issue of the ordination of the clergy and their married, or non-married life. Naturally, at the time when Christianity was becoming established in the world, the matter of the marriage of the clergy could hardly have been dealt with in the same way as it was later.

Marriage and the Family: Models and Comparisons within the Orthodox Tradition

Models and Comparisons Man moves through life always having need of examples, models, standards, ideals, and comparisons. He has to find support somewhere in order to see or understand something else. From the familiar he proceeds to the dissimilar and gradually draws near to and perceives that which is distant. He uses this way of […]

Marriage or Monasticism?

Most young people don’t know how to discover their calling in the life. Whether to dedicate themselves to monasticism or select the marriage path. Some have the feeling that monasticism is a more superior choice than marriage and that marriage represents a lower situation. Others believe that any young man who chooses to become a […]

Orthodoxy and Divorce

From an interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos: Question: Statistics say that in some countries of the EU more than half of all marriages end up in divorce. Do you think that besides social there are also spiritual reasons for the alarming dissolution of the family in modern societies, and consequently, what precise attitudes and […]