What do you need for a wedding?

Before the creation of the registry office, people fastened love by marriage in the church through the wedding ceremony, taking oaths of fidelity to each other before the higher powers. Today this ceremony has not lost its meaning, and many couples sooner or later come to the conclusion that a purely legal formality in the form of a certificate of civil status is not enough for a loving couple. Not everyone knows what is needed for a church wedding in terms of spiritual and physical preparation for the ceremony. And it will take enough strength to carry it out according to all Christian rules.

Who can get married

There are some prohibitions to perform this Sacrament. Not everyone can get married. First of all, the church requires a certificate of legal marriage in the registry office. This is not a sign of mistrust, but a way to avoid such a fall from sin as bigamy, which is prohibited by both church laws and the Constitution. The Christian religion only approves of monogamy, that is, monogamy.

The Church, by decree of the Holy Synod, has no right to marry a couple in which a young man has not reached 18, and a girl is under 16 years old. There is also an upper limit for church marriage - 70 and 60 years, respectively.

If one or both spouses committed adultery in a previous marriage, then deep repentance should be passed, otherwise the priest will not be able to marry such people. Church laws allow no more than 3 marriages, but the latter is seen only as the best alternative to open fornication. Ideally, a husband and wife should be faithful to each other throughout their lives.

The mental disability of one of the couple is another obstacle to the performance of the Sacrament. Physically unhealthy people can easily get married.

The prohibition also applies to couples who have a blood or spiritual relationship. A brother and sister up to the third generation, an adopted child and his parent cannot be married. This is also a taboo for people who have entered into close spiritual relationships through the rite of baptism, that is, the godfather and goddaughter, godfather and godmother have no right to unite in marriage. The same applies to lovers of different faiths. Only after the adoption of Christianity by a representative of another religion is the priest allowed to marry a couple.

Future spouses must be believers, professing Orthodoxy and baptized. You can't take a wedding as a fashionable addition to a wedding. This is a very serious step, after which people are bound by invisible fetters before God until the end of their days, and breaking them is considered a mortal sin.

The rite is not carried out during all fasts, on Christmastide, during the Easter week and on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays.

Preparing for the wedding

Previously, it was impossible to unite those who did not preserve their chastity by church ties. A bowl with Cahors is brought to the young people, from which first the husband and then the wife drink three sips as a sign of the wedding. On the right joined hands of the spouses, the epitrachilia is applied, and the couple walks around the altar three times.

The priest takes off the crowns and reads prayers for the newlyweds, after which the lovers are allowed to kiss each other. Approaching the Royal Doors, the husband kisses the image of the Almighty, the wife - the Mother of God, and vice versa, then they both put their lips to the Cross. At this, the ceremony is considered complete.

Do's and don'ts during the wedding

Relatives and friends of the spouses may be present at the performance of the Sacrament. But the main requirement is keeping quiet. Therefore, it is necessary for all present to turn off their mobile phones even before entering the temple. It is also forbidden to whisper to each other and walk around the temple.

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The bride should not be brightly colored. Makeup should be discreet or absent altogether. Perhaps the most correct decision in this case is the wedding not on the same day with the official painting in the registry office.

The presence of pectoral crosses for both of the pair is a mandatory requirement, without which the priest has the right to refuse to perform the ceremony.

Many people like to organize large-scale photo sessions, but a wedding is not the case. This is a Sacrament in which it is quite possible to get by with one common photograph.

It is advisable, after the ceremony, to approach the icon of the three saints Guria, Samon and Aviv and the image of Anna and Joachim, who are the parents of the Mother of God. All of them are considered patrons of family life and the conception of children in marriage.

You cannot turn your back on the iconostasis. This is a sign of disrespect for all the saints who are venerated by the Orthodox faith.

You can never get married at the insistence of the parents or under the pressure of the other half. The desire to unite your life with a sacred oath before God with another person must come from the soul and be sincere. Otherwise, the Sacrament will not be considered true, and such an attitude towards its fulfillment can be regarded as disrespect for the Lord and Mother Theotokos.

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