§ 179. Marriage as a New Testament Sacrament

The Christian Church, in accordance with the fundamental ethical purpose of marriage, gave marriage a spiritual significance, received it as her own institution, and numbered it among her sacraments. The Holy Scripture of the New Testament regards the bond between husband and wife as a union that binds them spiritually: “for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh; so then they are no more twain, but one flesh; what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”[1] The Apostle Paul, referring in his Epistle to the Ephesians to these words of the Founder of the Church concerning the bond of husband and wife, calls it a mystery and likens it to the bond of Christ with the Church.[2]

This dogmatic foundation of marriage found formal expression in one of the fundamental symbolic books of the Orthodox Church, in which, to the question: which is the sixth sacrament? — we read this answer: “Honorable marriage, which comes about first through the mutual agreement of husband and wife, and without any impediment. But this agreement is not yet sufficient for a true marriage to be contracted, if they do not themselves, before the priest, confirm their mutual promise and give their hands, that each of them will keep mutual fidelity, honor, and conjugal love unto the end of their life, whatever danger they may be in, and that they will not forsake one another. At last this agreement and their promise is confirmed and blessed by the priest, and it comes to pass, as it is written: marriage is honorable in all, and the marriage bed undefiled.”[3] In this definition three sides appear: a) the agreement of a male person and a female person to enter into marriage, b) the declaration of that agreement in the form of a solemn promise in church before the priest, that they will keep mutual fidelity, honor and conjugal love to the end of life and will not forsake one another, whatever danger they may be in, and c) the confirmation of that agreement and promise by the priestly blessing. As can be seen, the same three features that we saw in the definition of marriage under Roman law are contained in this definition of marriage as a sacrament, only with a Christian character. The state regards marriage as a contract, founded on human nature, whose purpose stands above the momentary wishes of particular persons. The Church regards it as a sacrament, in which the priestly blessing consecrates the agreement between two persons of different sex and their mutual promise to share good and ill in common until the end of life. The Church, then, sees in marriage such an act in which both the religious and the legal side meet in their fullness.