After 100 years, church wedding registrations back in Russia

(Pravoslavie.ru) - For the first time since the October Revolution of 1917 Russian registrars have registered a marriage in a church.

The ceremony took place at Saratov’s Holy Trinity Cathedral in southwestern central Russia, reports the Orthodox TV channel Soyuz.

Then the couple sealed their union with a crowning, which per modern Church rules, should be celebrated after the official registration of a marriage.

“We have come to a very harmonious process. The centenary of the establishing of the civil registry will be next year. Therefore, we took another step: today we reunited the state and Church,” said the head of the Saratov region civil registry Yulia Ponomareva, who was present at the wedding ceremony.

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 30, 2016 at 2:22 PM

    The irony is that we at our most recent pastoral conference were discussing whether or not the time has come for us as Orthodox priests to abstain from signing marriage certificates to clearly delineate the mystery of marriage from what the state is conferring on people.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Anti-GnosticOctober 30, 2016 at 2:29 PM

      The Russian State follows Church teaching in only extending legal marriage to heterosexual unions. Hence, its clergy avoid our uniquely Western dilemma.

      Delete
    2. The Anti-GnosticOctober 30, 2016 at 2:29 PM

      The Russian State follows Church teaching in only extending legal marriage to heterosexual unions. Hence, its clergy avoid our uniquely Western dilemma.

      Delete

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