On what days do they get married in the church? How is this amazing ceremony performed? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. Many people want to connect their fate with their loved one, not just having received parting words in the registry office, but also getting married in the temple. It is important that this episode become a deliberate serious step, and not turn out to be an ordinary tribute to fashion. Information about the days on which the church is crowned, as well as some of the rules for this action, we will consider below.
Who can't get married, and who can?
Many people wonder what days they get married in church. First learn the basic rules of this ceremony:
- Those who are getting married must be baptized in an Orthodox church. This is the first requirement. If the situation with baptism is vague, or the bride and groom are not churched, it is important to visit the church a month before the scheduled wedding date and discuss all the nuances with the priest. Sometimes young people are allowed to get married, even if someone is in a coupleis not Orthodox. But there is one condition: the children born in this marriage must be baptized in Orthodoxy.
- The next requirement is the marriageable age of the young: the groom must be 18 years old, and the bride must be 16. Of course, the clergyman will make indulgence to the younger newlywed if she is expecting a baby. The Church wants children to be born in a married marriage.
- Remember that the couple will be married, even if the bride and groom did not receive the blessing of their parents. In this case, everything is decided by the wish of the clergyman.
By the way, it is forbidden to marry unbaptized and atheists, spiritual and blood relatives (for example, goddaughter and godfather), as well as those who are married for the 4th time. The wedding ceremony is performed only 3 times. And then on condition that the previous married marriage was annulled according to church canons or the person was widowed.
When you can not get married, and when you can
So what days do they get married in the church? It is important that you can conduct a wedding ceremony on the day of marriage in the registry office (but it is very difficult to physically bear it), and even if your legal marriage has been for many years.
By the way, if the bride or groom has any problems with the documents, do not be afraid to turn to the priest - in the temple they will definitely meet you. Not getting married:
- During Lent - Christmas (lasts from 11/28 to 01/06), Assumption (August 14-27), Great (seven weeks before Orthodox Easter), Petrov (lasts from 8 to 42 days and depends on the date of Easter). When planning your wedding, be sure to consider thisnuance. After all, fasting involves abstinence both in loud festivities, food, drinking alcoholic beverages, and in carnal intimacy.
- If the bride or groom is married to another person who has not been dissolved in the order established by the church.
- The wedding ceremony in the temple is not held every day, but only 4 days a week - on Fridays, Wednesdays, Mondays and Sundays.
- If the permission of a clergyman is not given for marriage and wedding.
There is another interesting point: according to church canons, it is forbidden to appear in the temple on "critical days". Therefore, calculate and choose the right time for the ceremony.
How to prepare?
Everyone should know what days they get married in the church. It is important to choose a temple and a priest who will perform the ceremony. It is advisable to give preference to a church that you have been attending since childhood, or one in which you are calm and comfortable.
Agree on the date of the ceremony ahead of time - a couple of weeks. Also discuss in advance: what to take with you to the temple, how long the wedding will last, whether it is possible to take a photo session or shoot a video during the process, what is the price of the service (if it is paid).
Important! Batiushka can offer you additional church services. For example, choir singing, bell ringing.
How to choose guarantors?
Do you still ask what days they get married in the temple? Let us first find out who the guarantors are. This is the name of the witnesses who hold the crowns during the ceremony. Usually they are chosen from friends (relatives) living in a legal marriage, or unmarried baptized people. By the way, the church does not allow the appointment of guarantors who are in a civil marriage or divorced.
Guarantors have the same obligations as godparents: they spiritually manage the family, help young people with advice in life.
Important: if you could not agree with the witnesses, they can hold the wedding without them.
Which outfit to choose?
Do you know what days they get married in the Orthodox Church? Study this article carefully. Let's find out which wedding outfit you need to choose. There is an important rule here: young people must have baptismal crosses. The bride needs to wear a dress below the knees, without open shoulders (you can put on a stole) and a deep neckline. Veils are allowed, but hats and massive headgear are not. After all, the bride will be wearing a church crown on her head.
The groom should be in a suit, but not too bright, extravagant, and even less sporty. Women (guests of the ceremony) are required to wear dresses or skirts below the knee. Married people can attend the event only with their heads covered.
By the way, the bride is forbidden to come to the temple with bright makeup. She cannot kiss the icon and the cross with brightly painted lips. People say that a wedding dress cannot be sold or given away: it is saved, like candles, a baptismal shirt and kryzhma.
What is neededprepare?
Wedding days married people remember all their lives. Therefore, prepare in advance all the attributes necessary for the ceremony:
- wedding candles;
- icons (images of Christ and the Mother of God);
- rings (give them to the priest before the ceremony for consecration);
- two scarves (they wrap wedding candles);
- white towel-towel (during the ceremony, young people will stand on it).
Wedding towels are saved in the same way as wedding candles, which are lit when someone in the family is sick or to clean the house.
How to behave during the ceremony?
Wedding days in the church memorize the rules. After all, this information may be required by you or your loved ones. But we continue further. The priest will tell you how the ceremony will take place. The wedding is held at the entrance to the temple, the bride is to the left of the groom, both stand on the towel and hold the lit candles until the end of the sacrament.
The young people are blessed by the priest during the ceremony - after a special prayer, he must change the wedding rings from the groom's hand to the bride's hand three times.
Then the confessor will ask the question: “Is the wedding done of your own free will? Are there any obstacles? After the answer of the bride and groom and the psalm, the young become spouses before the Almighty. Now they must kiss the crowns of the temple and drink church wine in three sips.
At the end of the ceremony, the father of the spouses leads the couple around the lectern, after - to the Royal Doors. Then the groom is obliged to kiss the icon of Christ, and the bride - the icon of the Virgin. After all these actions, the guests can applaud the young ones.
Wedding in May
What are the best days for a wedding? For a Christian believing couple, the wedding ritual is a very serious, but at the same time quite natural process. Especially if the bride and groom grew up in families where Orthodox traditions were honored from birth. But people come to God at different ages. And not everyone is familiar with the canons in the significant matter of creating a marriage in heaven.
On what days of the week do they usually get married? First, pay attention to some significant things:
- Temple. Its placement, history, reviews and recommendations.
- Priest. Most newlyweds, following the values of their family, long before marriage choose a rector for themselves. But if it didn’t work out, give preference to a confessor, based on your own impressions of communication and advice.
It is known that May is considered the most unfavorable month for a wedding. Usually this time was the most difficult for work in the field and in the garden. And autumn stocks after the winter were very scarce, which is why the festive table was very poor.
In today's world, when such prejudices are attributed to the relics of the past, May remains among the leaders of the most attractive months of the year. So, blooming gardens, fresh greenery and renewed nature will create excellent conditions for a celebration. And the church does not prevent the wedding in May at all.
Special days of the week
And nowlist the days favorable for the wedding. Sunday, Wednesday, Friday and Monday are considered the most successful for this ceremony. But on Saturday, such a ceremony can be performed only in case of a special agreement with the priest.
This day is the day of remembrance of the dead, and the church asks newlyweds to avoid church weddings. Couples are also prohibited from getting married throughout the year on Thursdays and Tuesdays.
Red Hill Day
So, you already know which wedding days are best. It should be noted that for this rite, the people set the first Sunday after Easter as the most successful period of the year.
Confessors on the day of the Red Hill perform an impressive number of weddings for everyone. In addition, weddings on holidays associated with the Queen of Heaven, especially on the Protection of the Righteous Mother of God, are considered a guarantee of happiness in the family and a successful marriage. Priests do not crown newlyweds during fasts, on the eve of Orthodox holidays and on the days of continuous weeks.
And each church has its own patronal celebrations, which do not fall into the general church calendar and are not suitable for church marriages. And this means that the consultation of the priest in a particular church is extremely necessary. He will be happy to help you choose the right day for the wedding.
Wedding calendar for any year
On what days you can hold a wedding, you already know. And when they do not perform the sacrament of marriage? This rite is notspend in the following periods:
- on the eve of the temple patronal feasts;
- Thursdays, Tuesdays (on the eve of fast days - Fridays and Wednesdays) and on Saturday (on the eve of Little Easter - Sunday);
- on Easter, on the eve of the great twelfth holidays. On the days of the twelfth celebrations, weddings are not prohibited, but objectionable. The day of the common great church holiday must be lived together with the Church, without obscuring religious exultation with your tiny personal joy. If you need to get married these days, coordinate this with the confessor;
- in the Cheese week, in continuation of the Bright (Easter) week and Christmas time. Weddings during the weeks preparatory to Great Lent and other continuous weeks are not prohibited, but objectionable;
- during Christmas, Petrov, Assumption and Lent.
- on the days (and on the eve) of a one-day strict fast: the Ex altation of the Lord's Cross (September 27) and the Beheading of John the Baptist (September 11).
Exceptions to these canons can only be made by the ruling bishop. If the rite was performed on a day prohibited by the religious charter, then this does not invalidate it.
Current practice in Orthodox Local Churches
It is known that in the Greek and Constantinople churches it is forbidden to get married on Easter, Epiphany, Pentecost, the Nativity of Christ, Great Lent (from Cheesefare Week), Christmas (from December 18 to 24), Assumption, and also on the day of the Beheading heads of St. John the Baptist, if he is on a fast dayaccounted for.
(that is, in the Bright and Cheese weeks and the week of the Holy Spirit), on the day of the Beheading of the head of the Holy Forerunner John.
In the Serbian Church - on Wednesday and Friday, during the four great fasts, on Easter and Holy Week, January 18 (on the eve of the Lord's Epiphany).
In Romanian churches - on Great Lent (except for Cheesefare Week and with the blessing of the bishop - on the Annunciation), Assumption, Christmas (on St. Nicholas Day, weddings are allowed with the blessing of the bishop), on Bright Week, on Friday and Wednesday, during the period from the Nativity of Christ to Theophany, on the eve and on the days of the Lord's feasts.
If we compare the current practices of the Local Churches, we can see that only in the Russian Church on Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday weddings are not performed. In the Orthodox Greek-speaking world, Sunday and Saturday are the basic wedding days. At the same time, no critical statements regarding this practice of Athos monastic attorneys, which had an exceptional influence on the Christian life of the Balkan Orthodox peoples for many centuries, are known.
And one of the laws of the Byzantine work "Alphabetic Syntagma" by Vlastar Matthew (XIV century) says that mourning for deceased loved ones is not a reason to postpone marriage.
It is also clear that in many Churches weddings are allowed on the eve of fast days, andThe current Russian method, which forbids weddings on Thursday and Tuesday, contradicts both the practice of other Churches and the general church tradition about fast days. It is also known that this practice developed very late, not earlier than the 17th century.
