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October 21, 2004 The Matrimonial Law
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On Thursday, October 21, 2004, His Eminence Metropolitan George Khodre of the Antiochian Archdiocese of Mount Lebanon made a presentation at St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology, Balamand, on the development of the laws set by the Orthodox church in the Middle East and Abroad, concerning the sacrament of matrimony. The audience included the Dean Bishop JOHN Yazigi, the Faculty and Students from both the Bachelor and Masters Degrees. His Eminence spoke about the development of the sacrament through the ages, citing how in the early church the bride and the groom used to go and seek the blessing of their local bishop and partake of the Eucharistic Communion with the Christian assembly. Later on, prayers were introduced, and in the ninth century a complete service was written, and still used today. Due to the intermarriage of Orthodox Christians with other Christians and even with other faiths, laws were set in order to regulate the relations between the baptized Orthodox Christian and his or her non Orthodox spouse. His Eminence mentioned that the majority of the weddings in his Archdiocese are with Christians of other denominations. A Christian who seek to marry a non Christian in the Church has to baptize his or her spouse in order to remain a member in good standing in his or her church. His Eminence spoke as well about the divorce problems, and the many cases that are presented to the spiritual courts, and the priests that must have the legal knowledge in order to deal with these legal issues. The Metropolitan stressed on the humanistic side of the matter, saying that every divorce is a fatal blow to the life of the family and its members, the husband, wife and the children who are the biggest victims. Therefore, Metropolitan George asked all the priests to do whatever they can in order to work out the problems between the spouses, so that the family can regain its peace and stability. When this becomes impossible, the divorce would be inevitable. His Eminence related the cases of those who turn to other faiths in order to seek divorce their church is not giving. Unfortunately these people are renouncing their faith, and they should be treated carefully in order not to lead them in this direction. This Lecture is a part of a series of lectures on Pastoral issues organized this Academic Year 2004-5 by the Institute of Theology at Balamand. |
