ΤΗΕ ROLE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
The
church – a “funeral home”
Unfortunately,
this is the current state of our Church: a divorce office, a marriage
and baptizing office! So, people come and say:
“I
want to get married. Let us set a date, Father.”
“Alright,
I am happy for you, but are you spiritually ready for that?...
If
a couple comes across a pastorally responsible and spiritually
healthy priest, who would ask if they confess regularly, they will
ignorantly reply “But, Father, we just want to get married.”
Do
they actually know what they are up to? If they never go to
confession, how successful do they think their marriage would be? How
are they going to enter into the mystery of this sacrament, if they
have not yet entered the mystery of repentance (Metanoia) and
purification from their sinful passions? They will get nothing at
all. They will come and stand before the priest as Hollywood actors,
having absolutely no clue about what they are supposed to do, and so
will also their “best man” do. No clue, either! He thinks he will
just have to change the position of the wedding wreaths over the
heads of the newlyweds, smile at the photographer, and that’s all.
This
way, they sadly fail to “enter” into the true theology of this
Holy Sacrament (Mysterion).
How
pitiful, our Holy Sacraments have ended up being just a means to show
off our wealth and nothing more… Instead of being THE significant
and spiritually shocking event of partaking of the Devine Grace, it
is usually a cheap “fiesta”!!!
Sadly,
nobody pays attention at what’s happening during the ceremony, this
Holy Sacrament! An absolute disrespect… The priest and the
attendants are just actors, who are needed to give life to this
theatrical performance! What a disgrace…
It
is often written in the wedding invitations: “You
are kindly invited to the show
etc. … that will take place in the church of … etc.…. with
leading actors (mentioning the names of those to be married) and so
forth…”
The
reason for turning the Sacraments of Baptism and Marriage into a
stage performance is because we lost the real meaning of them and not
consider them therapeutic anymore (healing methods of our Orthodox
Church).
We no longer live the therapy given by the Holy Sacraments
(the orthodox Christian Baptism, the orthodox Christian Marriage, the
Mysterion of Repentance). We no longer experience all of what happens
to our very existence during these Holy Sacraments, when we
participate under proper conditions.
A
very common practice among modern couples is what they usually do
when they meet a traditional priest, who objects to the way they want
to get married. They immediately go and find another more convenient
priest “next door”, at the adjacent parish! Why? Because the
“convenient” priest does not tell them to go to confession before
the marriage, and other such allegedly (by secularists) weird things!
A
very sad situation, indeed, in our very Orthodox Church… all our
institutional persons are suffering from the same spiritual illness…
So,
if anyone wants to figure out how all this started and how we ended
up facing these problems, they should read Adamantios Koraïs.
f. Savvas Agioreitis
To be continued...
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