What days are they 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 unite their fate with their loved one, not just getting a farewell at the registry office, but also getting married in the temple. It is important that this episode be a deliberate serious step, and not be an ordinary fashion tribute. Information on what days the church is crowned, as well as some of the rules of this action, we consider below.
Who can’t get married, and who can?
Many people wonder what days the church is crowned. First, learn the basic rules of this ceremony:
- Those who are married must be baptized in an Orthodox church. This is the first requirement. If the situation with baptism is foggy, or the bride and groom are not churches, 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 in a pair is not Orthodox. But there is one condition: children born in this marriage must be baptized in Orthodoxy.
- The next requirement is the marriageable age of the young: the bridegroom must be 18 years old, and the bride - 16. Of course, the clergyman will make concession and a younger bride, if she is expecting a baby. The church wants the children to be born in a married marriage.
- Remember that a couple will be married, even if the bride and groom have not received the blessing of their parents. In this case, everything is decided by the wishes of the clergyman.
By the way, it is forbidden to marry unbaptized and atheists, spiritual and blood relatives (for example, the goddaughter and godmother), as well as those who marry for the 4th time. The wedding ceremony is carried out only 3 times. And then, provided that the previous marriage was annulled according to church canons or a person was widowed.
When you can’t marry, and when you can
So what are the days at the church? It is important that you can conduct a wedding ceremony on the day of marriage in the registry office (but it is physically difficult to endure), and even if your legal marriage is already many years old.
By the way, if the bride or groom had any problems with the documents, do not be afraid to turn to the priest - you will be sure to meet them in the temple. Do not crown:
- During the posts - Rozhdestvensky (lasts from November 28 to 6.01), 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 a wedding, be sure to consider this nuance. Indeed, fasting involves abstinence both in high-profile celebrations, food, the use of alcoholic beverages, and in the vicinity of the carnal.
- On significant days - in the week of Light (the week after Easter), on Maslenitsa, on September 11 (Beheading of the head of the Forerunner of John), on September 27 (Exaltation of the Lord's Cross), on Christmas time (from January 7 to 19).
- If the bride or groom is married to another person who has not been terminated in the manner prescribed by the church.
- The wedding ceremony in the temple is not carried out every day, but only 4 days a week - on Fridays, Wednesdays, Mondays and Sundays.
- If the permission of the clergy is not given for marriage and wedding.
There is another interesting point: according to church canons, it is forbidden to appear in the church on “critical days”. Therefore, count and select the right time for the ceremony.
How to prepare?
Everyone should know what days they are crowning 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 the church that you attend since childhood, or the 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 take, whether it is possible to take a photo shoot or shoot a video, what is the price of the service (if it is paid).
Important! The priest can offer you additional church services. For example, choir singing, bell ringing.
How to choose guarantors?
Are you still asking what days they are crowning 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 to appoint as guarantors those who are in a civil marriage or divorced.
Guarantors have the same obligations as godparents: they spiritually manage the family, help young advice in life.
Important: if you could not agree with the witnesses, they can even get married without them.
How to choose an outfit?
Do not know what days they are crowning in the Orthodox Church? Read this article carefully. Find out which wedding attire you need to choose. There is an important rule: young people should 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 hats are not. After all, the bride will wear 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) must wear dresses or skirts below the knee. Married women 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 you can’t sell or give a wedding dress: it is saved, like candles, a baptismal shirt and a kryzhma.
What needs to be prepared?
Wedding days the couple remember their whole lives. Therefore, prepare in advance all the attributes necessary for the rite:
- 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 is sick in the family or to clean the house.
How to behave during the ceremony?
Church Wedding Days Memorize 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 carried out at the entrance to the temple, the bride is on the left of the groom, both are standing on a rushnyk and they hold lighted candles until the end of the sacrament.
Young people during the ceremony are blessed by the clergyman - after a special prayer, he must change the wedding rings three times from the hand of the groom to the hand of the bride.
Then the confessor will ask the question: “Is the wedding done voluntarily? Are there any obstacles? ” After the answer of the bride and groom and the psalm, the young before the Almighty become spouses. 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 conducts around the lectern, after - to the Royal Gates. Then the groom is obliged to kiss the icon of Christ, and the bride is obliged to kiss the icon of the Virgin. After all these actions, guests can applaud the young.
May wedding
What are the best wedding days? For a Christian believer, a wedding ritual is a very serious, but at the same time completely natural process. Especially if the bride and groom grew up in families where Orthodox traditions have been honored since birth. But people come to God at different ages. And not everyone is familiar with the canons in the significant work of creating marriage in heaven.
What days of the week usually crown? 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 they marry, choose their abbot. But if it did not work out, give preference to the confessor, based on your own impressions of communication and advice.
It is known that for the wedding, May is considered the most unfavorable month. Usually this time was the hardest to work in the field and in the garden. And the autumn reserves after winter were very poor, which is why the holiday table was very poor.
In the present world, when such prejudices are attributed to relics of the past, May remains the leader of the most attractive months of the year. So, flowering gardens, fresh greens and updated nature will create excellent conditions for a celebration. And the church does not interfere with the wedding in May at all.
Special days of the week
And now we will list the days favorable for the wedding. The most successful for holding this ceremony are Sunday, Wednesday, Friday and Monday. But on Saturday, such a ceremony can be carried out only in the case of a special agreement with the priest.
This day is the day of remembrance of the departed, and the church asks the bride and groom from church weddings to evade. Even couples are forbidden to marry all year on Thursdays and Tuesdays.
Red Hill Day
So, you already know what days the wedding is best. It should be noted that for this rite the people set the first Sunday after Easter the most successful period of the year.
The confessors on the day of Red Hill perform an impressive number of weddings for everyone. In addition, weddings on holidays associated with the Queen of Heaven, especially in the Intercession of the righteous Virgin Mary, are considered the key to happiness in the family and a successful marriage. Priests do not crown newlyweds during fasting, on the eve of Orthodox holidays and on 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 temple is urgently needed. He will be happy to help you choose the right day for your wedding.
Wedding calendar for any year
What days you can have a wedding, you already know. And when they do not perform the sacrament of marriage? This rite is not performed in the following periods:
- on the eve of temple feast days;
- on Thursdays, Tuesdays (on the eve of fasting days - Fridays and Wednesdays) and on Saturday (on the eve of Little Easter - Sunday);
- on Easter, on the eve of the great twelve great holidays. In the days of twelve celebrations, wedding is not forbidden, but objectionable. The day of the general great church holiday must be lived together with the Church, without obscuring religious rejoicing with its tiny personal joy. If you need to get married these days, coordinate this with the confessor;
- in the Cheese week, during the continuation of the Light (Easter) week and Christmas time. Weddings in preparation for Lent of the week and other solid weeks are not forbidden, but objectionable;
- during Christmas, Petrov, Assumption and Great Lent.
- on the days (and in anticipation) of one-day strict fast: Exaltation 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 ceremony is performed on the day prohibited by the religious charter, then this does not invalidate it.
Current practice in the Orthodox Local Churches
It is known that in the Greek and Constantinople churches it is forbidden to marry on Easter, Epiphany, Pentecost, Christmas, Lent (from the Syrupy week), Christmas (from December 18 to December 24), Assumption, and also on the day of the Beheading of the head of St. John the Baptist, if he falls on a fasting day.
In the Church of Cyprus it is impossible to conduct the ceremony considered by us on Fridays and Wednesdays, January 5 and 6 (Baptism of the Lord), during Great Lent (from the Syrupnaya week) and Christmas (from 13 to 25.12 inclusive), as well as in solid weeks (that is, in Bright and the Cheese Week and the Holy Spirit week), on the day of the Beheading of the head of the Holy Forerunner John.
In the Serbian Church - on Wednesday and Friday, during the period of four fasts, on Easter and Holy Week, January 18 (on the eve of the Lord's Baptism).
In Romanian churches - during Lent (except Syrupnoy week and with the blessing of the bishop - in the Annunciation), Assumption, Rozhdestvensky (on St. Nicholas day wedding is allowed with the blessing of the bishop), on Holy Week, on Friday and Wednesday, from the time of Christ Christmas to the Epiphany on the eve and days of the feasts of the Lord.
If we compare the current practices of the Local Churches, we can see that only in the Russian Church on Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday the wedding is not performed. In the Greek Orthodox world, Sunday and Saturday are the base wedding days. Moreover, no critical statements regarding this practice of attorneys of Athos monasticism, which have exerted an exceptional influence on the Christian life of the Balkan Orthodox peoples for many centuries, are unknown.
And one of the laws of the Byzantine work “Alphabetical Syntagma” by Vlastar Matthew (XIV century) says that mourning for the deceased close to transfer the marriage is not the reason.
It is also seen that many Churches allow weddings on the eve of fasting days, and the current Russian method, which prohibits weddings on Thursday and Tuesday, contradicts the practice of other Churches and the general church tradition of fasting days. It is also known that this practice developed very late, not earlier than the 17th century.