Church marriage is concluded only after the official registration of the married couple at the registry office. When the family breaks up, the husband and wife first of all get officially divorced, and the natural question arises of recognizing the church wedding as invalid. Debunking is possible, but subject to certain conditions.
Instructions
Step 1
Unlike the official (secular, as the church calls it) dissolution of a marriage, which can be carried out for any reason, debunking is allowed only if the spouse, who was not guilty of the discord and did not provoke the breakup, plans to enter into another marriage. Orthodoxy implies lifelong fidelity of church-going (true believers) spouses and the indissolubility of marriage, however, it voices several more serious reasons for a possible church divorce. This can be a spouse's refusal of the Orthodox faith, treason or unnatural vices, a serious illness (leprosy, syphilis, AIDS, drug addiction, alcoholism), an incurable mental illness, an encroachment on the life / health of children or a spouse, an abortion by a wife if the husband disagrees, inability to cohabitation / impotence, involvement in the underworld, unknown absence of a spouse for more than 3 years, leaving the family and marriage with another person.
Step 2
To obtain a divorce or debunking, write and submit a petition addressed to the bishop (diocesan bishop) to the diocesan administration. Your application will definitely be considered and a decision will be made. A written appeal for debunking the bishop should consist of the following points: a brief history of church marriage, a detailed statement of the reasons for the divorce, where and when you were married. Attach copies of your civil divorce registration documents. If you do not know how and where to write, seek help from any priest of the church or directly to the temple in which you were married.
Step 3
After some time - from a week to several months - your church marriage will be recognized as "graceless." You will receive a notification signed by the Diocesan Bishop of the dethronement, with this confirmation you can apply to any church for a new wedding. But keep in mind that the church disapproves of the second marriage, even though it allows it. Third church marriages are not concluded.
Step 4
Church divorce is granted automatically if both spouses simultaneously accepted monasticism in different monasteries, after which they will never be able to see each other again.
