Almost every person, when he hears the word "wedding", imagines a church illuminated by sunlight, a beautiful bride who walks arm in arm with her father along a long aisle to the altar, where a courageous chosen one is waiting for her along with a priest performing the ceremony. Such pictures are inspired by Hollywood films, but in life everything is a little different.
Features of an Orthodox wedding
The Orthodox wedding ceremony implies the full consent of the bride and groom to take an oath of fidelity to each other, as well as receiving from the church the blessing of their union, the birth and upbringing of children in accordance with the traditions of the Christian society.
The ceremony consists of two parts: the engagement and the wedding itself. Initially, these two processes took place separately from each other, but by the end of the 17th century they were combined. During the betrothal process, the priest puts on wedding rings to the bride and groom as a symbol of their endless, eternal and boundless love. As a sign of their consent, spouses must exchange rings three times, after which one ring remains with the bride, and the second with the groom.
After the betrothal, the priest, with the help of a crown, crosswise marks the bride and groom. The spouses are presented with a cup of red wine, which symbolizes their common destiny, and the newlyweds alternately drink all the wine in three doses. Next, the priest joins the right hands of the newlyweds and draws them around the lectern three times. This is a symbol of the beginning of a common path.
At the end of the ceremony, the bride and groom kiss the icons of the Mother of God and the Savior, receive from the priest two icons prepared in advance by the parents of the spouses, and the wedding ceremony ends.
Catholic wedding traditions
A Catholic wedding is a ceremony full of solemnity and beauty, which is performed once in a lifetime. After the wedding of the Catholic spouses, only death can separate.
Unlike the Orthodox, where the main roles are distributed between the priest and those entering into marriage, in the Catholic rite one of the main participants is the bride's father. As the head of the family, he leads his daughter to the altar and hands her over to the future spouse. From this day on, it is the husband who will be obliged to take care and tenderly love his chosen one.
The main ceremony begins with the opening prayer of a Catholic priest, during which the bride and groom kneel on special chairs, witnesses are nearby, and relatives and invited guests sit. After praying and answering the questions of the priest, the bride and groom take oaths of loyalty and love, exchange rings and sign in the church book. This ends the wedding ceremony in the Catholic Church.
Wedding bans
According to the laws of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, marriages between blood relatives, as well as stepbrothers and sisters are prohibited. For the Orthodox rite, it is imperative that both spouses be baptized; in the Catholic Church, marriage with a Muslim, monk or nun is impossible, as well as if one of the spouses was previously married in the Orthodox Church.
