Q&A Home > M > Marriage

Why can I not marry someone from another church or an atheist? Many friends ask me, but I do not know how to answer them biblically and logically.

Marriage is a Holy Mystery, not just a ceremony or a celebration. The matrimonial prayers include biblical readings, the Lord's Prayer, and the Orthodox Creed, to which the couple and the guests who witness to this sacred rite participate in the responses as a confirmation of their faith. We believe that by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the couple through the prayers and the anointing of the Holy Oil in the Crowning Ceremony by the officiating Orthodox priest, the Mystery of two becoming one is achieved: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). It is God who officiated this sacred rite so that humanity will learn that His intention is the wholesomeness of marriage of one man and one woman brought together by God in one faith: "Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man" (Genesis 2:22). You cannot become one if there are two contradictory belief systems. These conflicting ideologies furnish the rift in a schizophrenic relationship preventing the marriage dyad to ever becoming one, and further diminishing the potential of your Christian faith to be instilled in your children. Many individuals that were raised in this atmosphere have diffused loyalties, and claim to be Agnostic, both Christian and Jewish, both Muslim and Christian, many other self-designed combinations or nothing at all. Thus, it is imperative that one chooses a spouse that is of the same faith.