Marriage in the Orthodox Christian Community
From The Peopling of Astoria, Queens
The St. Demetrios Cathedral, an Orthodox Greek church is the largest of its
kind in the nation. Information regarding the local community was gathered
from an interview with Father George, a priest at the Church and also the
2007 Yearbook published by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese that the priest
consulted during our interview. The church performs approximately 100
marriages each year. According to Father George, the number of
intermarriages conducted within the Greek Orthodox Church in the United
States is constantly increasing. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese reported
that over the past 20 years, 63% percent of all marriages conducted in the
GOA have been inter-Christian and when considering the number of Orthodox
Greeks marrying in other churches, the percentage is between 75-80
nationwide. These numbers show that the majority of the marriages conducted
within the church are not between adherents of the Orthodox Christian faith
but rather between an Orthodox Christian and someone from another Christian
sect. The marriages conducted in the St. Demetrios Church of Astoria also
show similar results. According to Father George, out of the 100 marriages
conducted, 40 % are intermarriages between Christians and converts into the
Orthodox faith. As Father George put it, “Both [the bride and the groom]
have to believe in Jesus. That’s all we need!” However the Orthodox Greek
Church does not conduct inter-faith marriages. The Church willingly performs
baptism ceremonies for people of all ages who are not Christian and want to
get married in the Greek Church.
According to Father George, an Orthodox who marries outside the church may
not have the same privileges as any other member of the church. For example,
they cannot receive Holy Communion, or Eucharist and cannot be a Godparent
during a baptism or a sponsor in a wedding. Also there are several
restrictions on the marriages that can be conducted by the church. For
example, the church prohibits marriages between first and second cousins or
between a Godparent and a Godchild. The GOA allows up to three marriages for
any Orthodox Christian conducted in the church. Any subsequent marriage
after the first one will not be as grandiose as the first ceremony.
Below is a video of a part of wedding ceremony that takes places in the
Greek Orthodox Church.
