"Jen was exposed to the Greek Orthodox religion growing up because that's her dad's background. Her first marriage, to Brad Pitt, was a huge, extravagant affair, but it was not a church wedding. Jen isn't overly religious, but she wants one now."
In many culturally-rooted Orthodox churches (Indian, Greek, Russian, etc), this is a very common observation i.e., the Sacrament of Marriage given to a couple who is not spiritually connected to the Church. The tragedy in most cases is the community and the priest fails in their Spiritual obligation to the new couple and do not leverage their interest in the Church to bring that couple closer to Christ.
Dr. Bradley Nassif wrote on the Orthodox church forgetting it's evangelical roots, and it's almost impossible to argue this point. Our Church must wake up and respond to the natural tendency of people to search for God as they get older in order for a healthy growth, as in almost every cases the person's search begins with what they had experienced in their childhood.
4 comments:
The sacraments of the church are not for pleasure or for sentimental value. There is a truth and value to it that can only be experienced by real participation.
I can't judge Ms. Aniston, however I do hope that her intentions are more than superficial.
If a priest and a church are willing to perform the wedding, honestly are they not more at fault then Jennifer?
Using my own experience, 11 years ago no-one had given us pre-marital counseling or explained to us the importance of what we were doing.
At least this is changing in our lifetime, but we in the Orthodox community are for the most part still not providing the education, love and guidance to even those who's intentions may initially be superficial but later can become totally immersed in Christian life.
Concerning the statement in the article, "In many culturally-rooted Orthodox churches (Indian, Greek, Russian, etc), this is a very common observation i.e., the Sacrament of Marriage given to a couple who is not spiritually connected to the Church", I must completely disagree. I have NEVER heard or seen this! Also, during the marriage service one must take holy communion.....and holy communion can ONLY be given to an Orthodox christian. How then would it be common observation to give communion to non-orthodox christians? I think this is a large error in the article. Perhaps, the author meant to say those being married are orthodox but do not attend that particular orthodox church they are being married in. That could definitely be the case as the Orthodox faith is not confined to the particular church one attends or the particular priest one goes to each Sunday.
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