The Greeting of The Couple
At the end of the service, the couple stands at the foot of the altar. From the beginning, at the back of the church, they have now progressed to the forefront. Only the eternal Kingdom of Jesus Christ, as signified by the Altar, remains ahead of them. The cleric bestows upon them the final Benedictions of the Church, praying to the Lord to "bless the groom as He blessed Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob", and to "bless the bride as He blessed Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel", to "tower the couple as the cedars of the Lebanon", to see them "prosper as the thriving vine", and to have them "see their children, and the children of their children, like the new branches of the olive tree, seated around their table". The couple's final act is to turn and face the assembled Church. Through this sacrament, they have become an icon of the Church and icon of Christ and the assembly comes up to congratulate them and share in their joy.
Read more about this topic: Marriage In The Eastern Orthodox Church
Famous quotes containing the words greeting and/or couple:
“But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 1:29.
“I knew a gentleman who was so good a manager of his time that he would not even lose that small portion of it which the calls of nature obliged him to pass in the necessary-house, but gradually went through all the Latin poets in those moments. He bought, for example, a common edition of Horace, of which he tore off gradually a couple of pages, read them first, and then sent them down as a sacrifice to Cloacina: this was so much time fairly gained.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)