The Procession
After the Exchange of the rings the priest leads the couple in procession into the middle of the church. The priest chants Psalm 128, "Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways..." This psalm is one of the "Psalms of Ascent" sung by Jewish pilgrims on the way to the Jerusalem Temple. This point in the service most clearly reveals the "action" of the sacrament. The couple brings themselves, each other, their lives, and all that fills their lives, to the altar as an offering to God. As the couple enters into the midst of the Church, their relationship enters into the new reality of God's Kingdom.
Read more about this topic: Marriage In The Eastern Orthodox Church
Famous quotes containing the word procession:
“The day was ending at it was the hour of which I do not want to speak, the hour without a name, when the sounds of evening ascended from all the floors of the prison in a procession of silence.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“By the bivouac’s fitful flame,
A procession winding around me, solemn and sweet and slow”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)