Divorce
Divorce is permitted in the Orthodox Church for various reasons. The more usual divorce occurs under the pastoral guidance of the spiritual director of the spouses when all attempts at salvaging a marriage have been exhausted. In such cases, remarriage may be possible but there is a special rite for a second marriage which contains a penitential element for the dissolution of the first, i.e. some of the more joyful aspects are removed. Marriage is permitted up to three times in Orthodoxy but each divorce necessitates a short period of excommunication. The Orthodox Church, as the saying goes, "blesses the first marriage, performs the second, tolerates the third, and forbids the fourth".
Another type of divorce is what is known as an "ecclesiastical divorce", which does not signify the breakdown of the relationship but is a step taken for the sake of the theosis of the spouses and with the full support and blessing of the Church. This type of divorce may only take place where there is mutual agreement between the two spouses, and is usually carried out in cases where the husband is selected to be consecrated a bishop (as Orthodox bishops are monastic) or where one or both spouses wish to otherwise adopt the monastic lifestyle.
Read more about this topic: Marriage In The Eastern Orthodox Church
Famous quotes containing the word divorce:
“This habit of free speaking at ladies’ lunches has impaired society; it has doubtless led to many of the tragedies of divorce and marital unhappiness. Could society be deaf and dumb and Congress abolished for a season, what a happy and peaceful life one could lead!”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
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—Jane Austen (1775–1817)
“Ever since you came back from Tibet I’ve had a feeling you were planning to divorce me and marry a laboratory.”
—John Colton (1886–1946)