Marriage in The Eastern Orthodox Church - The Common Cup and The Dance of Isaiah

The Common Cup and The Dance of Isaiah

After more prayers, a common cup of sweet wine is blessed and shared by the couple as a sign of their common life together, a sharing of joys and sorrows, successes and failures, hopes and fears:

I shall partake in the Cup of Salvation,
and I shall invoke the name of the Lord.

This is followed by the triple procession around the center table: the "Dance of Isaiah". The officiating cleric, holding the Gospel high with his right hand and the clasped hands of the groom and bride with his left, and followed by the best man (or woman) who holds the newlyweds' crowns above their heads, and the bridesmaids holding the lit white candles, walk three counterclockwise turns around the table in a celebratory "dance", as the congregation sprinkles them with rice and flower petals. Each of the three turns is accompanied by each of the three hymns, which return once more to the theme of martyrdom and union with Christ. These are the hymns that, since ancient times, the Church has used to emphasize God's blessings, and the same ones sung at ordinations to clerical orders. They signify that this couple has been set apart from the mundane world to live a life in Christ:

Dance, O Isaiah, for the Virgin hath in womb and bore a Son,
Emmanuel, God and Man, Whose name signifies the coming of the Light,
and Whom we bless, even as we praise the Virgin.

Holy Martyrs, who fought well and were crowned,

intercede to the Lord

To have mercy on our souls.

Glory be to Thee, Christ the God,

Boast of the Apostles, Joy of the Martyrs,

whose preaching is the consubstantial Trinity.

Throughout the service, things are done in threes in remembrance of the Trinity. Man is made in the image and likeness of God. Marriage is intended by God to be an image of the Trinity. It is the union of three persons, not two. Man and woman are one with each other and one with the person of Jesus Christ.