'''Marriage''' (also, '''matrimony''') is one of the seven [[holy mysteries]] or [[sacraments]] in the Orthodox Church, as well as many other [[Christian]] traditions. It serves to unite a woman and a man in eternal union before God, with the purpose of following Christ and His [[Gospel]] and raising up a faithful, holy [[family]] through their holy union. It is referred to extensively in both the [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament]]s. Christ declared the essential indissolvibility of marriage in the [[Gospels|Gospel]].

Married life, no less than monastic life, is a special vocation, requiring a particular gift or [[charisma]] from the [[Holy Spirit]]. A , a gift bestowed in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The same Trinitarian mystery of unity in diversity applies to the doctrine of marriage as it does to the Church. The family created by this sacrament is a small church.

The Orthodox Church teaches that man is made in the image of the [[Trinity]], and he is not intended by God to live alone, but in a family, except in special cases. And just as God blessed the first family, commanding [[Adam and Eve]] to be fruitful and multiply, so the Church now gives its blessing to the union of man and woman. The sacrament of Christian marriage, in the Church, gives a man and a woman the possibility to become one spirit and one flesh in a way which no human love can provide by itself. The Holy Spirit is given so that what has begun on earth is fulfilled and continues most perfectly in the Kingdom of God.

For the Orthodox Christian, the marriage service (wedding) is the Church's formal recognition of the couple's unity, a created image of the divine God's love of God which is eternal, unique, indivisible and unending. The early Church simply witnessed the couple's expression of mutual love in the Church , and they received the blessing upon their union which was sealed in blessed by their mutual partaking of the holy Holy [[Eucharist]].

When a marriage service was developed in the Church, it was patterned after the service for [[baptism]] and [[chrismation]]. The couple is addressed in a way similar to that of the individual in baptism. They confess their faith and their love of God. They are led into the Church in procession. They are prayed over and blessed. They listen to God's Word.

===Office of betrothalBetrothal===At the Betrothal service, the chief ceremony is the blessing and exchange of rings. The rings are blessed by the [[priest ]] in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The couple then exchange the rings, taking the bride's ring and placing it on the groom's finger and vice-versa. Then they exchange then them again, symbolizing that each spouse will constantly be complementing, and enriching each the other by the union. This is also an outward symbol that the two are joined in marriage of their own free will and consent. It is celebrated in the [[Narthex|vestibule]] of the church building before their procession into the [[nave]] of the church.

The second part of the service has is the ceremony of coronation, in which the heads of the bridegroom and bride are crowned by the priest. In the Russian tradition, the crowns are gold or silver, while the Greek tradition uses crowns of leaves and flowers.

The heads of the bridegroom and bride the are crowned by the priest. In the Russian tradition, the crowns are gold or silver, the Greek tradition has crowns of leaves and flowers. The crowns are crowns of joy, but also crowns of martyrdom, since marriage involves a self-sacrifice on both sides.

The Orthodox Church teaches that a second union can never be the same as the first. In the service for a second marriage, some of the joyful ceremonies are omitted, and replaced by penitential prayers.