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Maybe it's different in different EO jurisdictions? I've often heard that in a Second Marriage, the person who is contracting a second marriage does not receive a crown (while if one of the parties is entering their first marriage, that person will receive a crown). So is it true that the Rite of Crowning is exactly identical in both Marriages? Also (IIRC), the marriage rite for second marriages in the Eastern Church as developed in the 10th century excluded the Eucharistic celebration. The Eucharist is what empowers the Sacramental character of the Marriage in the Eastern Tradition (from what I've READ, so please correct me if I'm wrong). So wouldn't the exclusion of the Eucharist from the rite of second marriage be an indicator that a second marriage is (at least Traditionally) not considered a Sacrament? Maybe there has been a development on the matter in certain EO jurisdictions, but perhaps the Tradition is actually that the second marriage is not considered a Sacrament? OR maybe this was only the case if BOTH couples were contracting a second marriage, but it would remain a Sacrament if at least one of the couples was contracting a first Marriage? Just throwing out questions that I hope you can answer. Humbly, Marduk P.S. I've never gone through a second marriage myself, and have never even attended one in the Coptic Orthodox Church, but I've been told by others that in the CO second marriage rite, it is the blessing of Matrimony that is omitted, not the blessing of Betrothal. Once again, Father Ambrose, I remind you that the Rite of Remarriage is NOT sacramental. But that is an outstandingly mischievous claim. A second marriage is certainly one of the Holy Mysteries. The Rite of a second marriage is most certainly a Holy Mystery. Have you actually read the Service? As a priest I would rather die than perform a church blessing of fornication and sex outside a sacramental marriage. Perhaps it is the case that Byzantine Catholics have adopted Roman theology in this area? Pick up a service book. You will see that the Rite of Crowning is identical in both instances. The difference is not in the marriage ceremony but in the preceding Rite of Betrothal where the repetitive prayer of "Bless them, O Lord our God..." is omitted and replaced with two penitential prayers.
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Armenian Apostolic scholar Vigan Guroian briefly summarized the matter in an essay in Touchstone, Let No Man Join Together [ touchstonemag.com] In the ninth century, Emperor Leo VI (886–912) mandated that all marriages be sanctioned by a church ceremony. A marriage that was not blessed by the Church would not be considered a marriage. Some received this gesture as a great achievement toward the complete Christianization of the Empire. It presented serious problems for church discipline, however, and forced compromises upon the Church that blurred the distinction between church order and secular order and between marriage as a sacrament for baptized believers and marriage as a legal contract. We have been living with these compromises for over a thousand years.
There is one compromise the Church would not and could not make, however, lest it forfeit completely its identity as the Body of Christ in the world. And that was the admission of non-believers, the unbaptized, and known sinners to the Eucharist. In order to mitigate this problem, the Church developed a rite of matrimony separate from the Eucharist.
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The classic Service Book of the Holy Orthodox Church [ ia700409.us.archive.org] by Hapgood gives the Order of Second Marriage on pp.303- After the standard betrothal, the marriage service per se begins with this prayer: O Master, Lord our God, who showest pity upon all men, and whose providence is over all thy works ; who knowest the-secrets of man, and understandest all men : Purge away our sins, and forgive the transgressions of thy servants, calling them to repentance, granting them remission of their iniquities, purification from their sins, and pardon of their errors, whether voluntary or involuntary. O thou who knowest the frailty of man's nature, in that thou art his Maker and Creator ; who didst pardon Rahab the harlot, and accept the contrition of the Publican : remember not the sins of our ignorance from our youth up. For if thou wilt consider iniquity, O Lord, Lord, who shall stand before thee ? Or what flesh shall be justified in thy sight? For thou only art righteous, sinless, holy, plenteous in mercy, of great com- passion, and repentest thee of the evils of men. Do thou, O Master, who hast brought together in wedlock thy servants, N. and N., unite them to one another in love: vouchsafe unto them the contrition of the Publican, the tears of the Harlot, the confession of the Thief; that, repenting with their whole heart, and doing thy commandments in peace and oneness of mind, they may be deemed worthy also of thy heavenly kingdom.
For thou art he who ordereth all things, and unto thee do we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. The penitential tone of the service is established at its beginning, and continues throughout: O Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, who wast lifted up on the precious and life-giving cross, and didst thereby destroy the handwriting against us, and deliver us from the dominion of the Devil : Cleanse thou the iniquities of thy servants ; because they, being unable to bear the heat and burden of the day and the hot desires of the flesh, are now entering into the bond of a second marriage, as thou didst render law- ful by thy chosen vessel, the Apostle Paul, saying, for the sake of us humble sinners, It is better to marry in the Lord than to bum. Where- fore, inasmuch as thou art good and lovest mankind, do thou show mercy and forgive. Cleanse, put away, pardon our transgressions ; for thou art he who didst take our infirmities on thy shoulders ; for there is none sinless, or without uncleanness for so much as a single day of his life, save only Thou, who without sin didst endure the flesh, and bestowest on us passionlessness eternal. As there is no crowning, no dance of Isaiah, and no sharing of the common cup, the non-sacramental nature of the service is duly recognized. Some Orthodox jurisdictions, under pressure from the laity to broaden the scope for sacramental marriages, may have compromised upon the Tradition, but the Tradition remains the norm, and deviations therefrom must be duly noted as such.
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