Today is fashion for weddings, after a long interval of several decades. Usually, immediately after the registry office, newlyweds rush to church to take an oath before the Almighty in eternal love and loyalty to each other until the end of their days.

And although the wedding — is a sacrament that obliges spouses to remain faithful to each other and live in perfect harmony, it is still not an obstacle to divorce. Once upon a time, the church did not allow divorces or second marriages. Now representatives of religion have a more flexible approach to weddings: they are allowed to get married three times, but no more.

My husband and I were in no hurry to consolidate our sacred union before the Lord God on the day of our wedding. I wanted to prepare for this important step more thoroughly. In addition, there was some kind of internal protest against this fashion — of course to get married on the day of the official painting of the registry office, without even thinking about the seriousness of this sacrament.

For almost the entire twentieth century, many married couples did not have the blessing of the church. At the same time, unmarried spouses often remain faithful to each other all their lives, raising children and grandchildren in peace and harmony. But for some reason they don’t want to get married. According to many priests, those couples who get married in adulthood sometimes take the sacrament of marriage more seriously than young people.

My husband and I, however, did not wait for advanced years, and decided to take this step four years after registering the marriage at the registry office. One of the reasons for such a long preparation was not hesitation, but the search for ours (planted parents).

The fact is that a married couple must be married by people older than them in age and also married. Among our friends • acquaintances, no one met these criteria. A relative of her husband came to the rescue, who, as it turned out, had long and secretly cherished the dream of marrying us and had no idea about our search.

But, as we found out, in order to get married, you need to not only come to church and take part in this ritual — you still need to thoroughly prepare for it.

Firstly, you need to fast for 3-4 days. Secondly, on the eve of the wedding it is necessary to confess.

: thirdly, on the day of the wedding, the newlyweds must attend the morning liturgy and then receive communion.

To perform the ritual, it is necessary to prepare mandatory accessories.

The most important thing that you will need — is an icon (of the Savior or the Mother of God, or an icon of the Holy One, the keeper of the hearth), a rug that should accommodate married and imprisoned parents. You should also prepare wedding rings, wax wedding candles and a white towel, which will symbolize the purity of the spouses' intentions. We should not forget about the treat. For the ritual, those getting married usually bring two large rolls, a bottle of red wine and various sweets.

We decided to carry out such an exciting procedure in the narrowest circle. I admit honestly: it is incredibly exciting to enter under the roof of the church in such an unusual role. In addition, for some reason, in very serious situations, out of the blue, I may have a laughing attack. Knowledgeable people say that I am not alone in such, to put it mildly, a strange reaction. Someone, on the contrary, begins to cry from an excess of emotions. So this time I had to make incredible efforts...

Excitement with excitement, but for myself I still recorded that the wedding ceremony consists of two stages: engagement and the wedding itself.

Before the sacrament began, we handed over wedding rings, an icon and candles to the clergyman who was to marry us. As the nanashka (planted mother) explained to me, this is necessary so that all accessories can be blessed before the ceremony begins.

 

Of course, reproducing everything in detail is quite problematic, since several years have passed since then, but the main points, despite the bustle and excitement, were still remembered.

After reading the prayer, my husband and I were approached by a deacon who carried out our wedding rings on a special tray. At the same time, the priest handed us one lit candle. Then he took one of the rings and put it on the ring finger of the groom's right hand, and put the other ring on me. As we were warned in advance, as a sign of giving ourselves for life to each other, as a sign of unanimity, harmony and mutual assistance in the upcoming marriage, we exchanged rings three times. After the triple exchange, each put their own ring on the ring finger. Of course, ideally, the exchange of rings should be carried out by the priest, but due to the fact that wedding representatives of religion used to drop them due to involuntary trembling in their hands (and this was perceived by their relatives as a bad omen), now this procedure is entrusted to newlyweds.

Then comes the most exciting stage: after it, admittedly, the bride and groom feel like reigning persons for a while. In any case, I felt like a queen. The priest takes the groom's crown and crucially marks the groom with it. He then allows the groom to kiss the Savior's image attached to his crown. After this, the priest places a crown on the groom's head.

The priest performs the same ritual with the bride, I just kissed the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, attached to the crown for the brides. Typically, crowns are held over the heads of married people by witnesses so as not to spoil the hairstyles of the bride and groom. But since we didn’t lay lush curls for ourselves, the crowns were placed on our heads. The sensations are indescribable. Who is thinking about what at that moment, but I thought that being a king was still interesting. By the way, it is not surprising that my thoughts were directed in this direction. After all, the meaning of the crowns on their heads is that for the rest of their lives those getting married become king and queen for each other. (By the way, during a second wedding, the crowns are not placed on the head, but are held by witnesses. During the third marriage, the wedding is carried out without crowns at all).

My hovers in the clouds were interrupted by the priest, who presented a cup of red wine and, sanctifying it with the sign of the cross, handed it over to us. Again, having received instructions in advance on what to do in this situation, we took turns draining the bowl to the bottom in three steps. One cup for two means a common destiny, with common joys and sorrows. They told us that we had already become one.

After this, the priest tied our right hands with the same white towel, symbolizing the purity of intentions, and circled the lectern three times. It is clear that I, as a journalist, needed to know the meaning of each ritual. Therefore, I showed curiosity in advance: this one symbolizes that our marriage will be an eternal walk hand in hand.

We were brought to the royal gates. My husband should have kissed the image of the Savior, and I should have kissed the image of the Mother of God. Then we did the same, but by switching places. After all the formalities, we were given an icon, which, as we were explained, should be brought into the house and installed in the most honorable place in an image to the east. Which is what we did.

After reading the Gospel, wishing the newlyweds many years and choral singing, the ritual could be considered completed. Our marriage was now not only approved by the seal of the state: we became husband and wife and before God.

It is clear that there were many among my friends who wanted to celebrate such an event. Yes, my husband and I didn’t mind...