Re-chrismation in Eastern Orthodoxy - why?

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I’ve never been able to get an answer on this. Christ was pretty clear in the Gospel that there isn’t marriage in heaven. How is that passage understood (the woman who was married 7 times)?
 
. My Orthodox cousin, who is discerning a monastic vocation, says that only the first marriage is sacramental.
Since the primary sign of the Holy Mystery is the crowing and crowning does not take place in a second or third marriage ceremony, I would tend toward this understanding as well. This is based on my reading, as well as discussions with a number of Orthodox faithful and priests. I do think it is something that they don’t really look at particularly closely, however.
 
Just thinking out loud, and not based on any reading of Scripture or the Fathers…so take this with a huge grain of salt…

Speculating about what things actually are in heaven is guesswork for us at best, but I’m guessing we wouldn’t think about marriage in heaven as it is on earth, but rather that there could be some sort of connection between spouses in heaven, and what I mean by this is that one of goals of marriage is to help your spouse get to heaven. If one is doing that diligently, I can see there being some sort of eternal connection for that effort. I think this conveys what’s in my mind, though admittedly fuzzy in not necessarily grounded in anything solid.
 
as I wave my hands in fuzziness again, I’ll point out that this has some (Burt far from perfect) parallels to RC thinking on natural marriage between non-catholic.
That is actually pretty good analogy. Does any Latin know whether non-baptized (probably what you meant) who get baptized but were before married non-sacramentally, need to get sacramental marriage? Or does it automatically become that?
 
Speculating about what things actually are in heaven is guesswork for us at best,
Yes, but our Lord did tell us, no?

Romans 7:2-3
" For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress."
Luke 20:34-36
“And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore , because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”

Bold part basically says reason they don’t marry neither are given in marriage is that they can not die anymore- and hence marriage is possible thanks to death. As Paul further explains in first verse I quoted, it is because marriage ends with death. Paul even says that woman whose husband dies can marry another.

I also don’t quite get the divorce thing now that I’ve read another passage,
Matthew 5:31-32
““It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Wouldn’t this kind of disqualify the “Orthodox Church recognizes consequences of divorce, which is broken marriage” as grounds for second marriage to be allowed? Because “whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” basically means that even if there is someone who is divorced, remarrying is committing adultery.

I’m not trying to disrespect Orthodox Church, but I can’t really get my head around this. How does Orthodoxy understand those verses then? It seems like pretty plain clear to me, and perhaps I am just misunderstanding Eastern position… any clarification/correction is appreciated. Also, to my understanding, this is exactly why Eastern Catholics in my area abandoned this practice of remarriage, and now only allow remarriage when sexual immorality is involved (basically cheating on your spouse afaik) and even that is pretty rare.
 
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It’s about some EO priests being strict about the three times immersion Baptism.
If it is the case of Protestants please note that not even the most permissive EO priests recognize the ability of the Protestants to baptize. So whatever they do they consider invalid due to the difference of believes between a Protestant pastor and an EO priest. The Apostles said we are united by belief and the Protestants say many things unacceptable in EO as well as RCC, then where is the unity and where is Baptism within the Church?
 
as I wave my hands in fuzziness again, I’ll point out that this has some (Burt far from perfect) parallels to RC thinking on natural marriage between non-catholic.
If both are baptized simultaneously, or if one is baptized now and the other is baptized sometime later, the marriage becomes a sacrament once both spouses have been baptized. This happened with my own parents when they were baptized within moments of one another in the same ceremony.

If only one is baptized, the marriage remains natural (but still valid).
 
Orbis,
I feel like with you as soon as I make one speculative point about one specific topic you jump in and assume that I’m making a much broader point and then want me to address your 14 objections. I wasn’t at all speaking to the issue of the legitimacy or not of divorce in the Orthodox world
 
From Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church (Rocky River, Ohio)
Baptized Christians are generally received through the Sacrament of Chrismation
Baptized Christians are generally received through the Sacrament of Chrismation
In general, the Orthodox Church does not re-baptize a Christian who has received baptism in a mainline Protestant or the Roman Catholic Church. The criterion is that the Baptism was done in the name of the Trinity and in water along with proof, i.e. a certificate or parental verification.” …

"Chrismation Service
“In many cases, the catechumen (person learning to become Orthodox) will be received into the Orthodox Church in a prayer service conducted by a Priest/Bishop and the new faith is professed by the catechumen and then the catechumen is anointed with Holy Chrism. A confession of faith is made by professing the Nicene Creed followed by professing the Seven Ecumenical Councils.” …
 
I know Protestants who were received into Orthodoxy by Chrismation. No re-baptism.
 
If it is the case of Protestants please note that not even the most permissive EO priests recognize the ability of the Protestants to baptize.
Forgive me if I misunderstand what you are saying here, but it’s not common to rebaptize Protestants at least not in the jurisdictions In familiar with in the USA (including OCA, ROCOR, the Greeks and Antiochians). I was received into the Orthodox Church from Lutheranism via Chrismation only.
 
Since the primary sign of the Holy Mystery is the crowing and crowning does not take place in a second or third marriage ceremony,
Also, the readings are replaced with penitential readings, and I think there are one or two more changes.

However, some jurisdictions in recent decades are dropping this and using the same as for first marriages and crowning the couple . . .
 
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a typo mixed with autocorrect . . .🤯😡

it should have been “crowning”
 
Sounds like progressive modernism to me!!!

Just teasing… had to because every once in a while we get an Orthodox poster here who goes on about Catholic development while insisting Orthodoxy is utterly unchanged since the time of the Apostles. In reality, both Churches have and will continue to evolve.
 
Why, as recently as the third century, the spoon was introduced for Communion!

As the old joke goes,

Q: How many Orthodox does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: *SNIFF* The Orthodox DO NOT change!
 
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I was simply interested in the question, I apologize for hijacking the thread and for offending anyone if I did.
 
If you ever get to Istanbul, please check out the only Byzantine Catholic church in the city and post pictures on CAF when you return. 💛
 
Do they determine if the baptism was valid first? There are some Protestant denominations that don’t use the Trinitarian formula.
 
Yeah, I should have clarified that Trinitarian baptisms are accepted. The farther one gets from mainline Protestant, the less likely the baptism would be found valid.
 
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