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by Fr. Robert M. Arida, Susan Ashbrook Harvey, David Dunn, Maria McDowell, Teva Regule, and Bryce Rich
PUBLIC ORTHODOXY
The document on marriage
does not refer to its long and complex history and accompanying
theology. What is offered to the faithful and to the world is a
statement that bases marriage on a particular understanding of natural
and divine law (sec.I, par.2 and 6).
Resting upon this foundation the authors attempt to protect marriage and its inextricable bond to the family from the encroachments of secularism and moral relativism (sec.I, par.1). However, in doing so, the authors appear to have constructed a paradigm of marriage based more on a particular ideology than its theological underpinnings. They present an image of the Church that can only speak of marriage as it is related to the law and not as a bond forged and nurtured by love and divine grace. By virtually ignoring the Church’s emphasis on grace the authors have restricted the Church’s dexterity in responding to the myriad of pastoral issues related to globalization, not the least being inter-religious marriage. In addition to minimizing the place of love and grace, the authors have also presented marriage as a bourgeois institution without taking into account the safeguarding of children or women in cases of domestic violence, and the possible need for dissolving the marriage bond.
Resting upon this foundation the authors attempt to protect marriage and its inextricable bond to the family from the encroachments of secularism and moral relativism (sec.I, par.1). However, in doing so, the authors appear to have constructed a paradigm of marriage based more on a particular ideology than its theological underpinnings. They present an image of the Church that can only speak of marriage as it is related to the law and not as a bond forged and nurtured by love and divine grace. By virtually ignoring the Church’s emphasis on grace the authors have restricted the Church’s dexterity in responding to the myriad of pastoral issues related to globalization, not the least being inter-religious marriage. In addition to minimizing the place of love and grace, the authors have also presented marriage as a bourgeois institution without taking into account the safeguarding of children or women in cases of domestic violence, and the possible need for dissolving the marriage bond.
Natural and Divine Law, Grace and Marriage
Although Trinitarian life is stable, the possibility of our
participation in this life is endless. While the laws of nature point to
and lead one to God, it can then be stressed that these laws,
infinitely multifaceted as they are, cannot exhaust systematically,
scientifically and logically the very being of God who is “ineffable and
incomprehensible.”
The inexhaustible mystery of God extends to the inexhaustible mystery
of the human person which allows the mystery of human love, including
marriage, to once again stand on a Christological, eschatological and
soteriological foundation. Upon this foundation divine grace recovers
its place within marriage as well as in the bonds of all human
relationships rooted in authentic love for the other which becomes an
expression of love for God.
Unlike a static understanding of natural law, the bond of grace
removes marriage from being solely bound to biological pro-creation
(sec. I, par.5). Consequently, the bond of grace can lead marital love
to extend beyond its own physical intimacy and embrace a child or
children in the act of adoption. Within the dynamic of marital love
adoption offers salvation to children who might otherwise be deprived of
love and who might find themselves bound to conditions such as abject
poverty, war, disease, and human trafficking.
Furthermore, in linking marriage so strongly to procreation, the
authors give no thought to those couples who may be infertile or to
those couples who marry beyond childbearing age. The authors also remain
silent about the proper use of birth control especially with regards to
preventing the spread of genetic diseases (sec.I, par.7).
Divine grace is eternally bound to the New Torah. Therefore, it
renders marriage as a sacrament of love within Trinitarian life. The
liturgical and biblical sources of the Church stress that it is grace
and not the law which allows for new life in Christ—“the shadow of the
law passed when grace came…” (Vesperal Dogmaticon, Tone 2).
Globalization, Marriage and Divorce
The authors of the document ignore the pastoral challenges the
Orthodox Church faces relative to the reality of globalization and the
religious and cultural pluralism that attend it. There is no
acknowledgement of how globalization, especially in the West, greatly
increases the possibility of mixed marriages including marriage to a
non-Christian (sec. I, par. 9). The authors would show the Church to be
more involved in and for the life of the faithful if they courageously
acknowledged the pastoral challenges that come with religious pluralism.
Facing this reality and expressing a desire to investigate the
acceptance of civil marriages contracted between an Orthodox and
non-Orthodox Christian or non-Christian would indicate that the Church
of the 21st century like the Church of the 1st
century is unwilling to cut itself off from the wider society.
Willingness to investigate this particular issue based in part on the
Church’s acceptance of civil marriages during the first 1000 years of
the Christian empire (see for example Justinian’s Institutes
1.10) would also attest to the Church’s care and love for these couples
and their children. This gesture of pastoral care might also witness to
the Church’s desire to draw into its transfiguring life the Orthodox
believer and his/her non-Orthodox or non-Christian spouse who, because
of canonical restrictions, find themselves cut off from the body of
Christ (sec. II, par. 5).
While supporting the sacredness of the family (sec I, par.9) the
authors do not address the issue of domestic violence. They are silent
about the Church’s concern and care for those most often targeted in a
violent context—women and children. Tragically, divorce and even the
separation of children from one or both parents may be the only solution
to protecting the lives of the victims.
Conclusion
A stronger emphasis on divine grace and interpersonal love, a greater
awareness of globalization and its challenges to marriage and the
translation of living theology into pastoral care would bolster the
integrity of the document.
This essay was sponsored by the Orthodox Theological Society in
America’s Special Project on the Great and Holy Council and published by
the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University.Fr. Robert M. Arida is rector and dean of Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Boston.
Susan Ashbrook Harvey is Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University.
David Dunn is an independent scholar who writes on Orthodoxy and religion and politics.
Teva Regule is a doctoral candidate in the theology department at Boston College.
Maria McDowell, an independent scholar of Christian ethics and Orthodox theology, belonged for many years to the Orthodox Church and is now a communicant in the Episcopal Church U.S.A.
Bryce Rich is a doctoral candidate in theology at the University of Chicago.
