Eastern Orthodoxy

=== Marriage ===

{{main|Marriage in the Eastern Orthodox Church}}
[[File:Wedding of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna by Laurits Tuxen (1895, Hermitage).jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The wedding of Tsar [[Nicholas II of Russia]].]]

From the Orthodox perspective, marriage is one of the holy mysteries or sacraments. As well as in many other Christian traditions, for example in Catholicism, it serves to unite a woman and a man in eternal union and love before God, with the purpose of following Christ and his Gospel and raising up a faithful, holy family through their holy union.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_02021994_families_en.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110405033300/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_02021994_families_en.html|url-status=dead|title=Letter to Families by Pope John Paul II|archive-date=April 5, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author = John Meyendorff| title = Marriage: An Orthodox Perspective| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YSSCUO1tonkC&pg=PA13| year = 1975| publisher = St. Vladimir's Seminary Press| isbn = 978-0-913836-05-7| page = 13| access-date = 2016-02-20| archive-date = 2023-09-21| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230921092743/https://books.google.com/books?id=YSSCUO1tonkC&pg=PA13| url-status = live}}</ref> The church understands marriage to be the union of one man and one woman, and certain Orthodox leaders have spoken out strongly in opposition to the civil institution of [[same-sex marriage]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://saintandrew.net/documents/FINALOrthodoxBishopsProp8Statement.pdf |title=Statement of Orthodox Christian Bishops |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610200407/http://saintandrew.net/documents/FINALOrthodoxBishopsProp8Statement.pdf |archive-date=10 June 2011 |url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oca.org/news/590 |title=OCA Reaffirms SCOBA Statement in Wake of Massachusetts Same-Sex Marriage Ruling |date=17 May 2004 |access-date=4 August 2010 |archive-date=22 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100622082955/http://www.oca.org/news/590 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Jesus said that "when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven" (Mk 12:25). For the Orthodox Christian this passage should not be understood to imply that Christian marriage will not remain a reality in the Kingdom, but points to the fact that relations will not be "fleshy", but "spiritual".<ref name=meyendorff70/> Love between wife and husband, as an icon of relationship between Christ and Church, is eternal.<ref name=meyendorff70>{{cite book| author = John Meyendorff| title = Marriage: An Orthodox Perspective| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YSSCUO1tonkC&pg=PA18| year = 1975| publisher = St. Vladimir's Seminary Press| isbn = 978-0-913836-05-7| page = 18| access-date = 2016-02-20| archive-date = 2023-09-21| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230921092743/https://books.google.com/books?id=YSSCUO1tonkC&pg=PA18| url-status = live}}</ref>

The church does recognise that there are rare occasions when it is better that couples do separate, but there is no official recognition of civil divorces. For the E. Orthodox, to say that marriage is indissoluble means that it should not be broken, the violation of such a union, perceived as holy, being an offense resulting from either adultery or the prolonged absence of one of the partners. Thus, permitting remarriage is an act of compassion of the church towards sinful man.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/athenagoras_remarriage.htm|title=Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the Orthodox Church: Economia and Pastoral Guidance|publisher=The Orthodox research Institute|author=Mgr. Athenagoras Peckstadt, Bishop of Sinope|date=18 May 2005|access-date=19 November 2008|archive-date=20 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120133149/http://orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/athenagoras_remarriage.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>