LIFE TOGETHER: AN INTERACTIVE STUDY OF 1 CORINTHIANS

DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE

The Orthodox Church understands marriage to be a holy mystery established by God. At the same time, however, the Church — out of concern for the salvation of her members — allows for divorce and remarriage.

Fr. Theodore Stylianopoulos explains:

[The Church allows divorce and remarriage] only in the context of individual pastoral guidance, and for grave reasons such as abandonment, permanent insanity, adultery, forcing the spouse into prostitution, or endangering the life of the spouse. In such cases, it is not that the Church “dissolves” a marriage by granting a divorce, but rather that the Church officially acknowledges and certifies that a marriage has already tragically failed. To quote St. Cyril of Alexandria (fifth century), “It is not a writ of divorce that dissolves marriage before God, but bad actions.” The Church acts by God’s mercy to recognize the failed marriage and to allow the possibility of another in order to forestall worse moral consequences.

Fr. John Matusiak points out that it is possible to be unfaithful to a spouse in ways other than sexual adultery:

I have never seen a case [of divorce] that did not involve adultery - whether it be a case of giving oneself over to another person, or to another thing, such as alcohol, drugs, work, etc. One can surely put their spouse in a secondary position as a result of becoming infatuated, obsessed and/or controlled with/by another person; one can also surely put their spouse in a secondary position as a result of becoming infatuated, obsessed and/or controlled with/ by power, wealth, addictions, careers, etc.