The sacrament of wedding in the Orthodox Church unites two loving people with the sacred bonds of marriage, giving them God's blessing to create a strong Christian family. During this ritual, wedding icons are used, to which the baptized bride and groom bow. In love for God and each other, future spouses promise to remain faithful, fulfill the commandments of the Gospel, and raise their children. Thus, in a new family, the first shrines in the iconostasis are wedding icons.
Features of the wedding ceremony
“Wedding couple” is a wedding icon that will bless the marriage of the young, fill them with faith and hope, and make their union happy. Traditionally, this is the name for a composition of two shrines depicting the Lord Pantocrator and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
It is accepted that the future husband is blessed by the face of Christ the Savior, as an intercessor and protector of his wife and future children. The image of the Almighty will remind the father of the family of his great responsibility to his family and the Almighty. The wife is blessed by the face of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the keeper of the hearth, a faithful wife and the future caring mother of her children.
Wedding icons can be decorated:
- Gilding: gold background of the icon, gilded halos of saints and/or gold inserts in fragments of the wedding icon, for example, in details of robes
- Artistic ornamentation: on the margins of the wedding icon, decorating special inserts with ornaments, for example, inscriptions. Ornament on a saint’s halo – a picturesque ornament on a golden halo or the execution of an ornament with a golden paint assist
- Inlaid with semi-precious stones: pearls, topaz, onyx, chrysoprase, amethyst
- Wedding icons can be placed in an icon case, which protects and at the same time decorates them. The icon case is made from various types of wood. The icon case can be additionally decorated with carvings, basma, and semi-precious stones
- The setting on the icon, like an icon case, performs partly a protective function, partly a decorative one. Unlike the icon case, which covers the image completely, like a showcase, the frame protects it fragmentarily. The frame can be decorated with gold, silver, or semi-precious stones upon request.
- Making wedding miniature icons is a job that requires high skill. Miniature wedding icons are convenient to carry in a bag/inner pocket; they always accompany the owner on the go.
However, before the start of the ancient wedding ceremony, icons for the wedding must be prepared in advance and selected at the individual discretion of the parents of the bride and groom. According to church rituals, these shrines together represent an iconographic composition in which there are two consecrated images. Moreover, one of them must be the Savior, and the other the Mother of God. They are traditionally called the wedding couple.
It should be noted that these nominal shrines, participating in the blessing, doom the bride and groom to a joint family life. Being in the church church during the wedding, they act as the main witnesses of the marriage, helping to unite the beloved into a single family union with the blessing of the faces of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.
Further, upon returning to the house, the married couple must find the appropriate place for the donated wedding icons, place them there and forever remember the day when they swore love and fidelity to each other.
For those who are getting acquainted with the sacrament of wedding for the first time, it should be remembered that the paired composition of two shrines is a gift that is passed on from parents to the newlyweds. And if wedding icons have not previously been inherited, then they can be made to order with advance payment. In addition, many people have an extremely vague idea of what wedding icons should be. To do this, special attention should be paid to the following sacred paintings.
What is the sacrament of marriage, and how important is it for believers in the modern world?
The clergy believe that this sacrament calls upon Divine grace to transform natural relationships between a man and a woman into spiritual ones. The Lord Himself blessed people to be together and together, spiritually, step by step to go to Christ.
And already on earth to prepare for the Kingdom of Heaven. At a wedding in Cana of Galilee, Christ performed the first miracle - turning water into wine. Likewise, natural relationships, when passing a certain path, are transformed into spiritual ones.
Wedding is a sacrament that gives blessings for married life within the Christian community. The combination of the images of the Savior and the Mother of God is part of the Sacrament of marriage and the spiritual union of two people.
The relationship between Christ and the Church by the Lord is identified with the marriage relationship. The Church is identified with the Bride of Christ. For believers, marriage is a joint path to “Salvation.”
The sacrament of wedding is an extremely responsible and serious step. It is easy for a couple living in a civil marriage to get a divorce. Those who are united by heaven can only be separated by a priest, but such a step is not approved either on earth or in heaven.
What awaits the couple who decides to unite in marriage before the Lord at the sacrament of wedding?
It is generally accepted that the future husband is blessed by the face of Christ the Savior, as the intercessor and protector of the future wife and children. The image of the Lord Almighty will remind the father of the family of responsibility before his family and God. The wife is blessed by the face of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the keeper of the family hearth, a faithful wife and a caring future mother.
Important conditions for a wedding are the voluntariness and inviolability of the intention to enter into marriage. The clergyman asks the wedding couple about this. After confirming their true intentions, the newlyweds are united before the Lord in the sacrament of wedding.
What are they for?
During the sacred ceremony, the priest will bless the bride and groom with shrines, the woman with the Mother of God, and the man with Jesus Christ. After the end of the ceremony, the married spouses leave the temple with these images in their hands. It is believed that this ritual fills the souls of young people with spirituality.
In ancient times, there was a custom according to which such icons were given to children by their parents for weddings. The girl’s mother and father gave the image of the Savior to her future husband, and the man’s relatives presented his beloved with the face of the Virgin Mary. Nowadays, newlyweds often buy or order these sacred images, which, in turn, can be made in different ways - printed, beaded, painted, and so on, hence their cost depends.
But remember, the price of the shrines is completely unimportant, they still have the same equal power.
Also, according to traditions, it was customary to keep the faces used in the ritual in a visible place in your home, since they are designed to protect and preserve the love of the married couple.
It is believed that in the process of the Sacrament the main witnesses of the sacred marriage are the icons. They help newlyweds unite in a single union.
Which ones are needed?
Often, during one of the seven sacraments of the church - a wedding - the priest blesses the couple with icons depicting the Savior and the Mother of God. The image of Jesus in this case is embodied in the icon of Christ Pantocrator, or less often - the Savior Not Made by Hands. Usually the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the Iveron Mother of God or the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God are presented for the wedding ceremony, although other images of the Mother of God are also allowed.
In demand, but not obligatory at a wedding, is the image of Peter and Fevronia, a married couple who are known for their deeds.
In most cases, saints are glorified separately from each other, but the faces of Peter and Fevronia are considered to represent the family - a husband and wife who, as in a fairy tale, lived happily ever after and died on the same day.
During their worldly life, they experienced many troubles and difficulties, but were able to withstand them, not be tempted by temptations and enemy misfortunes, maintaining devotion to each other and the Almighty. For the well-being of family life, prayers are also offered to Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, Saint Barbara.
Miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
It is one of the most common in marriage ceremonies. This image allows you to protect a young family from all sorts of troubles in life and will always help you find the right solution.
Prayer in front of this icon will preserve the health of the unborn baby and help overcome despondency, depression, fears and much more.
Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God
This Orthodox image protects the home and family from people committing illegal acts. In particular, it helps military personnel to maintain their own safety while performing their military duties.
In addition, prayers before her help families get rid of various diseases.
Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God
Prayer in front of this icon dooms family life to happiness and understanding. You can ask the ancient shrine for support for family well-being, as well as help for a speedy recovery from concomitant diseases that have appeared in any family member.
Icon of the Mother of God “Unfading Color”
Its significance is great for Orthodox believers, especially for girls. First of all, she is a symbol of female chastity. Prayers in front of this icon help preserve female beauty and attractiveness for many years.
Icon of the Mother of God “assistance in childbirth”
They turn to the Mother of God with a request for a successful delivery. There are many cases where women were able to give birth safely, although the doctors' forecasts were disappointing.
It should be remembered that one or another composition, which is presented above, must be used in conjunction with the face of the Savior “Lord Almighty”. Because for a wedding you need icons from the bride and groom.
Images of Christ the Savior
To bless the male line of the future family, the image of “Lord Almighty” or “Savior Not Made by Hands” is chosen.
The image of “Lord Almighty” emphasizes the Divine essence of Christ, who participated in the creation of the world and has been with the Father since the beginning of existence. The Lord of the World and the Savior of human souls, with His blessing gesture, grants the young family protection of their love and peace, endowing the husband with wisdom in making important family decisions. Looking at this image, the husband will always remember how he swore to him to love his wife and take care of his beloved.
“The Savior Not Made by Hands” shows people the love of God the Son through a miraculous image. In prayers before this icon they ask God to grant:
- happiness;
- health;
- protect in difficult times.
The holy image, created by Jesus Christ Himself on the road to Calvary, will be a talisman for the family according to the great, sacrificial love of the Savior.
Savior Not Made by Hands
But as for the first icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, it was created by Jesus Christ Himself, who wiped His face with a wet handkerchief, on which an image of His face appeared. And then he passed it on through an artist who was trying to paint an image of Christ for the King of Edessa, who was sick with leprosy. The king was healed, then he attached a scarf with the face of the Lord to the board and installed it above the gates of the city - this is how the icon appeared.
The image of the Lord Almighty is a thread connecting with God, a step that illuminates the believer’s path to salvation. This icon is also no coincidence - it blesses the newlyweds for a happy family life.
After the wedding
After the celebration, people often wonder where to put all the wedding attributes, including icons. As a rule, the shrines with which the man and woman were blessed during the ceremony remain with the newly made spouses.
The images are left in the house where the newlyweds will live, and if the couple moves, they take them along with other things to their new place of residence.
You can place the shrines in the Red Corner, a specially designated home iconostasis in the living room or kitchen-dining room, or hang them over the newlyweds’ bed in the bedroom.
The main rule of placement is that it should be convenient to approach the iconostasis to offer prayer.
It is not worth hiding icons from guests or putting icons in a box, because this is considered a bad omen, and priests call such an act hateful to God, since they occur from the desire to conceal, hide.
The entire subsequent life of the newlyweds takes place under the auspices of wedding icons. In difficult times, the spouses sincerely pray before the images of the Lord and the Mother of God, asking them for the gift of children, for help, and grace. You should not forget about icons on happy days, so that not only on major holidays you can thank them from the bottom of your heart, thank them for peace, prosperity and joy in the family.
Wedding couple
The traditional name for two icons for such a sacred ceremony is a wedding couple. A man is blessed with the image of Christ the Savior, as the intercessor and protector of his family - his wife and children. The face of Jesus is meant to remind the husband that he is responsible to his loved ones.
A woman is blessed by the Blessed Virgin Mary as a faithful wife and caring mother, as well as a good housewife, protector and keeper of the home.
How did the sacrament of wedding take place in the old days?
In the old days, parents blessed newlyweds at home. The groom's parents are the image of the Savior, the bride's parents are the image of the Most Holy Theotokos. Wedding icons protected spouses, helped them overcome life’s adversity, preserve family happiness and spiritual unity.
The sacrament of wedding is not only a beautiful tradition and a now fashionable ritual, but during this action God Himself is present, who unites two fleshes into one. The young receive the blessing not of people, but of the Holy Trinity. Their marriage union is now inextricable, just as the connection between Christ and His bride, the Christian Church, is inextricable.
Is it possible to sleep in a room with icons?
The images themselves cannot observe anyone, so there is no point in covering them with a cloth at night. It is possible to place icons in the marital bedroom, since any actions between legal spouses cannot be considered something bad.
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Cost and where to buy
Images of saints are the best Christian wedding gifts for loved ones or relatives. A “wedding couple” can be made to order by a master in one color scheme, with images of guardian angels, faces of other saints or scenes from the Holy Scriptures on the margins of identical wooden planks.
Young people can purchase this attribute on their own in an icon-painting workshop, a church shop, a regular store or an online store.
The cost of such a wedding attribute depends on the size, materials of manufacture and method of execution. The price per pair can range from 12,000 to 60,000 rubles.
