A Union for the End Times

In the history of the Church, sometimes marriage has been portrayed as a lesser path of spirituality as compared to those that practice celibacy. Even though this understanding does not exist in the catechesis of the Catholic Church, it does exist as a prevailing mindset among many people. From time to time, we of the Eastern churches get to see this mindset since we have continued the tradition of married clergy, which was started by Jesus Christ.  Often when such negative distinctions arise it has nothing to do with the mystery of Holy Orders. Most of the time, it always goes back to an inferior spiritual understanding of marriage.

Paul Evdokimov once wrote, “The Gospel in its totality is addressed to each person; everyone in his own situation is called to the absolute of the Gospel. Trying to prove the superiority of one state over the other is therefore useless: it is an abstract, because impersonal, process. The renunciation at work in both cases is as good as the positive content that the human being brings to it: the intensity of the love of God”. As Evdokimov points out, the state that we are in has no bearing on the depth of our spirituality. Whatever state that God has called us to is the means by which we can best love God. On the other hand, to be called to certain state is to be called to make God known in a unique way. As Evdokimov would also teach, Christian celibacy and Christian marriage are both given a prophetic character in revealing the kingdom of God.

In regards to the prophetic character of Christian marriage, Pope Francis, in his ever popular Amoris Laetitia, called marriage the, “inexhaustible mystery”. When I read this, I wondered how many people considered their marriage in this way. I wondered how many people see their marriage as the object of encounter with God. I personally have heard marriage described in many ways. However, rarely have I heard it being presented as the means for participating in the divine nature. Most of time, its been taught as a foundation for procreation or the means of escaping, as the Apostle Paul said, the burn of passion.

In the beginning God created marriage for us to be like him. In other words, marriage was as a path for our deification. As the scripture teaches, we were created in the image of God and called to be like God.  Among many things, he called our Ancestors to become one flesh. By becoming one flesh they were becoming like the one who created them. As we all know, God’s plan for our Ancestors was not fulfilled. Consequently, marriage became many things, but a path to God it was not. It needed to be redeemed.  Thankfully, by Christ becoming one of us, in the words of St. Maximos, “God bestowed once again on human nature the supernatural grace of deification”. Now, as scripture teaches, marriage in Christ has become a Mysterion (Eph 5:32). Not only has marriage been redeemed it can make present the reality to which it is called.

There is an eschatological reality in marriage and it can only be experienced when we love like God. In a marriage the love shared can become eternal, it is a love that becomes God’s very own love. Concerning such love, St. John Chrysostom said once that, “marriage is a remedy to eliminate fornication”. This of course is often taken out of context by those that read him. Marriage becomes a remedy because it helps us to love the other person. It helps us overcome things that objectify the other person, like unchastity. Such a remedy is only possible when we let God love the other person through us.

We can all love others, even in a divine way, but only married people can make present in our world a love that all will see at the end of time. Concerning such love, there is even a whole book in the Old Testament dedicated to it, the Song of Songs. In this book it makes known a love that can only be described with the most poetic words. It is a love that Christ has for his Church. Outside of being poetic there really is no other human way that can express this love. However, there is a way, as I have been saying, to experience it.