Family life : Before marriage
Soul Mates
The special status of soul mates in the minds of many makes crystal clear why marriage and love seem to be failing left and right. We are celebrating romanticism and narcissism. Thank God we don’t allow people to write their own marriage vows in the Orthodox Church, because the ones I have heard are ghastly things that proclaim the opposite of love. “You are my fulfillment, my joy, my hope … .”
Oct 23, 2010, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
On Love, Dating and Relationships
I‘m thankful for many things in my life- my wife, my family, my friends, health, food, shelter, clothing, the freedom to worship freely in our country. Is it silly to say I‘m thankful for love? A little abstract, sure, but it‘s true. I‘m thankful for the fact that I have ended up with THE right girl. I am thankful when I see friends of mine find someone right for them, date, and get married.


Jun 29, 2010, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Is There a Difference Between Dating Someone From Church vs. Someone At School?
Is there any difference between going out with an Orthodox girl and a non- Orthodox girl? Absolutely. There is a significant advantage to having a relationship with an Orthodox girl. For one thing, you believe in the same things as she does.
May 20, 2010, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
The Marrying Kind
A wise rabbi was commenting on the growth of inter-faith marriages between Jews and Christians when he said “It really isn’t Jews marrying Christians as much as it is non-Jewish Jews marrying non-Christian Christians.” In other words if a person’s faith is really the biggest part of their identity, they will express that truth in the choices they make in life-long companions. If the faith is simply nothing more than a cultural decoration to their lives, then their chose of spouse will reveal that too.

May 4, 2010, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Trials of Dating in College
In the first couple weeks of school, I met a guy that I really enjoyed spending time with. Almost every night we hung out, did something around campus, or just sat and talked. From my perspective, I thought I was meeting a genuinely nice guy with whom maybe I could pursue a relationship with. However, he was thinking something different.
Apr 17, 2010, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
The Impatient Patient
I’m growing to realize that I can’t have a good relationship with anyone else unless I also (first?) have a good relationship with God. So, how am I supposed to better develop my personal relationship with Him? According to my friend Jon (an amazing youth director), you build your personal relationship with God the same way you build relationships with other people: one step at a time.
Feb 26, 2010, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Dating and Orthodoxy
You might actually succeed in converting your partner, and then they’re a crazy convert. You go out to eat during Lent and they’ve ordered shrimp, asking the waiter if it’s cooked in canola oil or olive oil. It takes three years to get over the crazy convert stage—three years to learn moderation, then you’re dating a spiritual infant, and you have to wonder--are you willing to put up with that?

Nov 2, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
ORTHODOX LIFE: Finding an Orthodox Spouse
As Orthodox people, we should be at least as serious as the servant in the parable when it comes to the critical question of selecting a spouse. The Orthodox faith presents us with two alternative paths for our life: life in the community of a married family, or life in the community of a monastery. Unlike the modern thought, there is no Christian concept of single life. Why would this be? Simply put, single life is too difficult, too tempting, too lacking in the corrective influences that life in some type of community (either married or monastic) will bring.
Oct 29, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Pre-marital Sexual Relations
One of our goals ought to be to develop within the hearts and minds of teens that virginity is something very good, something to strive for until marriage, and something not to be embarrassed about possessing, but in fact an accomplishment to be proud of keeping. We want them to remain virgin until marriage, not simply because they did what they were asked in not having sex, but that they valued themselves, the person they will marry, their relationship with God, and sex itself. Teens ought to see sex as something very sacred and good and therefore an act not lightly undertaken.
Oct 24, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Unequally Yoked
We live in an age where “don’t I have a right to be happy” seems to be at the forefront of most everyone’s mind. Marriage is seen as a way of personal fulfillment and happiness. Relationships are measured by how “happy” they make a person, and when that person is no longer “happy” then the relationship is “over.” “My happiness” is the overriding measure and when that is affected then escape is the answer.

Oct 20, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Living Together before Marriage – the Theological and Pastoral Opportunities
The phrase ‘living together before marriage’ makes certain basic assumptions . One of these is that marriage is a temporal event which gives credence to talk of ‘before’ and ‘after’: another is that this event is singular (i.e., the only one offered, which fulfils several functions); another is that the event decides when, in a couple’s life they can start living together and having sex. In this presentation I shall argue that these assumptions turn out to be liberatingly false, thereby creating ironic opportunities for the churches to recover their traditions and re-shape their marriage ministries to accord more with the gospel and with the real lives of marrying Christians.
Oct 10, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
You Get What You Need
I am beginning to learn that no one person can be everything that I need in my life, and that some of the things that I need have to come from within me or from the support of other people (including, of course, the Church) in my life. I no longer believe that there is one specific person that is right for me, but rather that there are many people who could be right for me, if we meet at the right time for both of us. So, if through prayers and the grace of God, the “right” person walked into my life right now, would it be the right time? Would I be ready?

Aug 12, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Walking the Line
We’ve all been there: that place where we feel powerless, where we feel like we have no way out, the place where we fear being alone more than we fear staying. In such a power hungry world, we, as Orthodox Christians, are often taken advantage of due to our forgiving nature. While this occurs in many settings (the boss who treats you as a slave, the sharp tongue of a peer), it most often occurs in romantic relationships.


Jun 13, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Orthodox Dating Ordeals
I once told a friend of mine that being between relationships is a little bit like treading water: it’s so tempting to grab onto whoever comes along next, even though it might mean you both drown. This alone time could also be what I often refer to as “An Orthodox Dating Desert Wasteland.” It may be lonely, but it serves as a good time to reflect and grow; after all, how many saints have fled to the desert to seek God?
May 12, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Judges’ Choice
What would you say if I told you that I was one of the very few people I know who have not been married by the time they were 18? Some of my friends have already been married two or three times, and some have been married since they were in middle school. No, none of these marriages were arranged, nor were they Mormon. Perhaps the strangest part of these marriages is that they did not involve a proposal, a wedding gown, a church, or even a court justice. All they involved was sex.


Mar 30, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
To Cross the Line?..
The Church believes that the circumstances of extramarital relationship, that is, fornication last for years. People lose the joy and meaning of life, they suffer from a severe 'hangover' in their souls. You write at the end of your letter that you regret nothing, these words are very bitter to me, they show that your soul is badly wounded, to the extent that you feel no repentance for your sin.
Mar 17, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
I Had Something to Lose
I had things to lose. I was a 25 years old virgin and I gave my purity to the man who could not value it… And he said it to me: ‘Why are you so worried? I don’t care whether the girl I love has had somebody else. The only thing that matters is that she’s with me now.’ These are the nowadays facts. But I will say it again, it was my own choice. I really did not understand what wrong I was doing.


Feb 25, 2009, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
"An Honorable Marriage, a Bed Undefiled"
Orthodox young people must block from their thoughts even the possibility of pre-marital relations. This applies as well to those preparing to enter into a second marriage. We emphatically reiterate: pre-marital relations, even with one’s future spouse, are comparable to attempting to serve the Liturgy without possessing the grace of the priesthood. The one is called fornication, the other, sacrilege.
Oct 13, 2008, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Pastoral Considerations on Current Problems: Sex, Natural Law and Orthodoxy
While on Christmas vacation from college, my daughter told me that one of her professors said that sex outside marriage was not against the "natural law." In fact, there was no "natural law" - but "anything goes." I have tried to bring up my children to be good Orthodox Christians. What am I to do?
Aug 27, 2008, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
MELETI WITH YOUNG PEOPLE IN THESSALONIKI, GREECE
In the beginning you like somebody very much and you have a strong sexual attraction to the person. People often think that this is love, but it is not. It is a natural physical attraction and when you like somebody and consider them a friend then there is a basis for a relationship, but this is only the beginning. When you begin to live a genuine married life together, you commence to grow in such a way that you begin to discover what love really is.
Aug 22, 2008, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
To Meet Your Love
Many boys and girls think they must lose their virginity as soon as possible, as if it were something unnecessary and unfashionable. They boast of their “first time” among themselves. And the one who “hasn’t yet” is often mocked in a company where the rest “already have”. But for a believer, it is very important to keep chastity not only during teenage years, but until marriage. Sex affects your future, the life of your partner, as well as the lives of your children. For those who tell their stories here, these are more than just words; their experiences have given them important knowledge.
Jul 8, 2008, 10:00

Family life : Before marriage
Some Old Proverbs For Some Young Couples
Marriages are made on earth. Or rather not made, but carefully constructed, piece by piece, over years, decades and generations, like a giant jigsaw puzzle. As far as I am concerned, the only really happy marriages are the ones that last a lifetime, as much as fifty, sixty, seventy and even eighty years. This is the love that makes the world go round.
Apr 22, 2007, 01:17

Family life : Before marriage
Celibacy, Marriage or "free love" - Which way to choose?
The problem of gender. The enigmatic side of sexual attractions. A healthy direction for sexual draw. Marriage or celibacy? Marriage and virginity – the two ways. Monasticism.
Jun 30, 2005, 00:25