Current Issues Facing the Orthodox Family: Divorce and Mixed Marriages
Current Issues Facing the Orthodox Family: Divorce and Mixed Marriages

Summary/Abstract: This paper looks at the canonical laws and traditions of the Orthodox Church in matters regarding betrothal, marriage, divorce, and mixed marriages, and at impediments to marriage in particular. The origins of the canonical impediments to marriage are to be found in the Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul, but they were also influenced by Roman law and traditions existing among early Christians. The Church Fathers, successive synods, and the Byzantine emperors added to and developed these canons over the centuries. Further changes arose in the nineteenth century, with the emergence of the nation states and the autocephalous Churches and the prevalence of civil law over ecclesiastical law.

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