Holy Matrimony

Wedding

Holy Matrimony is the sacrament by which two baptized Christians enter into a lifelong union by making vows before God and the Church.  The couple expresses their mutual love and seeks God’s blessing on their union, which is sealed by the Holy Eucharist of Christ.

Our Lord Jesus Christ gave a very specific meaning and significance to marriage.  Following the Old Testament Law, but going beyond its formal way of thinking, Jesus taught the uniqueness of human marriage as the most perfect natural expression of God’s love for mankind and His own love for the Church.  Marriage is the human expression of the creative and caring love of God; the perfect love of the Holy Trinity for the world.  Through the Church’s formal recognition of the couple’s unity and its incorporation into the Body of Christ, the marriage becomes the image of the divine love of God.

If human love imitates divine love, then marriage implies a belief that faith will play an important role in your relationship and in your family.  This realization that we need Christ in every aspect of human life, means that a Christian couple cannot begin to live together and share each other’s life in total unity spiritually, physically, intellectually, socially, or economically without His presence and power through the Holy Spirit.

In the sacrament of marriage, a man and woman as individuals are given the possibility to become one spirit and one flesh in a way which human love alone cannot do.  The Holy Spirit is given so that married couples have the power to fulfill the sacrament of Christian marriage and so that what is begun on earth does not “part in death” but is fulfilled and continues perfectly in the Kingdom of God.

A Christian marriage also suggests that the couple embraces the dedication and disciplines required in Christian marriage.  This service affirms your commitment and belief that marriage is a lifelong covenant.  The key to marriage is not trying to find the right person.  It is trying to be the right person.  A covenant relationship requires intimacy, openness and honesty, caring and sharing.

WEDDINGS AT ST. JAMES

Parishioners are asked to contact the Church Office at least eight months prior to the date of a wedding.  A couple shall contact St. James to confirm availability of the Pastor and sanctuary prior to making or confirming any other wedding arrangements.  All weddings are to follow the cannons of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church and the laws of the State of the Massachusetts.  The couple must meet with the Pastor at least once before the wedding date for pre-marital preparation.  The church office will make all necessary arrangements for the deacon, organist and soloist, and will provide the couple with additional details and forms.  Weddings may not take place on Sunday mornings, during Great Lent or Holy Week, or on the following five major feast days: Armenian Christmas, Holy Easter, The Feast of the Transfiguration, The Feast of the Assumption of Holy Mary the Mother of God, and The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Download our Guidelines for your Wedding HERE.
Fill out a Wedding Request form online.