Category: MARRIAGE

  • “Because he loves her, he goes to bed last and gets up first in the morning.”

    —Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra, Mount Athos, Marriage: The Great Sacrament, A Sermon delivered in the Church of St. Nicholas, Trikala, Greece, 17 January, 1971

  • “Just as steel is fashioned in a furnace, just so is a person proved in marriage, in the fire of difficulties.”

    —Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra, Mount Athos, Marriage: The Great Sacrament, A Sermon delivered in the Church of St. Nicholas, Trikala, Greece, 17 January, 1971

  • “WHY DO SO MANY YOUNG PEOPLE FEAR MARRIAGE? BECAUSE THEY’RE AFRAID OF THE RESPONSIBILITIES. IT’S NOT THAT THERE AREN’T ANY GOOD YOUNG PEOPLE, BUT THEY FEAR RESPONSIBILITY.”

    —ELDER GAVRIIL TSAFOS

  • You must share everything, joys and sorrows alike. The Holy Sacrament of Marriage has indeed made all common to both of you. This is equally important towards the daily obligations and duties; it is the only way that a strong foundation will be built for your marriage.

    —St. Gregory the Theologian

  • In your marriage, fondness, affection, and love must be strong and persistent for the one whom God has selected to be your life partner. This person is now the eye of your life and the delight of your heart.

    —St. Gregory the Theologian

  • “If you do not have the strength to undergo the labor, then do not go looking for a woman.”

    —Abba Olympius

  • “As far as I am concerned, I resign from humanity. I no longer want to be, nor can still be, a man. What should I do? Work for a social and political system, make a girl miserable? Hunt for weaknesses in philosophical systems, fight for moral and esthetic ideals? It’s all too little. I renounce my humanity even though I may find myself alone. But am I not already alone in this world from which I no longer expect anything?”

    ― Emil Cioran, On the Heights of Despair

  • Mizinova wanted marriage, but eventually realised that, for Chekhov, lasting mutual happiness was either something he didn’t believe in or saw as too great a threat to his freedom.

    Anton Chekhov: a lifetime of lovers

  • Consider watching through a window as a family enjoys a home-cooked meal. You might imagine how it feels to be part of this group—their warmth and happiness, their sense of belonging as they pass dishes back and forth. Now imagine being part of this family. Maybe you do feel warmth and happiness, but those feelings are much more complex, less tidy. What came before the dinner? What comes after? Are you actually present, or thinking about something else? Your family is not a snapshot or a concept; it’s messy, in flux, evolving. It has depth and continuity. No matter how lovely the dinner is in reality, it can never really live up to what the observer imagines. Because what they imagine is actually just a symbol—an idea they’ve adapted from TV, movies, and marketing their entire lives about what it means to be part of a happy family.

    #187: Drowning in envy
    Haley Nahman

  • One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting every one else to give it up. That is not the Christian way. An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons—marriage, or meat, or beer, or the cinema; but the moment he starts saying the things are bad in themselves, or looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning.

    —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity