Nov 23, 2019
Last night our fellowship was blessed to hear a presentation by renowned theologian and Academic Director/Senior Lecturer in Theology at St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, Dr Philip Kariatlis, on 'The Sacredness of Marriage.' Dr Kariatlis highlighted the modern world's redefinition and disparagement of marriage as necessitating us, as Orthodox Christians, to rediscover and present to the world what we truly believe marriage is all about. And what we believe is that the married couple, the husband and wife, are united permanently in Christ for their mutual spiritual edification, and, ultimately, sanctification. Dr Kariatlis demonstrated from an array of sources - the marriage service (which for the Orthodox is a sacrament), its prayers and hymns, as well as the writings of saints like Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom - that marriage is blessed by God, and that God is encountered in the permanent, sacred bond between husband and wife which entails a loving, self-sacrifical asceticism that has as its goal their transformation in Christ; their eternal salvation. With his verve and very practical analogies, Dr Kariatlis referred to the Church's sacred doctrine of the communal nature of the Holy Trinity as a paradigm for the communion, in an earthly but nonetheless real and legitimate sense, of the married couple. Some fascinating Q&A followed, and our parish is very grateful. God willing, in a fortnight's time on Friday 6th of December, Mrs Victoria Baghos will be delivering our final fellowship talk for the year on 'The Life and Times of St Matrona of Moscow.' We hope to see you all there! Photos by Chris Baghos.