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The Sofia Globe ^ | 04-06-2016 | Staff

[NRx]

“Divorce” ends a marriage. The right to remarry is a given. Suggesting otherwise is.. well, bizarre. The limit of three marriages is a discipline of the sacraments,in much the same way that you Latins have forbidden Holy Orders to married men. The difference being that prohibition of fourth marriages is much older than compulsory clerical celibacy and is not controversial in the Orthodox Church.

[NRx]

Once again your contempt for the Fathers of the Church and the Ecumenical Councils is breathtaking. You label the fathers of no less than three Ecumenical Councils as “lustful schismatics.” Shame on you.

[Ransomed]

What happens when the rare third marriage is actually annullable, like it was to an unknown close relative or something? Still three strikes discipline, one more try or what?

Freegards

[NRx]

I have long been of the opinion that smartest way to deal with this problem is to strike the word “marriage> from civil law. Let the civil code provide for voluntary contracts between people and set up some system of “Civil Union” for those wishing to have their domestic relationships to be recognized for the purpose of benefits etc.

“Marriage” should be left entirely out of the law so that it is a purely religious matter. If someone wants to get “married” they would then go to their respective place of worship and speak with their clergy. Each church synagogue etc would of course have their own rules.

[ebb tide]

“Divorce” ends a marriage.

Do you even realize the hypocrite that you are?

"The legal distinction between separation and divorce is a modern construct", NRx.

[ebb tide]

Your contempt of Scripture is no different than Luther’s.

[ebb tide]

Let the civil code provide for voluntary contracts between people and set up some system of “Civil Union” for those wishing to have their domestic relationships to be recognized for the purpose of benefits etc.

I'm not surprised to see that you are homo-friendly. Putin would be disappointed with you.

[Ransomed]

Have to think being conditioned to let current civil law define marriage is a big part of the reason so many actually accept ‘gay marriage.’ Even the religious groups that actually accepted ‘gay marriage’ didn’t marry their gay members until the state they happened to be in agreed with them about it. Which might be more bizarre than accepting ‘gay marriage’ in the first place.

Freegards

[piusv]

Then why doesn't St Paul use the same word?

In this Bible verse if "divorce" and "separate from" mean exactly the same thing,

10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

then you are suggesting that St Paul allows a woman to divorce her husband, but does not allow the husband to divorce his wife. And if he suggests "reconciling" with her husband if she "separates" from him, how would that work if she was really divorced from him rather than just physically separated from him?

You can't honestly believe St Paul was equating divorce with separation here.

[piusv]

Since I also cited the Holy Canons of the Ecumenical Councils, I’d say your interpretation of Scripture is in error. Rome has been wallowing in heresy for so long that the Ecumenical Councils have no meaning to you

You did not provide what these canons actually state. You wrote:

The Orthodox practice of allowing 2nd and 3rd remarriages as a concession are laid out in the Canons of St. Basil the Great (canons 50 and 77 in particular). Further the 6th Ecumenical Council confirmed the practice (see Canon II) of St. Basil’s canons as the normative discipline of the Church. This was further confirmed in the canons of the Quinisext Council (Trullo). The 7th, 8th and 9th Ecumenical Councils confirmed all of the Holy Canons of the earlier councils.

[piusv]

In the Gospels, Christ says that if someone is divorced for any reason other than infidelity, and they remarry, they commit adultery and cause their former spouse to commit adultery (Matthew 5:31-32).

The Greek word used in Mt. 5:32 was porneia which does not mean adultery. If Jesus wanted to say that there is an exception for adultery He would have used the Greek word for adultery: mocheuo. But He did not.

Porneia has various meanings but not adultery. Generally the term is used to denote a marriage which is invalid because of close blood ties of the two who have gotten married.

So divorce in the case of an invalid marriage makes absolute sense and isn't truly an exception at all. In fact, it is completely in line with a true Catholic annulment.