Marriage

The Mystery of Crowning

Marriage or Crowning is one of the two Holy Mysteries of Service. Christ, through the Church, blesses the union of one man and one woman who come together in love and in fidelity to one another and create a domestic church, a Christian family.​

Lessons from the Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church​

“God created human beings male and female: “By you, O God, a woman is joined to man as a helpmate and for the continuance of the human race…you blessed them, saying: ‘increase and multiply and rule the earth.’ Through wedlock you made the two of them one body.” In the Church, the marriage union is a Holy Mystery in which the man and woman manifest the new life in Christ. A Christian marriage is not only a natural relationship, a shared life and experience; it is an occasion of sanctification. Marriage is a Holy Mystery (Sacrament) in which by the grace of the Holy Spirit a man and a woman are united into one body and create a domestic church. The family union created by marriage is a community of persons, which, according to God’s plan, is an icon of the relationship of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity.” (471)

“Marriage is based on the fact that the married couple mutually complements one another. The Church gives witness to this in a prayer of the Rite of Crowning: “Holy God, you created man from the dust and from his side fashioned a woman as a suitable helpmate for him, for such was the good pleasure of your majesty that man should not be alone on earth.” In their gender differentiation, a man and woman complete one another, creating an indissoluble union of one body.” (472)