What do we mean when we say that marriage is a holy mystery?

In Christianity, marriage is holy, and the bed is pure. Christianity raised that status of marriage to its highest level, as it considered the union between spouses a union with God Himself, like that unity between Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:22–24), not only to establish a new home, but to establish a holy church in which the Lord dwells and rests. Therefore, the believer feels that the sacrament of matrimony is a holy mystery in which Christ unites the newlywed couple together with a holy bond by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that they may taste the sacramental union between Christ and the Church, His bride, and live together in their house for God as one body without division. For this reason, the following should be taken into account in any Christian marriage:

• a. Approval of the bishop.¹⁷¹⁷

• b. By the end of the second century, the sacrament of marriage was associated with the sacrament of the eucharist. Tertullian says, “How shall we ever be able adequately to describe the happiness of that marriage which the Church arranges, the Sacrifice strengthens, upon which the blessing sets a seal, at which angels are present as witnesses, and to which the Father gives His consent?”¹⁷¹⁸

Although Christ permits divorce in case of adultery (Matt. 19:9), divorce did not occur immediately in this event, and instead an opportunity for repentance was given and the person was denied from communal prayers for a long time. St. Jerome says, “It is only heretics who condemn marriage and tread under foot the ordinance of God, but we listen with gladness to every word said by our Lord in praise of marriage. For the Church does not condemn marriage, but only subordinates it.”¹⁷¹⁹