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The following text is a presentation by His Eminence Metropolitan Panteleimon given to the Holy Synod of the Hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, which met in Alexandria, on Tuesday, October 24, 2017. This text, which is of a canonical, pastoral, and technical nature, was accepted by the Synod as the basis for further discussion.
Salt publishes it as part of a small discussion-section dedicated to the African wedding.
Βlessed Father and Master,
Most Reverend and Most God-loving holy Hierarchs of the Synod,
I would like, in the first place, to express my gratitude for the trust given to my humble person, in assigning to me the study and presentation of the theme “Church Marriage in the African Context” before the Venerable Body of the Hierarchy of our Senior Patriarchate, and also seek your understanding for any possible mistakes, weaknesses or omissions.
This subject is of particular interest and for the past two years has occupied the local Church of Brazzaville, which had already started to study it gradually. For this reason, there were meetings and exchanges of texts and views between Greek Orthodox theologians, with our native clergy, as well as bishops of the Roman Catholic Church and representatives of the Protestant Confessions in Congo —members of which can have a church wedding with a baptized Orthodox Christian—so that there is as complete an examination as possible of this burning issue, both theological-theoretical and pastoral-practical.