Our modern individualism creates special difficulties in married life.
To overcome them, a conscious effort on both sides is necessary, in order to build up the marriage and make it a “walking in the presence of God.”
(The Church alone provides a full and genuine solution for all problems.)
And there is something further, something which may appear to be simplest thing of all, but which is nevertheless the most difficult to achieve a firm intention to allow each partner to preserve his or her proper place in the marriage for the wife humbly to assume the second place, for the husband to take up the burden and the responsibility of being the head.
If this firm intention and desire are present, God will always help us to follow this difficult path, the path of martyrdom- the chant of the “Holy martyrs” is sung in the course of the bridal procession-but also a way of life that yields the most intense joy.
Fr. Alexander Elchaninov