Orthodox sacramental theology of marriage

"In the Eastern Orthodox churches, it has been generally held that the essence of matrimony consists in the "crowning" or "nuptial blessing," and therefore the priest is the real minister of the sacrament. The Catholic Church, in contrast to the Orthodox position, has been constant in teaching that the spouses are the ministers. Modern efforts to show that the priest's intervention is essential, while no doubt moved by a laudable ecumenical desire, have produced no real theological basis for the thesis. It should be added that these efforts represent in effect an attempt to clericalize what is in practice an essentially lay-administered sacrament."

(Cormac Burke, “The Theology of Marriage,” pp. 10-11)

According to Orthodox sacramental theology, the essence of Sacramental Matrimony consists not in the consent of the spouses, but rather the crowning or blessing of the priest. This view is further highlighted by the fact, that in some Byzantine churches the Sacrament of Matrimony is referred to as the Mystery of Crowning. Although it is stipulated that the consent of the spouses is a necessary condition for the marriage to be valid, the sacrament itself remains something that is imposed externally (as some sort of added ornament to marriage). This is also why we find the strange notion of "eternal marriage" in Orthodoxy, which simply posits that the sacrament conferred during the crowning ceremony leaves an indelible mark on the soul (as in baptism), linking the spouses for all of eternity. Although in theory, marriage between Christian is absolutely indissoluble according to Orthodox sacramental theology; in practice, this is far from being the case. The Orthodox churches accept the practice of divorce and remarriage, placing an arbitrary limit on the number of marriages one can contract (three).  The reasons one can file for ecclesiastical divorce varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. On the basis that the sacramental bond persists after death, all remarriages are subsequently considered non-sacramental.

What remains to be answered, however, is how a new marriage can be contracted without it being ipso facto adultery; since according to Orthodox sacramental theology, the original couple remains sacramentally bound forever? If the Orthodox Church was to consistently apply its theology, we should see it not only condemning remarriage after divorce, but also remarriage after the death of a spouse! However, the reality of the situation is different. Here we have an ecclesiastical sanctioning of adultery.