Orthodox Christian dating

Fasting seasons and the social calendar

Great Lent, the Nativity Fast, the Apostles' Fast and the Dormition Fast between them cover a large part of the year, and most weeks include fasting days as well. Practice varies a great deal between jurisdictions, parishes and individuals, and this is genuinely a question for your own priest rather than a website.

What it means for dating is straightforward. Restaurant dinners get complicated. Big social occasions cluster into the periods between fasts. Weddings are generally not celebrated during Great Lent and Holy Week, or during the Dormition Fast in August, or around the Nativity and Theophany periods, with exceptions usually requiring the bishop's permission.

A partner from inside the tradition already plans around all of it. A partner from outside will need it explained repeatedly for the first year, which is fine if they are willing and exhausting if they are not.

Dating across jurisdictions

Greek, Antiochian, Russian, Serbian, Romanian, Coptic and others each have their own parish life, and in many places their own language for at least part of the service. Two Orthodox Christians from different jurisdictions usually have far more in common than either has with someone outside the Church, but there are real practical differences about which parish becomes home.

Worth raising once things are serious. Not worth raising on a first date.

Marrying outside the Orthodox Church

Practice on marrying non-Orthodox Christians varies by jurisdiction and usually involves the blessing of the bishop, and the position on marrying someone who is not baptised is different again.

We are deliberately not going to state a rule here, because the answer depends on your jurisdiction and your own priest is the person who can give it. What we would say is that it is better asked early than assumed, because the answer shapes what a serious relationship can look like.

Source: Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, marriage guidelines.