During a meeting with the young people, his Holiness, Patriarch Kirill related a case from his own life. Once a young couple came to him by motorcycle to ask for his blessing to marry. The future patriarch asked them if they had known each other for long. They answered: “For a several months.” Then the hierarch asked the young man: “Do you love her?”
“Yes, I love her!”
“Then imagine that you are riding your motorcycle, make an accident and she remains crippled for life.” “Are you ready to stay with her until death in such circumstances?”
The Patriarch said that he didn’t even need to hear his answer: it was enough for him to see the reaction of that young man, who got very troubled. In this way you can see if people are prepared for matrimony: they must be ready to be together for joy and for sorrow as well.
From priest Paul Gumerov, Family conflicts: prevention and solution, Sophia Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013, pages 60-61
