Why does a woman need a man, and a man need a woman?! To have someone to crucify themselves for! To have someone to die for – to die every day! To learn – to accept everything (not for oneself, but for the one who gives, for the Other), to give everything (not for oneself, but for those to whom you give) and not to be (“to die,” to nullify oneself for Others, and not for oneself) (see part I). Only those who have acquired a humble and contrite heart in the school of hypostatic being of the Parish-Eucharist (Marital Eucharistic life with each member of the Parish-Eucharist), where marriage between a man and a woman (or an elder – novice in monasticism) is an auxiliary, elective, extracurricular circle, will join and partake in the Life of the Holy Trinity (which is the goal of all creation – Happiness), will partake in this mystery of perichoretic Hypostatic Unity. (Marriage is a school of love. Whoever loves at least one person will love the whole world, because by loving someone, you enter into a state of love (accepting Love from God), which is unconditional! That is, you either love, or you don’t love, you are either alive, or dead. We enter into marriage not to be loved, but to love, and to realize (trying with all our might to love) that there is no love in us – we are poor, destitute of love, and even more of the Love of the Holy Spirit! And God gives Love to the humble!).
Men, like Christ, must give-offer and humbly wait for reciprocity: “Here I stand at the door and knock, whoever hears and opens will receive the gift-offer, I will come in and dine with him!” You need to be proactive and be ready to hear rejection or ignorance, or even hatred (for often enemies are one’s own household): love your enemies (wish them happiness, and do everything you can to help them (your loved ones) achieve it (happiness)) – bless, pray, do good, despite or in opposition to hatred and evil directed at you! Why does a woman need a man, and a man a woman in marriage?! To make each other Happy, and thus become Happy themselves! Therefore, before entering into marriage (setting out with someone to Happiness), the boy and girl must responsibly weigh their strength – whether they can make each other (their companion) happy, whether I can lead my wife to the Kingdom of God (whether I can be crucified for her, die for her – from her! – there is no greater love than this!). Whether I can endure all her (his) shortcomings, everything that irritates me in her (him), whether I can endure to the end on this cross (whether I will not become unfaithful and want to come down from the cross, and one does not come down from the cross – one is taken down from it! And only those who endure to the end will be saved, that is, will acquire Love as a gift from God! Therefore, one must responsibly choose such a companion who can be endured, loved to the end! There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s ENEMIES!
Let’s say a few words about modern “marriages” and the catastrophe of the destruction-divorces of these “marriages.” All boys and girls (newlyweds of different ages and social status) enter marriage with one goal – to be loved, to receive as much love as possible from their partner, at least not less than they give-love!!! And ideally – to be loved 100%. In short, everyone is looking for love for themselves, everyone dreams of being loved! And they do not even suspect, poor things, that long before marriage they are loved so much that no one can add anything to this love!!! God Himself Loves me Divinely; yes, yes, and materially, bodily – because everything you have (and a beloved wife from whom you want love, is God’s gift to you!) and what you are spiritually-soulfully-bodily, is God’s Gift to you, God’s Love poured out on you!!! So seeking, demanding, striving for love for oneself is absurd, a delusion! There is no need to seek love (for oneself) – because we are loved with Divine Love every moment, to which no one can add anything. Every moment, God, with His Loving Providence, leads us to Paradise. For Happiness (to Love and be Loved), it remains to fulfill the necessary condition – to love (because the sufficient condition has already been fulfilled on the cross in Jesus Christ and the Pentecost of the Holy Spirit – in the Eucharist). Happy is not the one who is loved, but the one who loves (for everyone is already Loved!). The whole struggle is for one thing – to love, to learn to love, more precisely to acquire love, to accept the Holy Spirit, by whom God’s Love is poured into our hearts! So, marriage is given not for you to be loved (you are Divinely Loved before marriage – always, because God is Love!), but to acquire love, to love!!! And those who force themselves to love – will humble themselves, recognize their weakness, lovelessness, their hell, lose all hope in their strength, understand that there is no love in them, – will accept Love from God, who alone Loves, is Love! So, do you want Love for yourself, do you want to feel It, and to know how immeasurably, boundlessly, Divinely you are loved every moment?! Humble yourself! Accept with a humble heart God’s Love, and through the Eucharist, by the power of the Holy Spirit (the Fire by which God’s Love is poured into the heart), you will be able to reciprocate the Love with which you are Loved, – Divinely (in the Holy Spirit) to Divine Love. And you will become Happy, that is, a god by Grace, a partaker of God’s nature – the Life of the Holy Trinity (to Love and be Loved).