What to do if you lost your wedding bands?

Question:

When I went on vacation I lost my wedding band … The Orthodox Christians have superstitions related to this issue, such as it is a bad sign for marriage, etc. … I do not believe this, it’s just a piece of metal and so, the true faith in God which binds spouses really matters … Usually those spouses purchase a second pair of rings and go to church again to “sanctify” them … What is your position regarding this thing? Thank you in advance and God bless!

The wedding bands are a sign of the covenant of marriage, which is concluded between the husband and his wife before God. It is true that people have this superstition that if one loses the ring, his or her marriage is doomed to divorce. We have no biblical basis to believe that superstition. It is not correct to attribute this superstition to the Orthodox Church just as the necessity of blessing the wedding bands. On this topic, Peter Berbentia writes on his blog the following things about the sanctification of the wedding bands :

“… I can say that there is no prayer in the engagement ceremony order for blessing the wedding bands, simply because wedding rings are a symbol. Because the ring, circle-shaped, having no beginning and no end, symbolizes the trust that spouses offer to each other. Moreover, there is no such prayer in any Orthodox service book.”

God bless your marriage to love one another and to reflect in your relationship the relationship that Jesus Christ has with His Church.

Translated by Felicia Rotaru