I will tell you one thing: know that intelligence and education are useless if they are not put in the service of love. Even if they are pagan people, we cannot forbid them to marry one another. But without Christ, they will not solve anything. “We love each other and that’s it!” This is nothing else but instinct. This type of love will not last.

Marriage should be done as the saying goes: for good or not at all! Marriage is put in the service of an ideology and not in the service of pleasure. That love that has no higher goal will not lead to nothing good, even if you are or not married. You will only lose precious time.

That they love each other is just a manner of saying things. How can we talk about love if they do not believe in God? There is no security, perspective, meaning or goal if there is no God. If love doesn’t grow in the bosom of the Church, then it doesn’t exist at all. This may be your answer.

(Translation from: Părintele Arsenie Papacioc, Despre armonia căsătoriei, ediţie îngrijită de Ieromonah Benedict Stancu, Editura Elena, Constanţa, 2013, pp. 33-34)