June 13, 2002
The Pious Pastors
of the Holy Diocese of Denver
Beloved in the Lord,
In my Protocol Letter 00-10 dated March 22, 2000 I sent each of you a copy of the procedures and the formats for letters to be used when submitting Ecclesiastical Divorce Decree petitions for consideration by the Spiritual Tribunal of the Diocese of Denver. I am pleased that these procedures seem to have eased your preparation of the required documents and have facilitated their processing by my diocesan office.
Given a number of errors on Affidavits for License to Marry recently submitted to me, I am at this time enclosing a copy of the procedures you are to use in submitting requests for an Episcopal Permission to Marry (marriage license) in the Diocese of Denver.
Please remember that unlike other Orthodox jurisdictions, each and every marriage sacrament celebrated in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese requires that the priest first obtain Episcopal Permission to Marry from the diocesan hierarch. This is the correct procedure whether or not a couple has already been married civilly and living as man and wife.
Also keep in mind that, again unlike other jurisdictions, a couple that converts to the Orthodox faith is not automatically considered as ecclesiastically married simply by virtue of their Baptism/Chrismation and reception of Holy Communion, but must be ecclesiastically married following the guidelines delineated in the enclosure.
The procedures indicated on the enclosure are effective immediately upon receipt, and will be incorporated into the Diocesan Administrative Procedures manual in the future.
With Paternal Blessings,
+Metropolitan Isaiah
Presiding Hierarch
of
the Diocese of Denver