After the placing of the crowns, an Apostle reading (Eph. 5:20-35) is appointed, in which it speaks of the importance of marriage and the duties of husband and wife.  Then there is a Gospel reading (John 2:1-11) in which the miracle of Jesus Christ at the marriage in Cana of Galilee is recorded; then, after prayers in the litanies, we say the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father.”  A cup of wine is brought and the priest blesses it, and presents it to the newly-married couple, who drink it, each taking three sips.  This is to show that they are bound together forever, that they will share everything in common, all their desires and intentions, all their joys and their sorrows.  Then the priest joins the hands of the newly-married and leads them around the lectern three times, as a sign of the indisolubility of their union.  During these three processions, the choir chants the following prayers:

Rejoice, O Esaias!  A Virgin is with child,
and shall bear a Son, Emmanuel, both God and man;
Dayspring shall be His Name,
Whom magnifying, we call the Virgin blessed.

 O holy martyrs, who fought the good fight
and have received your crowns,
entreat ye the Lord that he will have mercy on our souls.
Glory to Thee, O Christ God, the Apostles’ boast, the Martyrs’ joy,
whose preaching was the Trinity One in Essence.

When they have processed three times around the lectern, the priest stands the newly-weds before it again, and takes the crowns from them, greeting them as they set out on the course of their life together with the words:

Be thou exalted, O Bridegroom, like unto Abraham;
and be thou blessed like unto Isaac,
and do thou multiply like unto Jacob,
walking in peace,
and keeping the commandments of God in righteousness. 

And turning to the bride, the priest says:

And thou, O Bride!  be thou exalted like unto Sarah;
and exult thou like unto Rebecca;
and do thou multiply like unto Rachel;
and rejoice thou in thy husband,
fulfiling the precepts of the law;
for so it is well-pleasing unto God.

After blessings for the the newly-weds’ life’s journey, we have the dismissal, which is made in the same way as that for services of supplication to the Lord God.

[In the dismissal, the holy peers of the Apostles, the God crowned sovereigns Constantine and Helena, are commemorated as is the Great Martyr Procopius.  Sts Constantine and Helena are remembered because of their apostolic ministry, and within their family the married couple will have a similar, if more limited, ministry.  St Procopius is commemorated because he exhorted twelve women to go to their death by martyrdom as if to a marriage feast.]