Marital Expectations in a Religious Context: Catholic and Orthodox Marriage Advertisements
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2021.2.604Keywords:
textology, system of values, axiological ideal, axiological reality, marriage advertisements, family, Orthodoxy, CatholicismAbstract
People’s ideas about their future family are influenced by social stereotypes and family traditions. Religious dogmas reflected in the prototext of the Holy Scripture determine Christian family expectations. This article refers to marriage advertisements written by women of different age groups and different social statuses posted on Orthodox and Catholic dating sites. By indicating the desired traits of a partner and/or by identifying themselves, the authors of such texts explicate the formed value attitudes that reflect their idea of an ideal life partner. The space of the internet, characterised by freedom of expression in connection with the realisation of a basic human need, to create a family, leads to the explication of real value ideas about family in the texts of marriage advertisements. Texts of Orthodox marriage advertisements reflect the axiological reality of family relations based on the axiological ideal, such as faith in God, decency, chastity, innocence, kindness, and absence of mercantile interests, which remain a priority for the authors. Also, they still contain ideas about the value of the person’s well-roundedness formed in Soviet society. The pragmatically determined requirements for place of residence and nationality indicate the need to take into account the cultural and economic characteristics of Russia, i. e. its large territory and diversity of nationalities. Catholic marriage advertisements focus on faith and the doctrine of the Catholic Church. The addressers create an image of an ideal family in which spouses support each other. The idyll for them is the promise of a wonderful bright future, family happiness, and the realisation of hopes and dreams. The advertisements manifest gender stereotypes, which is confirmed in the characteristics of the addressee: the addressers do not pay much attention to appearance; for them, internal characteristics are more essential, especially adherence to the Catholic faith, which is closely associated with patriotism.
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