In the Unification Church the Blessing is considered the most important and central ceremony in a person’s spiritual life. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

What is the Blessing?

The Blessing is given to married (or engaged) couples. Though the process of the Blessing, it is believed by Unification Church members, a person is removed from the lineage of sinful humanity and engrafted into God’s sinless lineage; in other words original sin is forgiven. The Blessed couple’s marriage relationship is free from sin and if they have children they are born without original sin, so it is believed. Michelangelos painting of the original sin (the Fall) According to Christian tradition, Original sin describes the condition of sinfulness (lack of holiness) into which human beings are hereditarily born. ...

The History of the Blessing

The Blessing was first given in 1961 by Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon shortly after their own marriage to 36 couples in Seoul, Korea. All the couples were members of the Unification Church. Rev. Moon matched most of the couples, although 12 were already married to each other from before joining the church, which was officially founded in 1954. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Seoul (Sŏul|서울) ) is the capital and largest city of South Korea (Republic of Korea). ... Korea (Korean: (조선 or 한국, see below) is a geographical area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia, bordering China to the northwest and Russia to the northeast, with Japan situated to the southeast across the Korea Strait. ...

Later Blessings were larger in scale but followed the same pattern with all participants Unification Church members and Rev. Moon matching most of the couples. In 1982 the first large scale Blessing held outside of Korea took place in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG, known colloquially simply as The Garden, has been the name of four arenas in New York City, United States. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Big Apple, The Capital of the World[1], Gotham [2], Metropolis Location Location in the state of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,214. ...

The Blessings attracted a lot of attention in the press and in the public imagination often being labeled “mass weddings”, although this is not exactly correct since some couples were already married and some were engaged and were later legally married according to the laws of their own countries.

The 1990s saw a big change when Rev. Moon allowed the Blessing to be given to other people besides Unification Church members. This was welcomed by most church members since it meant that friends and family members could receive the Blessing without being required to join the church. This liberalization led to a great increase in the number of Blessed couples, with most of them having been already married and not Unification Church members. It is possible for any Blessed couple to give the Blessing to other couples and this is being done in many cases by ministers of other churches who have received the Blessing though their association with the Unification Church.

Process of the Blessing

The Blessing has five steps:

1. The Chastening Ceremony. The couple strike each other three times to symbolically make an end to sin and prepare for a new beginning.

2. The Holy Wine Ceremony. The couple share a cup of Holy Wine (or grape juice) symbolizing their engrafting into God’s sinless lineage.

3. The Holy Blessing Ceremony. The couple exchange vows. A prayer is offered by the officiators. They are sprinkled with Holy Water.

4. The Separation Period. The couple refrains from having sexual relations for a period, most often 40 days but in some cases much longer, before consummating, or re-consummating, their marriage.

5. The Three Day Ceremony. The couple begins, or re-begins, their married life in a highly symbolic ceremony over three days which is considered to reverse the fall of Adam and Eve.

The Fall of Man, or simply The Fall, refers to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and the consequences of the expulsion, as told in the biblical book of Genesis. ... It has been suggested that Adam (prophet of Islam) be merged into this article or section. ... Extensible VAX Editor EVE stands for Extensible VAX Editor, a flexible text editor that is part of the VMS operating system. ...

Criticisms and Controversies

The Blessing, like almost everything about the Unification Church, has been the subject of criticism and controversy from various points of view.

Some people feel that it is meaningless and unnecessary because they don’t believe in original sin. Others, especially some Christians, believe that it is not possible for original sin to be forgiven and therefore the Blessing is perhaps even blasphemous. Critics of the church have sometimes said that Rev. Moon’s reason for giving the Blessing was to help members circumvent immigration laws, to attract attention to himself, or even to raise money for the church since church members pay a fee or make a donation to take part. A Christian is a follower of Jesus, whom they regard as a/the Christ. ...

Gordon Neufeld, Canadian author and long time critic (and ex-member) of the Unification Church, has said that the liberalization of the Blessing in the 1990s devalued the Blessings given in earlier years when much more was required of those taking part.

Historical Blessings

• 36 Couples' Blessing (1961)
• 72 Couples' Blessing (1962)
• 124 Couples' Blessing (1963)
• 430 Couples' Blessing (1968)
• 43 Couples' Blessing (1969)
• 777 Couples' Blessing (1970)
• 1800 Couples' Blessing (1975)
• 35 Previously Married Couples' Blessing (1976)
• 74 Couples' Blessing (1977)
• 16 Couples' Blessing (1978)
• 39 Couples' Blessing (1981)
• 2075 Couples' Blessing (1982)
• 6000 Couples' Blessing (1982)
• 36 Couples of the Second Generation Blessing (1986)
• 6500 Couples' Blessing (1988)
• 72 Couples of the Second Generation Blessing (1989)
• 1275 Couples' Blessing (1989)
• 42 Couples' Blessing (1989)
• 138 Previously Married Couples' Blessing (1989)
• 57 Single Blessing (1989)
• 1265 Previously Married Couples' Blessing (1992)
• 30,000 Couples' Blessing (1992)
• 360,000 Couples' Blessing (1995)
• 3.6 Million Couples' & 36 Million Couples' Blessing (1997)
• 360 Million Couples' Blessing (1998-1999)
• 60 Couples' Blessing (2001)
• 4000 Couples' Blessing (2002)
• Interreligious (144,000) Clergy Blessing (2002)
• 400 Million Couple Blessing (2004)

Information from ‘’Unificationist Calendar’’ by Kathryn Corman [1]

External Links

Article on the Blessing from an official church website.