Saeed Abedini asked his followers to pray for his relationship with his wife via a Facebook post which broke his four year-long social media silence on Sunday.
"I am grateful for marriage counsellors who have been helping me but my wife's relationship with me is not good at this point, so we need prayer that she joins this counselling process with us," he wrote on 14 February.
Warm Greetings Dear Saints!We Love because He first Loved us. (1John 4:19)This is my first post on Facebook after 4...
Posted by Saeed Abedini on Sunday, February 14, 2016
This was the pastor's first Facebook post since his release from Iranian prison where he had been held since September 2012.
Referring to his supporters as "Dear Saints" and "beloved sisters and brothers", Abedini said: "I see there is a LOVE story between us as I went through hardship of imprisonment by you showing your support with sending hundreds & thousands of letters of encouragement and LOVE to the prison.
"You created a LOVE story that even Muslims in Iran talked about," he added.
Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, filed for legal separation on January 26, having alleged that her husband was addicted to pornography and had physically and emotionally abused her.
"In very difficult situations sometimes you have to establish boundaries while you work toward healing," she said when she filed the case.
"Three months ago Saeed told me things he demanded I must do to promote him in the eyes of the public that I simply could not do any longer," she said. "He threatened that if I did not do the results would be the end of our marriage and the resulting pain this would bring to our children."
Pastor Saeed was released last month, four years into his eight-year sentence on charges that his house-church planting was a threat to national security in Iran.
