Hm as someone who uses curses, I would like to correct a number of misconceptions I read.
Worst and most dangerous, if you don't believe in curses they won't work... Not true, 2 out of 5 curses I have cast worked on people, I did not tell them about it, they had no idea I cursed them and even if they believed in them they could not know about their casting, mindreading aside... all 5 cures worked.
The second misconception is that curses are evil, they are not they are a tool. if used properly both the caster and the recipient benefit, curses don't have to kill or destroy someone's life, however, they can do it.
Curses are a form of justice, but this is not always the case, In essence, curse is energy, usually negative, but sometimes positive, is energy send to haunt the recipient, it might be generated by the recipient mistreating the curser (a boss exploiting and employ could invoke a curse from him) or the curse, could be generated by the caster, eg (extreme jealousy or hate could cause a curse even if unfounded)
How curses work? You take the energy for the curse and form it, usually give it a purpose. Through spellcasting or direct energy manipulation, you create an effect. a properly made curse would be conditional, eg punish the recipient until they learn a lesson, repent. or do a particular act. A proper curse should have a solution embedded in it. Those curses should become known to the recipient, not in order to work, but in order for the recipient to know the way to end them as they don't intend to torture the person but present a weakness, offer a learning opportunity and allow growth. Not telling it to the recipient makes the curse malicious and the morals of the caster questionable. Vodoo does set a condition by creating an item eg, bounding the curse on an item is a sure way to ensure you can end it when it has accomplished its purpose by destroying it. But also a sure way to curse your target by gifting the item to him.
The improperly cast curse is worse. Usually invoked by passions such as anger or jealousy it can even happen without the caster knowing about it (the so-called caster's curse of sports presenters is a nice example.) An energy is created and set loose on the target sometimes without a purpose. The energy will then haunt the target until it runs out, returns to the caster, or is cleansed. if done by jealousy those curses typically end once the caster stops being jealous. If the curse is unjust the energy will then usually return to the caster if the energy from the curse was originated by him. THe evil eye that is recognized by the orthodox church is such a curse.
Now what confuses me is that since you are a Cristian orthodox is that you say the curse lasted that long. Participating in the holy communion of the orthodox church is a very potent way to end every curse. No matter the origin. You just need to go do a confession keep a couple of days fasting and participate in the communion as your church suggests, and you will be freed from most curses. Especially in your case you seem to have accepted the curse, confessing the reason that you believed the curse was fair to the priest and having him untie it is a very powerful way to have it removed and very few people can work around that, your mother in law most probably won't be one of them.
From what you said the curse your mother in law issued was felt by you. if you can remove that feeling from within you, you will end the curse. Just concentrate on it and reject it. First, reject its justice. if unfair point out why it is unfair, why you should not have to deal with it and order it to leave you. However since the curse was cast to your wife, she probably needs to do the same too. Another solution is, since you feel that energy, simply place your right hand over it, visualize yourself grabbing the energy and pull it out of you, you could do that for your wife too. If someone was doing a curse like that on me I would immediately grab the energy they send to me and shove it back in their face then I would order them to deal with it, this is your doing take it back and suffer it. The curse actually worked in this case partially cause you accepted it. As the curse was uttered you shut up and let it sink in you. As if admitting guilt, and accepting it as fair.
Another way is to pray to an angel to clean it for you. Imagine the curse like a chain binding you and see the angel remove it from you.