25. О браке

I consider it appropriate to touch upon the laws on marriage and expose the insolence of those who condemn it. And the difference between the sexes itself is enough to indicate the reason for creation. For this purpose, the Creator of all things created a wife, which is why he called her a helper. For he said: “Let us make” Adam “a helper for him” (Gen. 2:18). He not only created, but also married her to her husband according to the law, which now remains in force, brought her to her husband, Himself became the bridegroom and friend of the groom, He Himself, as if as a gift to the marriage, pronounced the following blessing, “the verb: grow and multiply, and fill the earth, and rule over it” (Gen. 1:28). This was the first blessing received by the human race from the God of all. And many years later, bringing about the final destruction by a flood, he commanded not just men, but also wives in equal numbers to enter the ark, and after the punishment ended, he renewed the initial blessing. For he also said to them: “Grow and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1). And the patriarch Abraham, having brought him out of his native land, commanded him to look at the stars of heaven and promised to make people equal to them, for he said: I will make your seed as the stars of heaven in multitude and as the sand at the edge of the sea. And if marriage were reprehensible, the Lord God would not have legitimized it in the beginning, and would not have called childbearing a blessing. For this is why the Old Testament was not forbidden to have many wives, so that the human race could multiply. For this reason, God-loving men married their wives two, three or more times, wanting to become fathers of more children. And that they had intercourse with many wives not to please voluptuousness is testified by Patriarch Abraham, who, after many requests from Sarah, entered into communication with Hagar, then, after she gave birth to a son, did not approach her any more; The wise Jacob also testifies, who, both against his will, married Leah for himself, and out of sheer jealousy, the husband agreed to communicate with the slaves. And his spouses, not serving voluptuousness, but wanting to become mothers of many children, were at odds with each other. Thus, the Old Testament Scripture indicates to the disciples of faith the purpose of marriage. Let him who does not accept the Old Testament laws from the New Testament Scripture learn similar things, because here too, of course, marriage is among the praiseworthy deeds. The first of the Apostles was called from among those committed to marriage. And the evangelists are witnesses to this, who directly say that the Vladyka healed Petrov’s “mother-in-law” “by fire” (Matthew 8:14). And the Lord Himself not only did not forbid the marriage, but was a guest at the wedding and, as if as a gift to the marriage, brought uncultivated wine. The law of marriage has been so strengthened that anyone who wants to dissolve a marriage without being convicted of fornication is prohibited by the new law. For he says: “Everyone who puts away his wife, except in the words of the fornicator, commits adultery” (Matthew 5:32). Then, when the Pharisees said that the old law commanded to give “the book of licentiousness,” he explained to them the purpose of the law, for he said: “Because of the hardness of your hearts,” Moses wrote this commandment to you, and at the beginning of creation, “I created male and female, I am God.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and both will become one flesh.” Thus, having read the first law, given by Himself, he added: “just as there are two nests.... For God has united, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:5-8). Yet this proves the legality of marriage. And the great Peter did not separate Ananias and Sapphira, who were united, but with great vehemence denounced Ananias and Sapphira for concealing the price, because one was lawful, and the other extremely unlawful. The Divine Apostle Paul wrote a whole letter to Philemon and Apphia, who were bound together by the law of marriage. And to the Corinthians, who wanted to know whether those who believed in the Lord should prefer to maintain purity over marriage, he expressed the following thought: “And about them we write, it is good for a man not to touch his wife: but for the sake of fornication let every man have his own wife, and every wife have her own husband” (1 Cor. 7:1-2). Having thus legitimized this, he commands us to have firm goodwill towards each other. “Let the husband render due love to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband” (1 Cor. 7:3). Since it happened, how likely it was, that either the husband or the wife preferred abstinence to mutual communication, and when there was no general agreement on this, the one who was unable to endure it happened to fall into fornication, forbids abstinence without common consent and says: “The wife does not own her body, but the husband: in the same way, the husband does not own his body, but the wife” (1 Cor. 7:4); that is, live under each other’s authority: you cannot do what you want without the consent of someone who bears the same yoke as you. And strengthening the law, he added: “Do not deprive yourself of one another: but by agreement for a time, let you continue in fasting and prayer, and gather together again” (1 Cor. 7:5). “Deprivation” he called a cessation of communication that was not voluntary, because with abstinence on one side, the other side considers itself to be deprived. The Apostle explains why he commanded to gather again after prayer and fasting. For he added: “let not Satan tempt you,” and showing that Satan in them takes for himself a reason to fight, the Apostle necessarily added: “by your intemperance,” that is, when you strive, he will in no way be able to harm you. Then, exhorting us to achieve greater perfection, he says: “I say this by advice, and not by command. I want all men to be as I am: but each one will receive his own gift from God, both in this way and in the same way” (1 Cor. 7:6-7). If the blessed Paul called chaste marriage a gift from God, then it is clear that the institutions of evil heretics are illegal. And the subsequent words of the Apostle confirm the same idea. “And to those who are married,” he says, “I give this command not to I, but to the Lord: that the wife must not separate from her husband... let her remain single, or let her be reconciled to her husband; and the husband must not let his wife go” (1 Cor. 7:10-11). He is so far from prohibiting marriage that even the one being dissolved is sealed by the Sovereign laws. For he says: It is not I who write this law, but the Lord God, who set it out in the Divine Gospel, and commanded the separated woman to remain single, forcing her to return to her husband. The Apostle commands both those who have unfaithful husbands and those who are married to unfaithful wives not to dissolve their marriage. For he says: “If a brother has an unfaithful wife, and she is pleased to live with him, let him not leave her. And even if a wife has an unfaithful husband, she is pleased to live with her, but does not leave him” (1 Cor. 7:12-13). If you do not dissolve a marriage that does not have consent according to faith, then it is clear that you have recognized the marriage as legal and not illegal. You might be interested in: