John Chrysostom, On the Bill of Divorce

did the ordinances of the new philosophy, then, receive their beginnings and prefaces? For since they had been nurtured for a long time in the law, and were obligated to proceed to the more perfect commandments, and the matters of their way of life were finally leading to their goal, the prophet, at the fitting time, leads them to this philosophy. Let us therefore obey this good law, and let us deliver ourselves from all shame, and neither cast out our own wives, nor receive those cast out by others. For with what countenance the woman’s husband? with what eyes his friends, his servants? For if, after her spouse has died, a man takes his wife, and then, seeing only his portrait set up, suffers somewhat and is displeased, as if seeing the living husband of the woman living with him, what kind of life will he live? how will he enter his home? with what mind, with what eyes will he look upon that man’s wife, who is his own? Or rather, one could not justly call such a woman that man’s, nor his own; for an adulteress is no one's wife. For she both trampled on her covenants with that man, and she did not come to you with the proper laws. What great madness would it be, to bring into the house a thing so full of evils? For is there a scarcity of women? For what reason, when there are many whom it is permitted to take with the proper laws and with a clear conscience, do we run to those who are forbidden, overturning our households, and introducing civil wars, and preparing enmity for ourselves from all sides, opening the mouths of a myriad of accusers, and disgracing our own lives, and, what is harshest of all, gathering for ourselves inexorable punishment on the day of judgment? For what shall we say then to the one who is about to judge us, when he brings the law into the midst and, having read it, says: I commanded not to take a divorced woman, saying that the matter is adultery. How then did you dare 51.222 to enter into a forbidden marriage? What shall we say, and what shall we answer? For one must not put forward there the laws laid down by outsiders, but it is necessary, silent and bound, to be led away to the fire of Gehenna with the adulterers and those who have wronged the marriages of others; for both he who divorces without the cause of fornication, and he who marries a cast-out woman while her husband is living, are punished equally with the cast-out woman. Wherefore I exhort, and I beseech, and I entreat, that neither men cast out their wives, nor wives leave their husbands, but listen to Paul who says: A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if her husband should die, she is free to be married to whom she wills, only in the Lord. For what excuse could they have, who, when Paul permits even a second marriage after the death of the spouse and offers such great freedom, dare to do this before the death? what defense could they obtain, either those who take the wives of living men, or those who go to common prostitutes? For that also is another form of adultery, for a man who has a wife at home to associate with prostitutes. For just as the woman who has a husband, if she gives herself to a slave or to some free man who does not have a wife, is convicted by the laws of adultery; so also the man, if he should sin with a common prostitute, or with another woman who does not have a husband, while having a wife, the matter is considered adultery. Let us therefore flee this kind of adultery as well. For what shall we have to say, what shall we put forward, when daring such things? what plausible pretext shall we offer? The desire of nature? But the wife allotted to you stands by, depriving us of this defense. For this reason marriage was introduced, that you may not fornicate; nay, not only the wife, but also many others who have partaken of the same nature with us, us of this

ἀρχὰς καὶ προοίμια λοιπὸν ἐλάμβανε τῆς καινῆς φιλοσοφίας τὰ προστάγματα; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πολὺν ἐνετράφησαν τῷ νόμῳ χρόνον, καὶ πρὸς τὰ τελειότερα παραγγέλματα ὁδεύειν ὤφειλον, καὶ πρὸς τὸ τέλος λοιπὸν ἀπήντα αὐτοῖς τὰ τῆς πολιτείας, μετὰ τοῦ προσήκοντος καιροῦ λοιπὸν ἐπὶ ταύτην ἄγει τὴν φιλοσοφίαν αὐτοὺς ὁ προφήτης. Πειθώμεθα τοίνυν τῷ καλῷ τούτῳ νόμῳ, καὶ πάσης αἰσχύνης ἑαυτοὺς ἀπαλλάξωμεν καὶ μήτε τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἐκβάλωμεν, μήτε τὰς ὑπὸ ἑτέρων ἐκβληθείσας δεχώμεθα. Ποίῳ γὰρ ὄψει προσώπῳ τὸν ἄνδρα τῆς γυναικός; ποίοις ὀφθαλμοῖς τοὺς φίλους τοὺς ἐκείνου, τοὺς οἰκέτας; Εἰ γὰρ τελευτήσαντος τοῦ συνοικοῦντος, τὴν γυναῖκά τις τὴν ἐκείνου λαβὼν, εἶτα τὴν εἰκόνα μόνην ἀνακειμένην ἰδὼν, ἔπαθέ τι καὶ ἐδυσχέρανεν, ὡς ζῶντα τὸν ἄνδρα ὁρῶν τῆς αὐτῷ συνοικούσης, ποῖον βιώσεται βίον; πῶς οἴκαδε εἰσελεύσεται; μετὰ ποίας γνώμης, μετὰ ποίων ὀφθαλμῶν ὄψεται τὴν ἐκείνου γυναῖκα τὴν αὑτοῦ; Μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ ἐκείνου, οὔτε αὑτοῦ δικαίως ἄν τις τὴν τοιαύτην προσείποι· ἡ γὰρ μοιχαλὶς οὐδενός ἐστι γυνή. Καὶ γὰρ τὰς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον συνθήκας ἐπάτησε, καὶ πρὸς σὲ μετὰ τῶν προσηκόντων νόμων οὐκ ἦλθε. Πόσης οὐκ ἂν εἴη παρανοίας, πρᾶγμα τοσούτων γέμον κακῶν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν εἰσαγαγεῖν; Μὴ γὰρ σπάνις ἐστὶ γυναικῶν; Τίνος ἕνεκεν, πολλῶν οὐσῶν, ἃς μετὰ τῶν προσηκόντων νόμων καὶ μετὰ καθαροῦ συνειδότος λαμβάνειν ἔξεστιν, ἐπὶ τὰς κεκωλυμένας τρέχομεν, τὰς οἰκίας ἀνατρέποντες, καὶ πολέμους ἐμφυλίους εἰσάγοντες, καὶ πανταχόθεν ἔχθραν ἑαυτοῖς παρασκευάζοντες, μυρίων κατηγόρων ἀνοίγοντες στόματα, καὶ τὴν ζωὴν τὴν ἑαυτῶν καταισχύνοντες, καὶ, τὸ πάντων χαλεπώτατον, ἀπαραίτητον ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως συνάγοντες ἑαυτοῖς κόλασιν; Τί γὰρ ἐροῦμεν τότε τῷ μέλλοντι κρίνειν ἡμᾶς, ὅταν τὸν νόμον παρενεγκὼν εἰς μέσον καὶ ἀναγνοὺς εἴποι· Ἐκέλευσα ἀπολελυμένην γυναῖκα μὴ λαμβάνειν, εἰπὼν ὅτι μοιχεία τὸ πρᾶγμά ἐστι. Πῶς οὖν ἐτόλμη 51.222 σας ἐπὶ κεκωλυμένον γάμον ἐλθεῖν; Τί ἐροῦμεν, καὶ τί ἀποκρινούμεθα; Οὐ γὰρ δεῖ τοὺς παρὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν κειμένους νόμους ἐκεῖ προβαλέσθαι, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη σιγῶντας καὶ δεδεμένους εἰς τὸ τῆς γεέννης ἀπάγεσθαι πῦρ μετὰ τῶν μοιχῶν καὶ τῶν τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους ἀδικησάντων γάμους· ὅ τε γὰρ ἀπολύσας χωρὶς αἰτίας, τῆς ἐπὶ πορνείᾳ, ὅ τε ἐκβεβλημένην γαμῶν, τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ζῶντος, ὁμοίως μετὰ τῆς ἐκβληθείσης κολάζονται. ∆ιὸ παρακαλῶ, καὶ δέομαι καὶ ἀντιβολῶ, μήτε ἄνδρας ἐκβάλλειν γυναῖκας, μήτε γυναῖκας ἄνδρας ἀφιέναι, ἀλλ' ἀκούειν τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος· Γυνὴ δέδεται νόμῳ, ἐφ' ὅσον χρόνον ζῇ ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς· ἐὰν δὲ κοιμηθῇ ὁ ἀνὴρ, ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ᾧ θέλει γαμηθῆναι, μόνον ἐν Κυρίῳ. Ποίαν γὰρ ἔχοιεν συγγνώμην οἱ, τοῦ Παύλου καὶ δεύτερον ἐπιτρέποντος γάμον μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ συνοικοῦντος, καὶ τοσαύτην παρέχοντος ἄδειαν, πρὸ τῆς τελευτῆς τολμῶντες τοῦτο ποιεῖν; τίνος ἂν τύχοιεν ἀπολογίας, ἢ οὗτοι οἱ ζώντων τῶν ἀνδρῶν τὰς γυναῖκας λαμβάνοντες, ἢ ἐκεῖνοι οἱ πρὸς τὰς πανδήμους ἀπερχόμενοι πόρνας; Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐκεῖνο μοιχείας ἕτερον εἶδος, τὸν γυναῖκα ἔχοντα ἔνδον, πόρναις γυναιξὶν ὁμιλεῖν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ τὸν ἄνδρα ἔχουσα γυνὴ, κἂν οἰκέτῃ κἂν ἐλευθέρῳ τινὶ γυναῖκα μὴ ἔχοντι ἑαυτὴν ἐκδῷ, τοῖς τῆς μοιχείας ἁλίσκεται νόμοις· οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ, κἂν εἰς πάνδημον πόρνην, κἂν εἰς ἑτέραν γυναῖκα ἄνδρα οὐκ ἔχουσαν ἁμάρτοι, γυναῖκα ἔχων, μοιχείας τὸ πρᾶγμα νενόμισται. Φεύγωμεν τοίνυν καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τῆς μοιχείας Τί γὰρ ἕξομεν εἰπεῖν, τί δὲ προβαλέσθαι τοιαῦτα τολμῶντες; ποίαν εὐπρόσωπον παρεξόμεθα πρόφασιν; Τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἐπιθυμίαν; Ἀλλ' ἐφέστηκεν ἡ κληρωθεῖσα γυνὴ, τῆς ἀπολογίας ἡμᾶς ταύτης ἀποστεροῦσα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γάμος εἰσενήνεκται, ἵνα μὴ πορνεύσῃς· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐχ ἡ γυνὴ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτεροι πολλοὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἡμῖν μετασχόντες φύσεως ταύτης ἡμᾶς