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She holds the position of a teacher; he of a ruler, she of the one ruled. And from the very formation of the body, one might see that they are one; for she was made from the rib, and they are like two halves. For this reason he also calls her a helper, to show that they are one; for this reason he prefers cohabitation to father and mother, to show that they are one. And the father rejoices alike when daughter and son are marrying, as if the body were hastening to its own member; and so great is the expense and the loss of money, and yet he does not endure to see her unmarried. For as if her flesh were torn away, each is incomplete for procreation, each is incomplete for the constitution of the present life. For this reason the prophet also says: The residue of your spirit. But how do they become one flesh? Just as if you take the purest gold and mix it with other gold, so also here, the woman, receiving the richest part of the pleasure that melts it, nourishes and cherishes it, and having contributed her own part, gives back a man. And the child is a kind of bridge. So that the three become one flesh, the child joining each from either side. For just as if there were two cities, and a river dividing them entirely, they become one city when a bridge is joined from either side; so it is here, and more so; for the bridge itself is from the substance of each. And by this principle they are one, as the body and the head are one body; for it is divided by the neck; but they are not so much divided as joined; for being in the middle it brings both together; and the same thing happens, as if a divided chorus, taking one of its parts from here, and the other from the right, should make one; or as these who are drawn together and extend their hands become one; for the extended hands do not allow them to be two. For this reason, then, he said precisely, not, "They shall be one flesh," but, "for one flesh," clearly being joined by the child. What then, when there is no child, will they not then also be two? It is clear; for the union works this, by pouring together and mingling the bodies of both. And just as one who has put ointment into oil has made the whole one, so also here. 2. I know that many are ashamed of what is being said; and the cause of this is licentiousness and intemperance. For weddings to happen in such a way, to be corrupted, has slandered the matter; since Marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled. Why are you ashamed of what is honorable? why do you blush at what is undefiled? These things are of heretics, these things of those who bring in prostitutes. For this reason I wish to purify it, so as to lead it up to its proper nobility, so as to shut the mouths of the heretics. The gift of God has been insulted, the root of our generation; 62.389 for there is much dung and mire about the root. Let us therefore cleanse it with the word. Bear with me a little, then, since he who holds mire bears with its foul smell. I wish to show that one ought not to be ashamed of these things, but of those things which you do; but you, having ceased to be ashamed of those, are ashamed of these; you therefore condemn God who so ordained. Shall I say how it is also a mystery of the Church? Christ came to the Church, and was made of her, and entered into her with a spiritual intercourse. For I have espoused you, he says, to one husband as a pure virgin. And that we are of him, hear how he says: Of his members, and of his flesh are we all. Considering all these things, then, let us not shame so great a mystery. Marriage is a type of the presence of Christ, and you get drunk? Tell me, if you saw an image of the king, would you shame it? By no means. The things that happen concerning marriage seem, then, to be indifferent, but they are the causes of great evils. All things are full of lawlessness. Let no filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, he says, proceed out of your mouth. But all those things, filthiness and foolish talking and jesting, not simply, but with intensity;

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ὁ δὲ διδασκάλου τάξιν ἐπέχει· ὁ μὲν ἄρχοντος, ἡ δὲ ἀρχομένης. Καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς δὲ τῆς τοῦ σώματος διαπλάσεως ἴδοι τις ἂν, ὅτι ἕν εἰσιν ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς πλευρᾶς γέγονε, καὶ ὥσπερ ἡμίτομα δύο εἰσί. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ βοηθὸν καλεῖ, ἵνα δείξῃ ὅτι ἕν εἰσι· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ πατρὸς καὶ μητρὸς προτιμᾷ τὴν συνοίκησιν, ἵνα δείξῃ ὅτι ἕν εἰσι. Καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ὁμοίως χαίρει καὶ θυγατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ γαμούντων, ὡς πρὸς οἰκεῖον μέλος ἐπειγομένου τοῦ σώματος· καὶ τοσαύτη δαπάνη γίνεται καὶ χρημάτων ἐλάττωσις, καὶ ὅμως οὐκ ἀνέχεται ἄγαμον περιορᾷν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀπεσχισμένης αὐτῇ τῆς σαρκὸς, ἀτελὴς πρὸς παιδοποιίαν ἑκάτερος, ἀτελής ἐστι πρὸς βίου σύστασιν τοῦ παρόντος ἑκάτερος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ προφήτης φησίν· Ὑπόλειμμα πνεύματός σου. Πῶς δὲ καὶ γίνονται εἰς σάρκα μίαν; Καθάπερ χρυσοῦ τὸ καθαρώτατον ἂν ἀφέλῃς καὶ ἑτέρῳ ἀναμίξῃς χρυσῷ, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα, τὸ πιότατον τῆς ἡδονῆς χωνευούσης ἡ γυνὴ δεχομένη τρέφει καὶ θάλπει, καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῆς συνεισενεγκαμένη ἄνδρα ἀποδίδωσι. Καὶ γέφυρά τίς ἐστι τὸ παιδίον. Ὥστε οἱ τρεῖς σὰρξ γίνονται μία, τοῦ παιδὸς ἑκατέρωθεν ἑκατέρους συνάπτοντος. Ὥσπερ γὰρ εἰ δύο πόλεων οὐσῶν, καὶ ποταμοῦ διόλου διαιροῦντος, μία γίνεται πόλις, γεφύρας ἑκατέρωθεν ἁπτομένης· οὕτως ἐστὶν ἐνταῦθα, καὶ πλέον· αὐτὴ γὰρ ἡ γέφυρα ἐκ τῆς ἑκατέρων οὐσίας. Καὶ τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ ἕν εἰσιν, ὡς τὸ σῶμα καὶ κεφαλὴ ἓν σῶμα· τῷ γὰρ τραχήλῳ διαιρεῖται· ἀλλ' οὐ διαιροῦνται μᾶλλον, ἢ συνάπτονται· μέσος γὰρ ὢν ἑκατέρους συνάγει· καὶ ταυτὸν γίνεται, ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ χορὸς διεσπασμένος τὸ μὲν ἓν αὐτοῦ μέρος ἐντεῦθεν λαβὼν, τὸ δὲ ἕτερον ἐκ τῆς δεξιᾶς, ἕνα ποιήσειεν· ἢ ὥσπερ οἱ συνεσταλμένοι οὗτοι καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἐκτείνοντες ἓν γίνονται· αἱ γὰρ χεῖρες ἐκταθεῖσαι, οὐκ ἀφιᾶσιν εἶναι δύο. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γοῦν καὶ ἀκριβῶς εἶπεν, οὐκ, Ἔσονται μία σὰρξ, ἀλλ', Εἰς σάρκα μίαν, τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς συναπτόμενοι δηλονότι. Τί οὖν, ὅταν παιδίον μὴ ᾖ, οὐκ ἔσονται δύο καὶ τότε; Εὔδηλον· ἡ μίξις γὰρ τοῦτο ἐργάζεται, ἀναχέασα καὶ ἀναμίξασα ἀμφοτέρων τὰ σώματα. Καὶ ὥσπερ εἰς ἔλαιον μύρον ἐμβαλὼν, τὸ πᾶν ἐποίησεν ἓν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα. ʹ. Οἶδα ὅτι πολλοὶ αἰσχύνονται τοῖς λεγομένοις· καὶ τούτου αἴτιον ἡ ἀσέλγεια καὶ ἡ ἀκολασία. Τὸ οὕτω τοὺς γάμους γίνεσθαι, τὸ παραφθείρεσθαι, τὸ πρᾶγμα διέβαλεν· ἐπεὶ Τίμιος ὁ γάμος, καὶ ἡ κοίτη ἀμίαντος. Τί αἰσχύνῃ τῷ τιμίῳ; τί ἐρυθριᾷς ἐπὶ τῷ ἀμιάντῳ; Ταῦτα αἱρετικῶν ἐστι, ταῦτα τῶν τὰς πόρνας ἐπεισαγόντων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸν ἐκκαθαίρεσθαι βούλομαι, ὥστε ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκείαν εὐγένειαν ἀναγαγεῖν, ὥστε τῶν αἱρετικῶν ἐμφράξαι τὰ στόματα. Ὕβρισται τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ δῶρον, ἡ ῥίζα τῆς ἡμετέρας γενέσεως· 62.389 πολλὴ γὰρ περὶ τὴν ῥίζαν ἡ κόπρος καὶ ὁ βόρβορος. Τοῦτον οὖν ἐκκαθάρωμεν τῷ λόγῳ. Ἀνέχεσθε τοίνυν μικρὸν ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ βόρβορον κατέχων δυσωδίας ἀνέχεται. Βούλομαι δεῖξαι ὅτι οὐ χρὴ ἐπὶ τούτοις αἰσχύνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τούτοις οἷς ποιεῖτε· σὺ δὲ ἐπ' ἐκείνοις αἰσχύνεσθαι ἀφεὶς, τούτοις αἰσχύνῃ· οὐκοῦν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταγινώσκεις τοῦ οὕτω θεσπίσαντος. Εἴπω πῶς καὶ μυστήριον τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐστίν· Ὁ Χριστὸς ἦλθε πρὸς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς γέγονε, καὶ αὐτῇ συνεισῆλθε συνουσίᾳ πνευματικῇ. Ἡρμοσάμην γὰρ ὑμᾶς, φησὶν, ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ παρθένον ἁγνήν. Ὅτι δὲ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐσμεν, ἄκουε πῶς φησιν· Ἐκ τῶν μελῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ πάντες ἡμεῖς. Ταῦτα δὴ πάντα ἐννοοῦντες, μὴ αἰσχύνωμεν τὸ τηλικοῦτον μυστήριον. Τύπος τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας ἐστὶν ὁ γάμος, σὺ δὲ μεθύεις; Εἰπέ μοι, εἰ εἰκόνα εἶδες τοῦ βασιλέως, ἆρα ἂν αὐτὴν ᾔσχυνες; Οὐδαμῶς. ∆οκεῖ μὲν οὖν ἀδιάφορα εἶναι τὰ περὶ τὸν γάμον γινόμενα, ἔστι δὲ μεγάλων αἴτια κακῶν. Πάντα παρανομίας γέμει. Αἰσχρότης καὶ μωρολογία καὶ εὐτραπελία μὴ ἐκπορευέσθω, φησὶν, ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν. Πάντα δὲ ἐκεῖνα, αἰσχρότης καὶ μωρολογία καὶ εὐτραπελία, οὐχ ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ μετὰ ἐπιτάσεως·