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received a blessing. And many 83.537 years later, when he brought on the universal destruction of the flood, he commanded not only men, but also women equal in number to the men to enter the ark, and after the cessation of the punishment, he renewed the former blessing. For to these he said: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth." And leading Abraham the patriarch out of his father's land, he commanded him to see the stars of heaven, and promised to make men equal in number to them; "For I will make," he said, "your seed as the stars of heaven in number, and as the sand on the seashore." If marriage were evil, the Lord God would not have instituted it from the beginning, nor would he have called procreation a blessing. For this reason indeed he did not prevent the ancients from having several wives, so that the human race might increase. For this cause, God-loving men also were joined to two, and three, and more wives, desiring to become fathers of more children. For that they did not endure intercourse with several wives while being slaves to pleasure, Abraham the patriarch bears witness, who had relations with Hagar after the many entreaties of Sarah, and then after the birth no longer approached her. The all-wise Jacob also bears witness, who took Leah against his will, but endured intercourse with the handmaids because of the jealousy of his wives. And they too, not being enslaved to pleasure, but desiring to become mothers of more children, had this rivalry with one another. Therefore the Old Scripture also teaches the nurslings of the faith the purpose of marriage. But let those who do not accept the old laws be taught the same things from the New. For in any case, here too marriage is among the things praised. For the first of the apostles was called from the company of the married. And the evangelists are witnesses, expressly teaching that the Lord healed his mother-in-law who was sick with a fever. And the Lord himself not only did not forbid marriage, but he also feasted at a wedding, and offered the uncultivated wine as a gift to the marriage. Thus he strengthened the law of marriage, so that he even forbids by another law one who wishes to dissolve a marriage without fornication. "For everyone," he says, "who divorces his wife for any reason except fornication makes her commit adultery." Then when the Pharisees said that the old law had commanded to give a bill of divorcement, he interpreted for them the purpose of the law; for he said: "For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment; but from the beginning of creation God made them male and female." - "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two 83.540 shall become one flesh." Thus first having read the law which he himself had given, he added: "So they are no longer two. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." All these things show the lawfulness of marriage. And the great Peter did not separate Ananias and Sapphira, who were joined together, but he vehemently rebuked them as thieves. For the one was lawful, but the other extremely unlawful. And the divine apostle Paul wrote a complete letter to Philemon and to Apphia, who were joined together by the law of marriage. And to the Corinthians who wished to learn whether those who have believed in the Lord ought to prefer chastity to marriage, he declared these things: "Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman; but because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband." Having legislated these things thus, he exhorts them to have steadfast good will towards one another: "Let the husband render to his wife the good will due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband." And since it was likely that either the husband or the wife would prefer continence to union, and this

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εὐλογίαν ἐδέξατο. Καὶ πολλοῖς 83.537 δὲ ὕστερον χρόνοις, τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ τὴν πανωλε θρίαν ἐπαγαγὼν, οὐκ ἄνδρας μόνους, ἀλλὰ καὶ γυ ναῖκας ἰσαρίθμους τοῖς ἀνδράσιν εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν κιβωτὸν παρηγγύησε, καὶ μετὰ τὴν παῦλαν τῆς τιμωρίας, τὴν προτέραν εὐλογίαν ἀνενεώσατο. Καὶ τούτοις γὰρ εἶπεν· "Αὐξάνεσθε, καὶ πληθύνεσθε, καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν." Καὶ Ἀβραὰμ δὲ τὸν πατριάρχην ἐκ τῆς πατρῴας ἐξαγαγὼν γῆς, ἐκέλευσεν ἰδεῖν τοὺς ἀστέρας τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ὑπέσχετο τούτων ἰσαρίθμους ἀποφῆναι τοὺς ἀνθρώ πους· "Ποιήσω γὰρ, ἔφη, τὸ σπέρμα σου, ὡς τοὺς ἀστέρας τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῷ πλήθει, καὶ ὡς τὴν ἄμμον τὴν παρὰ τὸ χεῖλος τῆς θαλάσσης." Εἰ δὲ πονηρὸς ἦν ὁ γάμος, οὐκ ἂν τοῦτον ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐνομο θέτησεν ὁ ∆εσπότης Θεὸς, οὐκ ἂν εὐλογίαν τὴν παι δογονίαν ἐκάλεσε. ∆ιὰ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ πλείους ἔχειν γυναῖκας τοὺς παλαιοὺς οὐκ ἐκώλυσεν, ἵνα αὐξηθῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ γένος. Ταύτης ἕνεκα τῆς αἰτίας, καὶ οἱ θεοφιλεῖς ἄνδρες, καὶ δυσὶ, καὶ τρισὶ, καὶ πλείοσι συνήπτοντο γυναιξὶ, πλειόνων γενέσθαι πα τέρες παίδων ἐπιθυμοῦντες. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐχ ἡδυπαθείᾳ δουλεύοντες τῆς τῶν πλειόνων γυναικῶν ὁμιλίας ἠνεί χοντο, μαρτυρεῖ μὲν Ἀβραὰμ ὁ πατριάρχης μετὰ τὰς πολλὰς τῆς Σάῤῥας παρακλήσεις τῇ Ἄγαρ ὡμι ληκὼς, εἶτα μετὰ τὸν τόκον οὐκ ἔτι ταύτῃ πελάσας. Μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ ὁ πάνσοφος Ἰακὼβ, ὁ παρὰ γνώμην μὲν τὴν Λείαν λαβὼν, διὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν ὁμοζύγων ζη λοτυπίαν, τῆς τῶν παιδισκῶν ἀνασχόμενος κοινωνίας. Κἀκεῖναι δὲ, οὐχ ἡδονῇ δουλεύουσαι, ἀλλὰ πλειόνων παίδων ἐπιθυμοῦσαι γενέσθαι μητέρες, τὴν ἔριν πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἐσχήκασιν. Τοὺς μὲν οὖν τροφίμους τῆς πίστεως καὶ ἡ Παλαιὰ διδάσκει Γραφὴ τοῦ γάμου τὸν σκοπόν. Οἱ δὲ τοὺς παλαιοὺς οὐ δεχόμενοι νόμους, ἐκ τῆς Καινῆς διδασκέσθωσαν τὰ ὅμοια. Πάντως γὰρ κἀνταῦθα τῶν ἐπαινουμένων ὁ γάμος. Τῶν γὰρ ἀποστόλων ὁ πρῶτος ἐκ τῆς τῶν γεγαμηκότων ἐκλήθη συμμορίας. Καὶ μάρτυρες οἱ εὐαγγελισταὶ, διαῤῥή δην διδάσκοντες ὡς τὴν τούτου πενθερὰν πυρέττου σαν ὁ ∆εσπότης ἰάσατο. Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Κύριος, οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀπηγόρευσε γάμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἱστιάθη ἐν γάμῳ, καὶ τὸν ἀγεώργητον οἶνον δῶρον τῷ γάμῳ προσ ήνεγκεν. Οὕτω δὲ τοῦ γάμου τὸν νόμον ἐκράτυνεν, ὅτι καὶ τὸν διαλῦσαι τὸν γάμον δίχα πορνείας βου λόμενον ἑτέρῳ νόμῳ κωλύει. "Πᾶς γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ ἀπολύων τὴν γυναῖκα αὑτοῦ παρεκτὸς λόγου πορνείας ποιεῖ αὐτὴν μοιχᾶσθαι." Εἶτα τῶν Φαρι σαίων εἰρηκότων τὸν παλαιὸν προστεταχέναι νόμον δοῦναι βιβλίον ἀποστασίου, ἡρμήνευσεν αὐτοῖς τὸν τοῦ νόμου σκοπόν· ἔφη γάρ· "Πρὸς τὴν σκληροκαρ δίαν ὑμῶν ἔγραψεν ὑμῖν τὴν ἐντολὴν ταύτην· ἀπὸ δὲ ἀρχῆς κτίσεως ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεός." - "Ἕνεκεν τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα αὑτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα, καὶ προσκολλη θήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὑτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται 83.540 οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν." Οὕτω πρῶτον τὸν νόμον ἀναγνοὺς ὃν αὐτὸς ἐδεδώκει, ἐπήγαγεν· "Ὥστε οὐκ έτι εἰσὶ δύο. Ὃ οὖν ὁ Θεὸς συνέζευξεν, ἄνθρωπος μὴ χωριζέτω." Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα τοῦ γάμου τὸ ἔννομον δείκνυσι. Καὶ ὁ μέγας δὲ Πέτρος τὸν Ἀνανίαν καὶ τὴν Σάπφειραν συνημμένους μὲν οὐ διέστησε, κε κλοφότας δὲ θερμῶς ἄγαν διήλεγξε. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἔννομον ἦν, τὸ δὲ λίαν παράνομον. Ὁ δὲ θεῖος ἀπόστολος Παῦλος, τῷ Φιλήμονι καὶ τῇ Ἀπφίᾳ, νόμῳ γάμου συνεζευγμένοις, ἔγραψε τελείαν ἐπι στολήν. Κορινθίοις δὲ μαθεῖν θελήσασιν, εἰ δεῖ τοὺς τῷ Κυρίῳ πεπιστευκότας προτιμῆσαι τὴν ἁγνείαν τοῦ γάμου, ταῦτα δεδήλωκε· "Περὶ δὲ ὧν ἐγρά ψατέ μοι, καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γυναικὸς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι· διὰ δὲ τὰς πορνείας ἕκαστος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυ ναῖκα ἐχέτω, καὶ ἑκάστη τὸν ἴδιον ἄνδρα ἐχέτω." Οὕτω ταῦτα νομοθετήσας, τὴν περὶ ἀλλήλους εὔνοιαν βεβαίαν ἔχειν παρεγγυᾷ· "Τῇ γυναικὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ τὴν ὀφειλομένην εὔνοιαν ἀποδιδότω, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ τῷ ἀνδρί." Ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἰκὸς ἦν, ἢ τὸν ἄνδρα, ἢ τὴν γυναῖκα, τῆς συναφείας τὴν ἐγκράτειαν προτιμῆσαι, τούτου δὲ