Marriage, as we commonly understand it in our fallen condition, is a God-given concession to man’s weakness. It is a divine indulgence to man in his fallen condition, and thus had no relevance in Paradise. Therefore, St. John is careful neither to exalt it unduly (since it is for fallen man) nor to denigrate it (since it has a divine origin). However, just as there exists a paradisal virginity, so there exists a paradisal union of man and woman; and just as the substance of paradisal virginity differs greatly from that which exists outside of Paradise, the same may be said of the union of man and woman. Chrysostom uses the word “marriage” with reference to “earthly marriage,” and does not employ the word when he is describing the union of man and woman in Christ in Paradise, and in the coming Kingdom. The paradisal condition of Adam and Eve is a mysterious union of the first man with his unique and co-equal helpmate, divinely provided to him for conversation, consolation, and to “share the same being.” Eve was formed from the rib of “her man.” Their union did not involve the many aspects of earthly marriage commonly associated with that state in the fallen age.

When God had completed creating the entire cosmos, He fashioned man, for whom He had made everything. When man lived in Paradise “there was no need for marriage.” Chrysostom is clear that in Paradise mankind lived “as in heaven” and was without marriage. In fact, all of the classical by-products of marriage extolled through the ages in all great civilizations, such as large populations, developed cities, crafts, homes, etc., did not exist in Paradise, and yet this in no way diminished the happiness of that original state. These extolled realities are superfluous and ought not to be greatly valued by man as in any way belonging to the essence of true happiness.

What then is the origin of earthly marriage? Marriage itself is the offspring of death, and is a mortal and slavish garment (τὸ θνητὸν καὶ δουλικὸν ἱμάτιον). Since mortality and slavery did not exist in Paradise, marriage did not exist. St. John carries the thought of St. Paul further. St. Paul explained that where there is sin, there is death. St. John carries this further by stating, “Where death is, there is marriage” (Ὅπου γὰρ θάνατος, ἐκεῖ γάμος). The pattern is as follows: sin=>death=>marriage. Each of the main components of marriage—such as sexual intercourse (μίξεως), conception (σύλληψις), labor (ὠδῖνες), and childbirth (τόκοι)—is a form of corruption (εἶδος φθορᾶς).

Besides the essential connection of marriage to corruption, if one is joined to a wicked spouse, marriage becomes a hindrance on the road to salvation. A wife and one’s attention to her can be a great impediment to virtue (ὅσον πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἐμπόδιον). Woman was originally created to be a helper to man; but like Adam, Eve rejected God’s original intent, and she became a great source of temptation and treachery to man. To some degree, women in marriage provide help to men through child rearing and providing an outlet for men’s desire; but apart from that, a woman really provides no help. While many people foolishly rush into marriage as a lovely thing (ἐπέραστον πρᾶγμα), it is really a prison. Marital problems are like thorns that stick to one’s clothes when climbing across a hedge. One turns to pick one out, and is caught by several more.
Despite such limitations, marriage is honorable and blessed. Marriage, is a good bestowed upon fallen mankind by God as a concession to human weakness. It is in no way of equal honor with virginity; for if one believed this, one might very well conclude that two wives were better than one. Rather, God gave marriage to man because his nature was totally out of control and unable to contain its violent passions.

Marriage was created as a harbor in the storm (λιμένα ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ζάλῃ) and to prevent unlawful unions (τῆς παρανόμου μίξεως). While married persons have this harbor, the virgin “sails a harborless ocean” (πέλαγος πλεῖν ἀλίμενον). “Marriage is of much use to those who are still caught up in their passions, who desire to live the life of swine (χοίρων βίον), and ruin themselves in brothels (ἐν χαμαιτυποίοις φθείρεσθαι). It rescues them from that impure compulsion and keeps them holy and chaste.” Marriage provides one with the “freedom for intercourse” (τὴν τῆς μίξεως ἄδειαν). However, the virgin has no remedy to extinguish the flame. His only chance is to fight the fire so as not to be burnt. The virgin is called to walk on burning coals without being burnt. Marriage supports one who is about to fall. For those who are not tottering, it is no longer useful at all, but is actually an impediment to virtue. Sexual pleasure is an integral part of the consolation of marriage. For his time Chrysostom was bold in suggesting that the pleasure of sexual intercourse may actually solidify the marriage bond. This is as far as Chrysostom would go in “sanctifying” marital intercourse. In fact, in other places of his corpus, he explains away even the pleasure of sexual intercourse and suggests that the pleasure is really no pleasure at all.

Chrysostom is clear, however, that marriage is not the maintenance in itself of a small brothel, but is rather a means to remain in holiness and dignity (ἐν ἁγιασμῷ καὶ σεμνότητι). Marriage is not evil. The nobilities (τὰ σεμνὰ) of marriage must not be undermined. Marital intercourse itself presents “no hindrance” (μὴ κώλυμα) to the spiritual life. Marital intercourse may be a lawful union (νόμιμον συνοικέσιον) if it takes place according to God’s laws, with self-control and dignity, and in a context of marital harmony (ὁμονοίᾳ). The Chrysostomian corpus contains a large amount of positive material on marriage. For Chrysostom marriage is a “sweet ointment” (μύρον), and he is not ashamed to wax eloquent on the beauty of marital intercourse. Chrysostom does not hesitate to assert that marital intercourse is a type of “spiritual intercourse” (συνουσίᾳ πνευματικῇ) between Christ and the Church. Marital sex is a “mystery of love” (ἀγάπης μυστήριον): it demonstrates by procreation the immense power of union (πολλὴ τῆς ἐνώσεως ἡ ἰσχύς). Marriage is a perfect type of both an individual soul’s and the corporate Church’s union with Christ. Many are not able to endure the violence and the great battle of the passions entailed in the virginal state; marriage is the good that will save them. Marriage is preferable to fornication.

Marriage and sexual intercourse were also fashioned for procreation. Procreation through sexual intercourse became the “greatest consolation” to man following the Fall. In the generation of children, the “fearsome visage of death” (τοῦ θανάτου τὸ φοβερὸν προσωπεῖον) was reduced, and the Resurrection was foreshadowed. Marriage for the sake of raising a family was accepted as a legitimate desire by Chrysostom in his Old Testament commentaries. However, though this was an original divine intention for earthly marriage, it was always secondary to the “greater reason” of quenching the fiery passion of man’s nature.

This emphasis on quenching the passions is evident in St. Paul’s teaching that “in order to avoid immorality” each man should take a wife. This is St. Paul’s consistent theme in 1 Cor 7. Man and woman ought to come together not primarily for procreation, but so that Satan may not tempt you. (1 Cor 7:5). Later St. Paul says that if the unmarried and widows cannot exercise self-control they should marry. According to Chrysostom this primary reason of marriage, to regulate man’s sexual passion (ὑπὲρ τοῦ σβέσαι τὴν τῆς φύσεως πύρωσιν), is the only one of the two original divine intentions that remains relevant in the New Covenant. Since the earth, sea, and the whole world have already been inhabited, there is no need to bear any more children. Procreation, the fruit of mortality and the quest for eternal memory, is, in fact, a reminder of human sin and the loss of the original glory of humanity. This is why St. Paul nowhere suggests procreation as a reason for marriage. In fact, for Chrysostom, procreation was “that specious and grand reason for marriage” (τῆς εὐπροσώπου καὶ σεμνῆς αἰτίας γάμου).

Thus man, the “terrestrial angel,” was not originally designed for nor, oriented toward, sexual intercourse and procreation, as post-Fall man is. The sexual necessities of fallen nature and the tremendous sexual impulses, appetites, and drives of post-Fall man simply did not exist to trouble Adam and Eve. Sexual intercourse did not exist in the Garden. It was the result of the Fall, at which time mankind became “beastly” and “animal-like” and began to demonstrate this through copulation. St. John shared this fundamental assumption with virtually all of the Holy Fathers of the Christian Church.

Chrysostom drives home this understanding of the origin of sexual intercourse in several places. In answering detractors, who were even within the Church (which greatly offended the saint), Chrysostom argued that the original reproduction was not sexual in nature. “Tell me, what sort of marriage produced Adam? What kind of birth pains produced Eve? You could not say. Therefore why have groundless fears ? Why tremble at the thought of the end of marriage, and thus the end of the human race ?” He was not ignorant of the possible Scriptural objections to this view. He explained, for instance, that although Adam and Eve had received the commission from God to “be fruitful and multiply” this did not imply sexual intercourse, or, for that matter, marriage. The case of Abraham shows that even marriage is incapable of producing offspring if God is not willing; and if God is willing even virginity can produce children. Chrysostom utilizes this proposition to encourage infertile women, saying: “Let women not be distressed when they have no children; instead, let them give evidence of a thankful disposition and have recourse to the Creator and direct their request to Him, the Lord of nature, not attributing childbirth to the intercourse of the partners nor to any other source than the Creator of everything.”

Applying this perspective on God’s providence to the many examples of infertility among the pious women of the Old Covenant, Chrysostom poses and answers this question: “What is the meaning of this gallery of sterile people ?” (Τὶ βούλεται τῶν στειρῶν τούτων ὁ χορός;). God’s providence so ordered these unusual turns of events involving long-sterile women who finally become mothers in order to prepare His people for the supreme “other-worldly” birth of Jesus Christ from His Virgin Mother. The unusual births of formerly infertile Sarah, Rebecca, etc., were Old Testament foreshadowings of the birth of Christ. In the same way it is not the propagation of virginity that decreases the human population, but sin and, particularly, illicit intercourse, that provokes God to wrath. This is evident from Noah’s time.

How does Chrysostom interpret Adam’s comments at the time when he first gazes upon Eve ? In Adam’s initial proclamation he asserts, “For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and will cling to his wife and the two will become one flesh.” Chrysostom does not deny that Adam’s statements refer both to marriage and sexual intercourse. Rather, St. John posits that these statements were prophetic in nature and demonstrate that Adam’s understanding was inspired. This is a necessary conclusion to make since “the consummation of that intercourse occurred after the Fall (μετὰ γὰρ τὴν παράβασιν τὰ τῆς συνουσίας γέγονεν); up till that time they were living like angels in Paradise and so they were not burning with desire (οὐχ ὑπὸ ἐπιθυμίας φλεγόμενοι).”

St. John roots his teaching on the origin of sexual intercourse in his exegesis of Genesis 4:1. Now, Adam had intercourse with his wife Eve. Consider when this happened. After their disobedience, after their loss of the Garden, then it was that the practice of intercourse had its beginning. You see, before their disobedience they followed a life like that of the angels, and there was no mention of intercourse.” According to Chrysostom the Scriptural text here clearly states that Adam did not “know” his wife sexually until following the Fall. Sexual intercourse is rooted in man’s Fall and subsequent death. It is not that marital intercourse is defiling. Intercourse is not impurity (οὐκ εἰς ἀκαθαρσίαν); rather, it is simply a distraction or waste of time (εἰς ἀσχολίαν ἀγούσης). It is the fruit of being subject to the needs of the body. Those who are not in such a subjected state simply have no use or compulsion for sexual intercourse.

He suggests that, while because of the temporal intervention of the Fall we have no concrete examples of exactly how humans would have reproduced the image of God in Paradise, we have every reason to believe that they would have reproduced in a fashion consonant with their angelic being. God multiplied the angels without the aid of physical intercourse, and could have done so for mankind as well. “An infinite number of angels are at the service of God, thousands upon thousands of archangels are beside Him, and none of them have come into being from the succession of generations, none from childbirth, labor pains, and conception. Could He not, then, have created many more men without marriage? Just as he created the first two from whom all men descend?” In this theory, Chrysostom hints at an explanation more fully developed and previously set forth by St. Gregory of Nyssa. Those who assume sexual intercourse was a part of life in the Garden of delights are guilty of projecting back into the original creation what has become normative for fallen man, and of a failure to appreciate the massive chasm separating man’s life in Paradise from his life following the Fall.

Virginity works, as should truly a Christian marriage, to accomplish the divine task of reducing the baseness of our souls and leading them to perfect virtue. God has called us to one ambition only: to regain Paradise lost. Success in the battle against the devil and victory over evil is the path of return, and constitutes the re-acquisition of the virginal life of Paradise. Whether one travels there by virginity, which is the most direct route, or by the blessed state of earthly marriage is not God’s main concern; it is the return to Paradise itself that is important.

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Mt 11:15)