De libello repudii

On the subject of marriage, the blessed Paul previously legislated for us, and concerning the rights of marriage, writing thus to the Corinthians and saying: "Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman; but on account of fornications, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband." For this reason we also spent the entire discourse on these words. Therefore it is necessary to discourse with you again today on the same subject, since today Paul himself speaks about the same matters. For you heard him crying out and saying: "A woman is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband falls asleep, she is free to be married to whomever she wishes, only in the Lord. But she is more blessed if she remains thus, in my opinion; and I think I also have the Spirit of God." Let us then follow him today as well, and let us discourse on this subject; for by following Paul, we will surely follow Christ through him, since he too, following not himself but that one, wrote everything. For marriage, when well-ordered, is no ordinary matter, just as it becomes the occasion of countless misfortunes for those who do not use it properly. For just as a wife is a helper, so often she also becomes a plotter. Just as marriage is a harbor, so also it is a shipwreck, not on account of its own nature, but on account of the disposition of those who have used it badly.

For the man who fulfills it according to the fitting laws finds in his home and in his wife some comfort and release from the marketplace and from all the evils everywhere; but the man who handles the matter simply and haphazardly, even if he enjoys great calm in the marketplace, will see rocks and reefs when he enters his home. Since, therefore, the danger for us is not about trivial matters, it is necessary to pay close attention to what is said with precision, and for the man who is about to take a wife, to do this with the laws of Paul—or rather with the laws of Christ. I know, of course, that what is said seems novel and paradoxical to many; nevertheless, I will not be silent on this account, but first I will read the law to you, and then I will attempt to resolve the apparent contradiction. What, then, is the law that Paul laid down for us? "A woman," he says, "is bound by law." Therefore, she must not separate while her husband is alive, nor introduce another bridegroom, nor engage in second marriages. And see how precisely he has used even the nature of the words themselves. For he did not say, "Let her live with her husband for as long as he lives"; but what? "A woman is bound by law for as long as her husband lives"; so that even if she gives a bill of divorce and leaves the house, even if she goes to another man, she is bound by the law, and such a woman is an adulteress. If, therefore, the husband wishes to cast out the wife, or the wife to leave the husband, let her remember this saying, and let her consider Paul to be present and pursuing her, crying out and saying, "A woman is bound by law.

Just as runaway slaves, even if they leave their master's house, still drag the chain behind them, so also women, even if they leave their husbands, have the law condemning them in place of a chain, accusing them of adultery, accusing those who take them, and saying: The husband is still alive, and what is happening is adultery. For a woman is bound by law for as long as her husband lives. And every man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. And when, it is said, will it be permitted for her to enter into a second marriage? When? When she is freed from the chain, when her husband dies. Indeed, making this clear, he did not add, "If her husband dies, she is free to marry whomever she wishes," but, "If he falls asleep," almost as if consoling her in her widowhood, and persuading her to remain with her first husband, and not to introduce a second bridegroom. Your husband has not died, but he sleeps. Who does not wait for one who sleeps? For this reason he says, "But if he falls asleep, she is free to marry whomever she wishes"; he did not say, "Let her marry," so as not to seem to compel and force; neither did he forbid a willing woman from entering a second marriage, nor did he urge an unwilling one, but he read the law, saying, "She is free to marry whomever she wishes." And by saying that she has become free after her husband's death, he showed that before this she was a slave while he was alive; and being a slave and subject to the law, even if she receives a bill of divorce a thousand times, she is caught by the law of adultery. For it is permitted for slaves to change masters while they are alive; but for a woman it is not permitted to change husbands while her husband is alive, since the act is adultery.

Do not read to me the laws laid down by the pagans, those which command giving a bill of divorce and separating. For God is not going to judge you according to those laws on that day, but according to the laws which He Himself established. And even the laws of the pagans did not simply or primarily establish this, but they too punish the act; so that even from this it is shown that they are displeased with this sin. At any rate, they expel the woman who becomes the cause of the divorce naked and deprived of property, and from whatever side the pretext for the dissolution arises, they punish that party with a loss of property; they would not, then, have done this if they approved of what was happening. 2. What then of Moses? He too did this for the same reason. But you, listen to Christ saying, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Listen to him again saying, "He who dismisses his wife except for a reason of adultery causes her to commit adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." For this reason the only-begotten Son of God came, for this reason he took the form of a servant, for this reason he poured out his precious blood, he destroyed death, he extinguished sin, he gave a more abundant grace of the Spirit, in order to lead you to a greater philosophy. Otherwise, not even Moses primarily legislated this, but was compelled to condescend to the weakness of those being legislated for. For since they were ready for murders, and filled their houses with kindred blood, and spared neither their own nor others,

so that they would not slaughter their wives inside, those whom they might find displeasing, he commanded them to cast them out, removing a greater evil, the readiness for bloodshed. For that some were murderers, hear the prophets themselves saying: "Building Zion in blood, and Jerusalem in injustices"; and again, "They mix blood with blood"; and again, "Your hands are full of blood." And that they raged not only against strangers but also against their own kin, the Prophet also made this clear, saying: "And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons." And those who did not spare their own children would not have spared their wives. So that this might not happen, he permitted this. For this reason also Christ, when the Jews asked and said, "How did Moses permit giving a bill of divorce?" showing that he was not legislating against him in writing these things, says something like this: "Moses spoke to your hardness of heart; from the beginning it was not so; but the one who made them from the beginning made them male and female.

If this were good, he says, he would not have made one man and one woman, but having made Adam one, he would have made two women, if indeed he intended to cast one out and bring the other in. But now, through the manner of creation, he introduced the law which I now write. What law is this? That the woman allotted from the beginning is to be kept forever. This law is older than that one, and by as much as Adam is older than Moses. So I am not now innovating, nor am I introducing foreign doctrines, but rather things older and more ancient than Moses. It is also worthwhile to hear the law of Moses itself, which he laid down concerning this matter. "If someone takes a wife," he says, "and lives with her, and it happens that he does not find favor before her, because he found in her a matter of indecency, he will write her a bill of divorce and give it into her hands." See: he did not say, "Let him write and give," but what? "He will write her a bill of divorce and give it into her hands." There is a great difference between this and that. For to say, "Let him write and give," is the language of one commanding and ordering; but to say, "He will write a bill of divorce and give it into her hands," is the language of one reporting what has happened, not introducing the law from his own authority.

If then someone, he says, casts out his wife and sends her away from his house, and she goes and becomes the wife of another man, and this latter man also hates her and writes her a bill of divorce and places it in her hands and sends her away from his house, or if her husband, the one who took her as his wife, dies, the man who previously sent her away will not be able to return and take her as his own wife. Then, indicating that he does not praise what has happened nor consider it a marriage, but condescends because of their weakness, after saying, "The former man will not be able to take her as his own wife," he added, "After she has been defiled," showing through the manner of expression that the second marriage, occurring while the first husband is alive, is more a defilement than a marriage. For this reason he did not say, "After she has been married." Do you see that he speaks in harmony with Christ? Then he also added the reason: "Because it is an abomination before God." And Moses speaks thus; but the prophet Malachi indicates this same thing much more clearly than Moses—or rather, not Malachi, but God through Malachi, speaking thus: "Is it worthy for me to look upon your sacrifice? Or to receive anything acceptable from your hands?" Then, after saying, "Why, he says, did you abandon the wife of your youth?" and showing how great an evil it is and depriving the one who did this of any excuse, he increases the accusation through what follows, adding and speaking thus: "And she is your partner, and the wife of your covenant, and the remnant of your spirit, and no other made her." See how many justifications he sets forth.

First, the matter of age: "the wife of your youth." Then the necessity: "and she is your partner." Then the manner of creation: "the remnant of your spirit." Third, in addition to all these, what was greater than all of them, the dignity of the maker. For this is what "not another made" means. You cannot say, he says, that God made you, but that God did not make her, but some other inferior being made her; rather, one and the same brought both of you into being. So that even if for no other reason, at least out of respect for this, preserve your love for her. For if for slaves who are often at odds with each other this has become a reason, I mean that both must serve one and the same master, much more should this be the case for us, when we both have the same creator and master. Do you see how even in the Old Testament the commandments were already taking on the beginnings and preludes of the new philosophy? For since they had been steeped in the law for a long time, and were obliged to proceed to the more perfect precepts, and the end of their polity was now approaching, the prophet leads them to this philosophy at the appropriate time. Let us then obey this good law, and free ourselves from all shame, and neither cast out our own wives nor receive those cast out by others. For with what face shall we look upon the husband of the woman? With what eyes upon his friends, his servants?

For if, when the cohabitant has died, someone takes that man's wife, and then, seeing only the image set up, feels something and is distressed, as if seeing the living husband of the woman who lived with him, what kind of life will he live? How will he enter his home? With what disposition, with what eyes will he see that man's wife as his own? Rather, one would not justly call such a woman either that man's or his own; for the adulteress is no one's wife. For she has trampled upon the agreements with him, and she has not come to you with the proper laws. What great folly would it not be to bring into one's house a matter teeming with so many evils? For is there a scarcity of women? Why, when there are many whom it is possible to take with the proper laws and with a clear conscience, do we run to those who are forbidden, overturning households, introducing civil wars, preparing enmity for ourselves from every side, opening the mouths of countless accusers, disgracing our own life, and, most grievous of all, gathering for ourselves inexorable punishment on the day of judgment? For what shall we say then to the one who will judge us, when, bringing the law forward and reading it, he says: I commanded that a divorced woman not be taken, saying that the matter is adultery. How then did you dare to enter a forbidden marriage? What shall we say, and what shall we answer? For it is not right to put forward the laws laid down by outsiders there, but it is necessary to be led away silent and bound into the fire of Gehenna with the adulterers and those who have wronged the marriages of others.

For the one who dismisses without cause, except for adultery, and the one who marries a woman who has been cast out while her husband is living, are both punished along with the woman who was cast out. Therefore I exhort, and entreat, and implore, that neither men cast out women, nor women dismiss men, but that they listen to Paul saying: A woman is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband falls asleep, she is free to be married to whomever she wishes, only in the Lord. For what pardon could those have who, when Paul permits even a second marriage after the death of the cohabitant, and grants such license, dare to do this before death? What defense would they obtain, either those who take women while their husbands are living, or those who go to common prostitutes? For that too is another form of adultery, to have a wife at home and consort with prostitute women. For just as a woman who has a husband, whether she gives herself to a slave or to some free man who does not have a wife, is caught by the laws of adultery, so also a man, whether he sins 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 even this form of adultery. For what shall we have to say, and what to put forward, when we dare such things? What plausible excuse shall we offer? The desire of nature? But the wife who has been allotted stands in the way, depriving us of this defense. For this reason marriage was introduced, that you might not fornicate; rather, not only the wife, but also many others who share the same nature as us, this

they deprive themselves of forgiveness. For when your fellow servant, having the same body, possessing the same desire, driven by the same necessity, sees no other woman but remains content with his own alone, what defense will you have when you put forward desire as an excuse? And why do I speak of those who have wives? Consider for me those who live perpetually in virginity and have never had any dealings with marriage at all, and have displayed great self-control. When, then, others are chaste without marriage, what forgiveness will you obtain when you commit fornication after marriage? Let both men and women hear these things, and widows, and married women; for Paul addresses everyone, and this law which says: A woman is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if he falls asleep, she is free to be married to whomever she wishes, only in the Lord. And this discourse is useful to those who have husbands, and to those who do not, and to those who are widowed, and to those who introduce a second bridegroom, and to all simply. For the woman who has a husband will not choose, while he is living, to belong to another, having heard that she is bound while he lives; and the woman who has lost her husband again, if she wishes to enter into a second marriage, does not do this simply or as it happens, but according to the laws laid down by Paul, who said, She is free to be married to whomever she wishes, only in the Lord, that is, with self-control, with modesty. But if she chooses to keep the agreements with the one who has departed, she will hear of the crowns reserved for her and will receive greater encouragement. For she is more blessed, he says, if she remains thus. 4.

Do you see how the speech is useful to all, condescending to their weakness while not depriving these women of their proper praises? For what it did in the case of marriage and virginity, this it does also in the case of first marriage and second marriage. Just as there it did not exclude marriage, so as not to burden the weaker, nor did it impose necessity, so as not to deprive those wishing to practice virginity of the crowns set before them, but showed that marriage is good while declaring that virginity is better; so too here again it sets before us different steps, showing that widowhood is greater and higher, while second marriages are second and lower, anointing the stronger who do not wish to leap away, and not allowing the weaker to fall. For after saying, "She is more blessed if she remains thus," so that you might not think the law is human, hearing, "In my opinion," he added: "But I also seem to have the Spirit of God." Therefore you cannot say that the opinion is human, but that the declaration is of the grace of the Spirit, and the law is divine. So let us not think that Paul is saying these things, but that the Paraclete is legislating these things for us. And if he says, "I seem," he does not say it as one who does not have, but as one being moderate and restraining himself. That she is more blessed, he said; but how she is more blessed, he did not further add, giving as sufficient proof that he brings the declaration from the Spirit. And if you wish to examine by reasoning as well, you will find here an abundance of proofs.

and you will see the widow more blessed, not only in the future age, but also in the present life. And this very thing Paul knew well, which he also hinted at concerning virgins when he said: For exhorting and advising to choose virginity, he spoke somewhat like this: I think it is good for a person to be thus on account of the present necessity; and again, And if the virgin marries, she has not sinned; here calling a virgin not one who has renounced, but one who is merely inexperienced in marriage and has not become bound by a promise of perpetual virginity. But such persons will have affliction for the flesh; and I spare you. For by this one bare word he left it to the conscience of the hearers to gather everything: the birth pangs, the rearing of children, the anxiety, the illnesses, the untimely deaths, the enmities, the quarrels, the servitude to countless opinions, the liability for others' misfortunes, the taking upon oneself countless griefs with a single soul. From all these evils the woman who chooses continence is freed, and along with the deliverance from these distresses, she has a great reward laid up for her in the future life. Knowing all this, then, let us be eager to be content with first marriages. But if we are also preparing to enter into second marriages, let us do so with the proper manner and form, in accordance with the laws of God.

For this reason he said, "She is free to marry whom she wishes," and he added, "Only in the Lord," simultaneously granting permission and fortifying that permission, providing authority and again setting boundaries and laws for this authority from every side: for example, that the woman should not bring into the house men who are polluted and corrupt, or those from the stage, or those devoted to fornication, but with modesty, with self-control, with reverence, so that everything may be done to the glory of God. For since many women often, after the death of their first husbands, having previously been adulterous, thus brought in the later ones, and devised other polluted ways, for this reason he added, "Only in the Lord," so that the second marriage might have none of these things; for in this way it will be able to be free from accusations. For it is better for all to await the deceased, and to keep the covenants with him, and to choose continence, and to remain with the children left behind, and to draw greater goodwill from God. But if someone should wish to introduce a second bridegroom, let it be with self-control, with modesty, with the appropriate laws; for this too is permitted, only fornication and adultery are forbidden. Let us therefore flee this, both those who have wives and those who do not; and let us not disgrace our life, nor live a laughable life, nor defile the body, nor introduce an evil conscience into the mind. For how will you be able to come to church after intercourse with prostitutes? How will you raise your hands to heaven, with which you embraced the prostitute?

How will you move your tongue, and with that mouth call to her whom you kissed as a prostitute? With what eyes will you look upon the more respectable of your friends? And why do I speak of friends? For even if no one who knows is present, you will be compelled before all others to blush and be ashamed, and to loathe your own body more than anything. For if this were not so, why do you run to the bathhouse after that sin? Is it not because you consider yourself more unclean than any filth? What greater proof of the impurity of what has happened do you seek, or what verdict do you expect God to deliver, when you, the offender, hold such an opinion about what has occurred? That you consider yourselves unclean, I greatly praise and accept; but that you do not come to the proper manner of purification, for this I accuse and blame you. For if the defilement were physical, you would rightly scrub yourself clean with the purifications of the bathhouses; but having befouled the soul and made it unclean, seek such a purification as can wipe away its stain. What is the bathhouse for such a sin? Hot springs of tears, groans rising from the depths of the heart, constant compunction, fervent prayers, almsgiving, and generous almsgiving, condemning what has happened, no longer attempting the same deeds. Thus the nature of sin is wiped away, thus the filth of the soul is cleansed. So if we do not do such things, even if we pass through all the sources of the rivers, we will not be able to remove even a small part of this sin.

The better course, then, is never to experience this abominable sin. But if someone has been tripped up at some point, let him apply these remedies, having first promised never to fall into the same again. For if we condemn what has already happened while sinning, and then attempt the same things again, the purifications will be of no benefit to us. For the one who washes himself and then rolls again in the same mire, and the one who demolishes what he has built and builds again only to tear it down, gains nothing more than to act in vain and to suffer. Therefore, let us also, so that we do not waste our life in vain and to no purpose, cleanse the former sins, and spend the entire rest of our life in temperance, decency, and the remaining virtue, so that we may have God propitious and attain the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.