Editing Christian views on marriage (section)

=== Marriage and early Church Fathers ===

Building on what they saw the example of Jesus and Paul advocating, some early [[Church Fathers]] placed less value on the family and saw [[celibacy]] and freedom from family ties as a preferable state.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

[[Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers|Nicene Fathers]] such as [[Augustine]] believed that marriage was a sacrament because it was a symbol used by Paul to express Christ's love of the Church. However, there was also an apocalyptic dimension in his teaching, and he was clear that if everybody stopped marrying and having children that would be an admirable thing; it would mean that the Kingdom of God would return all the sooner and the [[Eschatology|world would come to an end]].<ref name="Armstrong">Armstrong, Karen. ''Gospel According to Women.'' Anchor Books, 1991. {{ISBN|978-0-385-24079-6}}</ref> Such a view reflects the [[Manichaean]] past of Augustine and the influence of [[Neoplatonism]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hunter |first=David G |date=1994 |title=Augustinian pessimism?: A new look at Augustine’s teaching on sex, marriage and celibacy |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/86894845/Augustinian_Pessimism_.pdf |journal=Augustinian Studies |volume=25 |pages=153-177}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=St. Augustine on Marriage and Sexuality |publisher=CUA Press |year=1996 |isbn=9780813208671 |editor-last=Clark |editor-first=Elizabeth Ann |editor-link=Elizabeth A. Clark |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>

While upholding the New Testament teaching that marriage is "honourable in all and the bed undefiled,"<ref>Hebrews 13:4</ref> Augustine believed that "yet, whenever it comes to the actual process of generation, the very embrace which is lawful and honourable cannot be effected without the ardour of lust...This is the carnal concupiscence, which, while it is no longer accounted sin in the regenerate, yet in no case happens to nature except from sin."<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/15071.htm Augustine, "On Marriage and Concupiscence," Book I], cp. 27</ref>

Both [[Tertullian]] and Gregory of Nyssa were church fathers who were married. They each stressed that the happiness of marriage was ultimately rooted in misery. They saw marriage as a state of bondage that could only be cured by celibacy. They wrote that at the very least, the virgin woman could expect release from the "governance of a husband and the chains of children."<ref>Scholer, David M.''Women in early Christianity.'' Garland Publishing, 1993. {{ISBN|978-0-8153-1074-7}}</ref>{{rp|p.151}}

[[Tertullian]] argued that second marriage, having been freed from the first by death,"will have to be termed no other than a species of fornication," partly based on the reasoning that this involves desiring to marry a woman out of sexual ardor, which a Christian convert is to avoid.<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.iii.vi.ix.html "Chapter IX.—Second Marriage a Species of Adultery"] ANF04. Tertullian, Part Fourth.</ref>

Also advocating celibacy and virginity as preferable alternatives to marriage, [[Jerome]] wrote: "It is not disparaging wedlock to prefer virginity. No one can make a comparison between two things if one is good and the other evil."<ref>''Classical library from 'Select Letters of St. Jerome,''&nbsp;' Letter 22. tr. by F. A. Wright. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1963.</ref> On [[First Corinthians]] 7:1 he reasons, "It is good, he says, for a man not to touch a woman. If it is good not to touch a woman, it is bad to touch one: for there is no opposite to goodness but badness. But if it be bad and the evil is pardoned, the reason for the concession is to prevent worse evil."<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.vi.vi.I.html "Against Jovinianus," Book 1], Cps. 7,13,16,33</ref>

St. [[John Chrysostom]] wrote: "...virginity is better than marriage, however good.... Celibacy is...an imitation of the angels. Therefore, virginity is as much more honorable than marriage, as the angel is higher than man. But why do I say angel? Christ, Himself, is the glory of virginity."<ref>St. John Chrysostom, Homily 19 on First Corinthians, NPNF, s. 1, v. 12, pp. 248–262</ref>

[[Cyprian]], Bishop of Carthage, said that the first commandment given to men was to increase and multiply, but now that the earth was full there was no need to continue this process of multiplication.<ref>St. Cyprian, "Of the Discipline and Advantage of Chastity," ''ANF,'' v. 5, p.1251.</ref>

This view of marriage was reflected in the lack of any formal [[liturgy]] formulated for marriage in the [[Early Christianity|early Church]]. No special ceremonial was devised to celebrate Christian marriage—despite the fact that the Church had produced liturgies to celebrate the [[Eucharist]], [[Baptism]] and [[Confirmation]]. It was not important for a couple to have their nuptials blessed by a [[priest]]. People could marry by mutual agreement in the presence of witnesses.<ref name="Armstrong" />

At first, the old Roman pagan rite was used by Christians, although modified superficially. The first detailed account of a Christian wedding in the West dates from the [[Christianity in the 9th century|9th century]]. This system, known as Spousals, persisted after the [[Reformation]].<ref name="Armstrong" />