Difference between revisions of "Birth Control and Contraception"

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==Synopsis==
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A distinction is implicit here between birth control (or family planning) and contraception. The latter term is usually reserved for those methods which more directly inhibit or act against conception. Non-contraceptive methods of family planning (to limit the number and/or timing of children) include abstinence and Natural Family Planning.
Until about 1970, Orthodox churches generally opposed the use of contraception. Since that time a “new consensus
+
 
 +
==Orthodox Teaching on Birth Control and Contraception==
 +
 
 +
==Birth Control==
 +
Non-contraceptive methods of family planning (to limit the number and/or timing of children) include abstinence and Natural Family Planning.
 +
 
 +
As [[Paul Evdokimov]] wrote, "In the age of the Church Fathers, the problem of birth control was never raised. There are no canons that deal with it."<ref>Evdokimov, p. 174.</ref> The Orthodox bioethicist [[H. Tristram Engelhardt]], Jr., agrees, writing, "Despite detailed considerations of sexual offenses by ecumenical councils, and by generally accepted local councils, and despite a recognition that marriage is oriented toward reproduction, there is no condemnation of limiting births, apart from the condemnation of abortion."<ref>Engelhardt, p. 265. </ref>
 +
 
 +
===Natural Family Planning===
 +
Many advocates of Natural Family Planning (NFP) believe it is superior to contraception. It is often said that the dynamics of NFP (similar to the fasts of the Church) serve as a kind of catechesis for marital sexuality, emphasizing the need for self-control and honoring God-given fertility while at the same time recognizing the need for intimacy and allowing for a responsible family planning. NFP is also useful for couples having difficulty conceiving. Additionally, because of the awareness of the woman's cycle that it brings it can also help a woman detect health risks manifested through irregularities in the cycle. Modern methods of NFP can be used by women with irregular cycles, as well as by women who are breastfeeding or pre-menopausal. With proper use, NFP is as effective as the Pill.
 +
 
 +
==Contraception==
 +
 
 +
The dominant view, represented by the [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]], the Church of Moscow<ref>https://mospat.ru/en/documents/social-concepts/xii/</ref>, the Orthodox Church in America<ref>[http://www.oca.org/DOCmarriage.asp?ID=19]</ref>, and by the bioethicists Engelhardt and [[Stanley S. Harakas]], may be fairly described as the teaching that non-abortifacient contraception is acceptable if it is used with the blessing of one's spiritual father, and if it is not used to avoid having children for purely selfish reasons. Constantinople, in its 2020 document, ''For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church'', says: "The Orthodox Church has no dogmatic objection to the use of safe and non-abortifacient contraceptives within the context of married life, not as an ideal or as a permanent arrangement, but as a provisional concession to necessity" (§ 24).  
 +
 
 +
The position of the Greek Archdiocese of America was given by Harakas: "Because of the lack of a full understanding of the implications of the biology of reproduction, earlier writers tended to identify abortion with contraception. However, of late a new view has taken hold among Orthodox writers and thinkers on this topic, which permits the use of certain contraceptive practices within marriage for the purpose of spacing children, enhancing the expression of marital love, and protecting health."<ref>https://www.goarch.org/-/the-stand-of-the-orthodox-church-on-controversial-issues</ref>
 +
 
 +
Some would follow the earlier position taken by the Church of Greece in her encyclical of October 14, 1937<ref> [www.ecclesia.gr/greek/holysynod/commitees/family/3.pdf]</ref>, which accepted birth control but not contraception, i.e., it accepted abstinence and NFP, but condemned any method of contraception.
 +
 
 +
Where some patristic writers speak of NFP and withdrawal (''coitus interruptu''s), they condemn it (St. [[Augustine of Hippo | Augustine]] <ref>Saint, Bishop of Hippo (1887). "Chapter 18.—Of the Symbol of the Breast, and of the Shameful Mysteries of the Manichæans". In Philip Schaff. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Volume IV. Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.</ref>, St [[Jerome]] <ref>Jerome, Against Jovinian 1:20, (AD 393) http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/30091.htm</ref>, [[Clement of Alexandria]])<ref>Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2 (AD 191)</ref>. However, as John Noonan has shown, in each of these cases their position followed from their unbiblical idea, adopted from Stoic philosophy, that sexual desire was evil and thus marital intercourse was only permissible for procreation.<ref>Noonan, chapters III and IV.</ref>
 +
 
 +
Although some patristic references to contraceptive herbs and potions refer to their destroying a child that is being formed in the womb after the sexual act that gave rise to it (abortion), others seem to also include the idea that these methods were also used to "sterilise" the womb to prevent this process from being initiated (St [[John Chrysostom]] in his 24th Homily on Romans<ref>St John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans</ref> and St. [[Caesarius of Arles]]<ref> in his first Sermon)St Caeserius of Arles, (Sermons 1:12 [A.D. 522]). </ref>.
 +
 
 +
There are also individuals who would follow the Stoic view represented by St Augustine and others, that any form of birth control or contraception other than abstinence is sinful in that the only permissible act of marital intercourse is for the purpose of procreation.<ref> Sacred Seed, Sacred Chamber, https://theorthodoxlife.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/sacred-seed-sacred-chamber/</ref><ref>Orthodoxy, Contraception, and Spin Doctoring: A Look at an Influential but Disturbing Article, https://cjshayward.com/contraception/ </ref> Such individuals follow the typically Latin view that procreation is an essential feature of marriage, and which privilege the procreative end above the unitive. Eastern tradition typically follows St John Chrysostom in holding that procreation is a normal feature of marriage, but not essential to it.
 +
 
 +
:Marriage does not always lead to child-bearing, although there is the word of God which says, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." We have as witnesses all those who are married but childless. So the purpose of chastity takes precedence, especially now, when the whole world is filled with our kind. At the beginning, the procreation of children was desirable, so that each person might leave a memorial of his life.... But now that resurrection is at our gates, and we do not speak of death, but advance toward another life better than the present, the desire for posterity is superfluous. If you desire children, you can get much better children now, a nobler childbirth and a better help in your old age, if you give birth by spiritual labor.
 +
 
 +
:So there remains only one reason for marriage, to avoid fornication, and the remedy is offering for this purpose.<ref>Chrysostom, pp. 85-86.</ref>
 +
 
 +
'''[the following needs citations and perhaps clarification as to whether each of these reject birth control, contraception, or both)'''
 +
 
 +
Vocal opponents to the prevailing view of contraception in Orthodoxy today include: Metropolitan [[Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk|Hilarion of Vololamsk]] [ROC], Bp. Artemije of Kosovo [SOC], Fr. [[Josiah Trenham]], Fr. [[Patrick Henry Reardon|Patrick Reardon]], Fr. John Schroedel, Fr. John A. Peck, and Fr. Patrick Danielson.
 +
 
 +
==Methods of Contraception==
 +
 
 +
Methods of contraception can be broken down into four categories: withdrawal, barrier contraceptives, hormonal contraceptives, and sterilization.
 +
 
 +
===Withdrawal===
 +
When opponents of contraception look for biblical support for their position, they inevitably point to the story of Onan in Genesis 38, claiming that the sin committed by Onan was his commission of ''coitus interruptus''. However, this is an almost exclusively Western reading of the text. The only Eastern Father to read the Onan account as a condemnation of contraception was [[Epiphanius of Cyprus | St Epiphanius of Cyprus]]. [[Origen]] had not done so in his commentary on the passage, <ref>Selections on Genesis, PG 12.129</ref>, nor had [[John Chrysostom | St John Chrysostom]] <ref>''Homilies on Genesis'' 62.1, PG 54.533)</ref>, nor [[Ephrem the Syrian | St Ephrem the Syrian]]<ref>''In Genesim et in Exodum commentarii'', 34.1</ref>. Moreover, according to Noonan, Epiphanius had taken this position “only in the context of his anti-Gnostic polemic.”<ref> Noonan, p. 101.</ref> It was his friend [[Jerome | St Jerome]] who was to shape the Western (mis)reading of Onan through his [[Vulgate]], which departed significantly from both the Hebrew and Old Latin he used as the basis of his translation. In addition to adding the word for semen which is not in the original, he slants the text to make it appear that ''coitus interruptus'' was the reason he was punished by God, saying “God slew him because he did a detestable thing". But the Hebrew has only “he did not please God,” and the Old Latin that “he appeared evil before the Lord,” neither of which focuses on the act.<ref>See Noonan, pp. 101-102.</ref>.
 +
 
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===Barrier Contraceptives===
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<!-- Types. Statistics. Opinions. -->
 +
 
 +
===Intrauterine devices (IUD)===
 +
The presence of a device in the uterus prompts the release of substances hostile to both sperm and eggs; the presence of copper increases this spermicidal effect. However, the same effect is believed to harm developing embryos. While the primary mechanism of the IUD is spermicidal/ovicidal, post-fertilization mechanisms are believed to contribute significantly to their effectiveness. Because Christians define fertilization as the beginning of life, this secondary effect is considered by them as early [[abortion]].
 +
 
 +
===Hormonal Contraceptives===
 +
* [http://www.cbhd.org/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=21677&cat=&page= The Pill: Addressing the Scientific and Ethical Questions of the Abortifacient Issue] - A collection of recent scholarly articles and statements edited by Linda Bevington and Russell DiSilvestro [Links to ordering info and a description of the booklet]
 +
<!--* [http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=4Q5WONWSEUDMWCRBAELCFFA?type=healthNews&storyID=2510169 Study: Pill Use May Raise Cervical Cancer Risk] --->
 +
* [http://www.epm.org/bcp.html Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?] - A very helpful and easy to read booklet by Randy Alcorn. The full version is online in various formats, and there is a minimal charge for a print copy.
 +
* [http://www.epm.org/articles/pilldebate2.html The Growing Debate about the Abortifacient Effect of the Birth Control Pill and the Principle of the Double Effect] - by Dr. Walt L. Larimore
 +
* [http://archfami.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/9/2/126?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=postfertilization&searchid=1052273133039_87&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=archfami Postfertilization Effects of Oral Contraceptives and Their Relationship to Informed Consent] - Article by Dr. Walter L. Larimore
 +
* PBS aired a documentary a little while ago on "The Pill." Their [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill extensive website] contains video interviews, social history and documentary, a contraception timeline, a flash presentation of how the Pill works, internet links, and many other resources. A transcript of the television show is also available online.
 +
* [http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=15052 Government Lists All Estrogens Used in Oral Contraceptives, Hormone Replacement Therapy as 'Known Human Carcinogens']
 +
* [http://www.pilltruth.com/ Pilltruth.com] - More information about hormonal contraceptives
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===Sterilization===
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==Bibliography==
 +
*[[John Chrysostom |Chrysostom, St John]]. ''On Marriage and Family Life''. Crestwood: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2003.
 +
*[[H. Tristram Engelhardt|Engelhardt, H. Tristram]], Jr. ''Foundations of Christian Bioethics''. Swets & Zeitlinger, 2000. See especially Chapter Five.
 +
*[[Paul Evdokimov|Evdokimov, Paul.]] ''The Sacrament of Love: The Nuptial Mystery in the Light of the Orthodox Tradition''. Crestwood: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1985. See especially pp. 174-180.
 +
*[[John Meyendorff|Meyendorff, John]]. ''Marriage: An Orthodox Perspective'', second expanded edition. Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1975. See especially Chapter Thirteen.
 +
*Noonan, John T., Jr. ''Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966.
 +
*[[Philip Sherrard|Sherrard, Philip.]] "''Humanae Vitae'': Notes on the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI," in ''Sobornost'' 5:8 (1969).
 +
*Zaphiris, Metropolitan Chrysostomos Gerasimos. "The Morality of Contraception: An Eastern Orthodox Opinion," in ''The Journal of Ecumenical Studies'' 11:4 (1974). ''Note:'' http://jonathanscorner.com/writing/contraception/ provides a commentary on Zaphiris 1974 and an opposing views.
 +
*Zion, William Basil. ''Eros and Transformation: Sexuality and Marriage: An Eastern Orthodox Perspective''. Lanham: University Press of America, 1992. Chapter Seven is entitled "Orthodoxy and Contraception."
 +
 
 +
==See also==
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*[[Abortion]]
 +
*[[Marriage]]
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 +
==References==
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<references/>
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==External links==
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 +
===Organizations===
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*[http://www.orthodoxnfp.org The Orthodox Natural Family Planning Association]
 +
<!-- *[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodoxnfp/ Orthodox NFP Discussion List] - A discussion group for those working to implement NFP in an Orthodox context --->
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===Discussion Group Threads relevant to the topic of Orthodoxy and Contraception===
 +
* [https://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/orthodox.html The "Indiana" List archives] (search under contraception, birth control, or natural family planning) <!-- http://listserv.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=orthodox --->
 +
* [http://www.monachos.net/mb/messages/4226/1140.html?1030056988 Monachos.net Discussion Community] - Discussion on birth control
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<!--* [http://www.orthodoxfamily.com/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=22&TID=1&SID=2773 OrthodoxFamily.com] discussion on NFP --->
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* [http://www.byzcath.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=001383 ByzCath.org discussion on birth control] - Includes Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox Perspectives
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<!-- * [http://www.cin.org/archives/apolo/199811/0543.html Catholic Information Network discussion on contraception] - Includes Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox Perspectives --->
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<!-- * [http://www.stmichael.org/cgi-dir/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=Questions&action=display&num=87 St. Michael the Archangel Discussion Group] - Discussion with reference to contraception and the Orthodox Church --->
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<!-- * [http://pub141.ezboard.com/fgregsdiscussionboardgodtalk.showMessage?topicID=1980.topic Greg K.'s ezBoard Discussion List] --->
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[[Category:Bioethics]]
 +
[[Category:Ethics]]

Latest revision as of 21:04, March 27, 2020

The factual accuracy of this article is disputed.
See further information on its talk page.


A distinction is implicit here between birth control (or family planning) and contraception. The latter term is usually reserved for those methods which more directly inhibit or act against conception. Non-contraceptive methods of family planning (to limit the number and/or timing of children) include abstinence and Natural Family Planning.

Orthodox Teaching on Birth Control and Contraception

Birth Control

Non-contraceptive methods of family planning (to limit the number and/or timing of children) include abstinence and Natural Family Planning.

As Paul Evdokimov wrote, "In the age of the Church Fathers, the problem of birth control was never raised. There are no canons that deal with it."[1] The Orthodox bioethicist H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., agrees, writing, "Despite detailed considerations of sexual offenses by ecumenical councils, and by generally accepted local councils, and despite a recognition that marriage is oriented toward reproduction, there is no condemnation of limiting births, apart from the condemnation of abortion."[2]

Natural Family Planning

Many advocates of Natural Family Planning (NFP) believe it is superior to contraception. It is often said that the dynamics of NFP (similar to the fasts of the Church) serve as a kind of catechesis for marital sexuality, emphasizing the need for self-control and honoring God-given fertility while at the same time recognizing the need for intimacy and allowing for a responsible family planning. NFP is also useful for couples having difficulty conceiving. Additionally, because of the awareness of the woman's cycle that it brings it can also help a woman detect health risks manifested through irregularities in the cycle. Modern methods of NFP can be used by women with irregular cycles, as well as by women who are breastfeeding or pre-menopausal. With proper use, NFP is as effective as the Pill.

Contraception

The dominant view, represented by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Church of Moscow[3], the Orthodox Church in America[4], and by the bioethicists Engelhardt and Stanley S. Harakas, may be fairly described as the teaching that non-abortifacient contraception is acceptable if it is used with the blessing of one's spiritual father, and if it is not used to avoid having children for purely selfish reasons. Constantinople, in its 2020 document, For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church, says: "The Orthodox Church has no dogmatic objection to the use of safe and non-abortifacient contraceptives within the context of married life, not as an ideal or as a permanent arrangement, but as a provisional concession to necessity" (§ 24).

The position of the Greek Archdiocese of America was given by Harakas: "Because of the lack of a full understanding of the implications of the biology of reproduction, earlier writers tended to identify abortion with contraception. However, of late a new view has taken hold among Orthodox writers and thinkers on this topic, which permits the use of certain contraceptive practices within marriage for the purpose of spacing children, enhancing the expression of marital love, and protecting health."[5]

Some would follow the earlier position taken by the Church of Greece in her encyclical of October 14, 1937[6], which accepted birth control but not contraception, i.e., it accepted abstinence and NFP, but condemned any method of contraception.

Where some patristic writers speak of NFP and withdrawal (coitus interruptus), they condemn it (St. Augustine [7], St Jerome [8], Clement of Alexandria)[9]. However, as John Noonan has shown, in each of these cases their position followed from their unbiblical idea, adopted from Stoic philosophy, that sexual desire was evil and thus marital intercourse was only permissible for procreation.[10]

Although some patristic references to contraceptive herbs and potions refer to their destroying a child that is being formed in the womb after the sexual act that gave rise to it (abortion), others seem to also include the idea that these methods were also used to "sterilise" the womb to prevent this process from being initiated (St John Chrysostom in his 24th Homily on Romans[11] and St. Caesarius of Arles[12].

There are also individuals who would follow the Stoic view represented by St Augustine and others, that any form of birth control or contraception other than abstinence is sinful in that the only permissible act of marital intercourse is for the purpose of procreation.[13][14] Such individuals follow the typically Latin view that procreation is an essential feature of marriage, and which privilege the procreative end above the unitive. Eastern tradition typically follows St John Chrysostom in holding that procreation is a normal feature of marriage, but not essential to it.

Marriage does not always lead to child-bearing, although there is the word of God which says, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." We have as witnesses all those who are married but childless. So the purpose of chastity takes precedence, especially now, when the whole world is filled with our kind. At the beginning, the procreation of children was desirable, so that each person might leave a memorial of his life.... But now that resurrection is at our gates, and we do not speak of death, but advance toward another life better than the present, the desire for posterity is superfluous. If you desire children, you can get much better children now, a nobler childbirth and a better help in your old age, if you give birth by spiritual labor.
So there remains only one reason for marriage, to avoid fornication, and the remedy is offering for this purpose.[15]

[the following needs citations and perhaps clarification as to whether each of these reject birth control, contraception, or both)

Vocal opponents to the prevailing view of contraception in Orthodoxy today include: Metropolitan Hilarion of Vololamsk [ROC], Bp. Artemije of Kosovo [SOC], Fr. Josiah Trenham, Fr. Patrick Reardon, Fr. John Schroedel, Fr. John A. Peck, and Fr. Patrick Danielson.

Methods of Contraception

Methods of contraception can be broken down into four categories: withdrawal, barrier contraceptives, hormonal contraceptives, and sterilization.

Withdrawal

When opponents of contraception look for biblical support for their position, they inevitably point to the story of Onan in Genesis 38, claiming that the sin committed by Onan was his commission of coitus interruptus. However, this is an almost exclusively Western reading of the text. The only Eastern Father to read the Onan account as a condemnation of contraception was St Epiphanius of Cyprus. Origen had not done so in his commentary on the passage, [16], nor had St John Chrysostom [17], nor St Ephrem the Syrian[18]. Moreover, according to Noonan, Epiphanius had taken this position “only in the context of his anti-Gnostic polemic.”[19] It was his friend St Jerome who was to shape the Western (mis)reading of Onan through his Vulgate, which departed significantly from both the Hebrew and Old Latin he used as the basis of his translation. In addition to adding the word for semen which is not in the original, he slants the text to make it appear that coitus interruptus was the reason he was punished by God, saying “God slew him because he did a detestable thing". But the Hebrew has only “he did not please God,” and the Old Latin that “he appeared evil before the Lord,” neither of which focuses on the act.[20].

Barrier Contraceptives

Intrauterine devices (IUD)

The presence of a device in the uterus prompts the release of substances hostile to both sperm and eggs; the presence of copper increases this spermicidal effect. However, the same effect is believed to harm developing embryos. While the primary mechanism of the IUD is spermicidal/ovicidal, post-fertilization mechanisms are believed to contribute significantly to their effectiveness. Because Christians define fertilization as the beginning of life, this secondary effect is considered by them as early abortion.

Hormonal Contraceptives

Sterilization

Bibliography

  • Chrysostom, St John. On Marriage and Family Life. Crestwood: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2003.
  • Engelhardt, H. Tristram, Jr. Foundations of Christian Bioethics. Swets & Zeitlinger, 2000. See especially Chapter Five.
  • Evdokimov, Paul. The Sacrament of Love: The Nuptial Mystery in the Light of the Orthodox Tradition. Crestwood: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1985. See especially pp. 174-180.
  • Meyendorff, John. Marriage: An Orthodox Perspective, second expanded edition. Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1975. See especially Chapter Thirteen.
  • Noonan, John T., Jr. Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966.
  • Sherrard, Philip. "Humanae Vitae: Notes on the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI," in Sobornost 5:8 (1969).
  • Zaphiris, Metropolitan Chrysostomos Gerasimos. "The Morality of Contraception: An Eastern Orthodox Opinion," in The Journal of Ecumenical Studies 11:4 (1974). Note: http://jonathanscorner.com/writing/contraception/ provides a commentary on Zaphiris 1974 and an opposing views.
  • Zion, William Basil. Eros and Transformation: Sexuality and Marriage: An Eastern Orthodox Perspective. Lanham: University Press of America, 1992. Chapter Seven is entitled "Orthodoxy and Contraception."

See also

References

  1. Evdokimov, p. 174.
  2. Engelhardt, p. 265.
  3. https://mospat.ru/en/documents/social-concepts/xii/
  4. [1]
  5. https://www.goarch.org/-/the-stand-of-the-orthodox-church-on-controversial-issues
  6. [www.ecclesia.gr/greek/holysynod/commitees/family/3.pdf]
  7. Saint, Bishop of Hippo (1887). "Chapter 18.—Of the Symbol of the Breast, and of the Shameful Mysteries of the Manichæans". In Philip Schaff. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Volume IV. Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
  8. Jerome, Against Jovinian 1:20, (AD 393) http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/30091.htm
  9. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2 (AD 191)
  10. Noonan, chapters III and IV.
  11. St John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans
  12. in his first Sermon)St Caeserius of Arles, (Sermons 1:12 [A.D. 522]).
  13. Sacred Seed, Sacred Chamber, https://theorthodoxlife.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/sacred-seed-sacred-chamber/
  14. Orthodoxy, Contraception, and Spin Doctoring: A Look at an Influential but Disturbing Article, https://cjshayward.com/contraception/
  15. Chrysostom, pp. 85-86.
  16. Selections on Genesis, PG 12.129
  17. Homilies on Genesis 62.1, PG 54.533)
  18. In Genesim et in Exodum commentarii, 34.1
  19. Noonan, p. 101.
  20. See Noonan, pp. 101-102.

External links

Organizations

Discussion Group Threads relevant to the topic of Orthodoxy and Contraception