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{{cleanup|Needs OrthodoxWiki-type formatting, categories, and links.}}In contemporary society, '''sex ''' has been reduced to an instinctive act that is just , used solely to bring forth much pleasure. Even amongst some Orthodox Christians , a life of sex is the gauge in by which the success of a person 's success is evaluated. Sex is promoted as something extremely less than a mystery, because of the faithless understanding of the people. This secular understanding of sex erases the spiritual aspects of this holy union. Consequently, society has managed to break down the Christian understanding of this act, therefore making it acceptable for all to taste outside of marriage. For Orthodox Christians, “sexual relationships outside of the marital relationship violate the inherent nature of things for a person growing toward Theosis.” {{citation}}

It First, it is very important for all to understand and believe, that sexual relations in marriage are not the only way to attain Theosis[[theosis]]. The Orthodox Church honors and highly reveres virginity, the state of [[Adam and Eve]] (hereafter referred to as "the protoplasts ") before their fallFall. Contemporary society , however, gives such a state second-class honor . Celibacy and virginity as even labels celibacy and virginity labeled as “unnatural”“unnatural,” despite that, when indeed according the Patristic Tradition [[patristics|patristic tradition]] it is the natural state of the protoplast protoplasts before the fallFall. In this essay, the following issue of sex will be explained through the lenses of Patristic Traditionpatristic tradition, the Orthodox understanding of the origin of humanity’s’ humanity’s sexual nature, the appropriate manifestations manifestation of sexual nature through marriage, and the restoration of the fallen sexual nature through virginity.

The origin of humanity’s sexual nature is found in the [[Old Testament in the ]] book of [[Genesis]]. “God created male and female” (Genesis 5:2). {{citation|Which translation?}} However, after the fall between man and the woman there was a physical attractionbetween man and woman, which was, supposed to lead to communion and union. In the Patristic patristic tradition, marriage is connected with the fall of the protoplasts. [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius the Great ]] remarks that, in Gods God's initial plan for man there was not no marriage; : “But the transgression of the commandment brought in marriage because Adam transgressed the law that was given to him by God. Adam’s fall, which resulted to death, created the need of putting on “garments 'garments of skin” skin'" (Genesis 3:2). This garment is interpreted as man adapting to the condition that was created after the fall Fall and does not belong to the pre- fall Fall condition. It ; it does not belong to the condition of the kingdom Kingdom of God. St. [[Gregory of Nyssa ]] explains what the irrational skin is that man put on. He includes marital relations, procreation, food, growth, old age and death, all that of which will not exist in the transformation and assimilation of humanity in the Kingdom of Heaven.

{{cleanup}}Until humanity reaches and lives for eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven, God has ordained marriage as a tool for salvation. Marriage is recognized as a sort of adaptation to the new condition of man that was created after the fall of the protoplasts. St. Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians makes recommendations on how people can avoid fornication. According to the Apostle, true sexual relations can exist only within marriage, because sexuality is restored through marriage. In the Patristic tradition and in Holy Scripture this view is upheld, as it is seen in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians. “… a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become on flesh.” St. Paul also says,