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Sex
,Added St. John Chrysostom's view of marriage as planned by God from the beginning
First, it is very important for all to understand and believe that sexual relations in marriage are not the only way to attain [[theosis]]. The Orthodox Church honors and highly reveres virginity, the state of [[Adam and Eve]] (hereafter referred to as "the protoplasts") before their Fall. Contemporary society, however, gives such a state second-class honor. Celibacy and virginity as even labeled as “unnatural,” despite that, according the [[patristics|patristic tradition]] it is the natural state of the protoplasts before the Fall. In this essay, the issue of sex will be explained through the lenses of patristic tradition, the Orthodox understanding of the origin of humanity’s sexual nature, the appropriate 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]] book of [[Genesis]]. “God created male and female” (Genesis 5:2).{{citation|Which translation?}} However, after the fall there was a physical attraction between man and woman, which was supposed to lead to communion and union. In the patristic tradition, marriage is often connected with the fall of the protoplasts. [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius the Great]] remarks that in God's initial plan for man there was 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 of skin'" (Genesis 3:2). This garment is interpreted as man adapting to the condition that was created after the Fall and does not belong to the pre-Fall condition; it does not belong to the condition of the 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 of which will not exist in the transformation and assimilation of humanity in the Kingdom of Heaven. However, this view of marriage is not the only one present in the patristic tradition. St. John Chrysostom, for example, says that "“From the beginning God in His providence has planned this union of man and woman…. There is no relationship between human beings so close as that of husband and wife” (St. John Chrysostom, On Marriage and Family Life).
{{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,
