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While all of the above have fallen under the condemnation of one or another Orthodox authority, no unanimity exists for many of them, and in any case, one's spiritual father may make allowances based on the principle of [[oikonomia]]. Note that sexual sin is not regarded as especially different from other types of sin, to which all are susceptible. ("One is holy...") As the [[Sayings of the Fathers]] reminds us,

A focus on sexual sin obscures the fact that Orthodoxy views sex within marriage as fundamentally good--at least in this world. (Apparently sex does not exist in the afterlife, though marriage may.) In contrast to Western (Roman Catholic) views of sex as an instrumental good (thus accounting for that church's well-known opposition to birth control), the Orthodox tendency has been to prefer a sacramental over an instrumental interpretation.