The Early Church Fathers on Contraception - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus

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[NYer]

The Early Church Fathers were undivided in their condemnation of artificial birth control. In fact, all Christian churches were in agreement on this until 1930.

Letter of Barnabas

Moreover, he [Moses] has rightly detested the weasel [Lev. 11:29]. For he means, "Thou shalt not be like to those whom we hear of as committing wickedness with the mouth with the body through uncleanness [orally consummated sex]; nor shalt thou be joined to those impure women who commit iniquity with the mouth with the body through uncleanness" (Letter of Barnabas 10:8 [A.D. 74]).

Clement of Alexandria

Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted (The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2 [A.D. 191]).

To have coitus other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature (ibid. 2:10:95:3).

Hippolytus

[Christian women with male concubines], on account of their prominent ancestry and great property, the so-called faithful want no children from slaves or lowborn commoners, they use drugs of sterility [oral contraceptives] or bind themselves tightly in order to expel a fetus which has already been engendered [abortion] (Refutation of All Heresies 9:7 [A.D. 225]).

Lactantius

[Some] complain of the scantiness of their means, and allege that they have not enough for bringing up more children, as though, in truth, their means were in [their] power . . . or God did not daily make the rich poor and the poor rich. Wherefore, if any one on any account of poverty shall be unable to bring up children, it is better to abstain from relations with his wife (Divine Institutes 6:20 [A.D. 307]).

God gave us eyes not to see and desire pleasure, but to see acts to be performed for the needs of life; so too, the genital ['generating'] part of the body, as the name itself teaches, has been received by us for no other purpose than the generation of offspring (ibid. 6:23:18).

Epiphanius

They [certain Egyptian heretics] exercise genital acts, yet prevent the conceiving of children. Not in order to produce offspring, but to satisfy lust, are they eager for corruption (Medicine Chest Against Heresies 26:5:2 [A.D. 375]).

John Chrysostom

[l]n truth, all men know that they who are under the power of this disease [the sin of covetousness] are wearied even of their father's old age [wishing him to die so they can inherit]; and that which is sweet) and universally desirable, the having of children, they esteem grievous and unwelcome. Many at least with this view have even paid money to be childless, and have mutilated nature, not only killing the newborn, but even acting to prevent their beginning to live [sterilization] (Homilies on Matthew 28:5 [A.D. 391]).

Why do you sow where the field is eager to destroy the fruit, where there are medicines of sterility [oral contraceptives], where there is murder before birth?. . . Indeed, it is something worse than murder, and I do not know what to call it; for she does not kill what is formed but prevents its formation. What then? Do you condemn the gift of God and Fight with his [natural] laws? (Homilies on Romans 24 [A.D. 391]).

Jerome

But I wonder why he [the heretic Jovinianus] set Judah and Tamar before us for an example, unless perchance even harlots give him pleasure; or Onan, who was slain because he grudged his brother seed. Does he imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the procreation of children? (Against Jovinian 1:19 [A.D. 393]).

You may see a number of women who are widows before they are wives. Others, indeed, will drink sterility [oral contraceptives] and murder a man not yet born, [and some commit abortion] (Letters 22:13 [A.D. 396]).

Augustine

This proves that you [Manicheans] approve of having a wife, not for the procreation of children, but for the gratification of passion. In marriage, as the marriage law declares, the man and woman come together for the procreation of children. Therefore, whoever makes the procreation of children a greater sin than copulation, forbids marriage and makes the woman not a wife but a mistress, who for some gifts presented to her, is joined to the man to gratify his passion (The Morals of the Manichees 18:65 [A.D. 388]).

You [Manicheans] make your auditors adulterers of their wives when they take care lest the women with whom they copulate conceive. They take wives according to the laws of matrimony by tablets announcing that the marriage is contracted to procreate children; and then, fearing because of your [religious] law [against childbearing] . . . they copulate in a shameful union only to satisfy lust for their wives. They are unwilling to have children, on whose account alone marriages are made. How is it, then, that you are not those prohibiting marriage, as the apostle predicted of you so long ago [I Tim. 4:1-4], when you try to take from marriage what marriage is? When this is taken away, husbands are shameful lovers, wives are harlots, bridal chambers are brothels, fathers-in-law are pimps (Against Faustus 15:7 [A.D. 400]).

For thus the eternal law, that is, the will of God creator of all creatures, taking counsel for the conservation of natural order, not to serve lust, but to see to the preservation of the race, permits the delight of mortal flesh to be released from the control of reason in copulation only to propagate progeny (ibid. 22:30).

Caesarius

Who is he who cannot warn that no woman may take a potion [an oral contraceptive or an abortifacient] so that she is unable to conceive or condemns in herself the nature which God willed to be fecund? As often as she could have conceived or given birth, of that many homicides she will be held guilty, and, unless she undergoes suitable penance, she will be damned by eternal death in hell. If a women does not wish to have children, let her enter into a religious agreement with her husband; for chastity is the sole sterility of a Christian woman (Sermons 1:12 [A.D. 522]).

[Captain Gates]

"seven weeks postpartum my fertility returned, and it has been a very hard birth"

Wow! Were you nursing your child or using formula?

[Salvation]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2322 From its conception, the child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a "criminal" practice (GS 27 § 3), gravely contrary to the moral law. The Church imposes the canonical penalty of excommunication for this crime against human life.

2274 Since it must be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being.

Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit, "if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human fetus and is directed toward its safe guarding or healing as an individual. . . . It is gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent of a death sentence."

2319 Every human life, from the moment of conception until death, is sacred because the human person has been willed for its own sake in the image and likeness of the living and holy God.

2323 Because it should be treated as a person from conception, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed like every other human being.

2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.

1711 Endowed with a spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude. He pursues his perfection in "seeking and loving what is true and good" (GS 15 § 2).

[Salvation]

                From the Catechism of the Catholic Church (click on the book for the link.)    

2399 The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception).

 

2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, "every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible" is intrinsically evil:

Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality. . . . The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.

[ELS]

mockingbyrd: "But if something is true, then it is wise to promulgate it."

Kolokotronis: To teach it, yes. To make it a necessary pre-condition for theosis/salvation, no. Something like ABC simply doesn't rise to that level.

the Catholic Church ... proclaims anew: any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offence against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin. - Pope Pius XI, Casti conubii

Kolo, committing "an offence against the law of God" or a grave sin certainly affects one's salvation.

[trisham]

As I find myself constantly reminding all you good Western Christians, Greeks are very bad people.

***********

Now, now. Everyone knows it's Catholics who are the bad ones. That's why we have confession. :)

[Scotswife]

Some of these quotes I have read...some are new to me.

I will be upfront and say I am struggling with this issue.

Many of these quotes will contradict current teaching in the sense that they are saying that sex is ONLY for procreation....or sex may only be performed for the intention of procreation.
For that reason..the Church's stance on NFP or the unitive/procreative elements would have gone against the Early Fathers...yes?

Also...while someone helpfully inserted the (oral contraceptive) description in some of these quotes...the truth is that some of these potions could actually have been abortive mixtures meant to induce labor.
Afterall...they didn't have EPT urine test sticks back then.

[mockingbyrd]

Wow! Were you nursing your child or using formula?

Only nursing. With my first daughter I was trying to do Sheila Kippley's ecological breastfeeding and I was still ready to go at eight weeks postpartum.

So, NFP was a Godsend.

[mockingbyrd]

No, the intent of contraception is self gratification. To use another for sexual satisfaction without the consequences of loving and accepting the whole person.

NFP always includes loving and accepting the whole person.

[Kolokotronis]

" That's why we have confession. :)"

Oh, we do too; we "invented" it!

[NYer]

For that reason..the Church's stance on NFP or the unitive/procreative elements would have gone against the Early Fathers...yes?

You will find the explanation here.

[Scotswife]

Thank you for the link.
It still appears to me that there was a running theme in the early writings that any sex outside of procreation was evil - that sex was only for procreation.

[trisham]

Oh, we do too; we "invented" it!

************

Oy vey. Apparently, we Catholics are not only "bad", we're lacking in originality. How so?

[redgolum]

Augustine did have the view (or at least had the view at times) that any sex was at best a venal sin, and that sex for any reason but procreation was a mortal one. But many of those statements can be traced to his earlier stint with the Manichees.

However, he was not along in the view that the only purpose of sex was for procreation. That was actually the common view in all of Christendom until the early 20th century.

[Scotswife]

"However, he was not along in the view that the only purpose of sex was for procreation. That was actually the common view in all of Christendom until the early 20th century."

That's part of my problem.
They were wrong - at least the Church is saying in THIS century that view is wrong.

I also wonder how accurately could they have distinguished between abortion and contraception when they didn't have the scientific knowledge we do today.
In other words....the potions they speak of - were they abortive or contraceptive? who knows? How could they know?

[cammie]

I described the stance which I believe is difficult to maintain. The Church has never made the argument that every unimplanted embryo is a miscarriage and thus a soul goes to its eternal resting place whenever an embryo doesn't implant. Which is why I believe the birth-control-as-abortifacient argument is hard to maintain.

As to "attack", I'm Catholic, mockingbyrd. Reading what I wrote (limbo has been discredited by many Catholic theologians) as an attack is quite far-fetched.

[mockingbyrd]

I am sorry for misreading your post. I confess, after some other posts (not on this thread), I tend to be a little sensitive. Please accept my apologies.

The Church does teach that life begins at conception. In ensouled is living, and the Church does teach that the soul enters the body at the moment of conception. Every child that fails to implant, for whatever reason, is a lost life, and a soul that will be reunited with the body at the General Judgement. Why these lives are created and end so quickly, well that's something only God knows.

[Captain Gates]

The fathers were most likely speaking of agents that had mechanisms of action that caused the expelling of the fetus.... including agents that set up smooth muscle contraction like castor oil, senna products, etc. ...... abortive remedies of this sort would provide visual confirmation of the abortion. ...

See the below quotes of a few of the fathers that were quoted in the main article.


Hippolytus

[Christian women with male concubines], on account of their prominent ancestry and great property, the so-called faithful want no children from slaves or lowborn commoners, they use drugs of sterility [oral contraceptives] or bind themselves tightly in order to expel a fetus which has already been engendered [abortion] (Refutation of All Heresies 9:7 [A.D. 225]).

Jerome

You may see a number of women who are widows before they are wives. Others, indeed, will drink sterility [oral contraceptives] and murder a man not yet born, [and some commit abortion] (Letters 22:13 [A.D. 396]).


Caesarius

Who is he who cannot warn that no woman may take a potion [an oral contraceptive or an abortifacient] so that she is unable to conceive or condemns in herself the nature which God willed to be fecund? As often as she could have conceived or given birth, of that many homicides she will be held guilty.......(Sermons 1:12 [A.D. 522]).



Note:

I admit that I haven't studied ancient abortifacient medicine..... my above comments are based upon my own knowledge of what would be available as abortifacients during that time.

I DO have a tremendous amount of respect for the scientific knowledge and abilities of the ancient peoples, and would not doubt that they had a knowledge of abortive remedies that would surprise us.

I'll study up on ancient abortifacients and report back!

[Captain Gates]

-----"The Church has never made the argument that every unimplanted embryo is a miscarriage....."-----

Defining the beginning of life..... ahhh it seems everyone has an 'opinion'..........the partial birth abortionists say that it begins when the fetus is capable of living on its own apart from the mother,.... yank that 'parasite'(as they call it) out of the mother and if it lives apart from the mother, then you can call it human..... others say varying degrees of development to include the beating heart, etc....

more popular these days(to justify things like the morning after pill and oral contraceptives) is to say that life begins at implantation.

OK..... lets quit all of the semantics and be honest. When the sperm meets the egg and conception occurs..... when the two genetic codes unite and you have a genetically whole organism.... a zygote that is growing and seeking a home within the womb........

THIS IS WHEN LIFE BEGINS.

Yes, I said genetically whole organism. This is what you get at conception. Anyone care to argue this fact?

Bring it on.

I contend that murder is daily taking place and that semantics are a poor cover up....... all will be brought to light when it is too late for some.

[Captain Gates]

"Only nursing."

Wow!!!!! You are one fertile woman!!!!! God bless you mockingbyrd!!!!!!!

The Lord has indeed blessed you. I pray that you will find His grace and mercy in any future pregnancies you may be blessed with.

[mockingbyrd]

You are one fertile woman!!!!!

that would be the conclusion I came to as well. I pray that you will find His grace and mercy in any future pregnancies you may be blessed with.

Thank you. We do hope that we will find baby #3 along the way within the year or so.