On Marriage and Family Life

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(241 245 245 1); color: rgba(57 103 116 1)>Christian tradition often seems to give only grudging approval to the married life particularly its sexual aspect. In these sermons of St John Chrysostom we find an important corrective to this view. Although himself a monk Chrysostom had a profound understanding of the needs of his congregation. Inspired by the epistles to the Corinthians and Ephesians he discusses the reasons God instituted marriage--primarily to promote holiness of the husband and wife and only secondarily to produce children. Chrysostom goes on to discuss sexual relations the mutual responsibilities of marriage and parenting. While parts of Chrysostom's sermons may seem limited to his own time the vast majority of his advice has timeless relevance for the Christian family.</span></p>