“Let those also be of good cheer who are married and use their marriage
properly; who enter marriage lawfully, and not out of wantonness and unbounded
license; who recognize periods of continence so that they may give themselves to
prayer; who in the assemblies bring clean bodies as well as clean garments into
church; who have embarked upon the matrimonial estate for the procreation of
children, and not for the sake of indulgence.”
4, 26
“And those who are once married - let them not hold in contempt those who have
accommodated themselves to a second marriage. Continence is a good and
wonderful thing; but still, it is permissible to enter upon a second marriage, lest
the weak might fall into fornication.”
15, 22
“But what - lest a hostile power dare to counterfeit it - is the sign of His coming?
‘And He shall appear,’ He says, ‘the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens.’
Christ’s own true sign is the cross. The sign of a luminous cross shall go before
the King, pointing out Him that was formally crucified.”
18, 1
“The root of every good work is the hope of the resurrection; for the expectation of
a reward nerves the soul to good work. Every laborer is prepared to endure the
toils if he looks forward to the reward of these toils. But they who labor without
reward - their soul is exhausted with their body...He that believes his body will
remain for the resurrection is careful of his garment and does not soil it in
fornication, or abuses his own body as if it belonged to another. A great precept
and teaching of the Holy Catholic Church, therefore, is belief in the resurrection of
the dead - great and most necessary, but contradicted by many...”
23 (Mystagogic 5), 10
“Then we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the
patriarchs, prophets, Apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and
supplications God would receive our petition; next, we make mention also of the
holy fathers and bishops who have already fallen asleep, and, to put it simply, of
all among us who have already fallen asleep; for we believe that it will be of very
great benefit to the souls of those for whom the petition is carried up, while this
holy and most solemn Sacrifice is laid out.”
23 (Mystagogic 5), 15
“Give us this day our supersubstantial bread. The bread which is of the common
sort is not supersubstantial. But the Bread which is holy, that Bread is
supersubstantial, as if to say, directed toward the substance of the soul. This
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