ca. 70 A.D., Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
— Contraception; abortion —
2:2 You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions [Greek, pharmakeia; i.e., oral contraceptives]. You shall not procure abortion, nor destroy a new-born child.
— ca. 100 A.D., Death of Saint John, the last of the Apostles —
ca. 107 A.D., Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, disciple of the Apostle John, Letter to Polycarp
5:1-2 Flee from base practices, but preach more against them: Speak to my sisters that they love the Lord, and be content with their husbands in body and in soul. In like manner, exhort my brothers in the name of Jesus Christ to love their wives as the Lord loved the Church (Eph. 5:25). If anyone is able to remain continent, to the honor of the flesh of the Lord, let him so remain without boasting. If he boast about it, he is lost; and if he be more esteemed than the bishop, he is ruined. … It is proper for men and women who wish to marry to be united with the consent of the bishop, so that their marriage will be acceptable to the Lord, and not entered upon for the sake of lust. Let all things be done for the honor of God.
ca. 125 A.D., Letter to Diognetus
— Abortion —
5:6-7 Like all others, [Christians] marry and beget children; but they do not expose their offspring [i.e., expose unwanted infants to the elements, a common practice in pagan Rome]. Their board they set for all, but not their bed.
ca. 150 A.D., Saint Justin the Martyr, First Apology
— Divorce (indissolubility of marital bond) —
15 In regard to chastity, [Jesus] has this to say: “If anyone look with lust at a woman, he has already before God committed adultery in his heart” (Mt. 5:28). And, “Whoever marries a woman who has been divorced from another husband, commits adultery” (Mt. 19:9). … According to our Teacher, just as they are sinners who contract a second marriage, even though it be in accord with human law, so also are they sinners who look with lustful desire at a woman. He repudiates not only one who actually commits adultery, but even one who wishes to do so; for not only our actions are manifest to God, but even our thoughts.
ca. 150 A.D., Hermas, brother of Pope Saint Pius, The Shepherd
— Divorce (indissolubility of marital bond) —
Mand. 4:1:6-8 “What then, sir,” said I [to the shepherd], “shall the husband do, if the wife continue in this disposition [of adultery]?” “Let him divorce her,” he said, “and let the husband remain single. But if he divorce his wife and marry another, he too commits adultery (Mark 10:11).” “If, then, sir,” said I, “after the wife be divorced, she repent and wish to return to her own husband, is she not to be received?” “Indeed,” he said, “if the husband does not receive her, he sins and brings great sin upon himself. … It is in view of repentance, then, that the husband is obliged not to marry. And this is the practice enjoined on husband and wife alike."
ca. 177 A.D., Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians
— Contraception —
33 Having, therefore, the hope of eternal life, we despise the enjoyments of the present, even the pleasures of the soul. According to our laws, each of us thinks of the woman he has married as his wife only for the purpose of bearing children. For as the farmer casts his seed on the soil and awaits the harvest without sowing over it, so we limit the pleasure of intercourse to bearing children. ...
— Divorce (indissolubility of marital bond) —
We hold that a man should either remain as he is born or else marry only once. For a second marriage is a veiled adultery. The Scripture says, “Whoever puts away his wife and marries another, commits adultery” (Matt. 19:9; Mark 10:11). Thus a man is forbidden both to put her away whose virginity he has ended, and to marry again. …
— Abortion —
35 [W]hat sound judgment would say that we are murderers? … Since they know that we cannot endure to see a man being put to death even justly, who of them would charge us with murder … ? Who among our accusers is not eager to witness contests of gladiators and wild beasts, especially those organized by you? But we see little difference between watching a man being put to death and killing him. So we have given up such spectacles. How can we commit murder when we will not look at it, lest we should contract the stain of guilt? What reason would we have to commit murder when we say that women who induce abortions are murderers, and will have to give account of it to God? For the same person would not regard the fetus in the womb as a living thing and therefore an object of God’s care, and at the same time slay it, once it had come to life. Nor would he refuse to expose infants, on the ground that those who expose them are murderers of children, and at the same time do away with the child he has reared. But we are altogether consistent in our conduct. We obey reason and do not override it.
197 A.D., Tertullian, Apology
— Abortion —
9:8 In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the foetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed.
ca. 203 A.D., Saint Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis or Miscellanies
— Divorce (indissolubility of marital bond) —
2:23:145:3 That Scripture counsels marriage, however, and never allows any release from the union, is expressly contained in the law: “You shall not divorce a wife, except for reason of immorality” (Mt. 5:32; 19:9).3 And it regards as adultery the marriage of a spouse, while the one from whom a separation was made is still alive. … “Whoever takes a divorced woman as wife commits adultery,” it says; for “if anyone divorce his wife, he debauches her;” that is, he compels her to commit adultery. And not only does he that divorces her become the cause of this, but also he that takes the woman and gives her the opportunity of sinning; for if he did not take her, she would return to her husband. …
3:10:68:1 Who are the two or three who begin by gathering together in the name of Christ, and in whose midst is the Lord (Mt. 18:20)? Are not the three man, wife, and child, since a wife is joined to a man by God? …
3:12:84:2 If, however, marriage, though commanded by the Law, were yet sinful—really, I do not see how anyone could say that he knows God and yet say that sin has been commanded by God. If the Law is sacred, then marriage is a holy state.
ca. 223 A.D., Saint Hippolytus, Bishop of Pontus, disciple of Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, Philosophoumena or Refutation of All Heresies
— Contraception; abortion —
9:12 Women who were reputed to be believers began to take drugs to render themselves sterile [i.e., oral contraceptives], and to bind themselves tightly so as to expel what was being conceived [i.e., abortion], since they would not, on account of relatives and excessive wealth, want to have a child by a slave or by an insignificant person.
226 A.D., Minucius Felix, Octavius
— Abortion —
30 There are some women who, by drinking medical preparations, extinguish the source of the future man in their very bowels, and thus commit a parricide before they bring forth. And these things assuredly come down from the teaching of your gods. … To us it is not lawful either to see or to hear of homicide.
ca. 245 A.D., Origen, disciple of Saint Clement of Alexandria, Commentaries on Matthew
— Divorce (indissolubility of marital bond) —
14:16 Certainly it is God who joins two in one, so that when He marries a woman to a man, there are no longer two. And since it is God who joins them, there is in this joining a grace for those who are joined by God. Paul knew this, and he said that just as holy celibacy was a grace, so also was marriage according to the Word of God a grace. He says, “I would that all men were like myself; but each has his own grace from God, one in this way, another in that (1 Cor. 7:7). …
14:24 Just as a woman is an adulteress, even though she seem to be married to a man, while a former husband yet lives, so also the man who seems to marry her who has been divorced does not marry her, but, according to the declaration of our Savior, he commits adultery with her.