What Beliefs Does the Orthodox Church Have About Birth Control?

Within modern Orthodox Christianity, varying views on the subject exist. They can, however, be classified in two basic approaches, with methods and conclusions appropriate to each.

The Very Rev. Chrysostom Zafiris’ article is characteristic of one approach. A book written in Greek a number of years ago by Fr. Seraphim Papacostas, entitled “To Zetema tis Tecknogonias” (The Issue Concerning Child-Bearing), represents the other approach.

What should be noted at the beginning is that this lack of clarity has its roots in some of the tradition of the church itself. Basically, it is to be found in a varying understanding of sex in the life of the Christian.

Searching the tradition, we receive the impression that sex is, on the one hand, a God-created distinction of persons through which men and women share in the creative work of God, a God-given desire and attraction which serves to unite a husband and wife into a psychosomatic unity.

The Apostle Paul sees the sexual relations of husband and wife as required to ward off temptation. The church has designated the blessing of the material relationship as a sacrament.

Those who have condemned sex and marriage as evil and debasing have, in turn, been condemned by the church in numerous church canons. On the one hand, then, as the service of Holy Matrimony says, “marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled.”

However, at the same time the powerful influence of monasticism has tended not only to lower the estimation of the married life, but also to equate sex in general to a condition not quite fitting and appropriate for Christians, if not, in fact, sinful. At its extreme, this view held that marriage itself was nothing but “legalized fornication.”

Both these views have been held and promulgated through the years within the church, even though they are mutually inconsistent. This inconsistency has been reflected in approaches to the question of contraception.

“Natural Law” View

Some of the tradition has emphasized the biological dimensions of sex in marriage, tending to see its place in the scheme of things as a basically evil passion which, however, is needed to propagate the race. Thus, sex is tied closely to a view of natural law which sees a biological purpose as the crucial factor.

The result of this approach is two-fold: sexual relations are seen as legitimate only when the intended purpose is to conceive and bear chil- dren; sexual relations entered into for pleasure, for the purpose of expressing love or deepening the marital relationship, are simply not considered relevant but as positively violating the natural and legitimate purity of sex relations.

Thus, any method which circumvents the only admitted purpose for sexual relations in marriage, such as contraception, is morally wrong. This is the approach taken in the book, “To Zetema tis Teknogonias’ and some of the letter writers who made frequent appeals to “the natural law.”

Sacramental View

The approach of Fr. Zafiris’ article and that supported in Fr. John Meyendorff’s book, “Marriage: An Orthodox Perspective,” places the emphasis for the meaning of sex in general and contraception in particular on the whole experience of marriage as a holy, interpersonal relationship within the total framework of the Christian life.

The approach sees marriage and the sex within it as having many purposes, none of which is seen as the crucial and exclusive purpose.

When marriage and the sexual relations within it are approached from this sacramental perspective, then sexual relations between husband and wife are procreative in purpose, but also unitive.

In this perspective, the sexual relations of husband and wife have an intrinsic value: they unite husband and wife in flesh and soul in a bond of mutual love and commitment. The procreative purpose remains, however.

But when children have been born, and the task is now the nurture of those children in a family environment of mutual love and in an atmosphere dominated by the relationship of the husband and wife, that sexual relationship is also significant for the whole tenor and well-being of the family life.

Within this perspective contraception is not condemned, but rather it is seen as a means for the furthering of the goals and purposes of marriage as understood by the church.

Normally, it would be wrong to use contraceptives to avoid the birth of any children. However, once children have been born, the use of contraceptives by the parents does not seem to violate any fundamental Christian understanding of marriage.

Which Is More Correct?

As we have indicated, there is evidence in the history of the church to provide support for both approaches. That is why there is still discussion and controversy.

Even our archdiocese has responded differently at different times. In older issues of the archdiocese “yearbook’ a strong negative attitude was expressed. In more recent issues, a position was taken indicating that this was a private matter, involving the couple alone, which was to be discussed with the Father Confessor.

The real issue is which of the two views best represents the fullness of the Orthodox Christian faith. The first, negative response, draws primarily on an exclusively biological, physical and legalistic perspective.

The second, affirmative response, emphasizes the close relationship of body and soul, places the issue in the total context of marriage and family, and most importantly, takes a sacramental approach. To state the differences of emphasis is to respond to the question “Which is more correct?” The second fits a well-rounded Orthodox Christian view of the truth.

It should be clearly stated that for the church, sexual relations outside of marriage are sinful and the use of contraceptives merely compounds the impropriety of that kind of behavior. Nor should anything said above imply that there is an obligation on the part of couples to use contraceptives if they do not wish to.

What we are saying is that if a married couple has children, or is spacing the birth of their children, and wishes to continue sexual relations in the subsequent years as an expression of their continuing love for each other, and for the deepening of their personal and marital unity, the Orthodoxy of contraception is affirmed.