Eternal Love

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.(Song of Solomon 1:2)


It is a sacred belief that marriage is a divine institution that the sexes are not without each other "in the Lord." For example, Clement of Alexandria felt that marriage "was good practice for life..."

Clement insists that marriage and procreation are an intrinsic and positive part of God's plan for the human race. He frequently cites Gen. 1:28 ("Increase and multiply") and regards human procreation as an act of co-creation with God: "In this way the human being becomes the image of God, by cooperating in the creation of another human being."

Philip A. Khairallah presents some interesting thoughts on [marriage]. He is a priest of the Melkite Rite, of the Holy Orthodox Church of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem, in communion with the Church of Rome. He cites II Peter 1.4, and Athanasius, and then writes that “the one and only aim of human life on earth is union with God and deification.” “Marriage is eternal…. [and] is another channel God has given to us for our deification.” He writes that “parents have a responsibility to their children in aiding them to grow in faith and wisdom, to achieve responsible adulthood, so that they too may seek their deification.” [Philip A. Khairallah, ”The Sanctification of Life,” Emmanuel 96 (1990): 326, 395, 396-7.]

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