Antykoncepcja i aborcja w ocenie św. Jana Chryzostoma

Abstract

The article consists of three basic parts: in Part I it discusses contraception and abortion in the Bible, first analyzing Onan’s sin (Gen 38, 6-10), and then the problem of miscarriage caused by another person (Ex 21, 22-23). In Part II it treats about contraception in John Chrysostom’s opinion, first reminding that the aim of a marriage, in his opinion, is not so much procreation, as relieving lust; then it shows a negative attitude to contraception expressed by some earlier Christian authors, which was shown especially in their commentary to Gen 38, 6-10, which was most clear in writings by St Ephraem Syrus and St Epiphanius of Salamis in the East, and by St Hieronymus in the West; and finally it discusses Chrysostom’s pronouncements on contraception (In Gen. hom. 62, 1; In Ep. ad Rom. horn. 24, 4; In Matth, hom. 28, 5 and 62, 3; In Ep. ad Gal. 5, 3). Lastly, in Part III it discusses abortion in John Chrysostom’s opinion, again first reminding a number of the more important Christian utterances condemning it (Didache, Peter's Apocalypse, Athenagoras, Tertullian, St Basil), and finally subjecting to analysis Chrysostom’s texts (In Ep. ad Rom. hom. 24, 4; In Ep. ad Phillip. 4, 15, 5; In Gen. 12, 4-5 and 13, 3) on this subject.