Early Christian Beliefs About Childbirth and Purity

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Direct teaching

...h seed comes, is closed when it is filled. Then it becomes empty again when it has been cleansed by childbirth. But after it has laid down its fruit, it then receives seed. And it is not shameful for us, for the benefit of the hearers, to name the parts in which conception takes place, since God was not ashamed to make them. So the womb, thirsting for the procreation of children, receives the seed, and rejects shameful and blameworthy intercourse. After the sowing, with its mouth now completely closed, it altogether excludes lust. And its desires, which before were engaged in loving embraces, now turned inward and occupied with the production of offspring, work together with the Maker. Therefore it is unlawful to trouble nature when it is already at work, by uselessly rushing into unruly lust. And unruly lust, which has many names and many forms, when it turns toward this sexual excess, is called λαγνεία, that is, wantonness. By this name is meant a lustful, public, and incestuous eagerness for intercourse. And when this grows, a great crowd of diseases comes with it, desire for rich food, drunkenness, and love of women, as well as luxury and pursuit of every pleasure. Over all

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness

...ise his heel.” And to the woman He said, “I will greatly increase your sorrow and your pain in childbirth. In sorrow you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.” And to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground in your works. In sorrow you shall eat from it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread, until you return to the earth. For out of it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” Such is the account given by holy Scripture of the history of man and of Paradise.

Lactantius, On the Workmanship of God Supporting witness

...od's work. That includes conception itself, the forming of the body, the breathing in of life, safe childbirth, and whatever later helps preserve human life. It is His gift that we breathe, that we live, and that we are strong. Besides this, we owe it to His goodness that we are kept safe in body, and that He provides us with food from many sources. He also gives wisdom to man, which no earthly father can give in any way. And so it often happens that foolish sons are born from wise parents, and wise sons from foolish parents. Some people attribute this to fate and the stars. But this is not the time to discuss the subject of fate. It is enough to say this: even if the stars somehow hold together the power of all things, it is still certain that all things are done by God, who both made the stars themselves and put them in order. Therefore those people are foolish who take this power away from God and assign it to what He has made.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

... who are in virginity and purity; for the widows of the Church; for those in honorable marriage and childbearing; for the infants of Your people, that You will not allow any of us to become castaways. We further beg You also for this city and its inhabitants; for those who are sick; for those in bitter servitude; for those in banishment; for those in prison; for those who travel by water or by land; that You, the helper and supporter of all men, will support them. We further also beg You for those who hate us and persecute us for Your name's sake; for those who are outside and wander out of the way; that You will turn them to goodness and calm their anger. We further also beg You for the catechumens of the Church, for those who are vexed by the adversary, and for our brothers the penitents, that You will perfect the first in the faith, that You will deliver the second from the power of the evil one, and that You will accept the repentance of the last, and forgive both them and us our offenses. We further offer to You also for the good condition of the air and the fruitfulness of the crops, so that, continually sharing in the good things that come from You, we may praise You with

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Supporting witness

It was for this reason, too, that immediately after Adam had sinned, as the Scripture relates, God did not directly curse Adam, but instead cursed the ground in relation to his works, as an ancient person observed: “God transferred the curse to the earth so it would not remain on man.” But as punishment for his sin, man received the burden of tilling the earth, eating bread by the sweat of his brow, and returning to the dust from which he was made. Similarly, the woman received toil, labor, groans, the pains of childbirth, and a state of subjection, meaning she would serve her husband, so that they would neither be completely destroyed by God's curse nor remain without reprimand and thus despise God. The full curse fell on the serpent who deceived them. It is said, “God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above all the beasts of the field.” The Lord also says the same thing in the Gospel to those found on the left hand: “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels,” indicating that eternal fire was not originally prepared for humans, but for the one who deceived hum

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness

Therefore, God made man on the sixth day. He revealed this creation after the seventh day, when He also made Paradise, so that man might be in a better and clearly higher place. And the facts themselves prove that this is true. For who can fail to see that the pains women suffer in childbirth, and the forgetting of their labor that they afterward experience, are sent so that the word of God may be fulfilled, and so that the human race may increase and multiply? And do we not also see the judgment on the serpent—how shamefully he crawls on his belly and eats dust—so that we may have this also as proof of the things that were spoken before?

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness

...crime; in it is every offense. For even if the body is stained with no defilement, the principle of purity still does not remain if the mind is impure. Nor can chastity seem untouched where desire has stained the conscience. And no one should think that it is difficult to put reins on pleasure, and to shut it in, wandering and straying as it is, within the bounds of chastity and purity, since it is possible for people even to conquer it. Very many have kept the blessed and uncorrupted purity of the body, and many there are who enjoy this heavenly kind of life most happily. God did not command this in a harsh way, as though He were binding men, since human beings must be begotten, but rather as allowing it. For He knows how great a necessity He has laid on these feelings. He says, "If anyone can do this, he will have an excellent and incomparable reward." This kind of self-restraint is like the highest peak and the completion of all virtues. If anyone can strive and struggle toward it, the master will recognize him as a servant, and the teacher will recognize him as a disciple. He will triumph over the earth. He will be like God, because he has received the virtue of God. These t

Ignatius, Epistle to the Philadelphians (Long Version) Supporting witness

...ony in Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands in the fear of God; and you virgins, to Christ in purity, not regarding marriage as an abomination, but desiring that which is better, not for the reproach of wedlock, but for the sake of meditating on the law. Children, obey your parents, and have affection for them, as workers together with God for your birth into the world. Servants, be subject to your masters in God, that you may be the freed-men of Christ. Husbands, love your wives, as fellow-servants of God, as your own body, as the partners of your life, and your co-workers in the procreation of children. Virgins, have Christ alone before your eyes, and His Father in your prayers, being enlightened by the Spirit. May I take pleasure in your purity, as that of Elijah, or as of Joshua the son of Nun, as of Melchizedek, or as of Elisha, as of Jeremiah, or as of John the Baptist, as of the beloved disciple, as of Timothy, as of Titus, as of Evodius, as of Clement, who departed this life in perfect chastity. Not, however, that I blame the other blessed saints because they entered into the married state, of which I have just spoken. For I pray that, being found worthy of God, I

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

...he readers, singers, virgins, widows, and orphans. Let us pray for those who are in marriage and in childbearing, that the Lord may have mercy on them all. Let us pray for the eunuchs who walk in holiness. Let us pray for those in a state of continence and piety. Let us pray for those who bear fruit in the holy Church and give alms to the needy. And let us pray for those who offer sacrifices and oblations to the Lord our God, that God, the fountain of all goodness, may repay them with His heavenly gifts, and give them in this world a hundredfold, and in the world to come everlasting life, Matthew 19:29, and bestow on them, in return for their temporal things, those that are eternal, and for earthly things, those that are heavenly. Let us pray for our brothers who have been newly enlightened, that the Lord may strengthen and confirm them. Let us pray for our brothers who are afflicted with sickness, that the Lord may deliver them from every sickness and every disease, and restore them healthy to His holy Church. Let us pray for those who travel by water or by land. Let us pray for those who are in the mines, in banishment, in prisons, and in chains for the name of the Lord. Let u

Leviticus 12:2 Direct teaching

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity she shall be unclean.

Leviticus 15:25 Direct teaching

“If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean.

Leviticus 12:5 Supporting witness

But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days.

Leviticus 12:7 Supporting witness

and he shall offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female.

Leviticus 12:6 Supporting witness

‘When the days of her purification are fulfilled, whether for a son or a daughter, she shall bring to the priest a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

Leviticus 12:4 Supporting witness

And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.

Numbers 19:12 Supporting witness

He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.

Numbers 8:7 Supporting witness

Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves.

Tertullian, Against Marcion Direct teaching

But she recollected this also, that what came under the prohibition of the law was that ordinary and usual issue of blood which proceeds from natural functions every month, and in childbirth, not that which was the result of disordered health.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

...e. Meditate on His laws without paying attention to such things as natural cleansing, lawful union, childbirth, miscarriage, or a bodily defect, since such observances are the empty inventions of foolish men, inventions with no sense in them. Neither the burial of a man, nor a dead man's bone, nor a tomb, nor any kind of food, nor a nighttime emission can defile the soul of a man, but only impiety toward God, transgression, and injustice toward one's neighbor. I mean robbery, violence, or anything contrary to His righteousness, adultery or fornication. Therefore, beloved, avoid and reject such observances, for they are heathen. For we do not hate a dead man as they do, since we hope that he will live again. Nor do we hate lawful union, for it is they who act impiously in such matters. For the union of husband and wife, if it is with righteousness, agrees with the mind of God. For He who made them in the beginning made them male and female, and He blessed them and said, "Increase and multiply, and fill the earth," Matthew 19:4; Genesis 1:28. If, therefore, the difference of the sexes was made by the will of God for the producing of many people, then the union of male and female m

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

Therefore neither is the natural purgation abominable before God, who has ordered it to happen to women within the space of thirty days for their advantage and healthful state, who do less move about, and keep usually at home in the house.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

For neither lawful mixture, nor child-bearing, nor the menstrual purgation, nor nocturnal pollution, can defile the nature of a man, or separate the Holy Spirit from him.

Matthew 1:18 Background

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Methodius, Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna Direct teaching

... who was above the law and yet fulfilled the law; that child who was at once before the law and yet after it; that child, in short, who was incarnate from her beyond the law of nature. For in other cases, every womb is first opened by union with a man and, being made pregnant by his seed, receives the beginning of conception. Then, through the pains that complete childbirth, it finally brings forth to the light its offspring, endowed with reason and consistent with its nature, according to the wise provision of God its Creator. For God said, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." But the womb of this virgin, without having been opened before or made pregnant with seed, gave birth to an offspring that went beyond nature, while at the same time being akin to it, and did so without harm to its indivisible unity, so that the miracle was all the more astonishing, while the privilege of virginity also remained untouched. Therefore she goes up to the temple, she who was more exalted than the temple, clothed with a double glory—the glory of undefiled virginity, and that of ineffable fruitfulness, the blessing of the law, and the sanctification of grace. Therefore he who s

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Direct teaching

...e who were the authors of our birth (but only in the Lord), as a man cannot have children without a woman. It is right, therefore, that we should honor those who have contributed to our birth. "Neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man," except in the case of those who were first formed. For the body of Adam was made from the four elements, and that of Eve from the side of Adam. And, indeed, the unique birth of the Lord was from a virgin alone. This happened not because the lawful union of husband and wife is abominable, but such a birth was fitting for God. For it was appropriate for the Creator not to use the ordinary method of generation, but one that was unique and extraordinary, as being the Creator.

Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Direct teaching

When they brought Him to the temple to present Him to the Lord, they offered the purification offerings. For if the gifts of purification according to the law were offered for Him, then in this way He was made subject to the law. But the Word was not subject to the law in the way that the flatterers imagine, since He is the law Himself. Nor did God need sacrifices of purification, because He purifies and sanctifies all things at once, in a moment. But although He took to Himself a human body, as He received it from the Virgin, and was made under the law, and was thus purified in the manner of the firstborn, it was not because He needed this ceremony that He underwent its rites. He did it only to redeem from the slavery of the law those who had been sold under the judgment of the curse.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Supporting witness

...monstrated this from John's own words. Matthew also acknowledges the same Jesus Christ, showing His birth as a man from the Virgin, just as God promised David that He would bring forth from his lineage an eternal King, having previously made the same promise to Abraham. He states: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." Then, to dispel any doubts about Joseph, he says: "But the birth of Christ happened in this way. When His mother was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child of the Holy Ghost." When Joseph considered divorcing Mary because she was pregnant, Matthew tells us about the angel of God appearing to him, saying: "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Ghost. She will give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. This took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which means God with us." This clearly signifies that the promise made to the forefathers was fulfilled, that the

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

...birth. Certainly, He who seemed to be a man was believed to be truly and indeed born. For a certain woman had cried out, "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which You have sucked!" Luke 11:27. And how else could they have said that His mother and His brothers were standing outside? Luke 8:20. But we shall see more of this in the proper place. Surely, when He also proclaimed Himself the Son of man, He without doubt confessed that He had been born. Now I would rather refer all these points to an examination of the Gospel. But still, as I have already said, if He who seemed to be a man had by all means to pass as having been born, then it was pointless for him to suppose that faith in His birth was to be completed by the device of an imaginary flesh. For what advantage was there in that being untrue which was held to be true, whether it was His flesh or His birth? Or if you say, Let human opinion count for nothing, then you are honoring your god under the shelter of a deception, since he knew himself to be something different from what he had made men think of him. In that case, you might even have assigned to him a supposed birth, and so not have hung the question

Tatian, The Diatessaron Background

1 [Arabic, p. 7] Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah was on this wise: In the time when his mother was given in marriage to Joseph, before they came together, 2 she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.