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::Anyway, how do you (and the Mrs.!) think the article should be organized?[[User:Zla'od|Zla'od]] 00:45, January 8, 2008 (PST)
:::A few things to respond to, Zla'od.
:::I don't know who told you that the Greek verb "to fornicate" in that specific passage is restricted only to prostitution (Matt 5:32). If we look at Attic Greek, where a large majority of Koine gets its "linguistic background," the word porneias (which is what Christ is using) is commonly translated in this case as "fornication" or "harlotry" (you can consult both Liddell & Scott Greek dictionary as well as Perseus online if you do not wish to take my word for it). Yes, it can refer to prostitution, but we have to look at circumstances and context, as most Greek writers usually are very specific, and will tell you that a certain person "accepted money" for sex, or "took it as a profession."
:::This word was used interchangeably for both fornication and prostitution, but it does not mean that the ancients viewed prostitution (having sex for money) and fornication similarly.
:::We can see this in Lysias (b. 458 B.C.), an Ancient Athenian forensic rhetorician. Lysias' job in Athens was writing speeches for plaintiffs and defendants in court cases. In most Ancient Greek city-states, men represented themselves, and there were no lawyers. So in order to give a good apology in court, they hired speech writers to write their statements before they addressed them to court.
:::But I digress. Lysias once wrote a defense statement for a man who killed another man on the grounds that he caught said man and his wife in bed together performing the act (Against Eratosthenes). The verb which Lysias used in this case was porneo, and from this context, classicists have translated the verb as "to fornicate." To glean that Christ only meant that prostitution is the only element in the grounds for a divorce implies a poor understanding of how this word was used in the Greco-Roman world.
:::Second, to really define the word canon, we have to look at Greek once again. The word kanon, which means rule, is different than the word for law, which is nomos. This does not mean that Orthodoxy has no rules or moral backbone behind it, where everyone is free to interpret the canons and do things willy nilly. To the contrary, we have had two millenniums full of martyrs who have died for what they and the Church believes to be right - spiritually and morally. However, the Church understands that not all people are the same and each circumstance is different. For example, it states in the kanons clearly that a person who has sex outside of marriage should be forbidden to receive from the chalice at Holy Communion for a certain period of time. However, a teenage boy who loses his virginity to a girl one night might be permitted to continue to receive Communion (provided that he repents), so as not to draw suspicion towards himself by other parishioners or even his family members. This not only ensures the security of the confessional and the confidentiality between the penitent and his spiritual father, it also provides the penitent with a way to get over his sin and move on without feeling ashamed to show his face in Church again, which is something good and profitable for his soul. (The example which I have given is of no known individual, but was discussed by me to my spiritual father regarding penances and confession).
:::For the moment, I do not know how this article should be written. I really didn't have any qualms with it in the first place before this major edit took place. I thought that it gave a pretty basic rundown on our views on sex (i.e. that it should be kept in marriage, the virtues of celibacy as well as marriage, homosexuality, bestiality, etc.). Any major questions about sex that I have, I take up with my spiritual father.[[User:Mike|Mike]] 17:46, January 8, 2008 (PST)