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A recent official, synodal statement is that of the Church of Russia, arguably the largest Orthodox Church in the world. In ''Bases of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church'' (2000), the Holy Synod declared: "In defining their attitude to the non-abortive contraceptives, Christian spouses should remember that human reproduction is one of the principal purposes of the divinely established marital union (see, X. 4). The deliberate refusal of childbirth on egoistic grounds devalues marriage and is a definite sin." This is consistent, of course, with the pre-1970 view of the Russian Church. --[[User:Fr Lev|Fr Lev]] 01:34, May 8, 2008 (UTC)
::This is also not inconsistent with the belief that a couple might use non-abortifacient contraception (whether that be NFP or a Barrier Method) to space their children, to avoid medical complications, or to keep the size of their family limited to a number that they can manage. Once upon a time it was not unusual to see mothers who had given birth to 15 to 20 children... usually quite a few did not live to maturity. With modern medicine, infant mortality is far less than it was, and so without some form of contraception you could actually see larger families today than you had 200 years ago. I would argue that having 15 children would be a heavy burden for most couples to bear, and that it would not be simply on egoistic grounds that they might want to have a smaller family. [[User:Frjohnwhiteford|Frjohnwhiteford]] 12:45, May 27, 2008 (UTC)
== The Fathers on Contraception ==
I have had numerous debates with Roman Catholics on this issue, and I have yet to see a single quote from any Church Father that condemned anything other than abortifacients. If anyone wishes to argue to the contrary, they need to pony up the specific citations. [[User:Frjohnwhiteford|Frjohnwhiteford]] 12:38, May 27, 2008 (UTC)
