In the patristic tradition, marriage is often connected with the fall of the protoplasts. [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius the Great]] remarks that in God's initial plan for man there was no marriage: “But the transgression of the commandment brought in marriage because Adam transgressed the law that was given to him by God. Adam’s fall, which resulted to death, created the need of putting on 'garments of skin'" (Genesis 3:2). This garment is interpreted as man adapting to the condition that was created after the Fall and does not belong to the pre-Fall condition; it does not belong to the condition of the Kingdom of God. St. [[Gregory of Nyssa]] explains what the irrational skin is that man put on. He includes marital relations, procreation, food, growth, old age and death, all of which will not exist in the transformation and assimilation of humanity in the Kingdom of Heaven.

{{cleanup}}Until humanity reaches and lives for eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven, God has ordained marriage as a tool for salvation. Marriage is recognized as a sort of adaptation to the new condition of man that was created after the fall of the protoplasts. St. Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians makes recommendations on how people can avoid fornication. According to the Apostle, true sexual relations can exist only within marriage, because sexuality is restored through marriage. In the Patristic tradition and in Holy Scripture this view is upheld, as it is seen in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians. “… a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become on flesh.” St. Paul also says,