Orthodox Church in America2019-09-252019-09-252015-10-081992-07http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/228127"The love of God has been manifested in His loving creation of the world, and the divinely sanctified love of marriage -a love filled with the life-creating Spirit-brings forth the fruit of children, to be cared for by parents as the greatest of God's gifts - the gift of life. The Marriage Service establishes an inseparable link between marriage and the begetting of children. In the litanies, petitions asking for the procreation of fair children immediately follow those invoking a blessing upon the couple being joined in the community of marriage. The same relationship is expressed in all three of the great prayers of the Service. Thus we pray: Give them offspring in number like unto full ears of grain, so that having enough of all things, they may abound in every work that is good and acceptable unto Thee. Let them see their children's children, like olive shoots around their table, so that finding favor in Thy sight, they may shine like stars of heaven, in Thee our God. Orthodox Christians must not allow themselves to be manipulated by the abstract calculations of statisticians regarding such matters as the population explosion and the need for birth control and family planning. The Church is aware of the complexities which can arise in life due to social, medical and economic problems, but she still affirms that statistics do not reflect God's loving and providential care and inconceivable manner of bringing about the salvation of the world. Preoccupation with statistics can depersonalize us and our co-creativity with God in the begetting of children. The goal of the Christian life is the accomplishment of God's will, which may involve the begetting of children."engWith permission of the license/copyright holderorthodox churchmarriageabortionhuman lifebioethicsReligious ethicsMethods of ethicsTheological ethicsPhilosophical ethicsBioethicsChristian denominationsOrthodox (Eastern, Oriental)Preprint