Letters

Contents

Only the letters that treat divorce, remarriage or the conjugal rights of husband and wife are staged: 1.213, 3.76, 4.96, 4.129.

1. 1.213To a man whose wife has died: the Lord has loosed the bond; do not seek another wife (1 Cor 7:27), but save your soul and come to the monastic life.
2. 3.76Moses permitted the bill of divorce not as right but to prevent a worse evil, the murder of hated wives and secret adultery; Christ defended Moses ("because of your hardness of heart"), allowing a wife to be put away only for adultery and requiring every other fault to be borne.
3. 4.96Herod the tetrarch's crimes against John the Baptist; three explanations of why his marriage to Herodias was unlawful (Philip had children, so the levirate did not apply; she left a living husband; Herod killed his brother), with Isidore preferring the first.
4. 4.129Ten explanations of 1 Cor 6:18; the tenth: married partners are one body, so adultery alone is a sin against the spouse, which is why Christ allowed a wife to be put away for fornication only.