[How Wives Ought to Be Subject to Their Own Husbands, and Husbands Ought to Love Their Own Wives.]
XXXIX. Ye wives, be subject to your own husbands, and have them in esteem, and serve them with fear and love, as holy Sarah honoured Abraham. For she could not endure to call him by his name, but called him lord, when she said, “My lord is old.” 173 1 Pet. iii. 6 In like manner, ye husbands, love your own wives as your own members, as partners in life, and fellow-helpers for the procreation of children. For says He, “Rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her conversation be to thee as a loving hind, and a pleasant foal; let her alone guide thee, and be with thee at all times: for if thou beest every way encompassed with her friendship, thou wilt be happy in her society.” 174 Prov. v. 18, etc. Love them therefore as your own members, as your very bodies; for so it is written, “The Lord has testified between thee and between the wife of thy youth; and she is thy partner, and another has not made her: and she is the remains of thy spirit;” and, “Take heed to your spirit, and do not forsake the wife of thy youth.” 175 Mal. ii. 14, 15, 16 An husband, therefore, and a wife, when they company together in lawful marriage, and rise from one another, may pray without any observations, and without washing are clean. But whosoever corrupts and defiles another man’s wife, or is defiled with an harlot, when he arises up from her, though he should wash himself in the entire ocean and all the rivers, cannot be clean.
[Sec. VI.—Conclusion of the Work. ]
[29] Αἱ γυναῖκες, ὑποτάσσεσθε τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσι καὶ διὰ τιμῆς αὐτοὺς ἔχετε καὶ φόβῳ καὶ ἀγάπῃ δουλεύετε αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἡ ἁγία Σάρρα τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἐτίμα οὐδὲ ἐξ ὀνόματος αὐτὸν ὑπομένουσα καλεῖν, ἀλλὰ κύριον αὐτὸν προσαγορεύουσα ἐν τῷ λέγειν: «Ὁ δὲ κύριός μου πρεσβύτης.» Ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες, στέργετε τὰς ἑαυτῶν γυναῖκας ὡς ἴδια μέλη, ὡς κοινωνοὺς βίου καὶ συνεργοὺς πρὸς γένεσιν παίδων. «Συνευφραίνου γάρ, φησίν, μετὰ γυναικὸς τῆς ἐκ νεότητός σου, ἔλαφος σῆς φιλίας καὶ πῶλος σῶν χαρίτων ὁμιλείτω σοι, ἡ δὲ ἰδία ἡγείσθω σου καὶ συνέστω σοι ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ: ἐν γὰρ τῇ ταύτης φιλίᾳ συμπεριφερόμενος πολλοστὸς ἔσῃ.» Ἀγαπᾶτε οὖν αὐτὰς ὡς οἰκεῖα μέλη, ὡς ὑμέτερα σώματα: γέγραπται γὰρ οὕτως: «Κύριος διεμαρτύρατο ἀνὰ μέσον σου καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον γυναικὸς νεότητός σου, καὶ αὕτη κοινωνός σου καὶ οὐκ ἄλλος ἐποίησεν, καὶ ὑπόλειμμα πνεύματός σου: καὶ φυλάξασθε τῷ πνεύματι ὑμῶν, καὶ γυναῖκα νεότητός σου μὴ ἐγκαταλίπῃς.» Ἀνὴρ οὖν καὶ γυνή, νομίμῳ γάμῳ συνερχόμενοι καὶ ἀπ' ἀλλήλων ἐγειρόμενοι, ἀπαρατηρήτως προσευχέσθωσαν: καὶ μὴ λουσάμενοι καθαροί εἰσιν. Ὃς δ' ἂν ἀλλοτρίαν γυναῖκα ὑποφθείρας μιάνῃ ἢ συμμιανθῇ πόρνῃ, ἀναστὰς ἀπ' αὐτῆς, οὐδ' ἂν τὸ πέλαγος ὅλον καὶ τοὺς ποταμοὺς πάντας ἀπολούσηται, καθαρὸς εἶναι δυνήσεται.