Difference betwen sex

Plato tells the myth of giants who rebelled against the gods and were divided into two parts as punishment. Since then, no one is a complete person. One half is looking for the other. This expresses not only the attractiveness of two sexes, but also the incompleteness of a person limited to one or the other sex. Even in the speculations of St. Gregor  or St. Maximus the Confessor shows signs of a similar opinion when it is claimed that the difference between a man and a woman is the result of the first sin, that the sexes are the leather garment (cf. Gn 3:21), in which God clothed Adam and Eve. In ancient times, there was such a general view that a woman is inferior to a man, incapable of friendship and philosophy. We will meet him at the Church Fathers as well. Called. The school of Antioch claimed that only man is in the image of God, woman is in the image of man. However, when it comes to spiritual life, full equality is recognized in the Church from the beginning: “Virtue is the same in man and woman,” writes Clement of Alexandria”the same rule applies here as to how to proceed.” Cyrus’s theorist writes of women “who fought (spiritual struggle) 0 no worse than men …, gave no less proof of their determination even in their weak nature.” The founder and superior of the monastery was the “father” (abbas) of his spiritual sons. 1 had the same function in the nunnery «mother» (ammas). Sv. Pachomius sends the same rule to women’s monasteries. Even St. did not make a difference. Basil or St. Benedict. In their opinion, the spiritual life rises above the body and its differences. The spirit is the same in man and woman. Modern psychologists have a slightly different opinion. The relationship between gender and mental development is close. Woman and man are equal beings, but different. “A woman is a mystery,” writes St. Augustine. Even confessors know how different the mental processes of the sexes are. One of the modern psychologists (R. Biot) writes: “Male and female nature differ biologically in all physiological manifestations. There is not a single life activity that has no sign of masculinity in a man and femininity in a woman. ” Today, therefore, there is talk of manifestations of “male” and “female” piety. From the fullness of Christian perfection, certain features are performed better and easier by a man, certain by a woman. The natural inclinations of a healthy man are to be transferred to the religious sphere: fidelity, sacrifice, sense of principles, order and system, practical activity, etc. Rather, a woman should pay attention to personal intimacy with God, a sense of closeness to the supernatural world, spiritual motherhood, purity of heart, feelings, and so on. However, the value of these notes is relative. It is also true that many men move away from the church because they do not find an Expression it would be appropriate for them to know that they could not pray otherwise than they had taught them in childhood. On the contrary, women also complain that they do not yet have a proper place in the structure and organization of the Church. When it comes to direct manifestations of sexual life, the ancient Asceticism were generally of a strict opinion. Although they defend against the heretics the permission and validity of marriage, they are nevertheless convinced that this is an area of ​​human activity in which man approaches the animal and where he feels strongly favoring evil. Therefore, they advise as much restraint, discipline, death as possible. However, modern authors cannot and do not want to deny this basic principle. In an animal, sexual activity is governed by the laws of the organism. She is not single, there is no morality. In a person, sexual abstinence and control belong to the creation of character, to moral behavior. The love of a man and a woman is the ratio of two single persons. Sexual affection and sexual pleasure are only part of a life connection. Isolating them means about as much as wanting to give value to a severed limb. Thus, if sexual life is human and moral, the thoughts of modern authors who seek to explain legitimate marital relationships in the spirit of God’s supernatural love are justified. As an example, we will mention Solovi’s reflections from the book “Justification of carnal love”