Marriage, divorce and remarriage: what was allowed?

Shepherd of Hermas fl. c. 140 ADShepherd of Hermas Mandate 4.1.4–8

"Sir," I said, "if a man has a wife who believes in the Lord, and he finds her in adultery, does the husband sin if he lives with her?" "As long as he does not know," he said, "he does not sin. But if the husband knows her sin and the wife does not repent but continues in her fornication, and the husband lives with her, he becomes guilty of her sin." "What then shall the husband do, sir?" "Let him put her away, and let the husband remain by himself. But if, having put away his wife, he marries another, he too commits adultery." "And if, sir, after she is put away the wife repents and wants to return to her husband, shall she not be received?" "Indeed, if the husband does not receive her, he sins."

Separation for adultery is allowed, but not remarriage, so that the door to repentance stays open. Hermas says the same applies to a wife.

Origen of Alexandria c. 185–c. 254 ADCommentary on Matthew 14.23

But now too, contrary to what is written, some of the rulers of the church have permitted a woman to marry while her husband is living... 'A wife is bound for as long as her husband lives'... and a woman married to another man while her husband lives 'will be called an adulteress'.

Origen reports the concession; he does not praise it. He adds that it was 'not altogether without reason', granted 'in comparison with greater evils', against what was ordained from the beginning. That sentence is too broken in the PG 13 scan to quote word for word, so it is reported here rather than quoted. The Greek witness named for this gap in the store (Khazarzar PG 11-17) in fact contains only Books 10 and 11 of the commentary, so the words quoted are read from the PG 13 scan text (poor OCR, columns interleaved), saved as a witness in Wave 3.

Basil of Caesarea c. 330–379 ADLetter 188, to Amphilochius (First Canonical Letter) Canon 9

The Lord's ruling, followed through in its sense, fits men and women equally: no one may leave a marriage except for unchastity. But custom does not run that way. For women we find much strictness. ... Custom also orders wives to keep husbands who are adulterers and live in fornication. So a wife who leaves her husband and goes to another man is an adulteress; but the husband who was left is pardonable, and a woman who lives with such a man is not condemned.

Basil states the Lord's rule as equal for both sexes, then records that church custom (synetheia) held wives to a stricter account than husbands, and let a deserted husband's new union pass without condemnation. A canon of discipline describing practice, and an early root of the East's more lenient custom. Quoted from the PG 32 scan (poor OCR).

Augustine of Hippo 354–430 ADOn Adulterous Marriages 1.2

Because of so great an evil, a man may not put away his wife except for the cause of fornication. For then he does not make her an adulteress by putting her away, but puts away an adulteress.

Augustine argues that even after such a separation neither may remarry while the other lives.

Council of TrentSession 24, Canons on Marriage Canon 7

If anyone says that the Church errs when she has taught and teaches, according to the teaching of the Gospel and the apostles, that the bond of marriage cannot be dissolved because of the adultery of one of the spouses, and that neither, not even the innocent one who gave no cause for adultery, can contract another marriage while the other spouse lives ... let him be anathema.

Worded carefully so as not to condemn the Greek churches, which allowed remarriage after adultery.

Westminster AssemblyWestminster Confession of Faith 24.5–6

In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce: and, after the divorce, to marry another, as if the offending party were dead. ... nothing but adultery, or such willful desertion as can no way be remedied by the church, or civil magistrate, is cause sufficient of dissolving the bond of marriage.

The Reformed view, close to the Orthodox practice of allowing remarriage in some cases.