Christian views of divorce

Christian views of divorce find their basis both in biblical sources dating to the giving of the law to Moses (Deut 24:1-4) and political developments in the Christian world long after standardization of the Bible. According to the synoptic Gospels, Jesus emphasized the permanence of marriage, but also its integrity.^[1] The Catholic Church prohibits divorce, and permits annulment under a narrow set of circumstances. The Eastern Orthodox Church considers marriage as indissoluble. Most Protestant churches discourage divorce except as a last resort, but do not actually prohibit it through church doctrine.

The Christian emperors Constantine and Theodosius restricted the grounds for divorce to grave cause, but this was relaxed by Justinian in the sixth century. After the fall of the empire, familial life was regulated more by ecclesiastical authority than civil authority.

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