Letter 188 (374)
THE FATHERS SPEAK
fers which may be of interest to twentieth-century Americans, confronted as they are with unsavory social and ethical problems.
BASIL TO AMPHILOCHIOS, ON THE CANONS.
LETTER 188 (374)
... The woman who destroys voluntarily a fetus incurs the pain of murder. There is with us no inquiring whether the fetus was formed or not. In these matters, justice is demanded not only for the child that was to be born, but also against her who has schemed against herself, since most of the time women die in these circumstances. To this is added the destruction of the fetus, just another murder, in the intention of those who dare to commit this sin. However the penance of these women should not be drawn out until their death, but they must accept the stated term of ten years. The healing is not a matter of time, but according to the manner of their repentance.
BASIL TO AMPHILOCHIOS, ON THE CANONS.
LETTER 199 (375)
... Those who have acquired their wives by rape, if they were abducted after having been already promised to others, those men [the rapists] must not be admitted [into the church] until the woman has been taken away and brought back under the authority of him to whom she