Theologians of the Early Church for several centuries exposed heterogeneous teaching on human sexual life. On the one hand, there were ardent advocates of chastity and virginity as the Christian moral ideal. On the other hand, there were those who argued in favour of moderation. The literature of the first Christian centuries may today seem too one-sided, as the more rigorous line successfully dominating the future. To elaborate a doctrine on the nature of marriage took its time and Christian teaching on e.g. concubinage may perhaps have been more heterogeneous than extant sources actually record.18 During the time of Emperor Constantine, Christian parents were required to support all their children irrespective of status. The state legislature - now heavily influenced by Christian teaching and practice - began to extend some inheritance rights to illegitimate children as well. At the beginning of the fifth century a concubine and her children were entitled to a portion of the deceased man's property; the amount depended on whether there were legitimate children as well as illegitimate brothers and sisters. Legislative efforts of the post-Constantine era were spent in separating illegitimate children from their families and to exclude them from succession to either maternal or paternal property. Natural children were, nevertheless, by the late fifth century granted legitimate status in case their parents married each other after the birth of children.19 Legitimisation through parental subsequent marriage became of great importance in improving the position of the children. By opening 122 Legitimacy in the Early Church 18 Brundage (1987), 66-68, 80-87. 19 Brundage (1987), 102-103. - P. Gide, Étude sur la condition privée de la femme dans le droit ancien et moderne et en particulier sur le sénatus-consultes Velléin, 2e éd. avec une notice biographique, des aditons et des notes par A. Esmein. (Paris 1885.) - J. T. Noonan, “Novel 22.” The Bond of Marriage: An Ecumenical and Interdisciplinary Study sponsored by the Canon Law Society of America, 41-90. (Univ. of Notre Dame Press 1968.) Brundage (1987), 122-123.
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