Abstract

The decision to abstain from sexual relations on the part of a married couple who decide to follow a life of Christian asceticism raises the need to consider whether the statement «eunuchs for the heavenly kingdom» should be understood as the evangelical basis for Christian chastity, in the same way as a prelate interprets it in his/her theological-spiritual presentation when taking religious vows, or instead as a radicalisation of Jesus’ teaching about the value of marriage in the light of the idea of being “one fleshµ, which in the narration of the creation enriches sexual union, as opposed to reducing it to mere remedium concupiscentiae. An examination of the New Testament tradition seems to affirm multiple anthropological and spiritual interpretations in this respect.