— ca. 100 A.D., Death of Saint John, the last of the Apostles —
ca. 107 A.D., Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Disciple of the Apostle John, Letter to Saint Polycarp
5:1-2 Flee from base practices, but preach more against them: Speak to my sisters that they love the Lord, and be content with their husbands in body and in soul. In like manner, exhort my brothers in the name of Jesus Christ to love their wives as the Lord loved the Church (Eph. 5:25). If anyone is able to remain continent, to the honor of the flesh of the Lord, let him so remain without boasting. If he boast about it, he is lost; and if he be more esteemed than the bishop, he is ruined. … It is proper for men and women who wish to marry to be united with the consent of the bishop, so that their marriage will be acceptable to the Lord, and not entered upon for the sake of lust. Let all things be done for the honor of God.
ca. 177 A.D., Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians
You would, indeed, find many among us, both men and women, who have grown to old age unmarried, in the hope of being closer to God. If, then, to remain virgins and eunuchs brings us closer to God, while to indulge in wrong thoughts and passions drives us from him, we have all the more reason to avoid those acts, the very thought of which we flee from. For we center our attention not on the skill of making speeches but on the proof and lessons of actions. We hold that a man should either remain as he is born or else marry only once. For a second marriage is a veiled adultery. The Scripture says, “Whoever puts away his wife and marries another, commits adultery” (Mt. 19:9; Mk. 10:11).3 Thus a man is forbidden both to put her away whose virginity he has ended, and to marry again.
ca. 190 A.D., Saint Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, Letter to Pope Saint Victor of Rome
Philip of the twelve Apostles, who sleeps in Hierapolis, and his two daughters who grew old in virginity, and his other daughter who regulated her life in the Holy Spirit and who rests in Ephesus. …
And what is to be said of Sagaris, bishop and martyr …? and of Melito, the eunuch, who regulated his life entirely in the Holy Spirit, and who sleeps at Sardes … ? (Eusebius Pamphilus, History of the Church 5:24:2-5)
ca. 214, A.D. Tertullian, Monogamy
8:4 Peter alone [among the Apostles] do I find married, and through mention of his mother-in-law. I presume he was a monogamist; for the Church, built upon him, would for the future appoint to every degree of orders none but monogamists. As for the rest, since I do not find them married, I must presume they were either eunuchs or continent.
ca. 245 A.D., Origen, disciple of Saint Clement of Alexandria, Commentaries on Matthew
14:16 Certainly it is God who joins two in one, so that when He marries a woman to a man, there are no longer two. And since it is God who joins them, there is in this joining a grace for those who are joined by God. Paul knew this, and he said that just as holy celibacy was a grace, so also was marriage according to the Word of God a grace. He says, “I would that all men were like myself; but each has his own grace from God, one in this way, another in that” (1 Cor. 7:7).