The subject of this book is non-marital relationships, whether they occur before or after marriage, or even without it, and the impact these relationships have on a person's life and the stance of the Church towards them.

Nine spiritual fathers of the Church analyze the subject from different perspectives and in different styles and ways, each demonstrating that the approaches may differ, but the teaching of the Church is one, eternal, and unchanging, and not something that follows fashion. (The texts are published in ecclesiastical order and preserve almost intact the language of their authors).

At the same time, this book introduces an innovation: a comparison between spiritual and "worldly" discourse, which reveals the difference between the fruits of the world's vineyard and the vineyard of God. The Orthodox texts are introduced and enriched by verses - cries of a world that, thirsty for the source of life, seeks to find it where it does not exist, like the traveler in the desert who is misled by reflections and visions of oases. We deliver this book to the reader with the wish that they do not wander their thirst in the barren desert, but extinguish it forever at the source of life.

(from the book's preface)