A question was posed to me recently - can a priest baptize his own children; can he marry his children (to others)? I am not aware of any prohibition and would like to know if any of you have come across any prohibition to this.

Father bless!!

What would be the impediment? I know of some Orthodox clregy who have done that in the past.

Bob

In most villages of Eastern Europe or the Middle East, there is only one priest, and he marries everybody. The only real problem comes with confession--it would not be "on" for the Pani or her children to confess to her husband, at least not if they want to remain married. I was told by Bishop Florian of Cluj-Gherla that, in pre-WW II Romania, many villages had both an Orthodox and a Greek Catholic church, and that the Panis would go to the other priest for confession.

I was also told that, when one priest was either ill or away from the village, he would direct his flock to go to Liturgy at the other church. Ah, the good old days!

Those "good old days" will one day return, in some way or another. I may not live to see it but it'll happen, despite the serious obstacles standing in the way.

GOD HIMSELF is on the side of reconciliation and reunion of our EC and Orthodox Churches - He wants this to happen even more than we ourselves do.