www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology For EC/EO on Married Priests

In the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches are married men who become ordained priests shuffled around every seven years (give or take) as their celibate Roman Catholic counterparts are? I understand priests are obedient to their Bishops and must go wherever they are sent, but is this potential burden on the family (having to uproot and move and the wife possibly having to find work to help support the family) taken into consideration? Celibate priests obviously have no tangible ties to a community and can be moved around freely, but I imagine this is more difficult with married priests whose families are already integrated into their community at school, work, etc. Or is this part of a wife's duty in agreeing to her husband being ordained a priest, that they would be regularly required to uproot their family and move about as needed?

From the list of required letters accompanying a petition for Ordination in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America:

If married, a signed letter from the applicant’s spouse indicating that she will fully support her husband in his vocation, and that she will follow him wherever he may be assigned.

Do the Orthodox have regular rotations of priests like in the RC Church? Or do priests typically stay in their initial assigned parish for most of their ordained life?

Every jurisdiction and every parish is unique.

Long tenure seems to be favored in many Antiochian parishes; I know of one which began as a mission led by a Reader who then became its first and only Priest--27 years ago.

Greek parishes are a mixed lot. Some which are conflicted cycle through Priests like a revolving door. But where there is a good and healthy relationship a Priest may stay well over a decade or longer.

One size definitely does not fit all.

appointing pastors for a term, rather than permanently, is *not* the norm for the RCC.

Rather, the norm is permanent appointment, with a provision allowing national bodies of bishops to set a term, an option which the US bishops have taken.

I've never heard of a fixed term for an eastern parish but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist anywhere . . .

A few years ago, a Ukrainian Catholic priest retired at just shy of 50 years in the same parish . . .

Chatting with my own priest, he noted that as a pastor, rather than administrator, he has some level of right to not be moved without cause. (Pittsburgh Metropolia).