www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Why no more Orthodox Ecumenical Councils?

lol, since I'm officially not allowed to consecrate/ordain, I took it upon myself not to fast in preparation, I hope that remnants of lunch (e.g. garlic) didn't affect you.

Amen! but let's not be too hasty, let's let God defend, we can just do our part! lol

AND ST. Antony, my favourite Saint, the star of the Wilderness, the Lamp of Monasticism!!!

Dear Alex and Mina,

Thank you for including me in the ceremony, even though I was at class and then lunch. Has Alex had to anathematise any Chalcedonians or reject the Tome of Leo to get where he is now? :p Just kidding.

I'm not a chanter or above. I'm just a regular old young layman. But I hope one day to at least be a reader or subdeacon. Who knows...maybe even a priest, if God wants it that way. But I won't be a bishop...celibacy isn't for me. I love the ladies.

Dear Qathuliqa,

O.K. but remember that the priest must be a man of one woman .

Treat all others as you if you were sitting in a restaurant but not hungry.

Look at the menu - but don't order . . .

Alex

Oh, don't worry Alex. I keep myself in check. And in the off chance that I don't, you-know-who will.

I hear you bro. I love the ladies too, a celibate monastic life has always looked attractive to me but it seems so hard. As they say in Ethiopia "Sate yelelebet bate washa naw' (a house without a woman is a cave). Then again many Ethiopian Monasteries are literally built in caves.

Selam Aklie!

When I met Fr. Messale here in Toronto for the first time, his baby son had just been baptized.

He showed him off to me and pointed to the leather Maskal on the Matab around his little neck.

He said that his son hated to be fussed over but that as soon as the leather cross was placed on him, he accepted it and didn't disturb it, not even so much as trying to take it off, even when taking a bath etc.

I saw that the little fellow was indeed fussy, but he didn't mind the leather neck strap and Cross at all.

I will always remember that.

Perhaps you may become a married Ethiopian priest with a few children like that?

Alex

Well, I don't know how the tradition in the Byzantine Church works but in Ethiopia you have to be very careful on this question. Yes, we have married priests but the way it works is like this 1) A married priest has to be married by the time they are a deacon. Once they are married they can become a married priest. 2) If you become a priest before you are married you are stuck that way, you have to be a celibate priest. You most likely will become a monk priest. 3) If you are a married priest and by some misfortune your wife dies, you are not allowed to get re-married. So in other words once you are ordained as a priest our rules become similar to the Latin tradition. The trick is to get married now

Having a cozy priestly family like that of Fr. Mesele's seems very attractive, but I would rather be like you (minus being a politician) and just have a house, a wife, an infinite home library and know everything there is to know

Selam Aklie,

You are too kind . . .

But I think you have me mixed up with someone else.

I'm not a politician, only work for them .

Yes, in the Byzantine tradition we also must be married before the diaconate.

And when a presbytera dies ahead of the priest, the priest cannot marry again.

My grandfather was a priest and I have many fond memories of living with him and my grandmother.

I loved baking Communion Bread, for one thing .

And he would only trust me to count the Sunday collection money!

God bless!

Alex

But at least he can be advanced to the episcopacy, if such is deemed appropriate. In our Church, a widowed priest can become neither a monk or a bishop. No possibility for advancement. :p

I'm in favour of one of two things in this case...either remove the ban on widowed priests becoming monks, or allow widowed priests to get remarried.

Of course, if a priest dies and leaves a wife behind, our Church doesn't allow her to get remarried, which I think stinks unless the priest's wife in question is like seventy or something...it might be hard to start dating again.