www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Clerical Celibacy Documentation Needed (and My Intro)

Any author who compares the custom of married clergy (which is a holy state) to that of priests committing molestation of children (which is an abomination) should be dismissed immediately and given no weight whatsoever. A person who makes such a comparison can only approach the subject with great bias.

Regarding the topic under discussion, in the West the discipline of celibacy does have its roots in the earliest centuries of the Church. Historians have documented that there were plenty of married priests in the West well into the Middle Ages. One ought not to assume that the ideal set forth for the Western Church was actually fully embraced from the earliest times. There is an article in one of the recent Eastern Churches Journal which documents when the Latin customs began to be enforced and the married clergy in the Latin Church began to disappear. I don�t remember the date but it was somewhere around the 13-15th centuries. I think it was after the Second Council of Lyons (1274) but before Florence (which ended in 1445).

What about what the Holy Apostle Paul says concerning marriage vs. celibacy?

Logos Teen

Interestingly, although St. Paul exalts celibacy (I Cor 7:1, 7:26) many read his words in light of the imminence of Christ's return. His words in I Corinthians should also be read in light of his listing of the requirements for those who will lead the church, in which he mentions that they be the "husband of one wife" (I Tim 3:2), showing that at the time of the Apostles, clerical celibacy was not mandated. History teaches us that the eventual later Western mandate did not effect the East.

FWIW, although Orthodoxy mandates celibacy for candidates to the office of bishop, it is universally recognized that this is a discipline which is subject to review.

Priest Thomas Soroka
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
McKees Rocks, PA

Dear Friends,

I've done a book report on "Celibacy in the Early Church" a while back . . .

The author DOES admit there were married priests "all over the place" in the West for the first millennium.

What he denies is that these married priests lived with their wives as husband and wife, but rather as brother and sister.

He provides NO evidence for his subjective bias in this matter WHATEVER.

In addition, the author shows complete ignorance of later Church law regarding married priests.

The principle of living as "brother and sister" may only apply to the laity.

The rule of celibacy, if such in fact were the case "since the 4th century" would mean that the priests had to get rid of their wives by sending them to a monastery or else agree to live apart, get an annulment etc.

If such a rule existed, then why the proliferation of married priests, as the author readily admits and can document?

Why have a wife then and be exposed to the temptation to, yes, commit the "sin under the bedcovers.

And, Pax Tecum, have you yourself begun dating?

Alex