The answer to the question of whether priests can marry cannot be unambiguous. This is due to two points. First, it depends on which church he belongs to. And, secondly, it concerns the degree of his priesthood.
What are clergy like?
The answer to this question needs to be known in order to understand whether priests can marry. Priests are divided into three levels of hierarchy:
- the first one is a deacon;
- the second is a priest, he is also a presbyter;
- the third is a bishop or bishop.
The deacon helps priests and bishops to hold services, he has no right to do it on his own. A deacon can belong to both white and black clergy (be a monk).
The priest has the right to perform both divine services and the sacraments. The only exception is ordination. He may also be a monk.
The duty of a bishop is to oversee the clergy of the diocese he leads, as well as the flock. Another bishop heads the clergy of the temple, monastery. He may hold various major government degrees. It's about:
- patriarch;
- metropolitan;
- archbishop;
- exarche.
A bishop is elected only from among the monastic clergy.
Having decided on the degrees of the priesthood, you can find out the answer to the question of whether a priest of the Orthodox Church can marry.
Bishops
Can priests in the rank of bishop marry? The answer to this question is unequivocally negative. The custom of celibacy in this category began to be perceived as the norm by the second half of the 7th century. This rule was enshrined at the Trull Cathedral (691-692). Moreover, the last rule concerned those of the bishops who were married before ordination.
They had to first separate from his wife, sending her to a monastery, which was far from the place of his ministry. The ex-wife was en titled to the use of maintenance from the bishop. Today, candidates for bishops are elected only from monks who have accepted the small schema (ascetics).
First and Second Priesthoods
In Orthodoxy, all the clergy are divided into two types:
- Black, monastic, who takes a vow of chastity.
- White. It may or may not be married.
Therefore, the answer to the question of whether priests of the first and second degrees can marry depends on which of the two species they belong to.
Only those belonging to the white clergy are allowed to marry. But they can do this only before they are vested in the diaconal or priestly rank. After they have created a family, they have the opportunity to take orders. Can a priest have children by joining it? Yes, they are allowed to have children.
And if the spouse dies or decides to leave her husband? In such a situation, the priest must remain alone. He can either become a monk, or remain in the status of an unmarried priest, but he is forbidden to remarry.
There is another form of priestly celibacy, which will be discussed below.
Celibat
This is a special form of priesthood, following which a person does not become a monk, but at the same time does not belong to the family clergy. After a celibate priest is ordained, he lives alone. This rule was legalized in the Western Church under Pope Gregory the Great (590-604). But de facto it was established only by the XI century, under Pope Gregory VII. As far as the Eastern Church is concerned, celibacy was rejected by the Trulla Council, which was not recognized by the Catholics.
The vow of celibacy prescribes the observance of chastity, and its violation is regarded as sacrilege. Priests cannot marry or have previously been married. After being ordained, one cannot marry either. Thus, among Catholics, despite the existing division into black and white clergy, the vow of celibacy must be observed by all priests.
In our country, celibacy appeared in the late XIX - early XX century. It was started by Archpriest A. Gorsky (1812-1875). He was the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy. This step, whichwas completely new for the Russian church, he was promoted by Metropolitan Filaret. He is the author of a treatise on examples of celibate ordinations observed both in ancient and in recent history. In Russia, celibacy was accepted quite rarely, as it happens now.
As for Judaism, there is a sharply negative attitude towards celibacy. It is, first of all, based on the command given in the Bible - "Be fruitful and multiply." Also, celibacy is rejected due to the fact that an unmarried man is considered only as half of a human being.
