Clergy marriage

[Olympiada]

Greetings. After a Fast from Monachos Net I am back and ready to continue in the spirit of the Fast.

I have an Anglican priest who just informed me that Anglicans can marry at any time before or after ordination. Why is this not true for the Orthodox?

Thank you
Olympiada

[Herman Blaydoe]

One look at what the Anglican Church has become ought to be enough to answer that question. Would anyone honestly suggest that what the Anglican Church has become is in any way worthy of emulation?

[Robert Hegwood]

It is my understanding that the ancient rule is "a married man may become a priest. A priest may not become a married man."

Apparantly the Anglican communion has chosen to to abide by this ancient standard.

[Timothy Tadros]

Canon 26 of the Apostolic Canons says: As to bachelors who have entered the clergy, we allow only anagnosts and psalts to marry, if they wish to do so. Canon 6 of the 6th Ecumenical Council confirms that subdeacons,deacons,prebyters are not allowed marriage after ordination otherwise they should be deposed.

It's for practical reasons too.

[Hieromonk Ambrose]

Canon X of the Council of Ancyra provides:

"THEY who have been made deacons, declaring when they were ordained that they must marry, because they were not able to abide so, and who afterwards have married, shall continue in their ministry, because it was conceded to them by the bishop. But if any were silent on this matter, undertaking at their ordination to abide as they were, and afterwards proceeded to marriage, these shall cease from the diaconate."

Prseumably this was effectively annulled by the 6th Ecumenical Council? Or could a bishop still use this canon at his discretion?

[Olympiada]

Bless, Father

While I am not a bishop I do know a bishop that is online. Perhaps you could ask him or invite him to this discussion. Olympiada

[Fr Aaron Warwick]

Olympiada,

I do not know of any theological reasons why clergy cannot marry after ordination. I believe that the reason for this is practical, probably even more so today in our postmodern world, than it was in ancient times.

Think of all of the temptations that a couple has today before marriage. Not only must they deal with the pressures of having sex before marriage, but there are all of these problems with cohabitation, etc. Moreover, it takes a lot of time and effort to date or court someone. A priest's main focus should not be on winning a woman. Granted, marriages take a lot of time and effort, but marriage is generally more secure than dating. Finally, having a priest that dates could be very bothersome to a parish. The last thing parishioners need to worry about is who the priest is dating.

Aaron

[M.C. Steenberg]

Canon X of the Council of Ancyra provides:

"THEY who have been made deacons, declaring when they were ordained that they must marry, because they were not able to abide so, and who afterwards have married, shall continue in their ministry, because it was conceded to them by the bishop. But if any were silent on this matter, undertaking at their ordination to abide as they were, and afterwards proceeded to marriage, these shall cease from the diaconate."

Prseumably this was effectively annulled by the 6th Ecumenical Council? Or could a bishop still use this canon at his discretion?

Fascinating, this. I'd not read it closely before.

Does anyone have a copy of the Pedalion to hand, who could look up what St Nikodemos has to say about it?

INXC, Matthew

[Gregory Stackpole]

What's the date on the Council of Ancyra? What is it's history, the reason it was convened? I've heard of it, but I cannot recall...

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

Here's what St Nikodemos has to say:


The present canon decrees that if any deacon about to be ordained have openly confessed in evidence that they must marry after ordination, because of their inability to continue in a state of virginity, they are not to be deposed after they take a wife, but to retain their deaconship, since they appeared to have been allowed to do this by the prelate who ordained them. For after hearing their declaration beforehand, the prelate did not reject them, but actually ordained them. But as for those deacons, again, who kept silent when about to be ordained and made no such statement, if they marry after ordination, they are to be dismissed from the deaconry. For the silence they maintained shows that they consented and agreed to remain virgins throughout their deaconate.

From other explanations in The Rudder it would appear that if a prospective deacon chose to remain unmarried then the ordaining bishop was obliged to ask him if he would be able to maintain this state of virginity. It seems that at this time the deacon still had the possibility of declaring himself not likely to maintain this state and then this would give him the 'out' of being able to be married afterwards and still remain as a serving deacon. From the above though it seems that the declaration made to the bishop made all the difference almost like taking a monastic vow or not. If one maintained that one could remain in virginity after ordination then marriage would mean being unable to serve as a deacon afterwards.

In any case it would appear that the above was effectively annuled by Canon VI of the 6th Ec Council. Reading the different footnotes connected to these canons it would appear that the logic of the present canons is to protect the state of virginity which if taken up as a way of life should not be aside especially in the clerical state. This indeed is the main reason why a person cannot be married after ordination. This puts a quite different perspective on the purpose of these canons and the mind of the Church. Basically the message is the seriousness of a life of virginity.

A blessed Palm Sunday and beginning of Holy Week to all.

In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Bogdan]

I would feel that it is also important to understand how one enters into the priesthood. For someone to be ordained it is well known wether they are married or not. I am not sure how it is in the wider Orthodox church, but in the Serbian church, ordination of non-married priests is reserved for monks. If a monk has already been married to the church in his tonchering ceremony, then in affect, all clergy is married before becoming a deacon! In this way, the Serbian church in fact requires ALL clergy to be married.

[Olympiada]

Ok, the next question is who placed the ban on clergy not having wives that had a prior marriage and who can lift this ban? It seems to me to be a ridiculous ban especially if the wife's prior marriage was not, in fact, Orthodox.

[Alex Haig]

A man cannot become a priest if his wife is divorced. This comes from the understanding that in marriage, man and woman become one flesh: if there is a ban on a divorced man becoming a priest then the position is logical from the Church's teaching on marriage.

With love in Christ

Alex

[Olympiada]

A man cannot become a priest if his wife is divorced. This comes from the understanding that in marriage, man and woman become one flesh: if there is a ban on a divorced man becoming a priest then the position is logical from the Church's teaching on marriage.

With love in Christ

Alex

Good evening

What was being written about was the ban on a man who has a divorced wife becoming a priest. Who wrote that ban? Who can lift it?

In Christ
Olympiada

[Bogdan]

Once again, I am not sure that such a ban exists. ahaig, more info please?

As for such a ban being lifted, it would have to probobly come from an Ecumenical Council involving all the Orthodox jurisdictions. Such a decision would obviously need to be made by the entire church.

Question for you Olympiada. If such a ban exists..why does it need to be lifted? Is it such a bad thing to require a 'clean' marriage from a servant of God?