Everything about Clerical Marriage totally explained
Clerical marriage is the practice of allowing
clergy to
marry. Clerical marriage is found in
Protestantism,
Judaism,
Anglicanism,
Independent Catholic Churches, and some sects of
Buddhism.
Present-day practice
Protestant Churches practise clerical marriage. The
Roman Catholic Church, the
Eastern Orthodox Church and
Oriental Orthodoxy don't allow it: with certain limitations, they permit married men to become clergymen, but they don't permit clergy to marry after becoming such through
ordination.
The
Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church follows the discipline of
clerical celibacy: as a rule, only celibate men are allowed to be ordained, though from time to time married clergymen of other
denominations are ordained after being received into the Roman Catholic Church. For example, some married
Anglican priests left the
Church of England after it admitted women to the priesthood, and were admitted to the Roman Catholic priesthood. Sometimes priests are granted
dispensation from the obligation of celibacy, but only if they leave the priesthood. Their subsequent marriage is thus seen as the marriage of a
layman, not clerical marriage.
The
Eastern Orthodox Church,
Oriental Orthodox Churches and
Eastern Catholic Churches don't practice clerical marriage. Married men may become
deacons and
priests, but may not marry once they become clergy by
ordination. These churches have from ancient times both celibate and married clergy: "Black Clergy", who are celibate (for example,
monastic), and "White Clergy", who are married.
Eastern parish clergy are usually married, but as stated above, their marriage must have occurred when they were still
laymen, before ordination as a deacon (or, in some churches, even before
subdeacon). If the wife of a deacon or priest dies, he may not remarry, but must remain celibate. Generally, if a deacon or priest divorces his wife, he may not continue in the ministry.
Bishops are elected from among those clergy who have chosen, usually by taking
monastic vows, to remain celibate, or from widowed clergy. Among the Orthodox, bishops must always be
monks, not simply celibate. If a
widowered priest is elected bishop, he must take monastic vows before he can be
consecrated. Eastern Catholic Churches, in
full communion with the
Pope, follow much the same tradition as the Orthodox from whom they came.
In Protestant denominations, there's generally no requirement that a
pastor be already married, nor prohibition against marrying after "answering the call". Being married is commonly welcomed, however, in which case the pastor's marriage is expected to serve as a model of a functioning Christian marriage, and the pastor's spouse often serves an unofficial leadership role in the congregation. For this reason, some Protestant churches won't accept a
divorced person for this position. In denominations which ordain both men and women, a married couple might serve as co-pastors.
Since they permit an unmarried ordained pastor to marry, these denominations do admit clerical marriage, not merely the appointment of already married persons as pastors. But in view of,,, some don't admit a second marriage by a widowed pastor.
Certain groups (notably some of the
Brethren fellowships) actually require a prospective pastor to be married before he can be ordained, based on the view (drawn from 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1) that a man must demonstrate the ability to run a household before he can be entrusted with the church. Even in these strictest groups, a widower may still serve. This again concerns marriage before appointment as pastor, not clerical marriage.
History
Within the period known as
Early Christianity, for example before the
First Council of Nicea (325), the
Council of Elvira prohibited marriage for bishops, priests and deacons. Roman Catholic scholars hold that a tradition of clerical
continence existed, whereby married men who became priests were expected to abstain from sexual relations with their wives. In this view, the early Church didn't consider legitimate marriage by those who were already priests.
In
Western Christianity, not only the prohibition of clerical marriage, which was in force in the East as well as the West, but also clerical celibacy became a rule that was further strengthened when the
Second Lateran Council declared that marriage by deacons and priests was to be considered not only illicit and sinful, as previously, but also invalid.
The practice of clerical marriage was initiated or, according to Protestants, reinitiated in the West by the followers of
Martin Luther, who himself, though a priest and monk, married
Katharina von Bora, a
nun, in
1525. It hasn't been introduced in the East.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Clerical Marriage'.
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