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To: kosta50
Yes, a celibate clergyman is preferable. But then who is without sin?

Odd comment.

Is marriage for clergy somehow sinful? That's a rather archaic and very Augustinian notion.

66 posted on 11/20/2004 5:21:33 AM PST by sinkspur ("It is a great day to be alive. I appreciate your gratitude." God Himself.)
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To: sinkspur; sitetest; NYer; kosta50
"Is marriage for clergy somehow sinful? That's a rather archaic and very Augustinian notion."

Well, certainly we Orthodox don't think so, but I can say from personal experience that when it comes to having a spiritual father, for me a priest-monk is a better fit. They seem more continually connected to the process of theosis, their own and mine than a married priest, with all his other, mundane concerns. The priest-monk focuses entirely on theosis and the appropriate praxis and ascesis. The spiritual child of an experienced spiritual father can look for a vigorous series of spiritual exercises as the Ladder is climbed. Often these priest-monks precisely because they are divorced from the world as much as possible while fulfilling their vocation, set the bar higher than the spiritual child thinks he or she can reach, but in fact it never is too high. Sometimes they are likened to a skilled athletic coach who pushes his charges to attain their personal best. The good ones can tailor these spiritual exercises so a person who lives "in the world" can nevertheless develop an ascetical praxis which is beneficial to his or her soul while at the same time transforming the way in which that person looks at and lives in the world.
To the extent that the spiritual child makes progress, the sorts of problems, worldly cares if you will, which a married priest may be particularly well suited to advise on, tend to diminish, or if not diminish, one's approach to dealing with them changes.
74 posted on 11/20/2004 7:57:14 AM PST by Kolokotronis (Nuke the Cube!)
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To: sinkspur
It's not an odd comment. We prefer celibate clergy because we associate celibacy with greater "holiness" -- yet the celibate priest-monk will be the first to remind us that we are all sinners.

With 24 hours in a day, what married man can devote eight days to nothing but prayer unless he is celibate? What married man can stay focused on God and take care of his family?

What married man can stay focused on your issues if he has issues with his wife and children? Yet I have known many an Orthodox priest who would be my first choice. I don't know how they do it and how their family makes it possible, but they did.

Because it has worked in the East, and because it is not without precedent in the Catholic West, I would think married priests in certain parishes would be beneficial.

75 posted on 11/20/2004 8:35:17 AM PST by kosta50 (Eastern Orthodoxy is pure Christianity)
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