[marshmallow]

I realize that the council of Elvira was a local council. However, the quote in the article says that "celibacy was instituted 900 years after Our Lord's death", as if this was some sort of arbitrary diktat that was handed down out of the blue in opposition to popular custom.

This is definitely not the case and my point was that priestly celibacy dates from apostolic times, the Council of Elvira, in the 3rd century, being one very early example of mandatory imposition of celibacy, albeit local.

It is entirely incorrect to say that "celibacy was instituted 900 years after the death of Our Lord".

[redgolum]

But it is also incorrect to say celibacy was the norm that early. There are plusses and minuses to both sides. In many Mediterranean cultures, it was viewed as ideal. In places with less popular focus on later Greek philosophy such as Ireland, not so much.

On a practical level, there was a real risk in creating a form of priest nobles

[Biggirl]

Found this after doing some research about the council of Elvira. Never knew there was even one.
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http://www.earlychurchtexts.com/index.htm

[Iscool]

This is definitely not the case and my point was that priestly celibacy dates from apostolic times, the Council of Elvira, in the 3rd century, being one very early example of mandatory imposition of celibacy, albeit local.

3rd century is not apostolic times...Apostolic times ended before 100 A.D....