[SeekAndFind]

RE: I know they have to be married before they become priests.

Is this so? My understanding is that marriage is a FREE CHOICE for Orthodox priests, not a requirement. You are ALLOWED to marry but you are NOT REQUIRED to marry.

While there are certainly important similarities between the theologies of world’s largest and second-largest Christian Churches—for example, our understanding of the nature of Communion—there are also crucial differences that still impede reunification more than a thousand years after the tragedy of the Great Schism.

Moreover, it is a misnomer to say that Orthodox priests can marry. They can be married, and indeed, most Orthodox priests are. But a priest can’t marry while a priest. If he wishes to have a family life, he must get hitched before he is ordained to the deaconate, the penultimate step before becoming a priest.

I bring this up because of the ongoing debate within Catholic circles—pushed energetically by the Church’s internal and external critics—about whether to revoke the rule requiring priest celibacy. The regulation was formally established at the Council of Trent in 1563 after centuries of controversy over the issue of priests and marriage. Prior to Trent, the Catholic Church took the same approach to the question of priestly marriage as the Orthodox Church did (and does today). If the priestly celibacy were no longer required, the Catholic Church would likely return to its former practice.

[Ransomed]

Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that marriage was a requirement. I just meant that they couldn’t marry after ordination. But I don’t know what happens if a priest gets divorced. Can a divorced priest marry again? The bishops are always unmarried and usually come from the celibate religious orders to my understanding.

As far as the debate about the discipline of celibacy, from my observation liberal Catholics invariably want the discipline lifted. Try to find one pro-abortion, gay marriage and priestess type Catholic but who also thinks the discipline of celibacy is valuable and should be preserved.

Freegards

[Campion]

The regulation was formally established at the Council of Trent in 1563 after centuries of controversy over the issue of priests and marriage.

More than a thousand years earlier than that.