Celibacy for Deacons?

[Michael_Saint]

orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php?topic=2099.0;wap2

“About 91 percent (575 of 630) of active Greek Orthodox priests in the United States are married”

Of course, how many of those priests are widowers? Once your wife dies, you cannot remarry.

Another website said the number of priests who marry in the Orthodox Church is 98 percent - but that was on a Voice of the Faithful website, so you might not recognize the source (even though it is probably quite accurate).

Another thing - celibacy is optional for the diaconate. What percentage of deacons is married upon ordination? Yep, about 99.5 percent. Would it be any different with priesthood, honestly?

 

[DL82]

I think the question here is not ‘should married men be deacons’ or ‘should married men be priests’ but ‘should they be different’?

The Eastern Churches have maintained a faithful permanent diaconate, despite the fact that their married deacons can become priests. All of the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches I have seen have had both a Priest and a Deacon, and in some cases the Deacons are full-time ministers.

There’s a problem with the way some dioceses have implemented the permanent diaconate, in that it’s a kind-of part-time mini-priesthood, a hobby/vocation or a Catholic version of the presbyterian eldership.

The diaconate is a distinct vocation and worthy of the full respect that its vocational status carries.

 

[Stratiotes]

The diaconate is a distinct vocation and worthy of the full respect that its vocational status carries.

I think we would all agree there but that raises part of the problem. It is difficult to think of priests and deacons as equal in vocational calling when one has an entirely different standard from the other - one is full time under-paid and celibate, the other is effectively part time (split between private life and church service) and unpaid in the church service part. So they are not equal in that sense. And perhaps that is why so many do not ever really grasp the view that you state. Perhaps if they shared more in common in the cost of their calling, they would be viewed more as equal.

 

[zagjames]

I think this is another common assumption that is incorrect. We assume that someone who has never been married can know nothing about marriage. I think we grossly underestimate our priests in making that assumption. There is a great deal of value in the objectivity they can bring to the matter. When I have talked to other couples I find myself too often relating to one or the other and it is easy to “take sides.” I lack the objectivity that someone who is not married could give. It is a common mistake to assume experience is the only teacher from which we can learn when it is experience that sometimes robs us of the very objectivity we require for learning.

Not to mention priests by time theyve been ministering for a several years will have heard just about every story in the book

 

[Stratiotes]

Not to mention priests by time theyve been ministering for a several years will have heard just about every story in the book

I think somebody else alluded to it but at the risk of repeating…the most profound things I’ve learned about marriage and sexuality were from two unmarried men - St. Paul, and JPII the Great. You can find nothing that comes close to their insights anywhere.

 

[zagjames]

Yes, but the bishops are chosen among the MONASTIC priests. Celibacy is REQUIRED of them. But for those who have the option - the SECULAR priests, there are almost NONE of them.

I dunno here in the US most Eastern priests are celebate (at least all of those I have met or heard of…)

 

[zagjames]

orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php?topic=2099.0;wap2

“About 91 percent (575 of 630) of active Greek Orthodox priests in the United States are married”

Of course, how many of those priests are widowers? Once your wife dies, you cannot remarry.

Another website said the number of priests who marry in the Orthodox Church is 98 percent - but that was on a Voice of the Faithful website, so you might not recognize the source (even though it is probably quite accurate).

Another thing - celibacy is optional for the diaconate. What percentage of deacons is married upon ordination? Yep, about 99.5 percent. Would it be any different with priesthood, honestly?

What about E. Catholic Priests though…