Subdeacons in traditional societies

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ReaderT said:
I think the subdiaconate in the EO is doing alright; we have two subdeacons at our church even. There are other subdeacons in the area too, so the role doesn’t seem too in danger. What about in the EC?
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they exist but are quite rare. I think the other parish in town has a longterm subdeacon, and I want to say there’s one in Tucson.
ReaderT said:
Did you mean to say chastity perhaps?
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I mean in terms of a single man being ordained a subdeacon and being able to marry, or a married man who loses his wife being able to marry again.

This is possible in a small number or Eastern churches, although I forget which.
 
ReaderT said:
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dochawk:
And I am well aware that celibacy would have to be dispensed for this (that is, in the majority of churches that require it; not all do).
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Did you mean to say chastity perhaps? You’re right that after subdeacon ordination, an unmarried man is not allowed to marry, so only married men (“chaste unto their wives”) would be able to take the position…
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Orthodoxwiki provides this information:

Subdeacons are mentioned in canons with age restrictions (of 20 years of age) and prohibitions on marriage after ordinations (like deacons and priests) - e.g., Apostolic canon 26. A variety of methods of dealing with these canons have been employed, including:
  • Blessing acolytes or readers to vest and act as a subdeacon temporarily or permanently
  • This causes a new distinction between a ‘blessed subdeacon’ and an ‘ordained subdeacon’. It should be noted that a ‘blessed subdeacon’ may not touch the altar or assume other perogatives of ordained subdeacons outside services.
  • Reserving the formal ordination service to candidates for the diaconate
  • Simply ignoring the canons and permitting subdeacons to marry.
How do your Churches handle this?
 
OrbisNonSufficit said:
I see. Would they be allowed to remarry in event that marriage ends?
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Usually a man would only be ordained if he feels that his marriage is very stable / intends to be in it until death / already has several children, etc. All 3 subdeacons I know have been married for decades. If the marriage ends, they may not want to remarry; they may live single or become monks.

If they do want to remarry they could, but they would stop being a subdeacon (they can be released from the role -and returned to the lay state)
 
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dochawk said:
while that tends to be a good source, just keep in mind that on a variety of issues, orthodox jurisdictions disagree on, well, whatever . . .
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Thank you, I will. This provided canon and various answers by jurisdictions to implementing it so this felt like pretty good information even across multiple jurisdictions though. Is there something it missed out on?
 
I haven’t really checked it out, but there are jurisdictions that simply don’t have celibacy for subdeacons. I’m not sure whether these are all Oriental rather than Eastern, but I recall that they exist.

I think some of these ordain subdeacons very young, at 10 or so.
 
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