If Catholic priests have celibacy, that is, they take a vow of celibacy, then in Orthodoxy clergy are allowed to marry. This rule was enshrined as early as 325 at the First Nicaean Ecumenical Council. But, of course, the marriage of an Orthodox priest has its own characteristics.

Who can a priest marry?

The future priest is offered to decide on marriage until the age of 30 - by this age he must already take the rank. If by the age of 30 he has not married, then he must take the veil as a monk.

Most often they marry as seminarians. The bride, according to existing canons, must be Orthodox and always a girl. If she is divorced or has children, such a woman cannot become the wife of a priest.

As for the profession of the future mother, there are fewer restrictions. The main thing is that it professional activity didn't break God's commandments. For example, she cannot work as a stripper, sell alcohol or tobacco products. Previously, priests were forbidden to marry actresses, as this craft was equated with prostitution. Now there is a different way of looking at these things.

However, the families of clergy usually have many children, since in Orthodoxy it is customary to give birth, "as much as God wills." Therefore, far from always a mother can afford to work, often she is forced to manage the household and raise children.

Can a priest get a divorce?

Divorce is no longer possible. If a mother behaves unworthily, for example, she cheats, the priest may not live with her as a wife, but still does not have the right to divorce. Even if she dies, he cannot remarry and must spend the rest of his life alone. If he wants to start a new family, he will have to lay down his rank. In ancient Rus', a priest who was left without a wife had to go to a monastery.

How should a priest's wife behave?

Mothers also have their own rules. A priest's wife should be an example of spiritual life. After all, parishioners often perceive her as an intermediary between them and the priest, they can ask, ask, consult about something ... Of course, she must observe the Orthodox canons, behave modestly and restrainedly, as befits a believing Christian.

Concerning appearance, short skirts and bright makeup are not strictly prohibited, but they can create a certain impression of a woman. In the church, they are clearly out of place.

How should a priest and his wife behave in a family?

Everyday life in the family of a priest is regulated in the same way as for all believers. However, the priest and his wife should not forget that they, as servants of God, bear much greater responsibility for every word spoken and every deed. Between them, ideally, there should be no quarrels, scandals, conflict situations should be resolved by the world. As a rule, in the families of priests, divine commandments and religious canons are carefully observed for all members, for example, fasting and prohibitions on working on holidays.

Of course, a priest and his family are not obliged to spend their free time on prayers and soul-saving conversations alone. They can spend their leisure time by going for a country walk, to the theater, cinema, to a classical music concert. Going to decent restaurants is also allowed. But visiting nightclubs, discos and other entertainment venues is completely excluded for them.

The personal life of the clergy has always been a secret with seven seals for the laity. And they always wanted to know: how many times can fathers marry and by what criteria do they choose their wife?

The correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine spoke with Archpriest Vadim Shapran, dean of the Chudnovsky district of the Zhytomyr region.

A CHOICE SHOULD BE MADE BEFORE 30 YEARS

Is it true that an Orthodox clergyman can only marry once in his life?

— If for Catholics celibacy (that is, celibacy) is a mandatory phenomenon, then for Orthodox it is rather a rare exception to the rule. After all, priests are ordinary people who are constantly among the parishioners, communicate, including with young women. To protect them from temptation, the church blessed the marriage. This was enshrined at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea back in 325. The priest must decide for himself: either choose the monastic path, or get married. But he must do this before the age of 30 - by this age, according to existing church canons, they are ordained. That is enough time. First you need to create a family, that is small church, and then start creating your parish…

- What mandatory qualities should a contender for a hand and heart have?

- First of all, a girl must be Orthodox and always a girl. And for a priest entering into marriage, this woman should be the first and only one in life. It is clear that a woman with a child, a divorcee or a widow cannot become the wife of a priest. As for the profession, there are no clear restrictions here. The applicant should not be a stripper, sell vodka and cigarettes ... Simply put, the bride should not compromise her future husband in any way.

In the old church rules, it was stipulated that the priest's bride should not be an actress, but in those distant times, the profession of an actress was equated with prostitution. Now the profession of an actor is highly respected, so there is no such ban.

- What is the specialty of the mother of your acquaintances priests?

- Among them there is a doctor, a nurse, a teacher, a cook ... My wife is a lawyer. Some matushkas work in their specialty, but they are mainly engaged in raising children and housekeeping, since families of priests, as a rule, have large families.

REMARKING IS FORBIDDEN

- And if the mother, say, did not live up to expectations and behaves unworthily, what should the priest do? Can a failed marriage be dissolved and remarry?

“A priest must be able to deal with his wife. And if his mother is cheating on him, then he definitely should not live with her as with his wife. Although it is not necessary to expel the unworthy from the house. For a priest, there is no concept of dissolution of marriage, let alone a second marriage. Under no circumstances can a priest remarry. Even if his wife dies. In the times of Ancient Rus', a widowed priest was obliged to enter a monastery. Now the question is not so rigidly posed, but the priest remains alone for the rest of his life.

- And if such a lonely priest suddenly truly loves a woman, what should he do?

- In this case, you will have to choose: either serving God, or a new family. If he chooses a second marriage, then he loses his holy orders. Recently, a monk left monasticism, got married and retrained as a bank worker ...

- There is an opinion that the best wife for a priest is a girl from the family of a priest ...

- In pre-revolutionary Russia, there were a kind of suppliers of brides for priests - diocesan women's schools (dioceses), where the daughters of clergymen studied. Most often they really became mothers. But now such traditions do not exist. I am deeply convinced that only love marriage will be strong.

Where can you find a suitable candidate? Among your flock during the service?

- For example, I met my future bride at the wedding of mutual friends. Situations in life are very different.

CAR, INTERNET, PANTS - PLEASE

What clothes should a mother wear? Is it necessary to wear a long dress and a headscarf?

- A scarf is, of course, not bad. But the mother does not have to be a "gray mouse" at all. The main thing is not clothes, but the inner world of a person, his spirituality, attitude to life and others. I want to note that a modern mother is a woman who can take an active life position, drive a car, work in a secular institution, use the Internet, and so on.

— But does an ordinary worldly girl experience any difficulties when she marries a priest?

- It acquires publicity, which not everyone tolerates calmly. For example, when mother comes to church service to her husband's arrival, she is unlikely to be able to calmly pray and leave. The eyes of the parishioners immediately rush to her. People begin to discuss vividly: what she is wearing, what hairstyle, shoes, what her children look like. They approach, begin to ask about something, tell something, ask for something. Therefore, if the priest's family lives in a large city, and the parish is located somewhere in the region, mothers prefer to attend church in the city, where few people know them. So calmer and more comfortable. The same applies to joint holidays. For example, my wife and I can only relax at sea or in a sparsely populated place.

Another important nuance: at any moment a priest can be sent to another parish, to another city or village. Moreover, in a new place, you may have to start almost from scratch, since housing is by no means guaranteed. Therefore, many priests prefer to live in the regional center and travel from there to their parishes. Objective difficulties are also caused by the irregular working day of the clergyman, the lack of joint days off ... And the families of most priests do not live well. Except in very big cities. If in urban cathedrals and churches priests receive a salary, then in rural parishes their main income is the funds of the parishioners, which people give to the priest as gratitude for baptism, weddings, funerals, and the like.

— How do you spend your leisure time? Is visiting nightclubs and discos excluded?

- No normal Christian goes to such places, not to mention the clergy. The priest and his wife can go to theatrical performances, watch a good movie in the cinema. There are restaurants where the piano sounds in the evenings. If funds are available, it would be interesting to spend an evening there and listen to good music. In other words, our life is not much different from the life of an ordinary Christian, but we bear great responsibility for every word spoken, every step taken and deed.

Number of entries: 102

Good afternoon Tell me, please, how can we be. My cousin and I fell in love. I am 45, he is 57. Before that, we saw each other a couple of times, but a very long time ago. And now we began to communicate, and realized that we love each other. We are not married. Children, due to age and health restrictions, are not expected. Can we get married?

Ulyana

Hello Ulyana! The absence of close blood relationship between the bride and groom is a necessary condition for marriage. By decree of the Holy Synod of January 19, 1810, marriages concluded between persons in the 4th degree of lateral consanguinity are unconditionally prohibited and subject to dissolution. Therefore, you cannot get married.

Priest Vladimir Shlykov

Hello good people! I want to thank you for your site, which I can resort to with a question! AND Thanks a lot for attention to us and help in our problems. Here's my question. The fact is that I fell in love with a man of a different faith (ilam), although I myself am baptized and Orthodox! What should I do? Will it be a sin for me to live with this man? We want to marry before God, but we, Orthodox, differ from Muslims in the rite of marriage before God! The question is, can I get married, being baptized in the Orthodox faith, with a Muslim? Does the Lord allow it? After all, as I think, as for me, we are all the same before God!

Lena, on our site there is a tag - "marriage with a Muslim." Please pay attention to this, click on it with the mouse, and read everything. Many interesting things have been written. But you must understand the following: civil marriage (I mean registration in the registry office), of course, is possible, but there can be no religious ceremony! Firstly, only the Orthodox are crowned here. Secondly, participation in a Muslim marriage is a betrayal of one's Orthodox faith. You are clearly in love with this person, I think it is pointless to dissuade you, but you need to warn. If he is a faithful, practicing Muslim, then you will first have to adopt customs (clothes, complete obedience to your husband (do not leave the house without permission, for example), kitchen, corporal punishment of wives, etc., and then, you see, not only a veil dress, but accept their faith. Relatives will force them. Think!

Archpriest Maxim Khyzhiy

Good day, father. I have a question for you. I recently met a man. Before me, he had two marriages, in both marriages there were children. In the second marriage, he and his wife got married, she even changed her faith for this. Now the situation is this, he offers me to marry him and get married. He divorced his second wife. Tell me, please, what should I do right, I go to church, is there a sin on me now, and what should we do if we love each other?

Natalia

I understand, Natasha, that you want to correct your sin - illegal cohabitation - by registering the relationship. Such a path, combined with church repentance, is possible. The main thing is that later you are not disappointed in your chosen one, who is already “twice a hero” in family relationships. What if he makes a mistake in you, becomes disappointed, leaves his offspring and goes on to seek his happiness? You won’t get out of sins quickly, just like you won’t get out of the swamp - only gradually. If you already “met”, then think carefully about your relationship. Maybe the best thing would be to repent and leave?

Archpriest Maxim Khyzhiy

Hello! Tell me, can a priest marry a girl who has been married and has a child?

Maria

Hello Maria. A priest cannot marry anyone at all. After taking holy orders, marriage is not possible. Prior to taking the ordination, a layman may marry. But marriage to a second marriage is a canonical obstacle to ordination.

Priest Alexander Beloslyudov

Hello! Can a woman marry a third time? So in life it happened that I separated from my previous husbands of my own free will, there were no betrayals, just different characters, I couldn’t do it anymore. Is this considered a sin? If I am divorced and have a man, will this be considered adultery? How should I do it right?

Irina

According to church rules, you have the right to a third marriage, but this will be the “last attempt”. The fact that there were no changes is good. But it's bad that the second time you "didn't agree on the characters." So, you need to get married "on the advice" - do not rush to conclusions and passions. Ask those close to you what they think of your choice if you can't speak to a priest. Every deed must begin with repentance, with confession. Such errors, of course, are also the sin of unreason. And what is “a person will appear” - if you go to the cinema, then it’s not a sin. And if cohabitation is a mortal sin.

Archpriest Maxim Khyzhiy

Hello, I'm 15 and my boyfriend is 25, can we get married?

Diana

Diana, before getting married, you must definitely register with the registry office - this is the order. Registration in the registry office is made not earlier than 18 years according to the law. Without it, you will not be married. So you will have to wait and be patient until the age of 18. At the same time, this will be a test for you in the seriousness of your intentions. But we must remember that close relationships outside of marriage are not allowed - this is a grave sin.

Hieromonk Viktorin (Aseev)

Hello, father! Sorry for such a personal question. I am 36 years old, divorced. I want to start a family, maybe even have a baby. But I can't do anything. I lead a normal life, go to church, and, if possible, take communion once every two months. The men I meet only offer me a bed. Why is that? Recently, my relative, a second cousin, as I understand it (my grandmother and his grandfather are brother and sister, and my father and his father are cousins, and we are already second cousins), he is 54 years old, offered me an intimate relationship to check compatibility and supposedly, this is good for women's health, because I'm alone. But I understand that premarital sex is a sin. I have always treated him like a friend, but nothing more. He comes to my house every day, and I still find excuses, play for time. What should I do so that they remain, as they say, "both the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe"? And also tell me: 1) how to build relationships with men in the world? 2) How much older can a man be than a woman? 3) how long does it take from dating to marriage? Thank you. I hope for an answer.

Tatiana

Hello Tatiana. As far as I know, there are Orthodox dating forums, it is possible that they will not immediately offer you a bed there. There is no health benefit from fornication and there cannot be. One must turn away from a person who inclines to fornication, even if he is a pleasant conversationalist. Under any pretext, shy away from communicating with him. Try not to consider the men you meet in life as possible husbands, this is a direct path to inciting lust, along which you will inevitably come to the actual commission of fornication. While you are passionate about something, it is passion that determines the nature of the relationship, which is why you are offered intimacy. Rely on God. “Lord, You know my desire to have a family, if it pleases You, fulfill my petition, but not what I want, but what You want.” Only humility is able to accept the grace of God, and passion unites with demons. The age difference may or may not matter. If you want to have children, don't marry a man much older than you. Men live an average of ten years less than women, and become decrepit earlier. You can stay with young children and an old man. From acquaintance to marriage, as much time should pass as necessary to get to know a person. What passions and virtues does he have, can he betray, can you forgive him if he betrays? Most importantly, a husband and wife should have a common worldview. Attraction-based sympathies will pass, and if there is no spiritual foundation, the marriage will fall apart. God help you.

Priest Alexander Beloslyudov

Hello! My name is Elena. I would like to ask you this question. I am dating a person with whom we want to start a family. He himself was married, the marriage was crowned. After the divorce, the man got divorced. Can we get married after marriage? I myself was not married. Please help me answer this question.

Elena

Hello, Elena. You yourself answer the question: “Why do I want to get married?” If you want to receive a church blessing for your marriage, because you are an Orthodox person, you fulfill the canons Orthodox Church, live, or try to live according to the Commandments of Christ, and when it doesn’t work out, you repent, confess - it means that there can’t be two options, you have to get married. Otherwise, what is the point of getting married? Beautiful ceremony? He got married, married, divorced, "broke" ... And what did the wedding give to a person? Look at the Holy Scriptures: "What God has joined together, let no man separate." (Matthew 19.6) It turns out that people married, but God did not combine. Of course, formally, you have the right to perform the Sacrament of marriage over you, but ... you will benefit from this only if you both accept your marriage as a home church. And the Church is the ship of salvation, which means that marriage is intended for the same. We call Christ the Savior, and He says: "Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11.29) The characteristics of the Savior and, consequently, the means by which He brings about salvation are "meekness and humility." Marriage provides an ideal opportunity to learn these qualities, and the grace of the Sacrament of the wedding provides the necessary divine assistance in this. But it does not act on its own, but through your conscious and resolute forcing yourself to live according to the Commandments of Christ. Without this compulsion, a wedding is useless, and human nature corrupted by sin will inevitably destroy and devastate a marriage, even if it is married twice. Take your life seriously, it is short, and every step we take in it is of great importance for our being in eternity. God help you.

Priest Alexander Beloslyudov

I am Orthodox, can I marry a Muslim, I will not change faith, but I want to be with this person.

Akilina

You can register your marriage at the registry office. Church marriage is, of course, impossible. The Church does not regulate civil relations. But we warn that Muslims are different. There are also those who will demand that you convert to Islam, comply with its laws (for example, complete obedience to your husband), will not allow you to baptize your children, etc. Think carefully before taking such a step.

Archpriest Maxim Khyzhiy

Hello. I am only 19 years old, and I am in a very difficult situation. I have been closely acquainted with a 29-year-old man, a foreigner, for 2 years. He is from Japan. He is sick with epilepsy. This form of the disease is curable, but for him the moment has passed. IN adolescence the seizures are over. But there were outbursts of aggression. From time to time he loses control and starts yelling terrible things at loved ones, insulting and humiliating them. Doesn't fight. Then he repents. He wants to marry me. Accepted Orthodoxy under the name Nazarius. But he did not become a Christian. Never took communion. I love him and want to take care of him, but his tantrums exhaust me and I give up. How to understand whether I should be with him and bear his illness as a God-given cross, or try to forget about him and not bother my head, as my parents insist? God sends a man the cross that he will master. But was this cross sent to me? Nazarius begs to marry him, dreams of being with me to the grave. But during the clouding of reason, it cannot save me from myself.

Anna

Anya, you, by and large, are still a child! What kind of help from you to an adult sick man, besides a foreigner!? Everything that you wrote here “about the cross” is a self-made cross - therefore, the heaviest. How can you marry a person who, according to you, did not become a Christian? Your hands are already sinking from his tantrums, and you are still thinking about marriage ... You write that the disease is already incurable for him, and with psycho-neurological patients, especially in severe form, a reasonable priest will not give a blessing for marriage. Previously, there was such a definition for the sick - "lifelong celibacy." Listen to the words of your parents.

Archpriest Maxim Khyzhiy

Hello! Please tell me, is it possible to marry a divorced woman with a child? Thank you very much for your reply!

Maksim

Hello Maxim. If you are not the cause of this divorce, then you have nothing to be embarrassed about. Get married. May God give you consent and love.

Priest Alexander Beloslyudov

Hello, father! Can I marry my cousin? Is marriage to him a sin?

Catherine

Hello Ekaterina! According to church norms, of course, marriages between relatives up to the fourth degree of consanguinity, inclusive, are prohibited. There is a fifth degree of lateral relationship between you and your cousin, and such a marriage can be concluded, but with the blessing of the ruling bishop.

Priest Vladimir Shlykov

I love a man who is 18 years older. I am 23, he is 41, he is a very deeply religious and church-going person. Can we get married? Isn't such a difference in age a canonical ban on marriage?

John

Hello Joanna! There are no canonical prohibitions on such a marriage. But this is not always reasonable for ethical reasons. If, as you say, your chosen one is a church person, then it would be wise to ask for advice and blessings for marriage from his confessor, who is probably familiar with the situation from the inside.

Priest Vladimir Shlykov

Good day! I would like to ask a question: is it possible to get married during pregnancy?

Julia

Julia, you can get married during pregnancy. And before the wedding, you must definitely confess and take communion.

Hieromonk Viktorin (Aseev)

I live in fornication with a common-law husband, because I cannot officially marry him because of his criminal record, and I have a responsible job. We really want to get married, but the church does not allow without a stamp. And I suffer very much that I cannot go to communion, I feel very sinful before God.

Elvira

Elvira, we live in a "transparent world". People holding responsible positions in banking, law enforcement, big business are always checked by their own security service. I'm not sure that cohabitation can be hidden, and that it will be treated better than Convictions are also different, and smart people control you ... But if you still think that you still can’t get married, that this will put an end to your career, then ask yourself the question: “When will it be possible?” Are you so confident in your man that you will soon be ready to give up or risk your status in the name of love? Maybe your unpreparedness for marriage is actually a lack of complete trust in your loved one?

Archpriest Maxim Khyzhiy

Hello, father. My question is banal, and at the same time very important for me and, as it turned out, complex. Question about second marriage (divorced at the initiative of her husband, the marriage was not married and forced) I know that in the concept of the Church, you can get married a second, and even a third time. But tell me which is better? This is very important for me. Save you Lord!

Anastasia

Anastasia, I don’t understand, did your second marriage also break up? Yes, the third marriage is the limit. Whether to marry or not depends primarily on you. It is necessary to weigh everything: do you have a loved one, what obstacles exist to marriage, how are your relatives, your age, your children, etc. Marry out of love and the desire to escape together, and not because “it is necessary”, “water no one will."

Archpriest Maxim Khyzhiy

Dear father, please help. The girl left me. We were not married, we were not married, we just lived together for a long time. What is my current status according to Orthodox canons? Do I have the right to look for another woman? Maybe it's better for me not to look for anyone at all (somewhere it is written in the Bible that if you have separated, it is better to remain unmarried). Thank you in advance.

Eugene

Eugene, according to Orthodox canons, you have the status of a person who lived in mortal sin. Now you need to think seriously, if you are considered a Christian, how you will live on. I think that we should start with confession in the temple. Do not look for a woman, but deal with yourself, put your soul in order. A believer, I think, should not look for a woman, but find in himself the ability to love another person. Marriage is the school of love, cohabitation is the school of passions.

Archpriest Maxim Khyzhiy

Is the wedding considered valid if after the wedding it turned out that the husband was baptized by his grandmother at home in the basin, and the clergy of our church recognized this baptism as invalid. The husband was baptized in the temple a few years after the wedding. Today the first marriage is annulled. Our husband's second marriage. Can we get married? If we consider that the first marriage was crowned without baptism?

Anna

Anna, there was a similar case in my parish - a couple got married, and later it turned out that my grandmother had baptized her husband. The diocesan confessor did not bless them to marry again. The church marriage was recognized as valid. The question of your wedding in a second marriage is not limited to formal grounds. No less important are the reasons for the dissolution of first marriages, the establishment of the guilt of the spouses, your repentance, and the current church life. All these issues should be decided by the priest at your place of residence. He consults with the diocese in case of canonical obstacles to church marriage.

Archpriest Maxim Khyzhiy

Father, it so happened that I married a divorced woman. During her first marriage, she was married. There is a child from the first marriage (a girl). The wife filed a petition to the diocese for dethronement, ex-husband also agreed. Can we marry her again, or will we have to live the rest of our lives in sin?

Alexei

Alexei! A marriage registered in the registry office is not a sin! He is not the pinnacle of marriage, but it is by no means fornication. This is your second marriage and that's a different story. Yes, the Gospel condemns divorce and marriage to a divorced woman as the way accepted by Old Testament morality. But Christianity is also a life of repentance, self-correction. It's not just about the form: we got married, and now we don't live in fornication. Live like Christians: pray together, go to church, take communion, raise children, keep love and fidelity. Then your family will become a "house church" and the Lord will keep you. Many have achieved “debunkings” and “weddings” in the dioceses, but in reality they have remained married pagans. Be Christian for life.

Archpriest Maxim Khyzhiy

Hello, bless! My husband's uncle is a father. My husband and I are registered in the registry office, but not married. The husband wants his uncle to perform the wedding, but the parish where he serves is very far away, we have no opportunity to go there. Uncle comes to our city, and we wanted to get married at home, is it possible, and will such a wedding be valid? Thank you.

Catherine

God's blessing on you! Your husband's uncle can ask the rector of any church in your city, or the ruling bishop, to be allowed to marry his nephew in the church. Let the uncle take care in advance about a certificate from the diocese where he serves, which will indicate that he really is a clergyman of such and such a diocese and does not have canonical prohibitions for performing divine services. I think that he will be allowed to marry his nephew in the temple. As for the wedding at home, it will be illegal, since the performance of rites in another diocese without permission is prohibited. God bless you!

Archpriest Andrey Efanov

The answer to the question of whether priests can marry cannot be unambiguous. This is due to two points. First, it depends on which church he belongs to. And, secondly, it concerns the degree of his priesthood.

What are the clergy like?

You need to know the answer to this question in order to understand whether priests can marry. Priests are divided into three levels of hierarchy:

• the first of these is the deacon;
• the second is a priest, he is also a presbyter;
• the third is a bishop or bishop.

The deacon helps the priests and bishops conduct divine services; he does not have the right to do this on his own. A deacon can belong to both white and black clergy (be a monk).

The priest has the right to perform both divine services and the sacraments. The only exception is ordination. He may also be a monk.

The duties of the bishop include supervision of the clergy of the diocese, of which he is the head, as well as of the flock. Another bishop heads the clergy of the temple, monastery. He may hold various major government degrees. It's about O:

• patriarch;
• metropolitan;
• archbishop;
• exarch.

A bishop is elected only from among the monastic clergy.

Having decided on the degrees of the priesthood, you can find out the answer to the question of whether a priest of the Orthodox Church can marry.

Bishops

Can priests in the rank of bishop marry? The answer to this question is unequivocally negative. The custom of celibacy in this category began to be perceived as the norm by the second half of the 7th century. This rule was enshrined at the Trull Cathedral (691-692). Moreover, the last rule concerned those of the bishops who were married before ordination.

They had to first separate from his wife, sending her to a monastery, which was far from the place of his ministry. The ex-wife was entitled to the use of maintenance from the bishop. Today, candidates for bishops are elected only from monks who have accepted the small schema (ascetics).

First and second order of the priesthood

In Orthodoxy, all the clergy are divided into two types:

1. Black, monastic, which gives a vow of chastity.
2. White. It may or may not be married.

Therefore, the answer to the question of whether priests of the first and second degrees can marry depends on which of the two types they belong to.

Only those belonging to the white clergy are allowed to marry. But they can do this only before they are vested in the diaconal or priestly rank. After they have created a family, they have the opportunity to take orders. Can a priest have children by joining it? Yes, they are allowed to have children.

What if the wife dies or decides to leave her husband? In such a situation, the priest must remain alone. He can either become a monk, or remain in the status of an unmarried priest, but he is forbidden to remarry.

There is another form of priestly celibacy, which will be discussed below.

Celibacy

This is a special form of priesthood, following which a person does not become a monk, but at the same time does not belong to the family clergy. After a celibate priest is ordained, he lives alone. This rule was legalized in the Western Church under Pope Gregory the Great (590-604). But de facto it was established only by the XI century, under Pope Gregory VII. As far as the Eastern Church is concerned, celibacy was rejected by the Trulli Council, which was not recognized by the Catholics.

The vow of celibacy prescribes the observance of chastity, and its violation is regarded as sacrilege. Priests cannot marry or have previously been married. After being ordained, one cannot marry either. Thus, among Catholics, despite the existing division into black and white clergy, the vow of celibacy must be observed by all priests.

In our country, celibacy appeared in the late XIX - early XX century. It was started by Archpriest A. Gorsky (1812-1875). He was the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy. Metropolitan Filaret encouraged him to take this step, which was completely new for the Russian church. He is the author of a treatise on examples of celibate ordinations observed both in ancient and in recent history. In Russia, celibacy was taken quite rarely, as it happens now.

As for Judaism, there is a sharply negative attitude towards celibacy. It is, first of all, based on the command given in the Bible - "Be fruitful and multiply." Also, celibacy is rejected due to the fact that an unmarried man is considered only as half of a human being.

questions

Father Andrew, good evening! I have a few questions about the life of priests:
1. Do all priests have to be married?
2. Can a priest take a vow of celibacy?
3. Can he get married when he has already taken the rank and is serving?
4. What does a priest do outside the church if, for example, he does not have a family? Can he go to the cinema, to a restaurant, to the gym, etc.
5. Are priests allowed to drink, smoke?
6. Can a priest travel abroad?
7. Can he have friends among ordinary lay people?
8. Why do all priests wear beards?
9. Can a priest engage in other activities besides ministry? Earn money in a regular specialty to feed a large family?
Sorry for these questions, but they come up all the time. Thank you.

1. No, not all. They can be both married and unmarried. Priests cannot marry. They are either already married candidates, or not.
2. Of course. Only this is done even before taking the dignity.
3. No, it can't.
4. A priest is always a priest, even after the service. Therefore, he can only engage in those deeds that do not humiliate his dignity and do not contradict the commandments.
5. They can drink alcohol in moderation and on allowed days, but not smoke.
6. Maybe, but it would be better if it is a pilgrimage or a business trip.
7. Maybe.
8. This is an ancient Eastern tradition. The beard indicates that the person is already a man, not a young man. And if God created us like that, why, if not for panache, shave it?
9. Maybe, but if this work does not contradict the commandments and canons. In Russia, I think, there is no such need: if he works properly in the "field of Christ", then he will have enough in abundance.