In the first centuries of Christianity, due to eschatological expectations, many of the early martyrs emulated Jesus’s life to live in celibacy, for,
156 Loader 2005: 216.
157 The Pastoral Epistles consists of three books of the canonical New Testament: the First Epistle to
Timothy (1 Timothy) the Second Epistle to Timothy (2 Timothy), and the Epistle to Titus. They are presented as letters from Paul the Apostle to Timothy and to Titus discussed the issues of Christian living, doctrine and leadership.
“when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mark 12:25). Clement of Rome (c. 96) and Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110) speak of early Christians being
celibate and imitating Christ.159 In the beginning, both celibate men and
celibate women lived in the same communities and this cohabitation of the sexes was viewed as involving a more rigorous ascetic effort. Thus was created the institution of the subintroductae (celibate women cohabitating with clerics or monks).160
From the origin of the church up to the beginning of the fourth century, it is clear that there was no requirement or tradition of clerical celibacy, although some clergy assumed a celibate life after raising families and
reaching ‘an advanced age’.161 Moreover, there was no canon law that
obliged married bishops or priests to renounce sexual relations with their spouses. The first Christian ministers were married and took this for granted (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:5 and Matthew 8:14), and in some cases spouses helped them with pastoral duties. Several of Jesus’s apostles including Saint Peter (30-67), the first Pope of Rome, were married.162 For several centuries clerical celibacy remained an ideal rather than normal practice; married priests were urged to refrain from sexual relations with their wives in order to uphold the Eucharist.
Yet, after the end of the persecutions and the emergence of the church as a public institution, canonical legislation grew more substantial. By the fourth century we see the first signs of disquiet about the compatibility of marriage and priesthood. Celibacy then began to be enforced: the Council of Elvira, Spain, (c. 305-306) began a tradition of legislation by which bishops and priests were required to be chaste. The Council declared in canon 33:
Bishops, presbyters, deacons, and others with a position in the ministry are to abstain completely from sexual intercourse with their wives and from the procreation of children. Whoever, in fact, does this shall be expelled from the dignity of the clerical state.163
The Elvira edict had only limited jurisdiction; many clergymen continued
159 Daly 2009: 22. 160 Wilson 2006: 150. 161 Hankins 2004: 606. 162 Cawthorne 2004: 5. 163 Flemings 2008: 390.
to marry and have conjugal relationships with their wives.164 A short time later, the First Council of Nicaea (325), convened by Constantine, rejected a ban on priests marrying requested by Spanish clerics. The practice of priestly celibacy began to spread in the Western Church in the
early middle Ages165, and then all clergy in major orders (Bishop,
Presbyter/Priest, Deacon) in the West were called upon by Pope Siricius (385-386) to abstain from conjugal relations with their spouse and live
with her “like brother and sister.”166 A vow of celibacy on pain of
deposition was imposed. At the end of the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great (590 to 604) even specified that a married priest should “love his wife like a sister, but distrust her like an enemy,” and so avoid
cohabitation by maintaining separate bedrooms.167
However, this papal requirement applied only to Western Christendom. The Orthodox Churches of the East wavered on the extent and rigor of clerical celibacy by adopting on this point a different standard, ratified by
a council held in Constantinople. The Council of Trullo (691-692)168
resolved the matter, which they have maintained to this day. It forbade any of the higher orders (bishop, priest, deacon, and subdeacon) to marry after ordination. Only a bishop is obliged to remain celibate; the other orders can marry as long as they do so before being ordained and can carry on normal marital relations. Bishops are, in fact, normally chosen from the ranks of the celibate, that is, monks. In Canon 13, the Council stated:
Since we know it to have been handed down as a rule in the Roman Church that those who are deemed worthy to be advanced to the diaconate or presbyterate should promise to no longer cohabit with their wives we, preserving the ancient rule and apostolic perfection and order, will that the lawful marriages of men who in holy orders be from this time forward firm, by no means dissolving their union with their wives nor depriving them of their mutual relations at a convenient time. Wherefore, if anyone shall have been found worthy to be ordained subdeacon or deacon or presbyter, he is by no means to be prohibited from admittance to such a rank, even if he shall live with a lawful wife. Nor shall it be
164 Nash 2007: 164. 165 Heid 2000: 144. 166 Bornstein 2009: 181. 167 Ibid. 168 Valantasis 2000: 289-291.
demanded of him at the time of his ordination that he
promises to abstain from lawful relations with his wife.169
Moreover in canon 12, the Council had defended the discipline of continence. Marriage was not unconditional, and whenever a priest acted liturgically as a priest he had to live a discipline of temporary
continence.170 The canon is clearly directed against the Latin Church and
its practice.
Nevertheless, both the East and the West had the same goal: to see that the secular clergy stood out for its worthy manner of life and irreproachable conduct. However, the Eastern churches thought that this could be attained within the framework of marriage, whereas the West held that sexual continence was required from both married and
unmarried clergy of the Western Church.171