First Ecumenical Council In Regards To Celibacy

[Грешник]

I was reading the Canons of the Councils of the Church and in the First Council of Nicea Third Canon it states the following:

Canon III.

The great Synod has stringently forbidden any bishop, presbyter, deacon, or any one of the clergy whatever, to have a subintroducta dwelling with him, except only a mother, or sister, or aunt, or such persons only as are beyond all suspicion.

The Latins use this to support their claim of Apostolic Priestly Celibacy. How is one ot refute this idea in accord with the Teachings of the Orthodox Church?

I was caugt off guard by the bolded phrase above and figurred that that was the key part that the Latins twist. When I looked for a foonote for the term I found this:

A subintroducta was a woman who lived in the same house as a celibate clergyman.

My question is this. Why would this Canon not be more clear and state that priestly and diaconate clergy are allowed ot be married? Are there any other Canons or teachings one can use to show the Apostolic Teaching allows for a married priesthood? (Outside of the fact that the Old Testament priesthood was a married priesthood as well?)[/quote][/b]

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

Juvenaly,

The Orthodox still practice this canon today, and in fact, to a very strict degree.

You see, this canon has nothing to do with a priest being married or not, in fact, at the time this canon was written bishops and priests could be married.

This canon has to do with creating scandal. For instance, there are some male monasterys we have in the states and in Greece which allow woman visitors. But when a woman visits a male monastery, she is never allowed to go there alone or without the Abbot knowing. This is to avoid creating a situation where some unscrupulous person might start rumors that something immoral is going on. And this is exactly what this canon deals with. It is to prevent a scandal.

[joasia]

I remember reading this canon in the book of the Seven Ecumenical Councils I once had(I gave it away to a former friend).

Anyways, I thought it stated this in reference, strictly for monastic clergy. The parts of married clergy were always specified as referring to married clergy, so the distinctions were always clear.

Leave it up to the papists to put their spiritually-twisted interpretation on it.

Are there any other Canons or teachings one can use to show the Apostolic Teaching allows for a married priesthood?

"Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever." (Matt: 8;14)

Wife's mother...mother-in-law. Apostle Peter was married. So were all the other Apostles, by the way. This is the first example and from the Bible that those men who were ordained by God could be married. I guess that's where the Orthodox tradition of men being married and then becoming priests, came from....the Apostolic traditions..go figure.

But, the papists tend to conveniently forget the passages that refute their statements.

Juvenaly, anything that the papists argue, can be refuted from passages in the Holy Bible, Itself, because they preach falsehood and therefore, their words are the opposite of the teachings of Christ in the Holy Bible. The papists become rejectors of the Holy Bible.

[Грешник]

Posted: 22 Feb 2005 04:37 Post subject:

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I remember reading this canon in the book of the Seven Ecumenical Councils I once had(I gave it away to a former friend).

Anyways, I thought it stated this in reference, strictly for monastic clergy. The parts of married clergy were always specified as referring to married clergy, so the distinctions were always clear.

Leave it up to the papists to put their spiritually-twisted interpretation on it.

Quote:
Are there any other Canons or teachings one can use to show the Apostolic Teaching allows for a married priesthood?

"Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever." (Matt: 8;14)

Wife's mother...mother-in-law. Apostle Peter was married. So were all the other Apostles, by the way. This is the first example and from the Bible that those men who were ordained by God could be married. I guess that's where the Orthodox tradition of men being married and then becoming priests, came from....the Apostolic traditions..go figure

Yes, and for them they will say that the Apostles at the tme of the Great Commission were all celibate and single and this is where they get the idea for a ceibate clergy. Do not get me wrong, I am not refuting the Orthodox Apostolic Traditions of Holy Church, it is just that as Orthodox I feel as if we take some of what would seem as smaller issues for granted with no real understanding of the issue and the true brlief or teaching, this is my reasoning for asking such questions.

It is precisely becuase the Latins of skewed many of the traditions of the Church that we must be aware of these flasehoods and know how to respond.

As a former seminarian in the Latin Church these are things I as a Latin at the time took for granted, never looking at the teachings of the Church and just assumiung "Rome had spoken" and that that was the end of the conversation.

Thanks for listening,