Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because these impulses are regarded as sinful."People should cultivate chastity in the way that is suited to their state of life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy which enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law, whether they are married or single" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2349). Vows of celibacy are generally required for monks and nuns in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and other religions, but often not for other clergy.
Within the Catholic Church, clerical celibacy is mandated for all clergy in the Latin Church except in the permanent diaconate. Exceptions are sometimes admitted for ordination to transitional diaconate and priesthood on a case-by-case basis for married clergymen of other churches or communities who become Catholics, but ordination of married men to the episcopacy is excluded (see Personal ordinariate). Clerical marriage is not allowed and therefore, if those for whom in some particular church celibacy is optional (such as permanent deacons in the Latin Church) wish to marry, they must do so before ordination. Eastern Catholic Churches either follow the same rules as the Latin Church or require celibacy for bishops while allowing priestly ordination of married men.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy, celibacy is the norm for bishops; married men may be ordained to the priesthood, but even married priests whose wives pre-decease them are not allowed to remarry after ordination. Similarly, celibacy is not a requirement for ordination as a deacon and in some Oriental Orthodox churches deacons may marry after ordination. For a period in the 5th and early 6th centuries the Church of the East did not apply the rule of celibacy even for ordination to the episcopate.
Lutheranism, Anglicanism and Nonconformist Protestantism in general do not require celibacy of its clergy and allow—or even encourage—clerical marriage. In the past, Lutheran deaconesses in the Church of Sweden took vows of celibacy, poverty and ties to a motherhouse; the vow of celibacy was made optional in the 1960s and in the present-day, Lutheran deacons/deaconesses (both male and female) may marry.
Meanings of 'celibacy' The word celibacy can mean either the state of being unmarried or sexual abstinence, especially because of religious vows, from sexual intercourse.American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: celibacyWebster's New World College Dictionary: celibacy
In the canon law of the Latin Church, the word celibacy is used specifically in the sense of being unmarried. However, for its clergy this state of being unmarried is considered to be a consequence of the obligation to be completely and perpetually continent:
Permanent deacons, namely those deacons who are not intended to become priests, are, in general, exempted from this rule."The following are simply impeded from receiving orders[...] a man who has a wife, unless he is legitimately destined to the permanent diaconate." However, married permanent deacons are not allowed to remarry after the death of their spouse.What is a Deacon? - Busted Halo
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
On the granting of permission, by exception, for the priestly ordination of married men in the Latin Church, see Rules, below.
Background In some Christian churches, such as the western and some eastern sections of the Catholic Church, priests and bishops must as a rule be unmarried men. In others, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, the churches of Oriental Orthodoxy and some of the Eastern Catholic Churches, married men may be ordained as deacons or priests, but may not remarry if their wife dies, and celibacy is required only of bishops. Since celibacy is seen as a consequence of the obligation of continence, it implies abstinence from sexual relationships. The Code of Canon Law prescribes: Clerics are to behave with due prudence towards persons whose company can endanger their obligation to observe continence or give rise to scandal among the faithful.canon 277 §2 According to Jason Berry of The New York Times, "The requirement of celibacy is not dogma; it is an ecclesiastical law that was adopted in the Middle Ages because Rome was worried that clerics' children would inherit church property and create dynasties."
In some Christian churches, a vow of chastity is made by members of religious orders or monastic communities, along with vows of poverty and obedience, in order to imitate the life of Jesus of Nazareth (see also Evangelical counsels). This vow of chastity, made by people – not all of whom are clergy – is different from what is the obligation, not a vow, of clerical continence and celibacy.
Celibacy for religious and monastics (monks and sisters/nuns) and for bishops is upheld by the Catholic Church and the traditions of both Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy. Bishops must be unmarried men or widowers; a married man cannot become a bishop. In Latin Church Catholicism and in some Eastern Catholic Churches, most priests are celibate men. Exceptions are admitted, with there being several Catholic priests who were received into the Catholic Church from the Lutheran Church, Anglican Communion and other Protestant faiths. In most Orthodox traditions and in some Eastern Catholic Churches men who are already married may be ordained priests, but priests may not marry after ordination.
Neither the Catholic nor the Orthodox tradition considers the rule of clerical celibacy to be an unchangeable dogma, but instead as a rule that could be adjusted if the Church thought it appropriate and to which exceptions are admitted.
From the time of the first ecumenical council the Christian church forbids voluntary physical castration,Council of Nicaea, canon I and the alleged self-castration of the theologian Origen was used to discredit him.
Clerical continence in Christianity
First century Some of the earliest Christian leaders were married men. The mention in Mark 1:30, Luke 4:38, and Matthew 8:14–15 of Peter's mother-in-law indicates that he had at some time been married (Matthew 8:14–15: "when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.") According to Clement of Alexandria, "Peter and Philip begat children",https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm Clements, Stromata (book III) / Eusebius, Church History (Book III) and Peter's wife suffered martyrdom.Stromata, III, vi, ed. Dindorf, II, 276
On the other hand, in Luke 18:28–30, Jesus responds to Peter's statement that he and the other disciples had left all and followed him by saying "there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive back an overabundant return in this present age and eternal life in the age to come".Michael E. Giesler, Celibacy in the First Two CenturiesMichael F. Hull, Responding to Objections to Priestly CelibacyPope John Paul II, General Audience 14 July 1993
In 1 Corinthians 7:8, Paul the Apostle indicates that he was unmarried: either single or a widower.The Story of the Early Church In 1 Corinthians 9:5, he contrasts his situation with that of the other apostles, including Peter, who were accompanied by believing wives. Paul, says Laurent Cleenewerck, a priest of the Orthodox Church in America and professor of theology at Euclid University, clearly favored celibacy, which he understood as "a gift".Orthodox Answers (an Eastern Orthodox website): "Clerical Celibacy" Laurent Cleenewerck, His Broken Body (Euclid University Consortium Press 2008 ), p. 372 Cleenewerck supports this statement by quoting 1 Corinthians 7:5–8:
In the same chapter Paul, who wrote that a pastor is to be "the husband of one wife", forbids abstinence of marital relations except "for a set time" and states that celibacy is a gift.
A used in favour of sacerdotal celibacy is 1 Corinthians 7:32–33 ("The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife") and a used against sacerdotal celibacy is the statement in 1 Timothy 3:2–4 that a bishop should be "the husband of one wife" and "one who ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection".
One interpretation of "the husband of one wife" is that the man to be ordained could not have been married more than once and that perfect continence, total abstinence, was expected from him starting on the day of his ordination.Celibacy in the Early Church: The Beginnings of Obligatory Continence for Clerics in East and West, Stefan Heid, trans. Michael J. Miller. Roman Cholij, Priestly celibacy in patristics and in the history of the Church.BONIVENTO, Cesare. Priestly Celibacy. Ecclesiastical Institution or Apostolic Tradition? ; Thomas McGovern,Priestly Celibacy Today; Cochini, Christian, The Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy, Ignatius Press (October 1990). , .Celibacy in the Early Church: The Beginnings of Obligatory Continence for Clerics in East and West, Stefan Heid, p. 15; Anthony Zimmerman, Celibacy Dates Back to the Apostles Usually these also conclude that, because of the exclusion of sexual relations, the members of the clergy were not entitled to marry after ordination.
Another interpretation of "the husband of one wife" was a prohibition of polygamy, which was not uncommon in the Old Testament (King David and King Solomon, for example, were polygamists).
On the other hand, George T. Dennis SJ of Catholic University of America says: "There is simply no clear evidence of a general tradition or practice, much less of an obligation, of priestly celibacy-continence before the beginning of the fourth century."Dennis, George T. SJ on Cochini, The Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy (book review), Theological Studies, 52:4 (1991:Dec.) p.738 Peter Fink SJ agrees, saying that underlying premises used in the book, Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy, "would not stand up so comfortably to historical scrutiny"."Books about the priesthood", America. New York: July 4, 1992. vol 167, issue 1, pg.17, 3pgs. Dennis says this book provides no evidence that celibacy had apostolic origins.
Similarly, Philippe Delhaye wrote: "During the first three or four centuries, no law was promulgated prohibiting clerical marriage. Celibacy was a matter of choice for bishops, priests, and deacons.[...] The apostolic constitutions () excommunicated a priest or bishop who left his wife 'under pretense of piety' ( 1:51)."Philippe Delhaye, "Celibacy, Clerical, History of" in New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol 3, Catholic University of America: Washington, D.C. 1967 p.370
However, the 19th-century Protestant historian Philip Schaff evidences that by the early 4th century, priestly celibacy-continence was not a novelty, stating that all marriages contracted by clerics in Holy Orders were declared null and void in 530 by Emperor Justinian I, who also declared the children of such marriages illegitimate.Excursus on the Marriage of the Clergy
Catholic author Greg Dues states that:
Second to third centuries