§ 71. D) Qualities Concerning Good Name

Qualities of this kind are not conditioned by the origin of the family from which a person descends, but concern the person himself—namely, that no one can reproach him with anything in his domestic or social life that could cast a shadow of suspicion on his good name. In the Old Testament Church, anyone was considered unworthy of priestly service who did not descend from a particular, appointed tribe and family;[1] in the New Testament Church the canons forbid regard to this, and instead ordain that attention be given to the personal qualities of those who wish to enter the clergy.[2] In view of this, the canons permit the reception into the clergy even of those born of an unlawful union, provided only that they are worthy of the priestly rank and possess all the other conditions required for it.[3]

As regards domestic life, the apostles themselves commanded that only those be deemed worthy of ordination whose conduct in domestic life is exemplary,[4] and in this respect the canons pay their chief attention to the marriage of the candidate for the priesthood, forbidding the reception into the clergy of those: a) who have married twice;[5] b) who have taken to wife a widow, or a woman divorced from her first husband;[6] c) who live in concubinage;[7] d) who have entered marriage within a forbidden degree of kinship;[8] e) who have a wife who is an adulteress;[9] f) who have taken a harlot, or a woman who performed on the stage, or one who by her station could not freely enter marriage;[6] g) who have taken a non-Orthodox wife;[10] and in general, h) who have entered an irregular marriage.[11] Speaking of the marriage of priests, the canons are so strict that they ordain the deposition of any priest who has entered a marriage contrary to the prescriptions on priestly marriage, and in general contrary to the prescriptions of Christian marriage; and if someone has, through ignorance, entered such a marriage, the canons permit him to bear only the name of priest, but he may perform nothing priestly.[12]

Having established precise prescriptions regarding priestly marriage, the canons do not require unconditionally that everyone must marry before ordination, but leave it to those concerned to choose whether to marry or not.[13] In this respect the Orthodox Church holds one fixed rule: namely, that whoever wishes, as a priest, to live in marriage must marry before ordination; but whoever wishes to live in celibacy must declare that decision before ordination, and afterward, under no circumstances, may marry. To live, then, in marriage or outside marriage, is left to the priest’s own will, save that he is bound to declare it before ordination, and, as a priest, must thereafter sacredly keep to it: so that if he entered the order married, he may not afterward drive away his wife,[14] and if he entered unmarried, he may not afterward marry[15] (§76, 3). An exception to this general rule is the episcopal degree. Down to the second half of the 7th century bishops too could be married; then two canons were issued at the Council in Trullo, by which a bishop may not live with a wife once he has become bishop, but must first, by mutual agreement, separate from her, and she must live apart from the bishop’s residence, while he must see to her maintenance.[16] From that time marriage began to be regarded as an impediment to episcopal ordination, although even down to the 12th century there were still bishops living together with their wives.[17] After that it ceased entirely, and in the course of time it became the custom to appoint bishops from among monks, although no canon exists on the matter.[18]

Besides domestic life, the canons require that a candidate for the priesthood enjoy a good name also in social life, that is, that he be free from all that could tarnish that good name. For this reason it is forbidden to receive into the clergy: a) one who has apostatized from the Christian faith or from the Orthodox Church,[19] b) one who practices sorcery and believes in charms,[20] c) one who wishes to obtain rank by bribery,[21] d) one who has performed on the stage,[22] e) one who has committed murder, whether voluntary or involuntary,[23] f) one who has appropriated and seized what belongs to another,[24] g) one who is a usurer,[25] h) a perjurer,[26] i) one who has mutilated himself,[27] j) a fornicator and adulterer,[28] and, in general, k) one who has defiled himself by any bodily sin to the scandal of others.[29]