The historical evolution of clerical marriage
During the Church's three first centuries, no law, whether in the East or the West, forbade priests to marry or to abstain from conjugal relations. Sacerdotal celibacy was a matter of choice for bishops, priests and deacons. Then, separate regions of the Roman Empire witnessed different evolutions.
In the Western Roman Empire, the authors of Canon 33 of the Synod of Elvira[1] , held in Spain (ca. 305) sexual abstinence of bishops, priests and deacons . In 1123, First Lateran Council[2] forbade priests to marry. The canons of the Second Lateran Council[3] (1139) forbid attending married priests' mass and invalidate the marriage of clerics it further orders penance for those found in such relationships. Council of Trent [4] (1545-1563) reasserted clerical celibacy and the superiority of virginity over matrimony . This last step closed the debate on priestly matrimony in the Latin Church. Under its authority, clergy are not allowed to marry or to live in a conjugal relationship under any circumstances.
In the Eastern Roman Empire, later the Byzantine Empire, a different discipline prevailed. The Eastern Churches were indeed well aware of the promotion of sexual abstinence for the clergy. However a rift with the Western church arose at the concile in Trullo[5] held in Constantinople in 691. This council's fathers affirmed, contrary to the customs gradually imposed in the West, the estate of a married priesthood and officially admitted the ordination of married men. As against that, for those unmarried at ordination, it would not be possible to marry thereafter. A married priest would be fully competent to perform all his duties but he could not rise to be a bishop, a charge to which only monks and celibate priests could accede. Furthermore Eastern Church priests, whether Orthodox or Catholics may not re-marry when widowed.
This discipline still prevails in most Orthodox and Catholic churches (say of Byzantine, Syriac or Maronite rite) notably in Lebanon, but also in Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Ethiopia, India, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and applies in the new ordinariate created by Pope Benedict XVI to welcome Anglicans in the Catholic Church. In Lebanon, by way of an example, 42.7% des prêtres diocésains sont mariés, that is 361 out of 854 Maronite priests, according to the survey conducted in December 2015 in Lebanon's 13 Maronite dioceses for the purpose of this study. However the ratio varies considerably from one diocese to the next: in Beirut Diocese, for instance, it falls to 27.6% whereas in Tripoli the largest town in Northern Lebanon, it rises to 75%
During the Eighth General Congregation of the Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of 7 October 2005, presided over by Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez in the presence of the Pope and of 245 Synod Fathers, Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir[6] gave an account of the situation of married priests in the Maronite Church. He indicates that married priests face considerable difficulties: “... It must be recognized that if admitting married men resolves one problem, it creates others just as serious. A married priest has the duty to look after his wife and family, ensuring his children receive a good education and overseeing their entry into society.”
What is expected of a priest and his role in the Church are fairly well known. But what of the role of a wife? Does she have particular duties at her husband's side or in the church? What is the life of a priest's wife like? Does the priest, full time God's servant, dispenser of sacraments, preacher, example to his flock, spiritual advisor to his parishioners, have any time left to attend to his wife and children? And is she able to fulfil her role by her husband as she sees fit? Or does her husband's ministry carry rules of life for her?
