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Joined: May 2006
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Originally posted by Orest: On the subject of the priesthood and celibacy, when my wife and I were on holiday in Crete a few years back, we got talking to a cafe owner whose father was an Orthodox priest. The son told us that married priests are buried face down to show they were earthbound, while unmarried priests are buried face up.
This certainly seems to indicate a higher regard for celibacy than marriage
I have been to a lot of clerical funerals in both the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox, including family members; I can verify this is not a Slavic tradition. No, it was not about Latinisation. It was in the context of a fall in vocations to the Orthodox priesthood which our friend ascribed in part to the ban on remarriage for clergy. I found it very odd myself, but thought that the son of a priest would know what he was talking about. From a different source I would have dismisssed it completely.
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Joined: Oct 2004
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It seems in all of these discussions, the most important reason for celibacy in the Latin Church is not mentioned. It is money!  I believe celibacy was imposed on the priests in the West because the money that was given to the priest for performing his services, went to his children rather than the Church. In our Orthodox Church, the tradition of giving personal gifts continues with people from Greece...and in consequence, our bishops and Archbishops can become quite wealthy. Since the money given to them are personal gifts, they do not necessarily have to give them to the Church when they die.  Now before anyone becomes shocked, they must realize that our welfare system is quite a new innovation. At one time, the poor and needy were dependent on their priests and bishops for help. So in consequence, those priests and bishops were required to make quite affluent friendships. :rolleyes: Today the priests are not paid by individuals for their services, but financially supporting priests with families can be very expensive for any church.  Zenovia
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Joined: Oct 2004
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Dear Orest you said: On the subject of the priesthood and celibacy, when my wife and I were on holiday in Crete a few years back, we got talking to a cafe owner whose father was an Orthodox priest. The son told us that married priests are buried face down to show they were earthbound, while unmarried priests are buried face up.
This certainly seems to indicate a higher regard for celibacy than marriage I say: There is a higher regard for celibacy in the Orthodox Church, otherwise our bishops would be married. Now originally, the bishops were dragged fighting and kicking out of the monasteries. A nice custom! I wish we would go back to it. Bishop Athanasius of Cyprus, which is the saintly Bishop Maximus of Mount Athos in the books by Kyriakos Markides, is one of the two favored candidates for Archbishop in Cyprus. The election is a long process and is still going on. I hope and pray he wins.  Zenovia
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Joined: Sep 2006
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Dear Zenovia, Just to clarify, I did not make the comment about priests in Crete & their burial comments. I was merely, commenting of someone else's quote. Here is my comment: That is very strange. It that supposed to be an indication of Latinization by the hordes of Wsterners going through Crete? I find this hard to believe.
I have been to a lot of clerical funerals in both the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox, including family members; I can verify this is not a Slavic tradition. Also further to your comments, it should be noted that many bishops in the Slavic tradition were former widowers. Many of us think that is why they were such terrific bishops; they brought years of experience as parish priests, their own experience of amrried life and children all added to their experience in the monastery after their wives died. Both married priests and celibate hieromonks are valued in the Orthodox Church. This is why I thought the original quote about married priests being buried face down in Crete questionable.
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