Clerical marriage

Common card · No. 355252

Clerical marriage is the practice of allowing Christian clergy (those who have already been ordained) to marry. This practice is distinct from allowing married persons to become clergy. Clerical marriage is admitted among Protestants, including both Lutherans and Anglicans. Many Eastern Churches (Assyrian Church of the East, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic), have married priests, i.e. they allow married men to be ordained, but they do not allow clerical marriage after ordination. Eastern Lutheran clergy are permitted to marry after being ordained, and married Eastern Lutherans are eligible to become clergy. Within the lands of the Eastern Christendom, priests' children often became priests and marry within their social group, establishing a tightly knit hereditary caste among some Eastern Christian communities. The Latin Catholic Church as a rule requires clerical celibacy for the priesthood since the Gregorian Reform in the late 11th century under the influence...

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