73. Sint. Vlastara, K,23 (Af. Sint., VI,332-334).

Rule 26. We command that of those who have entered the clergy without celibacy, those who wish to marry shall be only readers and singers

(Ap. 5:51; IV Ecumenical Synod. 14; Trul. 3, 6, 13, 30; Anc. 10; Neokes. 1; Carth. 16; Basil Vel. 69).

This canon is closely connected with a similar prescription in the Apostolic Decrees (VI, 17). It distinguishes married priests from unmarried ones, and with regard to the latter it prescribes that they should not marry if they entered the clergy unmarried, but only allows readers and singers to marry freely, if they wish. This is Ap. the canon was then literally repeated at the Council of Trullo (6 canons), and it was established that, except for readers and singers, no subdeacon, deacon or presbyter dared to enter into a marriage relationship after his ordination; he who does this must be deposed from the priestly rank. Whoever wishes to enter the clergy and have a spouse must marry even before he is ordained a subdeacon.

Although marriage is not something unclean that offends the spiritual dignity (Ap. 5 and 51), nevertheless, whoever before marriage, in virginity, was united with Christ and His Church in the sacrament of priesthood, it would be strange and completely unseemly for him to bind himself again with close ties with the world after that. It is quite another matter to marry before ordination, when there is still no mysterious bond that binds the clergyman to the altar by means of Divine grace; Quite different is also the marriage of clergymen who have not received the sacrament of the priesthood, as a result of which their marriage is less contrary to the essence and significance of their service in the Church [74].

This Apostolic Canon and the above-mentioned Trullo Canon clearly prove that according to the canonical prescriptions of the Orthodox Church, a lay priest (since there could be no question of monks at the time of the publication of this canon and other Apostolic canons) can be unmarried, i.e. one who has never been married can also become a lay priest. This had been a strict law for the Church for fourteen centuries, and it never occurred to anyone to suppose that every lay priest had to be married. At that time, for historical reasons, this latter opinion began to spread, and by tradition it has come down to us in the form of a positive law. This opinion is false and quite arbitrary, as a result of which we have written a special historical-canonical study on this question, which was published in due time [75], in which we prove, it seems to us, comprehensively, that a lay priest, without the need to accept monasticism, can never be married, if only he provides the Church with a sufficient guarantee that he will follow the existing ecclesiastical prescriptions. and that in his life he will behave as befits a servant of the Divine altar.

Notes:

74. Archim. John, upom. cit., I, 167-168.

75. See. Zadrsky theologian. journal "Truth", I, 156 et al.

Rule 27. We command a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, who beats faithful sinners, or unbelievers who have offended them, and through this to frighten those who wish to be expelled from the holy order. For the Lord did not teach us this: on the contrary, when He Himself was smitten, He did not strike, we reproached, He did not reproach one another, suffering and threatening (1 Peter 2:23)

(Dvukr. 9).

This canon contains in the form of a law the prescription of the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures of the New Testament regarding the fact that a clergyman does not dare to beat anyone (Matt. 5:39; 1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 1:7), and the one who does this must be deposed from the priestly rank. This canon was repeated by the Council of Constantinople, in the Church of the Holy Apostles, in 861, and in the interpretation of Canon 9 of this Council, as much as is necessary, about this vice, into which a clergyman can fall.

Rule 28. If anyone, bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, who has been righteously deposed for obvious faults, dares to touch the ministry once entrusted to him, let him be completely cut off from the church

(I Ecumenical 5; II Ecumenical. 6; IV Ecumenical Synod. 29; Serdic. 14; Antiochus. 4, 12, 15; Carth. 29, 65; Basil Vel. 88).