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Clerical marriage is the practice of allowing clergy (those who have already been ordained) to marry. It is a practice that must not to be confused with that of allowing married persons to become clergy. Clerical marriage is admitted in Protestantism, Anglicanism, some Independent Catholic Churches (not in communion with Rome), Judaism, Islam, and the Japanese sects of Buddhism. The Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox churches, while allowing married men to be ordained, have historically excluded clerical marriage after ordination. Their parish priests are most often married, having been married before becoming ordained as priests — although they can get married while still attending the seminary.〔http://www.kurskroot.com/orthodox_priests.html〕 The Roman Catholic Church, in sharp contrast to others, not only forbids clerical marriage, it normally does not allow married men to be ordained either (though a very few exceptions are granted in its Western form and a few more exceptions in the Eastern Catholic Churches). ==History== There is no dispute that at least some of the apostles were married or had been married: a mother-in-law of Peter is mentioned in the account in , , of the beginning of Jesus' ministry. says: "an overseer (Greek ἐπίσκοπος) must be ... the husband of one wife". This has been interpreted in various ways, including that the overseer was not allowed to remarry even if his wife died.〔While rejecting this interpretation, Baptist scholar Benjamin L. Merkle considers it a possible interpretation, one that has several strengths and fits in with the value that the early church attached to celibacy after the divorce or death of a spouse ((Benjamin L. Merkle, ''40 Questions about Elders and Deacons'' (Kregel 2008 ISBN 978-0-8254-3364-1), 126). )〕 Some scholars hold that a tradition of clerical ''continence'' existed in early Christianity, whereby married men who became priests were expected to abstain from sexual relations with their wives.〔Roman Cholij, (''Priestly Celibacy in Patristics and in the History of the Church'' ).〕〔Cesare Bonivento, (''Priestly Celibacy — Ecclesiastical Institution or Apostolic Tradition?'' ); Thomas McGovern,(''Priestly Celibacy Today'' ); Alfons Stickler, (''The Case for Clerical Celibacy: Its Historical Development and Theological Foundations'' ); Anthony Zimmerman, (''Celibacy Dates Back to the Apostles'' )〕 In this view, the early Church did not consider legitimate marriage by those who were already priests. The Council of Elvira, a local synod held in Hispania Baetica (part of modern Andalusia) in 306, before Constantine had legitimized Christianity, made it an explicit law that bishops and other clergy should not have sexual relations with their wives. The church canons known as the Ecclesiastical Canons of the Holy Apostles, which appear to have been composed in Syria or Egypt slightly earlier have also been interpreted as imposing a similar obligation.〔(Stefan Heid, ''Celibacy in the Early Church'' (Ignatius Press 2004 ISBN 978-0-89870-800-4), p. 105 )〕 Evidence for the view that continence was expected of clergy in the early Church is given by the Protestant historian Philip Schaff, who points out that all marriages contracted by clerics in Holy Orders were declared null and void in 530 by Emperor Justinian I, who also declared the children of such marriages illegitimate.〔(Excursus on the Marriage of the Clergy )〕 Schaff also quotes the account that "In the Fifth and Sixth Centuries the law of the celibate was observed by all the Churches of the West, thanks to the Councils and to the Popes. In the Seventh and down to the end of the Tenth Century, as a matter of fact the law of celibacy was little observed in a great part of the Western Church, but as a matter of law the Roman Pontiffs and the Councils were constant in their proclamation of its obligation." This report is confirmed by others too. "Despite six hundred years of decrees, canons, and increasingly harsh penalties, the Latin clergy still did, more or less illegally, what their Greek counterparts were encouraged to do by law—they lived with their wives and raised families. In practice, ordination was not an impediment to marriage; therefore some priests did marry even after ordination."〔 Barstow, Anne Llewellyn. Married Priests and the Reforming Papacy. NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1982, p. 45〕 "The tenth century is claimed to be the high point of clerical marriage in the Latin communion. Most rural priests were married and many urban clergy and bishops had wives and children."〔 Lea, Henry C. History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church. Philadelphia: University Books. 1966, pp. 118, 126.〕 Then at the Second Lateran Council of 1139 the Roman Church declared that Holy Orders were not merely a prohibitive but a diriment canonical impediment to marriage, therefore making a marriage by priests invalid and not merely forbidden.〔New Catholic Encyclopedia, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. 1967, p366〕〔(Herbert Thurston, "Celibacy of the Clergy" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' 1908 )〕 Here is must be pointed out that 1054 is the year of the great East-West Schism between the Church of Rome and the four Apostolic sees of the Orthodox Communion (Constantinople, Alexandria Egypt, Antioch Syria, and Jerusalem). As stated above, the majority of Roman Church Priests at that time were married. Therefore, when some churches that followed western rites and traditions were brought back into communion with the Orthodox Churches beginning in the 20th century, their right to have married clergy, provided they were married before ordainment, was restored. The practice of clerical marriage was initiated in the West by the followers of Martin Luther, who himself, a former priest and monk, married Katharina von Bora, a former nun, in 1525. It has not been introduced in the East. In the Church of England, however, the Catholic tradition of clerical celibacy continued after the Break with Rome. Under King Henry VIII, the 6 Articles prohibited the marriage of clergy and this continued until the Articles were repealed by Edward VI in 1547, thus opening the way for Anglican priests to marry for the first time.〔.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「clerical marriage」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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