Episode 7: Celibacy: From the Apostles to Lateran II Bede There, Done That

*Image Credit: *"Marriage," Detail from a 14th century manuscript originating in Catalonia, Spain, available online from the British Library, Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts. (Public Domain)


Music Credit: *Special Thank You to Paul Spring for allowing us to use his song "Itasca" from the album Borderline EP (2014)!


Episode 7: Celibacy - Summary:


In this episode we discussed the history of celibacy in the Church, from Jewish roots in 1st century Palestine up to the Second Lateran Council in the high middle ages.


Celibacy in some form seems to exist in the apostolic and early church. So too did the ordination of married men. The debates are what the situation looked like: was celibacy required for all priests after ordination, even married ones? Did married priests separate from their wives, live Josephite marriage with them, or continue to have sexual relations with them? How did it come to the point that different parts of the Church developed different practices?


The Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient historians show that some members of the Jewish sect known as the Essenes practiced celibacy. The Levitical priesthood also abstained from sexual relations with their wives during their service in the temple. The New Testament must be understood in this context, where sexual continence and even a more monastic form of celibate life were already known.


As we stated in the episode, we tried to carefully limit our theological discussion. But for your reference, here are some of the key Bible passages to be aware of:
• 1 Samuel 21:4-5- David and his men eat the bread of the presence, having assured Ahimelek the priest that they have "kept themselves from women."
• Luke 4:38-39 - Jesus heals Simon Peter's mother in law. This episode indicates Peter was married at some point, but it is unknown if he was a widower or still married.
• Matthew 19:12 - "For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others--and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
• Matthew 19:29 - "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life."
• Philippians 4:3 - Paul asks his "yoke mate," to help resolve a conflict between some Christian women named in the letter to the Philippians. Some see this as a reference to Paul's wife.
• 1 Corinthians 7:8 - "Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion."
• 1 Timothy 4:3 - Paul tells Timothy that prohibiting people from getting married is a sign of false teachers.
• 1 Timothy 3:1-2 - Paul tells Timothy that overseers (bishops) should be, "husband of one wife." Some church fathers see this as a negative criteria; in other words, bishops must not be husband of more than one wife, since remarrying may have suggested a lack of sexual self-discipline in their culture.


Celibacy in the early Church seems to have been connected with the Eucharistic celebration, not the ascetic ideals of monasticism which emerged a little later. This being the case, the practice may ultimately be traceable back to the Jewish roots of Christianity and is not as likely to be derived from sects that were against marriage or despised the body. Church fathers drew parallels between the Old Testament high priests, priests and Levites, and the bishops, presbyters, and deacons of the New Testament.


That said, we have to largely infer the practice of the early church in the 2nd and 3rd centuries indirectly. Based on the statements of local councils in the 4th century, as Jesuit scholar Christian Cochini explains, it seems that the likely expected practice was for priests t