Married people can become priests, priests can not marry. An essential part of marriage is the marital act of which priests voluntarily abstain. The marital act is necessary to consecrate a marriage, thus why priests do not marry. Due to the difficulty of abstaining with a spouse, and that we are instructed to not withhold ourselves from our spouse except out of necessity, the Church preferentially ordained unmarried men.

Lmao, everyone is free to marry

Also marriage isn't a food

We just forbid them to be priests then

Right, so abstaining from pork is a sin.

Unless you're allergic to it. But abstaining for spiritual reasons and not fasting is a sin.

Priests act in persona christi capitas

@Iakovos priests were married up until the middle ages

Good let's go back to that please

As I've explained to you before, we cannot afford them

Lmao as I have said, that was the case when someone had a former marriage

It doesn't matter

Their salary is pathetic

And he was expected to abandon conjugal rights

It does matter

1 Timothy 4:1-4

**1 Timothy 4:1-4 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)**

```Dust
False Asceticism

<1> Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, <2> through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. <3> They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. <4> For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving; ```

Christ didn't marry

You can see up there what Jerome, Father of the Church, said

Marriage demands children and brings responsibility. Which a priest cannot afford. Nor can a bishop.

@Mozalbete ⳩ these were instructions from Paul (ordained) to Timothy (also ordained) on how to go about selecting people to ordain as Bishops from the population of priests (already ordained).

Also more than almost all others the priest must be in this world without being of the world

The context of chapter 4 1-4 refers to bishops

Marriage forces one to be of the world for the sake of their family

Not guidelines for pulling randoms out of the crowd.

That verse seems more to predict the Cathar heresy

1 Timothy 3:1-16

1 Timothy 4:1-4

**1 Timothy 3 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)**

```Dust
Qualifications of Bishops / Qualifications of Deacons / The Mystery of Our Religion

<1> The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. <2> Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, <3> not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. <4> He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way— <5> for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God's church? <6> He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. <7> Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil. <8> Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; <9> they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. <10> And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. <11> Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. <12> Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well; <13> for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. <14> I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, <15> if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. <16> Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory. ```

**1 Timothy 4:1-4 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)**

```Dust
False Asceticism

<1> Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, <2> through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. <3> They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. <4> For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving; ```

@OrthoBro and considering the age of Christianity at that time, where do you think those priests came from?

As I have said, it is perfectly normal that some ordianed bishop had a precious marriage

@Iakovos It doesn't help your case that you keep quoting the same verses, makes you look desperate

Remus would you mind not repeating the same verse over and over

Perhaps if you read it and quit justifying your traditions of men.

We're not going to help you if you keep being insulting and rude.

I'm losing my patience with you also.

I would rather say that you follow a tradition of men

Which is why what I say is perfectly consistent with the earliest Church

All Protestants are traditions of men

So is forbidding bishops to marry

Some bishops were even brought to courts over accusations of returning to theirwives and having children with them

A bishop could have had a previous marriage