Armenian Church Can Improve by Changing Marriage Rules for Priests

This solution also addresses the common complaint of the American-Armenian parishioner that the Catholicos is out of touch with the problems of the average churchgoer. This is seen as a symptom of his duties, which require the Catholicos to travel frequently to different parishes and spend minimal time with individual parishioners. By allowing parish priests to become bishops, archbishops and Catholicoses, we are more likely to have a Hayr Soorp who has the background necessary to be a man of the people and work on their behalf.

There are in fact no historical or religious regulations that support our current delineations of priesthood. As Ormanian states, “The married priest may conduct the duties of a vicariate in the event of a vacancy, but he is not allowed to be a candidate for the doctorate, nor for the dignity of the episcopate unless he enters the ranks of the celibate clergy after widowerhood. Though this restriction has in our time acquired the force of law, it is altogether unsupported by canonical weight or old-established authority” (Ormanian 142). He gives examples of how historically, this strict division did not exist, “formerly the bishops were recruited from among the archpriests” (Ormanian 142). This provides a historical precedent for my proposed alteration to clergy mobility. Ormanian bluntly continues, “There is nothing, therefore, to prevent the present custom, prevalent though it be, from being superseded by the usages of the primitive Church, and access to the high ecclesiastical dignities being thrown open to the married clergy,” even going so far to provide benefits of this switch, opining, “such a course would be highly beneficial to the nation for the married clergy would escape from a position of inferiority which is in no way justified… By enlarging the field for promotion, the cultured portion of the nation would no longer hesitate to enter the ranks of the married clergy.”

Another example of a bishop, and later Catholicos, who did not follow our current expectations of high-ranking clergy and whose historical and positive impact on the church was replicated by his offspring is St. Gregory the Enlightener. One of the main reasons people don’t want priests with wives or children rising to Hayr Soorp roles is because it is perceived that they will be unable to give their full attention to either their family or the church. This was not the case with St. Gregory. He was able to raise two sons while also raising Armenia to be the first Christian nation as its first Catholicos. The Catholicos’ first son, Aristakes, later became the head of the Armenian Church and represented it at the council of Nicea, according to the histories of the historian Agathangelos. After Aristakes died, he was succeeded as Catholicos by his brother, Vrtanes. Vrtanes was also married and had children after becoming Catholicos, another example of effective leadership without celibacy. Vrtanes’ sons went on to serve the church, with his younger son, Yusik, becoming Catholicos (Vemkar).

The church is not an unchanging institution, as Ormanian states, “In the essentially democratic constitution of the Armenian Church… her clergy do not form a separate class. The nation and the Church are one and the same thing.”

The clergy members of the Armenian church are pillars of our communities. It is essential that they remain connected to the individual parishes they serve. Instituting clerical mobility within the church’s leadership is one way to ensure this continued connection. The historical precedent for this type of system was successful and there are no biblical or religious laws forbidding such a change. The time is now for us to build better relationships across our Armenian church community.

(Taleen Postian is a writer and student at Villanova University studying political science and art history. She writes about the Armenian art world. She is a former intern at the Armenian Mirror-Spectator. You can reach her at taleen.postian@gmail.com.)