242 THERD PERIOD. A.D. 311-500.
temporal ]:)ri]ice exerted an important influence, iu spite of thfi frequent protest of the cliurcli.
Even tlie eleetion of pope, after the downfall of the West Roman empire, came largely under control of the secular authorities of Rome; iirst, of the Ostrogotliic kings; tlien, of the exarchs of Ravenna in the name of the Byzantine emperor ; and, after Charlemagne, of the emperor of Germany ; till, in 1059, through the influence of Ilildebrand (afterward Gregory VIL), it was lodged exclusively with the college of cardinals, ■which was filled by the pope himself. Yet the papal absolutism of the middle age, like the modern Napoleonic military despotism in the state, found it well, under favorable prospects, to enlist the democratic principle for the advancement of its own interests.
§ 50. Marriage and Celibacy of the Clergy.
The progress and influence of monasticism, the general exaltation of the ascetic life above the social, and of celibacy above the married state, together with the increasing sharpness of the distinction between clergy and laity, all tended power fully toward tlie celibacy of the clergy. What the apostle Paul, expressl}-^ discriminating a divine command from a human counsel, left to each one's choice, and advised, iu view uf the oppressed condition of the Christians in the apostolic age, as a safer and less anxious state only for those who felt called to it by a special gift of grace, now, though the stress of circumstances was past, was made, at least in the Latin church, an inexorable law. What had been a voluntary, and therefore an honorable exception, now became the rule, and the former rule became the exception. Connubial intercourse appeared incompatible with the dignity and purity of the priestly ofiice and of priestly functions, especially with the service of the altar. The clergy, as the model order, c(mld not remain below the moral ideal of monasticism, extolled by all the fathers of the church, and must exhibit the same unconditional and undivided devotion to the church within the bosom of society, which monasticism exhibited without it. While placed by
§ 50. MAJRKIAGE AND CELIBACT OF THE CLERGY. 243
tlicir calling in unavoidable contact with tlie world, tliej must vie with the monks at least in the virtue of sexual purity, and thereby increase their influence over the people. Moreover, the celibate life secured, to the clergy greater independence toward the state and civil society, and thus favored the interests of the hierarchy. But, on the other hand, it estranged them more and more from the sympathies and domestic relations of the people, and tempted them to the illicit indulgence of appetite, which, perhaps, did more injury to the cause of Christiau morality and to the true influence of the clergy, than the advantage of forced celibacy could compensate.
In the practice of clerical celibacy, however, the Greek and the Latin churches diverged in the fourth century, and are to this day divided. The Greek churcli stopped halfway, and limited the injunction of celibacy to the higher clergy, who were accordingly chosen generally from the monasteries or from the ranks of widower-presbyters ; while tlie Latin church extended the law to the lower clergy, and at the sanae time carried forw^ard tlie hierarchical principle to absolute papacy. The Greek church differs from the Latin, not by any higher standard of marriage, but only by a closer adherence to earlier usage and by less consistent application of the ascetic principle. It is in theory as remote from the evangelical Protestant church as the Latin is, and approaches it only in practice. It sets virginity far above marriage, and regards marriage only in its aspect of negative utility. In the single marriage of a priest it sees in a measure a necessary evil, at best only a conditional good, a wholesome concession to the flesh for the prevention of immorality,' and requires of its highest oflice bearers total abstinence from all matrimonial intercourse. It wavers, therefore, between a partial permission and a partial condemnation of priestly marriage.
In the East, one marriage was always allowed to the clergy, and at first even to bishops, and celibacy was left optional, Yet certain restrictions were early introduced, such as the prohibition of maiTiage after ordination (except in deacons and Bubdeacons), as well as of second marriage after baptism ; the
' 1 Cor. vii. 9.