On the Singleness of Clerics

Contents

Reading pages: 1–14 · 15–28 · 29–46

1. 1The author, a bishop absent from his clergy, writes because some clerics have disgraced themselves by living with women, and warns the negligent with Prov 1:24–31.
2. 2The author urges his clergy to learn from others' falls and not to trust that chastity can survive when men and women live together, any more than one can carry fire without being burned.
3. 3In the battle against the allurements of women, prudent fear and flight, not confident faith, bring victory; the clergy must separate themselves from women.
4. 4Living with a woman exposes a cleric to constant temptation, since death entered through a woman; many bishops, clergy, and confessors have been shipwrecked this way.
5. 5Though clerics see others fall, they presume on their own merit and strength, ignoring Christ's warning that such falls are examples for all.
6. 6A cleric's living with a woman bound to him by no marriage is more dangerous than marriage itself, which Paul says divides the mind; such companionship breeds only conflict and temptation.
7. 7A cleric who refuses marriage but lives with a woman shows hidden desire, like one who abstains from wine but keeps it about him; even if chaste, he brings scandal and blasphemy on the faith.
8. 8Clergy must avoid giving scandal to unbelievers and the weak; like the aged Eleazar, who refused even to pretend to break the Law lest the young be misled, they must set a blameless example.
9. 9No cleric should seek the challenge of living with a woman to prove his chastity; his own flesh is enough to fight, and Scripture commends bearing the yoke alone.
10. 10Paul's “bear one another's burdens” does not license cohabitation; Christ himself left celibacy to those to whom it is given, and the daily intimacies of a shared household inflame desire.
11. 11Even a steadfast cleric endangers the women who live with him and gives occasion of sin to others; Paul's rule of not offending the weak and Christ's woe on those who cause offense forbid it.
12. 12Paul's saying that each will bear his own load means that a cleric who takes a woman into his house becomes accountable for her, like one who keeps another's goods carelessly.
13. 13The objection that men and women should not then even worship together is heretical sophistry; women have their proper places with family and in church, but not in a cleric's house.
14. 14In the church's assembly, where the Spirit rules and all are equal in Christ, men and women may rightly worship together, unlike the private cares of a shared household.
15. 15If temptation can arise even in church, where God's command gathers and protects us, how much more in a private household, which God's command forbids.
16. 16Only what God commands is just; God commands men and women to worship together but forbids clergy and consecrated virgins to share a dwelling, which kindles sin even where nothing shameful occurs.
17. 17Pastoral visits to women are commanded but must be conducted with severity and propriety; holiness requires that one's acts match one's vows completely.
18. 18Keeping a woman in one's house to master temptation is like locking a thief in with treasure; every opening must be closed to the devil.
19. 19The devil lures clergy into cohabitation with women through apparent usefulness and calm, nursing their friendship until he can destroy both at once in an unlawful love.
20. 20The author's opponents cite Elijah and the widow, the apostles' women companions, John and Mary, and the women who served Jesus; he calls this the sophistry of those who seek excuses for sin.
21. 21Clerics who cite the apostles to justify keeping women do not imitate their poverty, fasting, and sufferings, and presume to be their equals, against Christ's humility.
22. 22Paul, though he labored more than all, refused to take a woman companion lest he fall into temptation; clerics must not overrate their strength, since each has his own gift.
23. 23Those who appeal to the saints should rather fear the example of the adulterous elders of Susanna; misusing the stories of Scripture to excuse sin defames the saints.
24. 24Having refuted his opponents, the author turns to instruct them gently, as Paul commands, in hope of their repentance.
25. 25Christ and the apostles accepted women's service only briefly and for teaching, to forestall heretics who condemn marriage, not to license cohabitation.
26. 26The examples cited do not support cohabitation: the women with Jesus served openly and modestly, the disciples marveled that he spoke with a woman, Mary was uniquely the Lord's mother, and Elijah's stay with the widow was a famine-time miracle.
27. 27The saints' dealings with women were chaste and give no refuge to those who abuse their example; Paul commands the church to avoid such men.
28. 28Even angels fell through women; clerics who cannot bear separation from women are ruled by the insatiable lust of the eyes, which Scripture condemns.
29. 29Clerics who justify cohabitation as spiritual love counterfeit true love, which harms no one and obeys God's commands, while theirs defames the church's virgins.
30. 30Families and even spouses separate for travel and duty, yet clergy refuse to part from unrelated women, falling short even of pagan custom.
31. 31Married Christians who vow continence often live apart, yet celibate clergy (“eunuchs”) cannot bear to sleep without a woman's company.
32. 32Married couples separate for continence out of love, while clerics claim “love” to keep unrelated women; Israel in Ezra put away unlawful wives, but these clerics would sooner deny their parents than leave their women.
33. 33Those who castrate themselves, Jews who circumcise, and the self-mutilating priests of Cybele all shame clerics who will not even part from a woman; their hidden sins will be exposed.
34. 34That some cohabiting clerics died as martyrs proves nothing, since martyrdom, a baptism in blood, pardons even grave sins; their conduct still dishonored the church, Christ's spotless bride.
35. 35To count on martyrdom to cancel present sin is to say “let us do evil that good may come”; no one knows the future, and the example of earlier clergy cannot override God's commands.
36. 36Paul's “Who are you to judge another's servant?” concerns matters left to free choice, like eating, not open breaches of church law, for which he commands withdrawal from disorderly brothers.
37. 37The author commands his clergy, with authority, to reject such sophistries, to avoid every occasion of impurity, and to prefer the labor of living alone to disgrace.
38. 38Ministers of the altar must be as pure as the sacraments they serve; living alone, not in pairs, witnesses to their gravity, while cohabitation breeds countless evils.
39. 39A long encomium of solitary chastity, which alone overcomes the evils of cohabitation and puts to death the members that are on earth.
40. 40Solitary chastity makes clerics spiritual eunuchs and anticipates the angelic life of the resurrection, in which there is no marriage.
41. 41Only living alone keeps a cleric's reputation unclouded, as Paul requires of overseers; the clergy should embrace it before desire takes hold.
42. 42Temptation must be forestalled before it begins; the Holy Spirit strengthens those who flee occasions of sin, not those who rashly seek them.
43. 43The Spirit's strength is given in God's order, not ours; those who presume on their own strength against his teaching are doomed.
44. 44Higher office brings greater temptation; clergy may live only with close female relatives, and then without maidservants or visitors, and must take no unrelated woman into their household, however old or plain.
45. 45When traveling and lodging where women are present, a cleric must keep apart and see them only briefly and when necessary, so that the clergy remain spotless.
46. 46The author closes with Paul's summary of Christian virtue in Phil 4:8–9.