Thursday, November 04, 2004
Orthodox Church Plans Priestly Marrage Service
Modern Greek women are said to be increasingly unready to marry men whose vocation calls for long beards and black robes to be worn at all times.
The Church says it wants to prepare women for marrying into the priesthood.
Greek Orthodox clergy are allowed to be married, as long as the wedding takes place before they are ordained.
Because of this rule, they are not allowed to remarry if the first match ends in divorce.
A meeting of Church leaders this week pledged to establish a committee that would look into "pastoral methods to obtain and prepare priests' wives", French news agency AFP reports.
The scheme may consider educating women about marriage to a priest so as to reduce the risk of later misunderstandings.
A Greek Orthodox clergyman, who did not wish to be named, told the BBC News website he was confident the 2,000-year old Church would overcome its latest difficulty.
