Quintessence of Religious Doctrines - Malankarasyriac Voice

65On the Matrimony of the Clergy 129desirous of getting ordained as a priest wants to marry heshould have got married before he assumed the holy robesof priesthood. That is why, the S.O.C. forbids remarriage ofpriests. If he opts to marry he has to restrain from priestlyfunctions.3. And also because human nature is weak and prone totemptation,Ref: 1Cor. 7:5, 6. Do not deny yourselves to each other,unless, you first agree to do so for a while, in orderto spend your time in prayer. But then resume normalmarital relations. In this way you will be kept fromgiving in to Satan’s temptation because of your lackof self control - I tell you this not as an order butsimply as a concession. (G.N.B.)CommentAnother justification for permitting married persons anddeacons to become priest is brought out. This argument hasPauline sanction behind it.4. The decree of the Church that they marry is very logical. Butthe priests shall not indulge in remarriage; or take widows aswives.Ref: (a) 1Tim. 3:2. A church leader must be without fault, hemust have only one wife. (G.N.B.)(b) Lev. 21: 13-14. He shall marry a virgin, not a widowor divorced woman or a woman who has been aprostitute. He shall marry only a virgin from his ownclan. (G.N.B.)(c) Titus 1:6. An elder must be blameless; he must haveonly one wife... (G.N.B.)(d) vide. 1Cor. 7:8-27. (G.N.B.)CommentOn the whole the stance of the S.O.C. with regard to marriageof the clergy sounds logical and humane. As sexual instinctcannot be easily uprooted, celibacy for the priests is not mademandatory even for expediency sake. Celibacy forecclesiastical officers of higher rank is decreed for certainspecific grounds.Theme No: 26On Human Soul1. It is to the body and soul in unison and not to their mutualexclusion that God passes judgement on human beings and grantssalvation to them.Ref: Mt. 10:28. Do not be afraid of those who kill thebody but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid ofGod who can destroy both body and soul in hell.(G.N.B.)CommentThe anthropology that the S.O.C. upholds is delineated.Accordingly, the Church contends that the entity calledhuman being is a complex one; a combination of the visiblephysique and invisible soul. This view has akiness to Jewishanthropology, the gist of which is as follows. Humans alonehave souls in them. Humans possess souls because Godbreathed life-giving breath into their nostrils. With regard toother animals and birds God does not seem to have donethis. So they are soulless. The S.O.C. seems to have takenthe cue from this theory to build up Her anthropology.2. As the human body is the creation of God, so is the soul ofman. Although endowed with the faculty of intelligence and havingno end, the human soul is not without beginning. But the theorypropagated by some that the soul is uncreated and merely apart of God and hence not subject to punishment is a heresyand would lead men to grave dangers.Ref: (a) Gen. 1:27. So God created man in his own image; inthe image of God created he, male and female createdhe them. (K.J.V.)(b) Zech. 12:1... The Lord, which stretches forth theheavens and layeth the foundation of the earth andformeth the spirit of man within him. (K.J.V.)