Clerical Apostasy in Autocephalous Catholicism

In the early church, there were regulations about ordaining converts too quickly. There was concern that the new ordinands would be weak in their faith or would leave the faith all together. In time, other stipulations were put on candidates, such as age of ordination at the Council of Trullo. The Church wanted to ensure that it was ordaining candidates who were strong in their faith and wise in years. The ultimate goal was to prevent scandal as well as the loss of faith by the clergy.

During times of persecution, the Church was presented with another problem—how to treat those who handed over sacred objects when faced with death or torture. The Donatists, who were condemned as heretical, said that a cleric who gave over sacred objects to persecutors did not have valid sacraments. Ultimately, the Church disagreed and said that the sins of the celebrant do not affect the validity of what is done (ex opere operato).

While the sacramental guidelines on Donatism concerned priests who avoided martyrdom, it did not address clerics who left the faith all together. The Church was initially strict on anyone who left the faith, and forgiveness was denied even unto death. However, as persecutions increased and people reverted or acquiesced to cult worship to avoid martyrdom, the Church loosened up. Despite welcoming back those who apostatized, clerics were still to be deposed. An example of this is in the canons of the Council of Ephesus (431), which indicated that those who apostatized to the Nestorians should be deposed.

With the divergent paths of the East and West, there were different views on the grace of the sacraments of clergy who were outside the church. The Augustinian view, held by the West, is that once a priest always a priest and the sacramental character remains regardless. The view of Cyprian, held by the East, is that a cleric’s orders depend on their union with the Church at large. Outside the Church, the cleric has no sacraments (although they have used economy when admitting formerly schismatic groups). Sacraments celebrated outside the Church are not licit in the West and are invalid in the East.

As I am from a Western viewpoint, I will write about the Western position. The challenge among Autocephalous Catholics is that we cannot adhere to the first two conditions of the Early Church. Almost all ordinands in our jurisdiction are converts, and if we want to have any sort of sacramental growth, we have to ordain people earlier than occurred in the Early Church. Similarly, we do not generally adhere to age requirements (within reason, of course) because they can be rigid and are not necessarily an indication of growth. Both the East and the West have granted exceptions to age requirements, meaning that while they can be helpful guides they are not set in stone.

So, we ordain people who are new-ish to our jurisdiction and they leave. The problem is less when they leave for another jurisdiction or Christian group. The bigger issue is when they leave Christianity all together. There have been several examples of this in our Autocephalous Catholic history, where someone has been ordained and left Christianity to practice another religion. Each of those examples should teach us a lesson on if there are any steps to avoid in the future to ensure such a candidate is not ordained until they are mature in the faith. Of course, we will never prevent all candidate who may become apostates. That is impossible. But we can try our best to prevent it when possible.

What we can do is prevent candidates from returning after they have apostatized. While I am of the opinion that someone who has left Holy Orders still has an indelible mark, I think it is prudent to deny them the ability to return to active ministry if they have abandoned Christianity. Of course, this does not mean those who fluctuate in their faith. We are all on a journey and some of us will explore new paths but still maintain adherence to the Nicene Creed, the sacraments, etc. There are also those who also learn what is helpful in other religious traditions while maintaining their own Christian faith. I am speaking here only of those who have publicly abandoned Christianity or formally joined another religious tradition. I stand here with the Council of Ephesus that they should be deposed and not return.

While this may seem harsh, clergy are seen as “professional Christians.” Rightly or wrongly, our example carries much sway with Christians and with non-Christians. If we give up public profession of our faith, we have abandoned our call. One can always revert to Christianity, but not as a cleric. 

 

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?'” - John 11:25-26.