247. We can see how much is required of us. The minister of the Lord is to abstain from wine, and he is to be upheld by a good reputation, not just among the faithful but among those who are outside as well. It is seemly that public opinion should bear witness to our actions and our good works: this way, our office will not be disparaged, for the person who sees a minister of the alter adorned with virtues appropriate to his calling will bring praise to the Author of these virtues, and will worship the Lord who has such lowly servants. Praise redounds to the Lord when his possession is pure and the conduct of his household is blameless.

248. As for chastity—what is there to say? All that is permitted is one union and one union only, never to be repeated. So, if we take the actual question of marriage, the law is that you must not remarry or obtain a union with a second wife. A lot of people find this surprising: why should a second marriage, even one contracted before baptism, raise obstacles to a person's election to sacred office and to the privilege of ordination? After all, they reason, even serious crimes are not normally an impediment, once they have been remitted by the sacrament of baptism. But we need to understand this: just because sin can be forgiven through baptism, this does not mean that the law can be abolished. There is no sin in marriage, but there is a law. When we are talking about sin, we are dealing with something that can be relieved in baptism; when we are talking about the law in marriage, we are dealing with something that cannot be annulled. In any case, how can a man encourage other people to remain in a state of widowhood if he has gone through any number of marriages himself?

249. But you are quite aware that you have this obligation to present a ministry that is blameless and beyond reproach, and undefiled by any marital intercourse, for you have received the grace of the sacred ministry with your bodies pure, with your modesty intact, and with no experience at all of marital union. Still, I have had a reason for not passing over this point. In quite a number of out–of–the–way places, men who have been exercising a ministry—even, in some cases, the priesthood itself—have fathered children. They defend this behaviour by claiming that they are following an old custom, one which used to obtain when the sacrifice was offered only at lengthy intervals. Yet the fact is that even the ordinary people used to practise continence for a period of two or three days in order to approach the sacrifice in a state of purity, for we read in the Old Testament: "And he washes his clothes." [Exod 19:10] If the standard of observance was this scrupulous in the time of the figure, how much greater it should be now, in the time of the truth! Learn, priest and Levite, what it means to wash your clothes: it means displaying a body that is pure, properly prepared for the celebration of the sacraments. If the ordinary people were forbidden to approach their sacrificial victim without washing their clothes, have you the audacity to offer prayers on behalf of others, or have you the audacity to minister to others, with your spirit and body alike unwashed?

 

(trans. Davidson 2001: 259-263)