Marriage

[Philo Koinonia]

Hey,
Why are priests allowed to get married in the Eastern-Rite Church, is that not like marrying two different women?

- Philo Koinonia

[Apotheoun]

A slight clarification is necessary: priests in the Eastern Catholic (and Orthodox) Churches are not allowed to get married; instead, already married men are allowed to be ordained.

The traditions of East and West differ on the nature of the requirement of celibacy: the West, according to its present day practice, requires that all men ordained to either the priesthood or the episcopate be celibate, while the tradition of the Eastern Churches only requires celibacy of men who are consecrated as bishops.

This doesn't involve the "marrying" of two women by the priest (i.e., the wife and the Church), because the priest is only "married" to the Church in an analogical sense.