Discussions on which professions incompatible with priesthood underway in Russian Church

Moscow, July 18, 2017

Photo: RIA-Novosti

The meeting of the Presidium of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is gathering in particular to determine which professions and types of activities are incompatible with the priesthood, has begun today. In particular, sports, medical professions, and civil service are under discussion, reports RIA-Novosti.

The patriarch’s press secretary Fr. Alexander Volkov earlier stated that the final decision on the issue of priestly professions will be made by the Council of Bishops, although the relevant document must first be confirmed by the participants of the Inter-Council Presence.

As previously reported, the draft document was created by order of an Inter-Council commission from January 28, 2015. Comments on the document were received online up through May 2, 2017.

The draft document notes that “conditions of modern life sometimes raise the question of reconciling the priesthood and secular professions.” The following professions were suggested as incompatible:

• Military service and “generally any service, even in private corporations, involving the carrying and use of weapons”;

• Civil service in executive or judicial bodies;

• Medical activities connected with the shedding of human blood, especially of surgeons (the example of St. Luke of Crimea being an exception “connected with the circumstances of the time” according to the document) and other medical positions.
  Here it is noted that “the ruling bishop may sanction the medical or paramedical activity of a cleric if it is able to bear good fruits”;

• Personal businesses, especially in banking, credit, and insurance;

• Work in establishments of dubious reputation, such as gambling houses, casinos, etc.;

• Professional sports;

• Acting, dancing, stage singing.

“We’re not talking about any kind of innovation, but about systematizing the relationship of the Church to such kinds of activities,” Fr. Volkov added. According to him, everything formulated in the draft document is already contained in the holy canons of the Church, “It’s just that here it’s all recorded in one document.”

“The topics that will be adopted today will help in the final stage to determine whether some conciliar document about them is necessary or not, and with who should decide on this or that document—the Holy Synod of the Council of Bishops,” said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia at the opening of the meeting.