Eastern Orthodox Christian clergy

The argument

The Bishops in the Orthodox Church are considered to be the direct successors of the original Apostles. They don’t shave their beards to symbolise closeness to God. While not being against marriage, it is generally accepted that celibacy in the Church allows for a closer understanding of the Christian life away from worldly things. Deaconesses (women who were a lower status of clergy) were allowed in the early church but lessened as female oppression increased in society. ‘Holy tradition’ is given as an excuse to avoid any changes in their practices, and generally Eastern Orthodoxy views the ordination of women as an unwelcome innovation.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Several details here are inaccurate, and the entry's voice slips out of description into judgement at the point where a catalogue of beliefs should be at its most careful. Apostolic succession is not distinctive to Eastern Orthodoxy. The Catholic, Oriental Orthodox and Anglican churches all claim that their bishops stand in direct succession from the Apostles, so the feature does not characterise the tradition the entry is describing. The beard custom is real, but its usual explanation is biblical and monastic — the injunction against marring the beard, and the ascetic practice of leaving the body ungroomed — rather than a doctrine about symbolising closeness to God. The account of celibacy inverts the actual discipline. Orthodox practice is that married men may be ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood, but bishops are drawn from the celibate monastic clergy, and no cleric may marry after ordination. Celibacy is therefore mandatory in exactly the cases the entry says it is not, and optional only for those ordained having already married. 'Generally accepted that celibacy allows a closer understanding of the Christian life' is a monastic sentiment presented as a rule. The treatment of deaconesses states contested history as settled. The office's principal liturgical function was assisting at the baptism of adult women, and its decline is generally traced to the disappearance of adult baptism as the norm; 'as female oppression increased in society' is a causal claim about social history, not a report of Orthodox belief. Several Orthodox churches have also moved to restore the female diaconate in recent decades. Finally, describing Holy Tradition as 'an excuse' delivers a critic's verdict inside an entry that is supposed to state what a group believes — and it misrepresents the category, which in Orthodox theology is the interpretive framework within which Scripture itself is read.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Apostolic succession is claimed equally by the Catholic, Oriental Orthodox and Anglican churches, so it does not characterise Eastern Orthodoxy specifically; and the beard custom derives from biblical and monastic practice rather than from a doctrine about closeness to God. [Rejecting P2] The account of celibacy is inverted: married men may be ordained deacons and priests, but bishops are drawn from the celibate monastic clergy and no cleric may marry after ordination. Calling Holy Tradition 'an excuse' states a critic's verdict rather than the belief, and the decline of the female diaconate is generally traced to the disappearance of adult baptism, its principal liturgical occasion.