Why does the Orthodox Church have married priests? Married clergy is one point of difference between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The Orthodox Church allows priests to marry, as long as they do so before their ordination. However, only celibate or unmarried priests can become bishops. In the early Church, we see that some of the Lord’s disciples were married. Τhe Scriptures talk about Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law. At the time of the apostles, when the titles ‘presbyter’ and ‘bishop’ were used interchangeably, St Paul advised that a bishop “must be blameless, the husband of one wife, [...]