I don't want to reproduce my personal correspondences with the professor. But the last sentence is from one of those emails. He doesn't think that the Bishop of Alexandria had to be celibate. Verbatim. He thinks his Coptic community (he's a Copt) continues the original tradition of Alexandria. He presumes continuity and faithful preservation of St Mark's community rules. Paraphrase and interpretation.
But let's look at Jerome's statement.
But let's look at Jerome's statement.
What 63 year old married couple (from the Encomium) are "in danger" of having sexual relations? It's about the past. I think it's did they have sexual experience. Like John in the Acts of John, John the "ever Virgin." It's not are they having sex but did they have sex EVER. I haven't read the text again in light of my 5 AM remembrance of the passage. But my guess is that, whatever the text says, NEVER had sex.which accept for the ministry only men who are virgins, or those who practice continency, or, if married, abandon their conjugal rights?
Statistics: Posted by Secret Alias — Fri Dec 06, 2024 5:11 am