“The most recent contribution [to the study of eatly Christian celibacy] is that of the German priest and scholar Stefan Heid, Celibacy in the Early Church: The Beginnings of a Discipline of Obligatory Continence for Clerics in East and West, trans. M. J. Miller, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000.
The institutional forms of the Church took shape in the first centuries of her existence, and it would seem natural that this was also the time when the discipline of clerical life was laid down. There can be no doubt that from the beginning there were clergymen, both married and unmarried, who after receiving holy orders renounced all sexual relations. The question is to what extent this was a purely personal decision made by individuals. How can we make sense of the fact that married bishops, priests and deacons, too, observed continence? Was there something like an obligation for clerics to lead a continent life? What are the historical roots of the present discipline of clerical celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church?
It turns out that to speak of celibacy is not an adequate notion, since the early Church did not have an obligation for the clergy to be unmarried, as meant by the Latin word (caelebs). From this fact the conclusion is sometimes drawn that mandatory celibacy was an invention of the Papal Church in the Middle Ages. Those who pursue this line of argument often point to the Second Lateran Council in 1193, which declared marriages contracted after the reception of holy orders invalid. As a matter of fact, well into the Middle Ages no bishop, priest or deacon was required to be unmarried. The exclusive discipline of celibacy, in the strict sense of the word, according to canon law came into force only after the Council of Trent (1545-1563). In the first millennium, an unmarried clergyman was not exactly the exception, but he was not the rule either.
However, to concentrate on the question of married or unmarried clergy misses the point. Ecclesiastical legislation from as early as the fourth century was much concerned with regulating the life of the clergy, especially in matters of sexual conduct. Recent scholarship suggests that a discipline of clerical continence, more comprehensive than what we understand today as celibacy, was established from the very beginning. Not only the unmarried clergy were affected by such a rule; the married clergy (and their wives) were, too, for they were required to renounce all sexual relations after their ordination. The early Church knew of an obligation for all higher clerics, that is, bishops, deacons and priests, to abstain from sexual intercourse. Thus the present discipline of the Latin Church would appear to be in continuity with the original discipline of clerical continence.
Interesting - thanks!