Multiple Marriages and Polygamy
Q: Does what is stated in the Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle — “a bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife” (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6) — indicate that only clergymen were forbidden from polygamy, while it was permissible for the people?
A: The expression “the husband of one wife” means that he was married to only one woman in his lifetime. For the one who married again after being widowed was not admitted into any of the ranks of the priesthood.
There is a difference between multiple marriages and polygamy…
Polygamy is forbidden for all Christians, by verses from the Gospel, by the canons of the Church, and by the general consensus that the Church has followed since its establishment.
As for multiple marriages, it was forbidden only for clergymen; that is, he marries only once, and if his wife dies, he does not take another.
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Watani newspaper on 5/7/1987.
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