Necessity changes the law: A case of incomplete implementation of canon law regarding autocastration

Abstract

Canon law - in this case: the Rules (CANONES) of the Orthodox church - mandates that a priest who castrates himself must be defrocked (deprived of ecclesiastical status). This provision appears in the oldest source of canon law, the Apostolic canons (4th century CE), to be repeated in the first canon of the First Council of Nicaea as well as in numerous subsequent codices. In the only instance of autocastration by a priest in the modern era in Serbia (in 1861) that we know of, the provision was not fully implemented. Instead, the autocastrated priest was barred from performing religious services and from wearing epitrachelion (stole, worn around neck when performing rites, without which rites have no effect whatsoever). In time, this interdiction was gradually reduced, until it applied only to leading the liturgy (but not to assisting in it). After that, he was allowed to wear the stole and perform all other religious services, such as prayers, weddings, christenings and funerals. The priest in question was also a monk (hieromonk), but his monastic status, rights and obligations were unaffected by his act of autocastration. Moreover, at one point (in 1868) he was appointed the head of his monastery, to act in the Metropolitan's name. The monastery (Jošanica) was undergoing a deep crisis throughout 1860's: its property was in ruins, while individual monks were prosecuted for various crimes, ranging from homosexuality to attempted murder. At various times, the monastery was unable to service its parish because it lacked priests (hieromonks). It was precisely this shortage of priests that persuaded the church authorities (i.e. the Metropolitan as the head of the then Serbian Orthodox Church) not to defrock the autocastrated priest, notwithstanding the canons. As the Metropolitan himself explained, this was done "out of necessity", in keeping with the Serbian proverb "necessity changes the law".