“Without a Family”: The Process of Monasticisation of the Episcopal Dignity between Practice and Law in the Orthodox Church until the Council in Trullo (ad 691‑692)

The Orthodox Church has a longstanding tradition of allowing married priests and deacons, while bishops are typically chosen from among monks. This article presents the historic process of monasticisation of the episcopal rank up to the Council in Trullo (ad 691‑692). Over the centuries, it became standard for bishops to be celibate and free from family commitments, with a strong preference for monks. The Council in Trullo regulated the family status of bishop-elects, but did not make it obligatory for them to be monks. In subsequent centuries, the Church increasingly favoured monk-bishops, culminating in a 17th-century decree by the Patriarch of Constantinople specifying that only monks could be eligible for episcopal ordination. As a result, the episcopal dignity has come to be exclusively associated with monks in the Orthodox Church.