The Eastern Orthodox Church maintains the ancient Eastern discipline: married men may be ordained as deacons and priests, but bishops are chosen from among celibate monks. Men must marry before ordination and may not marry after. The episcopate is invariably monastic in Orthodoxy, making the bishop's celibacy a sign of total dedication to Christ and the Church and his identification with the monastic tradition as the highest form of Christian life.

Monasticism is absolutely central to Orthodox Christian life and theology. The monastic community of Mount Athos (the Holy Mountain in Greece), home to twenty monasteries and thousands of monks, is the spiritual heart of Eastern Orthodoxy and has shaped its theology, iconography, and spiritual tradition profoundly. The hesychast movement—the tradition of silent, contemplative prayer aimed at experiencing the uncreated divine light—originated in Athonite monasticism and was defended by St. Gregory Palamas at the Constantinople Councils of the 14th century.