Oriental Orthodox churches maintain the ancient Eastern Christian discipline of permitting married men to be ordained as priests and deacons. Men must marry before ordination; they may not marry after. Bishops are chosen from among celibate monks, preserving the ancient tradition. Monasticism is deeply embedded in all Oriental Orthodox churches and has historically been the source of theological, spiritual, and episcopal leadership.

The monastic tradition is particularly prominent in the Coptic Orthodox Church, where monasticism has continued without interruption since the 3rd and 4th centuries at sites including Wadi Natrun. The Ethiopian church's monastic tradition, associated with the Nine Saints who came from the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th–6th century, is also ancient and influential. Armenian and Syriac monasticism produced major theological and literary figures. The clerical hierarchy includes deacons, priests, bishops, and patriarchs/catholicoi, all understood to participate in apostolic succession.