Same Sex Marriage

Posted on by Fr. Peter
A few months back I wrote a entry about same sex unions in the US and I mentioned that the bishops of the Orthodox Church have been silent on the issue. Well, I stand ,or sit as the case may be, corrected. In August of 2003 they released a statement that is pretty much what one would expect regrading the church blessing the marriages and holding to the line that marriage is between one man and one woman. However, the statement says nothing about how the state should or can define marriage. The Orthodox Church will not bless same sex unions ok that’s okay with me, but don’t go telling the state what to do. I reiterate my point that the church should be out of the marriage business anyway.

I will pull one quote from the document as I think this is very pastoral in the way it is written (emphasis is mine)

The Orthodox Church cannot and will not bless same-sex unions. Whereas marriage between a man and a woman is a sacred institution ordained by God, homosexual union is not. Like adultery and fornication, homosexual acts are condemned by Scripture (Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:10; 1 Timothy 1:10). This being said, however, we must stress that persons with a homosexual orientation are to be cared for with the same mercy and love that is bestowed by our Lord Jesus Christ upon all of humanity. All persons are called by God to grow spiritually and morally toward holiness.

I believe our bishops are on to something here and something I preached on last Sunday. We need to treat all people the same way, as members of the body of Christ! Love the sinner, hate the sin.

If you wish to read the document for yourself you can find it here.

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Fr. Peter

3 Comments

  1. i think the church has made the choice it feels follows the bible. since the state feels that marriage should be between same and opposite sex people then the state should be the one to marry said people unless they belong to a church that feels otherwise.every religion needs to make a decision. good luck with that. anne

  2. Loving and accepting people no matter what their sexual preference is in church is one thing, my concern is receiving a sexually transmitted disease from a person who may unknowingly have the HIV virus. What risk is their in taking communion by mouth from a spoon? Others have also commented on this and are afraid to partake./Marie

  3. Marie,

    In the little research that I have done I have not found one source that relates communion with any sickness. Why would it? If it is what we believe it is then why would we get sick by taking it?

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