Greek Orthodox Church speaks against same-sex marriage legalisation

Archbishop Ieronymos (centre) and members of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. Photo: romfea.gr

The Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church has issued a statement opposing the legalization of same-sex marriage by the Greek government.

The Holy Synod emphasized that the goal of Christian marriage is to create a good family and raise children as the fruit of love in Christ of both spouses and their connection to church life.

The Synod stated that the duality of the sexes and their complementarity are not social inventions but come from God.

The statement stressed that the sanctity of the union of man and woman refers to the relationship between Christ and the Church. Christian marriage is not a simple cohabitation agreement, but a Holy Sacrament, through which the grace of God is granted to the relationship of communion between a man and a woman with the aim of their common path to theology – and this blessed path concerns all couples with or no children.

The Greek synodals noted that the legislative initiative of the state "neither deprives the Church of freedom of speech, nor relieves the Church of the duty of informing the faithful people, nor can it indicate what sin consists of."

"The Church does not legislate and is not responsible for laws. If he remains silent, however, it bears a heavy responsibility and destroys itself," stated the synodals.

They reminded that since 2015, Greece has had a cohabitation agreement that “provides same-sex couples with all the rights and possibilities of marriage with the main exception being the possibility of having children through adoption or surrogate pregnancy”.

Therefore, the Synod of Greece believes that the slogan of "marriage equality" is aimed at one goal – the procreation of children by "same-sex couples"

The Greek Synod is convinced that the authors of the bill "promote the abolition of fatherhood and motherhood and their transformation into neutral parenthood, the disappearance of gender roles within the family".

Ultimately, the authors of the bill "put before the interests of future children the sexual choices of homosexual adults," as under the bill, "same-sex single parents will be able to impose their partner as ‘father 2’ or ‘mother 2’ on their child.”

"This legislative initiative condemns future children to grow up without a father or mother in an environment of parental role confusion," the Synod believes.

Furthermore, surrogacy and the possibility for homosexuals to adopt children will "create incentives for the exploitation of vulnerable women".

"The bill abolishes not only rules of bioethics, Christian values and the Greek family tradition, but it overturns the rights of future children and gender roles as elements of the cohesion of society – and this concerns everyone, even if they do not accept Christian ethics," the document states.

"Finally, what is the essential reason for this decision that completely and radically changes the institution of marriage and the status of parenthood and why is it being promoted with such persistence?" asked the Synod asks.

The synodals highlighted, "the Church of Greece recognizes only the Holy Sacrament of Christian marriage and rejects civil marriage regardless of gender."

For all the foregoing reasons, the Church of Greece "is strongly opposed to the proposed bill" said the Holy Synod of the Greek Church.

The document also stated that each hierarch "within his diocese and at his pastoral discretion" can "take initiatives to inform and raise awareness about upcoming legislation and the institution of the family".

As reported, no bishop in Greece supported the law on same-sex marriage.

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