Met. Anthony opposes recognizing LGBT lifestyle as normal for EU accession
The UOC Chancellor commented on calls to support the rights of LGBT individuals as one of the alleged conditions for Ukraine’s European integration.
Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Boryspil and Brovary, Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, stated that recognizing sin as a norm is incompatible with Christian teaching. He made the remarks in a commentary published by the Orthodox Life website.
The statement came in response to an appeal by the LGBT center Nash Svit (“Our World”) to the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, urging it to publicly support the rights of people with non-traditional sexual orientations and claiming that such support is one of the conditions for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
“Agreeing to recognize sin as a norm is nothing less than a betrayal of the Lord,” Metropolitan Anthony stressed. According to him, Christians are being asked to abandon the Gospel worldview and moral standards rooted in Holy Scripture. He recalled that, according to biblical teaching, God created human beings “male and female,” and that the Church has consistently regarded same-sex relations as sinful.
The hierarch noted that, despite social and political pressure, the Church cannot change its attitude toward the commandments of the Gospel.
“For genuine religious consciousness, grounded in Holy Scripture, a distorted view of the human person, a corrupted anthropology, is unacceptable,” Metropolitan Anthony concluded.
As the UOJ reported, a Norwegian foundation promoting LGBT causes allocated €1.5 million to journalists in Ukraine.
