So much has been said about the same-sex union story in New York. I know that I shouldn't be, but I was surprised to see how many Orthodox Christians joined in the celebration of the "Yes" vote. Add to that the rather pointed criticism of Bp. Michael for "not keeping up with the times and protecting an archaic, backward ideology that comes from a Church that didn't understand homosexuality like we do now" - (my paraphrasal of some oft repeated claims over the last few days). I don't put much stock in the idea that the Church needs to conform to the new realities and realizations modernity has provided as they are constantly changing and often contradictory. The numbers associated with a majority opinion hold no real sway with me either. Equality and fairness are wonderful ideals, but not all enterprises are of equal value. Some might be said to devalue the persons involved in them.
(OCA-NYNJ) - ARCHPASTORAL LETTER RE-AFFIRMING THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE
June 24, 2011 Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
Beloved Fathers and Mothers, Brothers and Sisters in the Lord:
Christ is in our midst! – He is and ever shall be!
On this very day, we have witnessed the successful efforts of public officials in the State of New York to legally re-define the meaning of marriage to include unions between two persons of the same gender. It is important for us, as Christians of the Orthodox Church, preserving the Tradition of teaching the truth handed down by the Lord Himself, “the faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints” (Jude 3), to re-affirm the meaning of marriage given to us in His Sacred Scripture.
In the document, Affirmations on Marriage, Family, Sexuality, and the Sanctify of Life, written and adopted by the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America in 1992, we read (in part) the following summary of the teaching of our Faith on this matter:
1) God wills that men and women marry, becoming husbands and wives. He commands them to increase and multiply in the procreation of children, being joined into “one flesh” by His divine grace and love. He wills that human beings live within families (Genesis 1:27; 2:21-24; Orthodox Marriage Service).
2) The Lord went even further to declare that people who look at others to lust after them in their hearts have “committed adultery” (cf. Matthew 5:27-30).
3) Christ’s apostles repeat the teachings of their Master, likening the unique marriage between one man and one woman to the union between Christ and His Church which they experience as the Lord’s very body and His bride (Ephesians 5:21-33; 2 Corinthians 11:2).
4) Marriage and family life are to be defended and protected against every open and subtle attack and ridicule.
5) Sexual intercourse is to be protected as a sacred expression of love within the community of heterosexual monogamous marriage in which alone it can be that for which God has given it to human beings for their sanctification.
As children of God, we are called to conform our sexual behavior to the commandments of Christ. As Christians, whether single or married, we are called to a life of chastity, pleasing to the Lord. This means struggling against those passions that incline us to “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) – fornication, homosexual activity, or adultery. A heterosexual person has to overcome his or her inclination toward multiple partners of the opposite sex outside of the blessed union of marriage; a homosexual person has to overcome his or her inclination toward others of the same sex. We are all called to live our lives according to the will of God and thereby partake of the way of salvation.
No matter what the prevailing pressure of the culture or the legislation of the state may proclaim, the timeless teaching of the Church echoes the rule of marriage revealed to us by the Lord, written in the Scripture, and re-affirmed by the wisdom and examples of the Saints. Gay marriage or any other unblessed sexual activity is not the love that the Lord extols. Because “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16), no matter what the government or society may say, like St. Peter and the Apostles, “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). We need not be afraid to stand in opposition to prevailing trends, as the early Christians stood bravely and boldy, upholding heterosexual monogamous marriage in the non-Christian empire of their time.
Having said this, we must never forget the Lord’s greatest commandment of love, which includes, after loving God above all else, the imperative, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). This means we must never condemn anyone, but reach out to everyone with the living, healing, saving love of God in Christ Jesus. It means to walk in truth toward all, to do what is right for all, and to affirm what is good and holy on behalf of all.
Let us bear witness to the truth taught by Our Lord, and lived by His Saints, in our daily conversations with our families, our fellow Christians, our neighbors and co-workers. Let us teach the Orthodox Christian vision of marriage, as a path to salvation shared by husband and wife, to our children, godchildren, and all those who come under our care as parents, godparents, pastors, and Christian educators.
Let us join in prayer that the people of faith across the states of New York and New Jersey will continue to stand fast in the divinely revealed truth of what marriage means. And let us by our example witness to the life of chastity to which every human person, made in the image and likeness of God, is called.
With my humble prayers and love in Christ, I remain
Devotedly yours in His service,
+ M I C H A E L
Bishop of New York and the Diocese of New York and New Jersey
Posts
Thanks for posting this. Would you say more about Orthodox Christians celebrating the "yes" vote?
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm out of the loop or just loopy but I don't see this as being of any consequence to an authentic believer of any traditional religion.
ReplyDeleteThe "state" can do what it wants and as long as it does not impinge on my right to not do something, so what? I am not talking morality here only law. I personally don't believe the government has any business involved in marriages of any kind other that providing a means of union for those who choose not to have a religious service. They are not forcing churches, synagogues, mosques, temples or the Boy Scouts to perform these unions.
For a country which opposes having a state religion 'Christians' of all stripes in the U.S. act like the state should act as their religion. U.K. , Sweden & other have it, how's that working out for them?
This is not a battle that can be won on the battlefield of public opinion. People whether Orthodox or any other religion want to go along to get along, want to be liked so they say why not join in?
As for myself, i'm not married, unlikely at this point i ever will be, not homosexual, don't really care. 'Ain't my ox a being gored'! as they used to say.
'nothing to see here, move along'
@Matthew, I think you have missed it, friend. Bishop Michael has put forth a very helpful corrective with a very nice tone. These is not fire-breathing mean spirited passions, but a kind pastoral corrective to a situation the Orthodox Christians in his diocese have to live with.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot have a privatized Christianity. To do so is to be unfaithful to the Scriptures. Privatizing our faith is a fast pass to persecution really.
How should we live in this world? Hear St. John Chrysostom in his homily on Matthew 6:
"He hath enjoined each one of us, who pray, to take upon himself the care of the whole world. For He did not at all say, 'Thy will be done' in me, or in us, but everywhere on the earth; so that error may be destroyed, and truth implanted, and all wickedness cast out, and virtue return, and no difference in this respect be henceforth between heaven and earth. 'For if this come to pass,' saith He, 'there will be no difference between things below and above, separated as they are in nature; the earth exhibiting to us another set of angels.'"
All the best to you.
@Matthew: Here is one point you may not have considered. Same sex marriage laws are unnecessary since life partner agreements exist which offer the same or similar tax breaks and access to insurance coverage. The insistence on a legal "marriage" is part of a greater plan to undermine Christianity.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment and apt quote, justjamey.
ReplyDeleteI think we can look to France for the future of a nation that completely severs religion from the public square. There religion is seen as the cause of all ills and even a tiny cross around a person's neck is cause for tut-tutting and a warning from coworkers.
ReplyDeleteReligion and Ethics Newsweekly did a good piece on this:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/june-24-2011/jocelyne-cesari-extended-interview/9039/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/june-24-2011/french-secularism/9037/
We are now to the point that any opinion is fine as long as it is not attached to a religious figure. So if I speak at a town hall or write position papers as a representative for a think tank my opinions can be heard and even put into effect as law, but if I mention that any part of my argument is based on my religious beliefs it is thrown out completely. Atheism/secularism is not a methodology without religion, but a replacement of divinely inspired ideas about the created world with the theories of the day. Not only are these theories subject to constant change, but it is not uncommon for them to work against religion and those with religious convictions.
We seem to be willing to let the government legislate our use of language, how we throw away our trash, what taxes we pay, when it's permissible to kill unborn children, how tall our fences are, and who we make war with. At the same time some people believe the government should be hands-off on deciding who can marry. There is a law in my city about how baggy my pants can be, but we pretend government doesn't legislate what it thinks best for its people? We have laws on under what grounds a person can divorce and how long it must take but we seem to want to say the government doesn't think it knows what is best for us?
We say that people can believe what they want, but were the Boy Scouts not just kicked out of their headquarters by the government for having beliefs found to be discriminatory (belief in God, exclusion of girls, etc.)? We say the government won't force clergy to marry gay people, but didn't a lesbian couple in Canada win 2k because the Knights of Columbus "affronted the same-sex couple's dignity" by not letting them use their hall for a wedding reception?
Laws are tied to what we believe is right and good. Our children can draw from jaywalking laws that there is something inherently wrong about walking across the street any old way we choose to. What conclusion does a child draw when the government issues a license for two people of the same sex to marry? And for a parent, what will they be allowed to tell their children about such unions that won't run afoul of hate speech laws?
We keep taking steps in retreat and drawing lines in the sand and have not yet looked behind ourselves to see we are about to fall off a cliff.
To Fr. Gregory:
ReplyDeleteThere seem to be three main opinions (at least from what I have observed):
1. We are Orthodox. Who are we to tell people who aren't Orthodox what to do? No one is going to make my priest marry two men.
2. The Orthodox views about homosexuality are based on old stereotypes and in this enlightened age we need to accept that homosexuality is a normal way for one person to love another person.
3. This is all about hate. I know you wish we gay people would just be quiet and live our lives in secret, but that isn't going to happen. You will respect our rights and we will legislate our way into equal treatment no matter what.
O.K. stick a fork in me and turn me over! I am quite obviously the loopy one here. Am I that unclear in my point? i give up. You are all from a different reality.
ReplyDeleteGood bye, farewell, so long and thanks for all the comments.
Matthew, we can disagree and not part ways. :)
ReplyDeleteMary - That's simply not true. The laws you talk about aren't found across the USA and in many places gay and lesbian couple's wills and visitation rights (when a spouse is in a comma, for example) get challenged and even overturned by family and/or institutions. So there is very much a need for stronger legal protections.
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me about all of this is that we Orthodox and others all so often condemn gays and lesbians for being promiscuous and unable to commit and therefore unhealthy for society, yet when the latter want to commit and become constructive members of society we're upset. I repeat Matthew's point - why do we care? What doomsayers think aside, we won't be forced to serve crownings for homosexual couples, so it really doesn't effect our community's life...
Josephus Flavius,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the summary of the arguments in favor of same-sex marriage. These are the arguments I've heard.
Jon Marc,
Forgive me but the Orthodox argument (as distinct from what some Orthodox say) does not center on promiscuity but on the morality, or rather, immorality, of homosexual behavior as such. Will we be forced to crown homosexual couples? Probably not. But again, this isn't the argument.
In passing this law, the State of New York has argued that same-sex relationships can have the same moral weight as marriage. This is simply not true.
Marriage is a natural relationship that state recognizes but does not create. As such it is pre-political. The state can't pass a law that says marriage now can include two men or two women. This is simply beyond its competence.
Law has an educational component. The State now teaches that homosexuality, like abortion, is a morally acceptable option. And as with abortion, there will be generations of Orthodox Christians who agree with this.
Contrary to your final paragraph, this will effect the Church. We've already seen how, for example, the Catholic Church is no longer allowed to place orphans with married couples because they won't place them with gay couples. Increasingly we will find, as we already see in the US, Canada and the UK, that Christians (Orthodox or otherwise) are not welcome in a wide range of professions unless they affirm homosexuality as a moral good.
But again, these are secondary matters. Even if they did not come about, the absence of these negative consequences would change the fact that the law is fundamentally immoral both in light of Holy Tradition and natural law.
In Christ,
+FrG
Thanks for your thoughts Fr. Gregory! We'll have to agree to disagree on the topic. Abortion very obviously murder, but having known several gay and lesbian couples, read some of the history of this 'bratotvoreniye' service, and looked at the Scriptural passages used to condemn homosexuality I honestly can't understand the Church's position on the matter - it seems illogical and out of line with reality. (Much as I'm sure many would say its position, admittedly that of St. Paul, on serfdom and slavery was for a good number of centuries.)
ReplyDeleteThat should have read "abortion very obviously is murder." My apologies! I'm halfway through a big batch of pelmeni and running on four hours of sleep to boot :-).
ReplyDeleteHi Jon Marc,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the gentle words! Can you help me out please and say a little more about what you don't understand about the Church's position on homosexuality?
In Christ,
+FrG