Moldovan bishop in hot water over remarks

(RFE) - A court in Moldova has fined an Orthodox bishop for publicly insulting members of the country's gay community and ordered him to publicly apologize.

The court ruled on June 9 that Bishop Markel of Balti and Falesti has to pay 10,000 leus ($710) to the GenderDoc-M organization as compensation for moral damages and an additional 12,000 leus ($850) to cover trial expenses.

GenderDoc-M represents the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Moldova.

In September 2012, Markel publicly called for barring LGBT community members from working in schools, catering services, and medical institutions, citing as the reason that "92 percent of them are AIDS-HIV patients."

The statement sparked protests among gay-rights defenders in Moldova.

Although homosexual relations were decriminalized in Moldova in the 1990s, antigay sentiments remain high in the country.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 11, 2014 at 3:19 PM

    Good for Moldova. Bearing false witness is a scandal, and hurts the Church.

    ReplyDelete
  2. obitjelJune 11, 2014 at 6:35 PM

    You may like it or not, in Europe the Human Rights are indivisible. Moldova is on the way to become a member of the European Family and is no more part of the Soviet Union or the socalled "Holy Russia".

    ReplyDelete
  3. rhartscJune 12, 2014 at 1:38 PM

    Seemed like a legitimate outcome. Perhaps the fine should have been bigger or some community serivce toward the LGTB community. The Bishop should be more careful with what he says. No one should be denied a job because they are gay.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Isa AlmisryJune 12, 2014 at 6:57 PM

    European Family? The folks that caved to Islamists complaints about Hirsi Ayaan Ali?

    ReplyDelete
  5. ChristianJune 14, 2014 at 8:36 AM

    Apparently the Moldovan gays don't believe in freedom of speech. May God protect our country from such intolerant "tolerance".

    ReplyDelete
  6. Abbot TheodoreJune 14, 2014 at 2:51 PM

    If a Christian Heirarch is persecuted for preaching the truth about Godly sexuality and those acts that deviate from it, then God bless him. This, however, does not qualify for that. So, shame on the Bishop. It is one thing to uphold the moral teaching of the Church, but quite another to use such falsehoods as a scare tactic to incite fear and hatred.

    Even if his ridiculous assertion that 92% of homosexual persons were HIV/AIDS patients were true, would that not call for compassion? Many diseases can be contracted through sexual contact; that is no reason to try and use them as a weapon against those who are afflicted with them. Real Christians, on the contrary, reach out to them, speaking the truth in love, and seeking to lessen their suffering or stigma, praying for them and urging them to "sin no more."

    Schema-monk Theodore

    ReplyDelete
  7. Steve_BarrieJune 16, 2014 at 1:10 PM

    Dr. Theodore: it is The Way that the bishop expressed himself..."assertion that 92% of homosexual persons were HIV/AIDS patients" is inexcusable.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sr. Vassa: There's no ontological impediment to priestesses

Image
Is the male-only priesthood a discipline or essential to the nature of being a priest? Sr. Vassa (again unflinchingly taking up a contentious topic by climbing up the ladder to the highest platform and then jumping into the deep end head first) dives right in and says there is no reason beyond personal preference to not have female clergy. You know, when people ask me about women in priesthood, they say, 'Sister, why can't women be priests?' And I say, 'Women CAN be priests. We don't WANT them to be priests.' Because you see, God can do anything, and the Church, by divine authority, uh, can do anything, but, the Church doesn't want to - and that's a legitimate reason. What I don't like is when we TRY to pretend that there are other reasons for this, because it's legitimate not to want something, and there are reasons not to want this - right? - but, we shouldn't pretent that there's some... reason, that, for example, the maleness...
Read more

Big news for the Western Rite, ROCOR, and Bp. Jerome

Image
NEW YORK: July 12, 2013 ( ROCOR ) - An Extraordinary Session of the Synod of Bishops is Held On Wednesday, July 10, 2013, an extraordinary session of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was held, presided over by its First Hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York. Participating in the meeting were permanent members of the Synod of Bishops: His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany; His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America; His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada, and His Grace Bishop Peter of Cleveland, Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America. Deliberating on the matter of Bishop Jerome of Manhattan, the Synod of Bishops made a decision as follows: “During a meeting of the Synod of Bishops on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, presided over by the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, A DECISION WAS MADE: on the activities of Bishop Jerome of Ma...
Read more

OCA takes strong stand for canonical Orthodoxy

( Orthochristian.com ) - The primate of the Orthodox Church in America, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washington and All America and Canada, will concelebrate with the primate of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, in western Ukraine later this week. The Ukrainian Orthodox Diocese of Chernivtsi and Bukovina “awaits the visit of the primate of the Orthodox Church in America on June 1–2, 2024. Solemn services will be held in the Cathedral of the Descent of the Holy Spirit in Chernivtsi, with the participation of both primates.” The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America formally rejects communion with the schismatics of the “Orthodox Church in Ukraine,” recognizing only the canonical UOC under Met. Onuphry. The Ukrainian primate was the honored guest at the OCA’s 18th All-American Council in July 2015.
Read more