Posted on 06/27/2015 6:38:31 AM PDT by lightman
Statement by the Chancery of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America on the Issue of Homosexual Marriage to the Clergy and Flock of the Diocese
Statement from the Diocesan Chancery on the Contemporary Question of Homosexual Marriage to the Clergy and Flock of the Diocese
March 16/29, 2013 Martyrs Sabinus and Papas
Updated November 8/21, 2014 Archangel Michael and All the Bodiless Powers
Updated June 13/26, 2015 Martyr Aquilina of Byblos in Syria
Today the United States Supreme Court ruled that homosexual marriage is a constitutional right in the United States of America. Given the ubiquitous coverage the news media is providing on this issue it is important that our clergymen and parishioners fully understand the position of the Church in this regard.
Living in a free society as we do, we should first be thankful that we have the opportunity to practice our Orthodox Faith without inordinate interference from the government. In recent history this was not the case in Russia, and is still not the case in many countries throughout the world. In a free society all views can be shared in the public arena – both views we agree with as Orthodox Christians and those we disagree with. We call upon our flock to be guided first and foremost by the Holy Tradition of the Church in discerning whether any contemporary question is something that is compatible to the Orthodox faith. If an Orthodox Christian chooses to engage in public political discourse this should be done with moderation and with a firm intention and watchfulness not to fall into extremism. Extremism is not conducive to softening hearts or bringing others to the faith. Laymen who choose to engage in political speech should not state that they speak on behalf of the Church. Strictly speaking such an authoritative statement can be made only by a bishop or with a bishop’s specific blessing.
It should also be made clear that living a homosexual or any other sinful lifestyle is not compatible with Christianity and this has always been the teaching of the Church. That being stated, it is also crucial to state that the Church is a Spiritual Hospital and all those wishing to receive the healing freely offered by God through their repentance and God’s Grace are fully welcome. This includes those who have participated in immoral or unnatural acts of any kind as well as those who are tempted by such sins. The Church is empathetic to those who suffer in such a way and offers them support, healing, and Christian love. Those actively engaging in any immoral or unnatural pursuits cannot live a full sacramental life within the Church. However, this does not mean that we seek to drive away or ostracize those who have transgressed in such a way. Rather, we must make all efforts to draw those in such an unfortunate situation back to chastity and the opportunity to again partake in the Life-Giving Mysteries of the Church and to engage the struggle for their salvation within the parish community.
Today's Supreme Court ruling makes homosexual marriage legal in the United States. It should be made clear that under no circumstances will the Church recognize homosexual marriage, accord it the status of traditional marriage, or bless such unions. However, this is not to state that those who have entered into such a union have stepped beyond a line from which they cannot return. The Church has always strongly condemned heresies (such as Novatianism, Montanism, and Donatism) which deny the possibility of repentance for those having committed certain sins. It is crucial that our clergymen not shy away from the position of the Church as regards the sinfulness of homosexuality and other unnatural expressions of the God-given gift of human sexuality – but it is also crucial that such statements be made with love and with a corresponding invitation to repentance and reconciliation with the Church.
We call upon all to pray for our land – that the Lord will forgive us our collective societal sins as well as our personal sins and provide us a safe haven which allows us to work out our salvation in peace.
Titled shortened to fit field parameters.
Save Thy people, O Lord,
and bless Thine inheritance.
Grant victory to Thy Church over her enemies,
and protect Thy people by Thy Holy Cross!
shame churches were not mentioning any of this for the last few years
Many churches were, but, sadly, they are some of the smaller national bodies: the various Orthodox; the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; the North American Lutheran Church; and the Anglican Church of North America immediately come to mind.
Thanks for posting. As you said, it expressed the “balance” between civil laws and theology.
If I was an Eastern Orthodox, I would be extremely proud of my leaderships statement.
“Swim the Bosporus”....believe me, the water is fine!
Great statement fom the Russian Orthodox!
Indeed I am very proud of our leadership. I’m in the Antiochian Archdiocese, and our bishops have made our position clear over and over again ever since the prop 8 battle in California. We will not capitulate or cooperate.
Excellent statement. Makes me humble in the face of such enlightenment!
Xzins, you wondered what our position was, well here you go!
Spot on and pitch perfect.
Good stuff with one concern: “If an Orthodox Christian chooses to engage in public political discourse this should be done with moderation and with a firm intention and watchfulness not to fall into extremism.”
The words ‘moderation’ and ‘extremism’, being in the eyes of the beholder, should have some leeway.
My understanding is that Orthodoxy has no papal life office. Is that correct?
Also, is ‘western rite’ acceptable and how different is it? Is it similar to a (faithful) Episcopal service?
The Antiochian Archdiocese has information about the Western Rite at http://www.antiochian.org
There are two Western Rite liturgies used in the Antiochian Archdiocese: The “Liturgy of St. Gregory” which is very similar to the Tridentine missal, but in English; and the “Liturgy of St. Tikhon” which is similar to Rite One of the Book of Common Prayer.
Most Western Rite parishes use the Liturgy of St. Gregory.
The words ‘moderation’ and ‘extremism’, being in the eyes of the beholder, should have some leeway.”
Think of how a spiritual father deals with his spiritual child...that kind of moderation which is the opposite of extremism.
“My understanding is that Orthodoxy has no papal life office. Is that correct?”
Padre, I have no idea what that is. So far as I know we don’t have papal anything.
We have no papacy in the Western sense, all bishops are fundamentally equal, though some have positions of greater honor or with more administrative responsibilities.
As to the Western Rite, the Antiochian Archdiocese and the Russian Church Outside of Russia both have Western Rites, but took very different approaches: the ROCOR Western Rite revived the use of pre-schism Western Liturgies (the Sarum Rite and Gallican Rite). I believe there are Sarum Rite parishes in the U.S., but I’m not sure whether there are any Gallican Rite parishes anywhere any more. There used to be come in France.
We Antiochians took the approach of correcting Western liturgies still in use — the corrected Tridentine Mass (in English — much better poetically than the Novo Ordus Mass the Latins now use in the Anglosphere) is called the Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory (a little confusing, since the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy in universal use in the Eastern Rite is also attributed to St. Gregory the Dialogist, called in the West St. Gregory the Great), while the corrected Book of Common Prayer Rite is called the Divine Liturgy of St. Tikhon.
The latter is explained by the fact that the Holy Hieromartyr of the Bolshevik Yoke, Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow, while he was Archbishop of Alaska and All-North-America, had entered talks with the Anglican Bishop of Fond du Lac, whom the Episcopalians had cynically made their representative to the Orthodox, knowing that he was theologically more like the Orthodox than he was like the typical Episcopalian bishop (or typical Episcopalian), hoping to gain Orthodox assent to the validity of Anglican holy orders. This was never given, but the talks seemed to go so well (had Bp. Grafton been truely representative of Anglicanism, they could easily have been the beginnings of reunion talks), that Archbishop Tikhon sent the Book of Common Prayer to the Holy Synod of Moscow with he query as to what changes would be needed for the Eucharistic rite to be suitable for Orthodox uses. The corrections used in Antiochian parishes that use the Anglican-style rite were based on the Holy Synod of Moscow’s replies, and thus the Liturgy is attributed to St. Tikhon.
Other “Western Rite Orthodox” are of dubious canonicity.
Thanks for the link. I thought that rite had fallen into disuse. It never extended beyond the Antiochians if I recall correctly.
I’m interested in what this Sunday’s sermon will be like.
One of the Russian jurisdictions had a Western Rite but ended it within the last year or two.
In the holy Orthodox Church we follow a prescribed series of Epistle and Gospel lessons.
Tomoroow is the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost.
Episitle
St. Paul's Letter to the Romans 6:18-23
BRETHREN, having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel
The Gospel of Matthew 8:5-13
At that time, as Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.
The Gospel is a very appropriate fit to the current situation, because the Centurion represents the power and authority of the unpopular Roman occupation.
Nevertheless, Jesus wrought a healing miracle to one who was not only outside the Abrahamic covenant but was also perceived as an enemy of the people.
So also for us: We, the Gentiles, are outside of the first covenant. And if we read the chapter preceding the Epistle (Romans 5) we are indentified as being enemies to God. But His mercy is great toward us in giving us the righteousness of His Son.
All of this meshes beautifully with the ROCOR hierarchs' statement.
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