Kythira, Greece, February 27, 2024
Met. Seraphim of Kythira in the foreground. Photo: eretikos.gr
Members of Greek Parliament who voted to legalize gay marriage and the adoption of children by gay couples earlier this month have been excommunicated in at least two dioceses of the Greek Orthodox Church.
OrthoChristian reported yesterday that they are forbidden to commune within the Metropolis of Piraeus, by decision of the diocesan clerical assembly.
And in his epistle for the start of the period of the Lenten Triodion, His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythira makes extensive reference to the scandalous parliamentary decision, also announcing that those MPs from their region who voted for the relevant bill are forbidden to receive Holy Communion in those churches under him.
The recent events in Parliament “call for rivers of tears of repentance and heartbreak… Our era is indeed worthy of tears and, without exaggeration, worthy of mourning,” His Eminence writes.
“The God-loving people of God mourn and groan for the sacrilege committed in our days… “Rights” reign supreme, but without any talk of obligations,” he states
“Because of the rights of homosexual ‘couples,’ the Divine laws of nature … are overturned and disregarded… The spirit of party politics prevailed over the command of the Spirit of God,” His Eminence laments.
And like the Metropolis of Piraeus, Met. Seraphim of Kythira states that the MPs who voted in favor of gay marriage are excommunicated within his diocese:
I have to declare to the Members of Parliament of our region, except one, that they deeply saddened and scandalized the pious people of our islands of Kythira and Antikythira with their stance. Until their genuine repentance for what has unfortunately been done is demonstrated in action, our Local Church will not invite them to the official festive events of our Metropolitan Region and will deny them Holy Communion if they attend and request it at other worship gatherings.
The issue of their excommunication must be further dealt with by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, Met. Seraphim writes.
“The committed ‘crime’ is undoubtedly more severe than that of the era of Theodosius the Great,” the hierarch writes, referring to the massacre of Thessaloniki in 390, for which St. Ambrose of Milan denied the Emperor Holy Communion, “because in our case, it is not physically but spiritually and psychologically that thousands and millions of our fellow human beings, and especially young people, in our Greek Orthodox homeland and throughout the entire world, are being killed.”
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