Greece, April 5, 2024
Photo: vimaorthodoxias.gr
Those members of the Greek Parliament who voted to legalize gay marriage have violated and offended the will of God, thereby calling down judgment upon themselves.
And were they to remain silent, they would become complicit and likewise condemned, state the monastic signatories of a new statement concerning the scandalous vote from mid-February.
The new statement, full of Scriptural references, is signed by the abbots and abbesses and their respective brotherhoods and sisterhoods of 35 monasteries from throughout Greece, including the Athonite monasteries of Xeropotamou, Dochariou, Karakallou, Philotheou, and Konstamanitou.
Until they offer their public repentance, the relevant members of Parliament are no longer welcome at the signing monasteries, and should they visit of their own accord, they will not be shown any honor.
Their statement reads:
With great sorrow, we, the abbots and abbesses of the holy monasteries and holy hermitages of our homeland, have witnessed the deplorable slip of the Greek government and the Greek Parliament.
At midnight on February 15, 2024, in the Greek Parliament, a conquest worse than the fall of the City was consummated: the abominable law regarding the legal recognition of the unnatural union between homosexuals as marriage, having equal rights before the law with the traditional Orthodox Christian marriage, was approved by a majority of baptized Orthodox Christians. This irrational recognition brings back to our heroic and saint-producing homeland the God-despised heresy of Nicolaitanism. Unfortunately, the rulers have reached the point of manically seeking to “liberate” themselves from every moral law and barrier, despising the Law of God, culminating in the legitimization of a sin that is diametrically opposed to His holy will.
They forget the words of God to the Bishop of Pergamum, as recorded in the sacred book of Revelation. There, God’s abhorrence towards the dreadful heresy of Nicolaitanism, which considers the dissolution of morals as something normal and acceptable by God, culminating in homosexuality (Rev. 2:14-16), is vividly manifested.
The condemnation of Sodom is known to all, which leaves no room for doubt that the consequences of such sin are death, destruction, and ruin. The silent yet terrifying image of the Dead Sea unrelentingly convicts the blasphemers of God across the ages. It is an unfalsified witness of His absolute aversion to this sin and the ensuing destruction and punishment of the guilty.
Despite these undeniable truths, the elected representatives in Parliament have desecrated the eternal and immovable boundaries of the Orthodox faith, ethics, and anthropology, against the acknowledged opposition of the overwhelming majority of Greek citizens to the shameful bill.
Do they realize that they will inevitably appear before God the Judge? How will they stand then before the dreadful tribunal, when today they so shamelessly disregard and mock God and the people? Do they forget that God is not mocked? (Gal. 6:7).
And we, as baptized Orthodox Christians, what excuse will we give, while tolerating and legitimizing such a sin? What excuse will we give, when, despite being a nation frequently blessed by God throughout history, we fail to stand tall and defend His rights? Our tolerance or silence in the face of such lawless legislation makes us de facto accomplices.
St. John Chrysostom, astonished, asks: “When Divine laws are insulted, is not he who remains silent and overlooks it, worthy of punishment?” Also, St. Basil the Great proclaims: “He who is silent appears to consent!” And St. Theodore the Studite the Confessor declares: “For it is the Lord’s command not to be silent at a time when the faith is endangered. Speak, he says, and do not be silent… Therefore, I, the wretched one, fearing the Judgment, speak” (PG 99, 1321).
Our glorious ancestors valiantly fought for the triad: Faith – Fatherland – Family. They managed, with many sacrifices, to make our God-protected homeland respected and enviable. What is happening today in our country, they didn’t even want to express with words; it was the “unspeakable.”
Therefore, fearing primarily to grieve and, much more, to offend our Holy Triune God with our silence, we declare that:
We no longer invite neither the members of Parliament who did not vote against the immoral law nor the members of the current government to any events of our holy habitations. It is better, as long as they remain unrepentant, not to come to our monasteries. If, against hope, they come voluntarily, they certainly will not receive any honor, as they have fallen from the honor due to them.
This stance of ours will be applied until they publicly and actively demonstrate their repentance (for which we wish and pray), proceeding with appropriate actions for the legislative annulment of the law. “He who is wounded also heals himself.”
This decision of ours is an expression of philanthropy, love, and respect both towards them and towards the people who elected them to represent them. Since they publicly trampled on the Law and the will of God and the people, they are publicly reproached, judged, and condemned.
Finally, hoping in the mercy and patience of our Holy Triune God, we pray for our God-saved and beloved homeland. We call on all conscientious Christians to remain firm and immovable in the Apostolic and Patristic Tradition of our Church.
The monasteries of Mt. Athos issued two unanimous statements (see here and here) on the matter before the vote was taken in February.
Three dioceses of the Greek Church have also excommunicated their local MPs who voted to legalize gay marriage.
Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
