Greece, March 24, 2026
Photo: iersynklellados.blogspot.com
The Holy Association of Greek Clergy (ISKE) has issued a statement criticizing the recent Council of State decision reaffirming the constitutionality of same-sex marriage and adoption in Greece.
The group acknowledges that Greece, as a secular state, is free to pass legislation that conflicts with religious norms, but expresses regret that the court “didn’t take into account the long-standing religious and social tradition of this land, nor the conscience and sentiment of the Greek people,” report Romfea.
ISKE argues that such legislation doesn’t address pressing national concerns, describing it instead as an imitation of practices from “certain Western societies, which in recent years have enacted similar laws” and which, in the group’s words, have “truly lost all measure and limit.”
On the question of adoption, the statement raises concerns about the rights of children placed with same-sex couples, asking “who will defend the rights of infants who will be adopted by same-sex couples and who will be deprived of either a paternal or maternal role model.”
The statement also questions who would speak for surrogate mothers and for “the instrumentalization, in many cases, of poor women who will be called upon to give birth to children to be given up for adoption to same-sex couples.”
The clergy group states that same-sex unions are incapable of ever being “literally and substantively” a marriage, on the grounds that such a union “can’t lead to the biological begetting of children who would be the combination of the genetic material of the two individuals joined in matrimony.”
ISKE also pushes back against a divisive social dynamic, arguing that Greek society has historically been inclusive and oriented toward a collective “we,” but that new identity theories are driving a wedge between heterosexual and homosexual citizens. The statement notes that gay people have always existed in Greek society and that many “believed and continue to believe deeply in God, placing in God the hope of their salvation, living with confession and repentance”—and that the Orthodox Church has never regarded them with hostility.
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