Kythira, Greece, August 3, 2026
Photo: Romfea
His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Kythira and Antikythira of the Orthodox Church of Greece has issued a sharp critique of Greece’s legal recognition of same-sex couples with adoption rights, warning that new elementary school textbooks set to debut this September will present students with three family models instead of one.
The message was released to mark the beginning of the Dormition Fast and the feast day of St. Elesa, the patron saint of Kythira, along with the commemoration of St. Solomonia and her seven Maccabee children, reports Romfea.
In the message, Met. Seraphim recounts the lives of the two saints being honored, describing how St. Elesa was raised piously by her mother before refusing her pagan father’s demands that she abandon monastic life on Kythira, and was ultimately killed by him around 374 AD. He pairs this with the story of St. Solomonia’s seven sons, who were martyred for refusing to eat pork in violation of Mosaic law, under the guidance of their teacher Eleazar.
Drawing on the Apostle Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and Colossians, the hierarch outlines the mutual obligations of Christian family members, including sacrificial love between spouses and the responsibility of fathers not to provoke their children to anger.
He then turns to the erosion of the traditional Christian family, saying it’s “being attacked and undermined indirectly and craftily.” He criticizes the legal establishment of a “new type of family,” referring to same-sex couples with adoption rights, calling it “a terrible decline.”
He says the change will soon extend into public education, with new textbooks introducing two additional family models beyond the traditional one. According to Met. Seraphim, children will be taught about “man with man and woman with woman” family structures “so that they may choose in the future the ‘type of family’ that suits them.”
The Metropolitan connects his concerns to the wider regional situation, referring to “the terrible circumstance and threat of generalization and spread of war to the north and south,” and said that rather than seeking God’s mercy amid such dangers, society is instead undermining the traditional family.
He calls on Christian households to function as a “home church,” urging families to eat meals together when possible, pray together, attend Church services, receive Holy Communion, and discuss with their children what’s being taught in school. He also encourages a return to the practice of families jointly reading the Gospel and the lives of saints.
The message concluded with blessings for the Dormition fasting period, invoking the Holy Cross, the Theotokos, and the intercessions of St. Elesa and the Maccabee Martyrs for the family, for Greece, and for the world.
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