Church of Greece unanimously rejects marriage and parenthood by same-sex couples.

The Holy Synod of the Greek Church unanimously rejected on Thursday the government bill on the marriage and parenthood by same-sex couples.

The Greek Church is categorically against marriage and parenthood of same-sex couples and the bill it calls “mine-laden”claiming that “this new reality will alter the social cohesion of our country.”

The Holy Synod’s decision is not a surprise, however, it is going to put the conservative New Democracy government under further pressure. Already several ministers and ND MPs have expressed their objection to the bill.

In an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday with only one issue on the agenda, country’s high-ranking clergy unanimously decided that it disagrees with both marriage and the possibility of parenthood by same-sex couples.

In his introduction, the Bishop of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki Nikolas stated that the state and the church are two different worlds and pointed out that any issues that exist are resolved by legal regulation in the civil partnership agreement, in effect in Greece since 2015.

According media reports, theological and legal arguments recorded among others that the “civil partnership” agreement is the one that can cover all the individual issues for same-sex couples.

Holy Synod decision

Citing excerpts from the Holy Bible, the teaching of the Fathers of the Church and the arrangement of the Sacrament of Marriage, the final statement issued by the Holy Synod states that

The purpose of Christian marriage is the creation of a good marriage and family, the development of children as fruits of the love of the two spouses in Christ, and their connection to church life.

1. The purpose of Christian marriage is the creation of a good marriage and family, the development of children as fruits of the love of the two spouses in Christ, and their connection to church life.

The Church accepts for the relationship between man-woman and children that: a) the duality of the sexes and their complementarity are not social inventions, but come from God
b) the sanctity of the union of man and woman refers to the relationship between Christ and the Church
c) Christian marriage is not a simple civil partnership agreement, but a Holy Sacrament, through which the grace of God is granted to the relationship of communion between a man and a woman with the aim of their common path to theology – and this blessed path concerns all couples with or no children
d) father and mother are components of childhood and adult life

2. Obviously the State legislates, but this parameter neither deprives the Church of freedom of speech, nor relieves the Church of the duty of informing the faithful people, nor can it indicate what sin consists of. The Church does not legislate and is not responsible for laws. If it remains silent, however, it bears a heavy responsibility and destroys itself.

4. It was announced that “same-sex marriage” and “same-sex parenthood” will be allowed through adoption and (in various ways) through surrogacy. The initiators of the bill and its supporters promote the abolition of fatherhood and motherhood and their transformation into neutral parenthood, the disappearance of gender roles within the family and put before the interests of future children the sexual choices of homosexual adults . Under the bill, same-sex single parents will be able to impose their partner as “father 2” or “mother 2” on their child.

5. This legislative initiative condemns future children to grow up without a father or mother in an environment of parental role confusion. The single-parent family is a different case. It causes deprivation of one parent, but not confusion of parental roles. In contrast, homosexual cohabitation causes both. In addition, these children will often not have the opportunity to meet their other biological parent. They will also not have the personal experience of the presence of the opposite sex (as opposed to their “same-sex parents”) in a heterosexual relationship. Children with fathers 1 and 2 or mothers 1 and 2 (or more) will be the victims of an unnatural birth mechanism.

6. It was announced that: a) it will be allowed for “same-sex couples” to adopt jointly and for adoption by the “same-sex spouse” of the parent (it will also apply to today’s children from surrogacy), b) it will not be allowed in Greece to surrogate pregnancy in favor of a “same-sex couple”, but this will be recognized if it was done legally in another state. These arrangements will create incentives for the exploitation of vulnerable women.

If the above mentioned applies, it is a mine-laden bill with contradictions and ways to circumvent its prohibitions (through pregnancies abroad) and it is possible that Greece will be condemned by the European Court of Human Rights due to discrimination, in which case the country will be forced to legislate on the territory as well her surrogate pregnancy.

7. The bill abolishes not only rules of bioethics, Christian values and the Greek family tradition.

8. The Church of Greece recognizes only the Holy Sacrament of the Christian marriage and rejects civil marriage regardless of gender.

Using this conclusions text, the Holy Synod reportedly plans to send letters to inform MPs as well as inform the faithful public through leaflets and sermon in churches on Sundays and publications in the media.