A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 7 Number 35 - Tuesday, August 30th, 2005 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian Laity
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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The Antiochian Archdiocese deserves to be commended for withdrawing from the National Council of Churches earlier this month. The Antiochians argue that the NCC has adopted liberal positions which are basically not negotiable on matters of faith, citing, for example, that the NCC General Secretary does not reject, and even accepts, same-sex marriage. As a member communion of the NCC, the Orthodox Church has signed off on various common statements with its non-Orthodox Christian brethren (e.g., the statement on the need to protect and preserve the Earth’s environment), but as a general rule, declaring "common statements" with those who don’t share a common faith is problematic. The Orthodox Church does not condemn homosexuals, but neither does it condone same-sex unions or the practice of homosexuality. Nor does it condone heterosexual sex outside the context of marriage between a man and a woman, for that matter. Again, the Church encourages ALL people to refrain from indulging their all-too human urges, condemning the sin, but not the sinner and, as a spiritual hospital, is the Lord’s vehicle for divine dispensation of healing and wellness. In a very narrow sense, it is not even about whether something is right or wrong. It is about what the Church professes, and what She expects from adherents to the Orthodox faith. That being the case, the Antiochians have valid reasons to withdraw from the NCC. This does not mean the Orthodox should resist or refrain from dialogue with other communions, but it does send a strong message to the leaderships of other Churches which, if they are genuinely tolerant (as Christ would expect them to be), should respect an Orthodox decision to draw a moral line based on the tenets of the Orthodox faith. Metropolitan Methodios of Boston has already issued a statement along this direction. Has the time arrived for a wider reaction on the part of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese?
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