Dear BJ,

Thank you for your email and I appreciate your direct comments. I do take issue with a few of the points that you raise. While I do agree with you that we are all sinners afflicted with passions and the Church is indeed the hospital where we can be healed by Christ. 

Homosexuality in itself can not be a sin. I did not choose to be a homosexual anymore than you choose your sexuality – probably heterosexuality. The Church states that since I am a homosexual I must be celibate and denied the love, compassion and support that comes from a life long monogamous same sex relationship. The Church also recognizes that very few people are called to be celibate, even allowing its priests to be married.  Do you not see a contradiction in this logic? 

Considering the prohibitions against homosexuality in the Old and New Testament – we agree that they are there. But the Church has relaxed, changed, and even ignored other Scriptural directives – even those coming from Christ. How else are we to understand the Church allowing up to 3 marriages in light of Matthew 19 and Christ’s comments on divorce.  This means that the Church is allowing, (blessing) even in its penitential rite of second crowning, to commit adultery. The reason is that the Church understands human frailty and acts in the interest of that with economia. They could the same thing with same-sex relationships. 

I bid you peace,
Andriy

Please pray for me that I may overcome my passions. And I will do likewise. But the issue at hand is the first step to seeking healing is to realize you are sick. The church is a hospital, but can’t help you if don’t want to be healed.

Homosexuality is a sin without question. Sexual sin in itself is among the most obvious and dangerous of sins. You know that to equate it with eating shellfish is not a fair comparison. How the rules of Leviticus apply to Christians is too complicated a matter to deal with here as you know. But I’m sure you’ve done your research. Homosexuality is mentioned in the New Testament as well so any references to OT admonitions are redundant. Not just homosexuality, but there is many sexual sin between man and woman as well. God and the Church do not discriminate.

I wish you well on your walk, and am happy to have you a member of the Church.

Tim,
Thank you for your comment. In the Orthodox Church we recognize the interpretations of Sacred Scripture written by the fathers of the Church. Some date back to the post-Gospel period. Some of the most venerable would be the fathers St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzus and others from the fourth century and later. As sainted as these holy men were, they were not infallible and some of their writings and interpretations of Scripture today would be viewed by many as outdated. For example, St. John warns against attending theatrical performances. Am I to be condemned for attending plays performed by my students? You ask about commandments – certainly the commandment prohibiting murder is more important and valid than the commandment prohibiting the eating of shellfish. Would you not agree?
Andriy

By your reckoning, because there’s some seemingly irrelevant rules written in the New testament, Christians don’t really have a valid reason to obey any commands do they?

Ralph, I understand your frustrations. The same goes for those that throw unkind words at gay people and yet eat shrimp and wear clothes of cotton-wool blends. I hope that you remember that our loving God is greater than those that pick and choose which scripture to quote. Andriy