{"id":10828,"date":"2017-08-21T14:38:20","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T21:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/?p=10828"},"modified":"2025-01-21T15:37:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T23:37:29","slug":"fr-thomas-hopko-homosexual-advocates-should-be-denied-communion-in-the-orthodox-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/fr-thomas-hopko-homosexual-advocates-should-be-denied-communion-in-the-orthodox-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Fr. Thomas Hopko: Homosexual Advocates Should be Denied Communion in the Orthodox Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3AKfSfG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10829\" src=\"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Same-Sex_Attraction_Hopko_book_2015_01.jpg\" alt=\"Homosexual Advocates Should be Denied Communion in the Orthodox Church\" width=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Same-Sex_Attraction_Hopko_book_2015_01.jpg 292w, https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Same-Sex_Attraction_Hopko_book_2015_01-202x300.jpg 202w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 292px) 100vw, 292px\" \/><\/a>by Fr. Thomas Hopko &#8211;<br \/>\nFor this reason, those who publicly affirm and promote homosexual behavior (like those who publicly advocate abortion) cannot be sacramental communicants in the Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n<p>When Church leaders rightly remove persons from sacramental communion, they must understand their action as therapeutic and not punitive.<\/p>\n<p>From <strong>Chapter 24 &#8211; Same-Sex Attraction and Sacraments<\/strong> in<br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3OISMjY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Faith and Same Sex Attraction: Eastern Orthodox Reflections<\/a><\/strong> book by Fr. Thomas Hopko<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In Orthodoxy, communicants in the sacramental mysteries are not only obliged to be steadfast in the Christian faith and perpetually repentant over their failures, they are also obliged to take full responsibility for the Church\u2019s teachings and practices, and to be ready, to defend them unto death. <!--more--> <\/li>\n<li>For this reason, those who publicly affirm and promote homosexual behavior (like those who publicly advocate abortion) cannot be sacramental communicants in the Orthodox Church.<\/li>\n<li>Apostolic Scriptures clearly maintain the hope that a person\u2019s exclusion from the Church\u2019s sacramental communion, whatever its reasons and ways of occurring, may ultimately serve that person\u2019s \u201cspirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus\u201d (1 Cor. 5:5).<\/li>\n<li>When Church leaders rightly remove persons from sacramental communion, they must understand their action as therapeutic and not punitive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<br \/>\nAvailable from Amazon: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3OISMjY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christian Faith and Same Sex Attraction: Eastern Orthodox Reflections<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3OISMjY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Christian-Faith-Same-Sex-Attraction_Hopko_01_587x586.jpg\" alt=\"Fr. Thomas Hopko: Homosexual Advocates Should be Denied Communion in the Orthodox Church\" width=\"587\" height=\"586\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11585\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Christian-Faith-Same-Sex-Attraction_Hopko_01_587x586.jpg 587w, https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Christian-Faith-Same-Sex-Attraction_Hopko_01_587x586-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Christian-Faith-Same-Sex-Attraction_Hopko_01_587x586-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 587px) 100vw, 587px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Fr. Thomas Hopko &#8211; For this reason, those who publicly affirm and promote homosexual behavior (like those who publicly advocate abortion) cannot be sacramental communicants in the Orthodox Church. When Church leaders rightly remove persons from sacramental communion, they must understand their action as therapeutic and not punitive. From Chapter 24 &#8211; Same-Sex Attraction &#8230; <a title=\"Fr. Thomas Hopko: Homosexual Advocates Should be Denied Communion in the Orthodox Church\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/fr-thomas-hopko-homosexual-advocates-should-be-denied-communion-in-the-orthodox-church\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Fr. Thomas Hopko: Homosexual Advocates Should be Denied Communion in the Orthodox Church\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":497,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[68,194,8,174,15,5,130],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-fr-hopko","category-gay-marriage","category-homosexuals-healed-by-christ","category-moral-issues","category-orthodox-christianity","category-orthodox-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/497"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}