{"id":11190,"date":"2018-06-11T13:35:43","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T20:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/?p=11190"},"modified":"2022-10-30T06:33:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-30T13:33:50","slug":"kallistos-ware-comes-out-for-homosexual-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/2018\/06\/kallistos-ware-comes-out-for-homosexual-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"Met. Kallistos Ware Comes Out for Homosexual “Marriage”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kallistosby Fr. Ioannes Apiarius \u2013
\nIn the latest issue of The Wheel<\/a> magazine (edited by notorious pro-homosexual activist Inga Leonova and other pro-LGBT activists<\/a>) Bishop Kallistos Ware<\/a> bemoans the unfair and “heavy burden” the Orthodox Church places on homosexuals and criticizes the “defensive and reactive” manner in which the Orthodox Faith deals with homosexual sin.<\/p>\n

Writing the Foreword<\/a> for the Spring\/Summer 2018 edition of The Wheel<\/a>, Ware questions the Orthodox Christian teaching regarding sodomy and homosexual relationships, places erotic desire between a man and a woman on the same moral level as homosexual eroticism, accuses the Church of being obsessed with “genital sex,” criticizes the call to celibacy for those who struggle with same-sex attraction, and appears to advocate for the acceptance of same-sex couples into the sacramental life of the Church. <\/p>\n

Ware equates normal erotic desire between men and women with depraved homosexual erotic desire. He then proceeds to criticize the “heavy burden” the Orthodox Church places when counseling others to abstain from sodomy and other sinful homosexual behaviors:<\/p>\n

Persons of heterosexual orientation have the option of getting married<\/strong>, and so in a positive way they can fulfil their erotic desire<\/strong> with the Church\u2019s blessing through the God-given sacrament of holy matrimony. <\/p>\n

But homosexuals have no such option<\/strong>. In the words of Vasileios Thermos, \u201cA homosexual subject is called to lead a celibate life without feeling a vocation for it.\u201d Are we right to impose this heavy burden<\/strong> on the homosexual?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ware also writes that monogamous sodomy by homosexuals “committed to a permanent relationship” is preferable to promiscuity and hence the Church should make a distinction in how it treats such “married” couples:<\/p>\n

A second anomaly is to be found in the way homosexuals are commonly treated in the sacrament of confession. All of us recognize that there is an important distinction to be made between those homosexuals who engage in casual encounters, seeking out in some \u201cgay\u201d bar a partner for a single night; and on the other hand, those homosexuals<\/strong> who are committed to a permanent relationship, faithful and monogamous<\/strong>, in which deep love<\/strong> is involved. Surely no Christian is in favour of sexual promiscuity.
\n…
\nWhat happens, by contrast, to the faithful and monogamous homosexual<\/strong>? Perhaps the priest says in confession, \u201cAre you willing to give up your homosexual relationship?\u201d The penitent may answer, \u201cI cannot do that.\u201d The priest may rejoin, \u201cYou can continue to share a common life, marked by mutual affection; but will you abstain from further sexual activity?\u201d The other may well reply, \u201cI am not yet ready to undertake that.\u201d (Yet I have known homosexuals who have indeed transformed their relationship in this way.) <\/p>\n

The priest, faced with this refusal, may well feel that he cannot bless the penitent to receive the sacrament. Now here certainly is a paradox. The homosexual committed to a stable and loving relationship<\/strong> is treated more harshly than the homosexual who is casual and promiscuous, and who is seeking not true love but passing pleasure. Something has gone wrong<\/strong> here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Furthermore, Ware criticizes the Church for being obsessed with “genital sex” and accuses Orthodox priests of being Peeping Toms if they are concerned about homosexual activity between same-sex individuals:<\/p>\n

Why do we put so great an emphasis upon genital sex? Why do we seek to enquire what adult persons of the same sex are doing in the privacy of their bedrooms? Trying to gaze through the keyhole<\/strong> is never a dignified posture. What harm are they doing to others? (\u201cAh!\u201d it will be said, \u201cthey are doing harm to themselves.\u201d) I am not suggesting here that we should bluntly set aside the traditional Orthodox teaching, but we do need to enquire more rigorously into the reasons that lie behind it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finally, Ware blames the Orthodox for being “defensive and reactive” and admonishes them to “experiment” in order to find “truth” and discover more “theological treasury” that apparently remains undiscovered regarding homosexuality:<\/p>\n

In the words of Brandon Gallaher, \u201cTo ascertain the truth we must experiment.\u201d And as Vasileios Thermos maintains, \u201cOur theological treasury . . . is waiting to be discovered.\u201d Let us not as Orthodox be merely defensive and reactive, \u201crunning after the facts,\u201d as he puts it; but let us listen to one another with creative courage, with mutual respect and, more than that, with (in his own words again) \u201cloving compassion.\u201d Let us acknowledge, moreover, the variety of paths that God calls us human beings to follow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014
\n(Minor organizational edits and bolding of key words and\/or phrases done by blog editors done to enhance readability.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bishop Kallistos Ware bemoans the unfair and “heavy burden” the Orthodox Church places on homosexuals and criticizes the “defensive and reactive” manner in which the Orthodox Faith deals with homosexual sin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":497,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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":[177,175,95,176,189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-false-teachers","category-heresy","category-homosexual-indoctrination","category-lgbt-activism","category-wokeodox"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11190","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=11190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}