His opposition regarding marriage to the bill that the Greek government is about to present on marriage between same-sex couples and adoption, is taken up by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The Holy and Holy Synod of the Patriarchate met today in Fanari and issued a statement on the institutionalization of same-sex marriage in Greece.

As he points out, the Holy and Great Synod of Crete in June 2016 decided that “the Church does not accept for its members, according to symbiosis of this or the other sex and any other form of symbiosis, other than marriage” as “the union in Christ man and woman”, which “represents a small church or an icon of the Church”.

He clarifies, however, that those who enter into other forms of cohabitation should “be treated with pastoral responsibility and love in Christ.

The announcement in detail

The Holy and Sacred Synod, meeting under the presidency of His Holiness in its regular session, today, Wednesday, January 24, 2024, reminds the pious flock of the Panseptus Ecumenical Throne, on the debate on the institutionalization of marriage between individuals gender and childbearing in Greece, the binding Decision of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church (Crete, June 2016), that “the Church does not accept for its members cohabitation of one or the other sex and any other form of cohabitation, other than marriage” as “the union of man and woman in Christ”, which “constitutes a small church or an icon of the Church” (text “The mystery of marriage and its obstacles”, I.10 and 4). It is noted at the same time that the members of the Church who enter into such forms of symbiosis must be treated with pastoral responsibility and love in Christ.

From the Archsecretariat of the Holy and Holy Synod