With a unanimous open letter-resolutionthe General Priestly Synod of Corfu, which was held at the Spiritual Center of the Holy Metropolis of Corfu, under the presidency of the Reverend Metropolitan of Corfu, Paxos and Diapontian Islands Mr. Nektarios, expresses her deep sadness because the two prefecture deputies who belong to the opposition, voted in favor of the bill for same-sex couples and calls them to refrain from any church event, while forbidding them to partake of Holy Communion.

In particular, the resolution states, among other things:

“…the two MPs of our Prefecture who belong to the opposition, even though they had been informed by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece in an official letter that this bill corresponds to the positions and faith of the Orthodox Christian, they nevertheless voted for it. They erred spiritually, either because they followed “party discipline”, or because they do not understand that in order to be a member of the Church, one must follow – obey its teachings, not on a case-by-case basis, but as a whole, or, even more so, because the they themselves are convinced that marriage is a social ceremony and not a sacrament, and that the begetting of children need not take into account that a child must have a father and a mother from the beginning, but is independent of the God-given and natural constitution of the family.

So for us, these two MPs cannot consider themselves as active members of the Church. However, even if their conscience does not perceive the heavy spiritual and moral slip, into which they fell, we must point it out to them and we do so publicly.

Therefore, we invite them to abstain from any church event, we do not consider them to be allowed to receive communion of the holy mysteries and we urge them to repent for their impatience. We declare, however, that in the future we will not give them any honor deriving from the relationship between the State and the Church in official events, in parish worship gatherings and litanies, and we call on them to assume their responsibilities”.

In the resolution, credit is given to the prefecture’s government deputy, because, as it is typically stated, “he showed the attitude of an orthodox Christian, he kept his conscience intact… even though he came in a difficult position vis-a-vis his party”.

In a statement, the office of the Corfu deputy of SYRIZA-PS Alexandros – Christos Avlonitis, characterizes the mentality of the Church of Corfu as obscurantist.

“One would expect from the leadership of our local church that it would not separate its children in this obscurantist way, especially when the separation hides a direct intervention based on party criteria, but in the case of the leadership of the Church of Corfu, it seems that we are wrong.

In any case, we declare that no one, let alone those who have not respected the customary rules of our island in various ways, has the right to exclude anyone from participating in the traditional events of our country. We repeat once more that the Education of Corfu and the culture of its religious life throughout time are not characterized by perceptions and practices that lack the luster and love for man” he says characteristically.

The announcement concludes with the following postscript:

“P.S.: Finally, since it does not appear from the announcement in question, we are waiting to see if the famous “exclusion measures” against the two MPs will apply the same and with the same intensity to all elected officials who voted in favor of controversial law (e.g. for our fellow minister Mr. Dendias in case of his arrival in Corfu or for the prime minister himself)”.

The PASOK-Movement for Change Press Office also issued a statement-response regarding the “unacceptable” decision of the Diocese of Corfu.

“The announcement of the Diocese of Corfu by which it excludes from the church the MP of PASOK-Movement of Change, Dimitris Biagis, as well as the MP of SYRIZA, Christos Avlonitis, is absolutely unacceptable and condemnable.

The state has an inescapable duty to defend human rights without exception and to legislatively guarantee the equality of all citizens.

Actions, which invest in divisions with small-party expedients and target parliamentarians for the performance of their legislative duties according to the Constitution, are obviously not consistent with the role of the Church”.