Which churches perform same-sex marriages? In Nizhny Novgorod, an Orthodox priest married homosexuals. Priest Maxim Obukhov
09/03/2003 - 14:53, updated 02/24/2004
According to Komsomolskaya Pravda, an Orthodox priest married a homosexual couple in Nizhny Novgorod.
Denis Gogolev and Mikhail Morozov announced their intention to get married on the air of the “Domino Principle” program, and then everyone present in the studio was sure that the Orthodox Church would not agree to perform the sacrament.
Nevertheless, KP claims that the wedding took place on September 1, and it was performed by a Nizhny Novgorod priest, whose name the newspaper does not report. The Russian Orthodox Church has not yet officially responded to the publication, but Komsomolskaya Pravda contains a comment from Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who recalled that the Church has an extremely negative attitude towards same-sex marriage, an Orthodox priest does not have the right to marry such people and for such an act may be defrocked.
The Nizhny Novgorod diocese refused to comment on what happened. Priest Igor Pchelintsev, responsible for press relations, said: “This is impossible, we cannot say anything about this.”
On September 4, it became known that the priest who performed the ceremony, after an investigation carried out by the diocese on September 2, was banned from the priesthood. According to the representative of the diocese, Igor Pchelintsev, who told reporters about this, what happened is “a pre-planned provocation, designed to scandalously attract attention to the problem of same-sex marriage.” Igor Pchelintsev also emphasized that “the Russian Orthodox Church, of course, condemns the very idea of “same-sex marriage” and traditionally, following the Holy Scriptures and Tradition of the Church, condemns homosexual relations as a mortal sin.”
On September 9, it became known that even his son knew nothing about the fate of the priest who married homosexuals. According to one version, Father Vladimir Enert was secretly taken from the Makaryevsky Monastery, where he was sent after the story of the wedding was made public - the nuns of the monastery claim that the priest was taken away on the Volga in an unknown direction. According to another version, he is still in the monastery, but the diocese is hiding it. Neighbors say that things were being loaded from the priest’s apartment all night.
According to Regions.ru, the priest's son's threats against a gay couple, which were reported in the press, turned out to be a fiction.
On October 6, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church recognized the wedding of a homosexual couple as blasphemy, “violation of the foundations of morality, the teachings of the Holy Scriptures and the canonical norms of life of an Orthodox Christian, and therefore without grace-filled and legal force” and decided to deprive priest Vladimir Enert and priest Mikhail Kabanov “as an accomplice.” sacrilege."
Deputy Chairman of the DECR Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said that the period for which the Nizhny Novgorod priest is defrocked has not yet been determined: “It happens that this punishment is imposed for a certain time, it happens that it is imposed untimely. It often happens that after repentance, after the passage After a certain time, this punishment is lifted and the priest is allowed to serve again."
One of those getting married, Denis Gogolev, told a Rosbalt correspondent that the chapel in which the wedding took place was destroyed several days ago. “The church has become a vicious institution, it’s almost a sect,” Gogolev said. “It has spat on its own canons.” “Only Lenin and Stalin demolished churches.”
The press secretary of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, priest Igor Pchelintsev, said that the dismantling of the chapel was not connected with the wedding of homosexuals, it was just that it had long been planned to build a church on the site of the chapel.
Vladimir Enert himself denies his guilt and expresses disagreement with the decision of the Holy Synod to deprive him of his episcopal rank. According to him, he did not perform the wedding, and the photographs published in Komsomolskaya Pravda are fake. The priest believes that the hierarchy should check the authenticity of the photographs before making a decision. V. Ehnert stated that he would “never abandon either God or the cross,” since he served in the priesthood for 20 years.
A church investigation conducted under the leadership of Bishop Georgy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas showed that the wedding photographs were not fake, and the ceremony was indeed performed by a priest. But the Church, despite the perfect ritual, refuses to recognize homosexuals as spouses.
A comment: See comments:
Green sediment of a “blue wedding”: An Orthodox priest “married” gays for the first time in Russia // Portal-Credo.ru. 2003. September 3.
Sign of the times. Blue passion with a taste of Cahors as a starting shot before the start of the election race // Ibid. 8 September.
Participant of the “blue wedding” in Nizhny Novgorod DENIS GOGOLEV: “We do not have the sin of Sodom...” // Ibid. September 19
A. Morozov. About the so-called “wedding” in Nizhny Novgorod // Religion and Media. 2003. September 9
S. Bychkov. Gays are breaking into the temple // Moskovsky Komsomolets. 2003. September 9.
Zubov M. Is it possible to “legalize” the sin of Sodom? Church canons categorically do not allow “same-sex love” // Portal-Credo.ru. 2003. September 11.
Spew out and demolish. The demolition of the temple in which the blasphemy was committed turned out to be a necessary measure in response to the expansion of sexual minorities // Ibid. October 7th.
The program is hosted by Veronica Ostrinskaya. Radio Liberty columnists Yakov Krotov and Giovanni Bensi are taking part.
Veronica Ostrinskaya: Orthodox priest Vladimir Enart is deprived of his rank by decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. Vladimir Enart, in compliance with traditional Orthodox rites, married a homosexual couple on September 1st. The wedding, which took place in one of the churches in Nizhny Novgorod, was declared illegal by the Synod. Another priest is involved in the case - Father Mikhail Kabanov, in whose church the ceremony took place. He is prohibited from serving in the priesthood. According to Bishop Georgy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, a girl and a young man approached Father Mikhail Kabanov with a request to give the keys to the church on September 1st. Their parents were allegedly against the young people getting married, and therefore the wedding had to be secret. Father Vladimir Enart was supposed to marry them. As it turned out later, the wedding took place between two men, and the girl turned out to be a journalist, who subsequently wrote an article about the ceremony and provided it with relevant photographs. And now our columnist Yakov Krotov is in direct contact with Radio Liberty in Moscow and Giovanni Bensi in Rome.
I would like to address the first question to Yakov Krotov. As a representative of the Orthodox Church, how do you view such marriages? If young people really love each other, why does the church consider such a marriage illegal?
Yakov Krotov: I think that, of course, there was no talk of any love, but this was a pre-election move by one of the young people who was putting forward his candidacy for the elections and wanted to get promoted, albeit at the cost of a scandal. Of course, if there was real love, people could do without a wedding. I know many people who love each other live without the sacrament, because they love each other deeply. I don’t think that the people who went on such adventures were thinking about love. And, of course, there was no wedding or sacrament here, because there was neither love nor faith.
Veronica Ostrinskaya: Yakov, but if these two people are Orthodox believers, is the wedding ceremony in church really important for them?
Yakov Krotov: I repeat once again: they are apparently not Orthodox and the wedding ceremony is unimportant for them. And this is the reason why most likely they are not Orthodox: because Orthodox people, even if they have such a non-traditional sexual orientation, it would not occur to them to do anything like that. An Orthodox is not just a person with roots, as Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk now says, these young people had Orthodox roots, with problems with the crown and foliage. Therefore, if a person is Orthodox, he goes to church regularly, he knows the prayers, he knows the commandments, and, as a rule, he has a confessor. And before going to get married, they don’t go to the first priest they come across, but go to their spiritual father. In general, indeed, for a Christian, including an Orthodox Christian, such a situation is just as impossible as a motorist is not faced with the question of how to supply warm air to a balloon - these are different ways of moving through life.
Veronica Ostrinskaya: Yakov, why, in your opinion, did the Orthodox priest Vladimir Enart agree to perform the wedding ceremony?
Yakov Krotov: I suspect there is very little information here, unfortunately, I suspect, firstly, it is still unknown who this Father Vladimir Enart is - is he a full-time clergyman of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese or not. I suspect that these are the so-called sacral priests - there was such an expression in the 17th century, that is, freelance, some kind of stray who has nothing to lose. They showed him on TV - he was a fairly old man, of retirement age. And, apparently, in addition to the 500 dollars that the Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist wrote about, they gave him something else. The man knew what he was getting into, he knew how it would end, and he understood that it would be in the newspapers. Everything was calculated in advance; the person deliberately chose to earn extra money and was willing to leave the church. What to do? He made his choice and the choice, of course, was anti-Christian.
Veronica Ostrinskaya: Giovanni, I have a question for you: tell me, how does the Catholic Church feel about same-sex marriages, and are there any precedents for such marriages?
Giovanni Bensi: You know, there is no difference between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in their assessment of homosexual relationships, and especially homosexual marriages; this doctrine is the same and is based on the Old Testament and New Testament traditions, on the tradition of the Holy Scriptures. There were many such precedents in the West, especially in some countries like, say, Holland, the Netherlands. But it is interesting that just recently, in early August, the Vatican, in particular, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Raffinger, published a document on this matter. A document that states that Catholics should not, under any circumstances, support proposals put forward in the parliaments of some countries to legalize same-sex marriage. There is a passage in this document that I briefly quote: “There is no basis for drawing even the most approximate analogy between same-sex forms of cohabitation and God's design for marriage and family. Marriage is sacred, and homosexual relations violate the natural moral law. Same-sex relations do not result out of a genuine need for sexual complementarity and in no case can be approved." This is the position of the Catholic Church. In fact, here, as I said, there is no difference from the Orthodox. Of course, one can argue, but the Catholic teaching is based, like the Orthodox, on the Holy Scriptures and nothing can be done. There is a long tradition here that dates back to former times and not only in church dogma, but also in literature. Let us recall that the great Italian poet Dante Aligheri, in The Divine Comedy, put one of his teachers, whom he highly valued as a scientist, but who was a homosexual, into hell. Therefore, there are no discounts in this area, according to Dante, he deserves hell.
Veronica Ostrinskaya: Giovanni, are there similar cases in the tradition of the Protestant Church?
Giovanni Bensi: There is no such uncompromising attitude in the Protestant church. There are people in the Protestant church who say that the condemnation of homosexuality is historically conditioned, because in the old ancient societies there were such relationships, there was such a mentality, such a way of thinking, but today things are changing. And, by the way, today there is another issue on which there are differences between Catholics and Orthodox, on the one hand, and Protestants, on the other hand. For example, this is the ordination of women priests. Catholics and Orthodox Christians are strongly against this; a woman cannot become a priest, but Protestants allow it. In the Protestant, Lutheran churches, in Germany, for example, and in other countries there are even women bishops. Because they say that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is precisely due to history. Two thousand years ago this was the attitude towards women, today this has changed, so there is no reason to continue to adhere to the old principles. The same, some say, applies to homosexuals. But in such an Orthodox country as Russia or in such a Catholic country as Italy, this is unlikely to receive the approval of the church hierarchy.
Veronica Ostrinskaya: And I also have this question for you, Yakov: changes are happening in society now in relation to same-sex love. Tell me, is some kind of change in attitude on the part of the church expected or is this once and for all, based on Holy Scripture? If people love each other and don’t do anything bad to anyone, society, in principle, already accepts it and treats this fact more calmly. Will the Church ever look at this differently or not?
Yakov Krotov: The Church must look at this with grief, with sympathy, with compassion, with love. But the fact is that even now there is some disgrace in the current situation and this incident - there is a double standard. It is well known that in the Russian Orthodox Church, as in any other religious denomination, among the hierarchs and clergy there are people with non-traditional sexual orientation. The most striking example is Bishop Nikon Vorobyov, whom no one excommunicated, no one deposed from the priesthood, unlike Enart, but was simply sent to repentance, and then returned, made the rector of the temple, as far as I know, one of the Moscow ones. And in Moscow there are people about whom it is well known that this priest is such and such, he is not punished. They are not punished because it is a secret, because it is secret. And in this regard, what they did with Enart is, of course, unfair. These young people should be excommunicated from the church, but for some reason this has not been done. For some reason, they banned the priesthood and recognized Father Mikhail Kabanov as an accomplice in sacrilege, who gave the keys, but without a trial, without an investigation, without a canonical hearing of the case, without the right to defense. In this sense, I would say that it is not the problems of same-sex marriage that are the most important in Russia today, but the problems of legal consciousness.
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However, Justin Welby failed to express support for the bill to legalize same-sex marriage during a debate in the House of Lords
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
The GayRussia project, citing GayStarNews, reports that the new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is saddened by the attitude of the Anglican Church towards representatives of the LGBT community in the past.
The head of the Church of England made the relevant statements during a debate in the House of Lords on a government bill to legalize gay and lesbian marriages in England and Wales.
Justin Welby echoed the view that the bill still provides enough protection to prevent his church or other religious organizations from eventually being forced to perform same-sex weddings - even if appeals to the courts.
However, he said he still could not support the bill, noting that it equalizes what is different. At the same time, the archbishop emphasized that reformulating marriage would lead to a “weakening of families.”
According to the head of the Church of England, "it is absolutely important that stable and committed same-sex relationships are recognized with the same dignity as marriage."
But he expressed sadness that “it is also absolutely true that the church has not always served the LGBT community as well as it should.”
This, according to Justin Welby, is a "significant failure".
At the same time, he condemned homophobic hatred as “wrong and disgusting.”
Debate on the bill to legalize same-sex marriage continued in the House of Lords throughout the evening of June 3. By voting on the document, the majority of the House of Lords supported the bill on June 4.
It was previously reported that 53 religious leaders representing various faiths, including Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism, condemned the project to legalize same-sex marriage.
However, liberal Jews, Quakers and Unitarians welcomed progress on the issue of legalizing same-sex marriage. Many leaders of these religious communities have been blessing gay couples for a long time.
The BBC Russian service noted that the legalization of same-sex marriage was opposed by the Catholic Church of England and Wales, the Muslim Council of Great Britain, the leadership of a network of Sikh organizations and the United Synagogue.
But the Liberal and Reform synagogues spoke in favor of the law.
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The National Presbyterian Church of Scotland has allowed people in same-sex marriages to become priests. The church announced this in a press release on its website.
The decision was made by a unanimous vote of 700 delegates at the general assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. The decision adopted is a compromise, since parishes can individually refuse to accept homosexuals as priests. Also, such a priest must be in a church union with his partner.
The ordination of gay priests will begin next year after the church's legal committee submits a package of documents to the next general assembly.
Discussion about the rights of gay priests intensified in Scotland in 2009. Then the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland allowed the ordination of Pastor Scott Rennie, who was openly gay. After this, two congregations (church communities) left the church in protest. In 2011, the General Assembly imposed a temporary moratorium on gay ordination pending a final decision. After this, during the debate, about 60 parishes threatened to secede from the church.
In 2006, the Church of Scotland made a decision on same-sex marriage. Priests are allowed to perform ceremonies at their own discretion with persons entering into a same-sex marriage. This is not a disciplinary offence, and the priest may refuse to perform such a ceremony.
The Church of Scotland professes Presbyterianism, a branch of Protestant Christianity. The parishioners of this church are 42 percent of Scots, or the majority of believers in Scotland.
Lenta.ru
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Taiwan's first same-sex Buddhist wedding took place on Saturday, August 11. 30-year-old women Fish Huang and You Ya-ting got married. Agence France-Presse reports this.
The ceremony took place in front of a Buddha statue at a monastery in Taiwan's northern Taoyuan province. Women dressed in white dresses said vows of fidelity to each other, and exchanged rosary beads instead of rings. During the ceremony, about 300 Buddhists recited sutras in honor of the newlyweds.
The women received blessings for marriage from Buddhist nun and Taiwanese university professor Shih Chao-hui, and it was she who married them. Chaohui expressed admiration for Fish Huang and Yu Yating, who are not afraid of public condemnation and fight for their rights.
The women's parents were absent from the wedding ceremony, notes Agence France-Presse. The newlyweds said that their families initially decided to attend the ceremony, but due to some circumstances they were unable to come.
Buddhism does not prohibit homosexual relations, but there is still no consensus on this issue in religious circles. Currently, same-sex Buddhist marriages are registered only in the United States.
Taiwan is one of the most gay-tolerant regions in East Asia. For years, LGBT activists on the island have fought to legalize same-sex unions. In 2003, Taiwan authorities drafted a bill allowing homosexuals to register marriages and adopt children, but Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said that for the bill to be approved, it would need to be approved by a majority of the island's residents.
In 2012, gay activists drew up a new draft law on same-sex marriage. They hope that the document will be adopted before the end of Ma Ying-jeou's presidential term in 2016.
Lenta.ru.
Photo focustaiwan.tw
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If you really want to, but can’t get married, then which Christian denomination should the sufferers convert to?
The Russian Orthodox Church has officially stated that it categorically does not recognize same-sex unions and marriages.
The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted a document that defines all aspects of a church marriage.
Previously, the Russian Orthodox Church relied on the provisions of the 18th-19th centuries. Of course, the arguments for such an ancient position are quite outdated, so the church has formulated new provisions condemning homosexual unions.
If a non-traditional family wants to sanctify their marriage, what religions could help them with this?
The Roman Catholic Church, despite its fairly tolerant attitude towards homosexuality, still prohibits holding sacraments with such couples.
Pope Francis, at a meeting with journalists in June last year, said that the Roman Catholic Church, as well as Christians around the world, are obliged to ask forgiveness from homosexuals for their past attitude towards sexual minorities.
But the Pope does not single out gays as a separate group of those oppressed by the church, but refers them to a broader category of people to whom the church must apologize.
And by “church” he means the entire world community of Christians. “The Church must apologize for the many times it has behaved inappropriately. And when I say “church,” I mean all of us Christians. Because the church is holy, and we are all sinners"
When the Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church met in the Vatican in the summer of 2015, all its participants approved the final report, which retained the ban on same-sex marriage.
North American Christian churches have a fair amount of free-thinking on the issue of consecrating same-sex marriages.
The United Church of Christ in the USA sanctifies same-sex marriage.
The General Synod of the United Church of Christ (UCC) recently approved a resolution allowing marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.
The UCC is considered the oldest Protestant denomination in America. This tradition traces its ancestry to the parishes of the Puritans and Pilgrims - the first Protestant settlers in the northeast of what is now the United States. The UCC includes 5,700 parishes, more than 10 thousand pastors and 1.3 million believers.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (numbers - 4.9 million), United Church of Canada (numbers - 2.8 million), Episcopal Church of the USA (numbers - 2.2 million), United Church of Christ (numbers - 1.1 million). ) - these American churches recognize same-sex marriage.
In Europe The most famous Christian churches that do not recognize homosexual relations as sinful are: the Evangelical Church of Germany (number - 24.8 million members), the Church of Sweden (number - 6.9 million), the Metropolitan Community Church, most Old Catholic and Lutheran churches and a number of churches Quakers.
As we see, Christians who persistently dream of getting married have somewhere to go.
Of course, this did not happen immediately. But on Monday, the church finally allowed same-sex couples to get married. This happened during a meeting of the highest body of the Norwegian church, which gathered for a congress in Trondheim. The majority of participants voted to allow homosexuals to get married in God's temple. And thus they put an end to a dispute that had lasted for many years.
“This is a historic day, a joyful day for gays, lesbians, transsexuals and bisexuals,” says the new head of the Church Council, Kristin Gunnleiksrud Raaum, in a conversation with VG, after the Church Council decided by a majority vote on April 11 to allow same-sex wedding in church.
Context
Same-sex marriage: a complete failure
Atlantico 02/07/2016Is same-sex marriage good or bad?
Huanqiu shibao 06/30/2015Will same-sex marriage destroy civilization?
The Guardian 06/30/2015 She represents the Open People's Church, which received large support in last autumn's church elections, which were held at the same time as municipal elections.Thanks to this, the Open People's Church was able to send so many delegates to the congress in Trondheim. And as a result, the majority of event participants voted in favor of giving same-sex couples the opportunity to get married.
Priests may refuse
—Can’t priests refuse to marry same-sex couples?
- Yes, of course, they can refuse them, for reasons of conscience.
—What are you going to do to ensure that conservative forces remain in the church, and that they like it there?
“It is very important to make sure that there is a place for all voices in the church.” We want the church to become more spacious, I think most people will like this idea. We need to pay more attention to the culture of dissent in the church so that there is room for all points of view, says Kristin Gunnleiksrud Raaum.
"Amazing day"
The head of the Bishops' Council in Oslo and leader of the Open People's Church, Gard Sandaker-Nielsen, believes that this is a very important day for the people's church.
“It’s a great day for the people’s church because we’re not alienating anyone anymore. It was terrible, but now it’s over and it’s a great day,” Sandaker-Nielsen tells VG.
When he entered into a partnership with Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen in 2008, the ceremony was performed by a judge on the porch of the Kampen church, because this could not be done in the church itself, the rest of the ceremony took place on the porch .
“Well, that’s how it was for us, but others can now avoid it,” says Sandaker-Nielsen.
When the new marriage law came out that same year, they converted their partnership into a marriage.
“This is a great day for us, for gays and lesbians who fought for the right to be recognized, and it’s a great day for the Norwegian church because everything has become orderly and we have accepted that it is possible to disagree,” says Gard Sandaker. Nielsen.
Stein Erik Hagen is happy
Investor and billionaire Stein Erik Hagen was one of those who led the Open People's Church's election campaign during the church elections last fall.
“I have been waiting for this day for a long time. This is a historic day, it seems that even the ceiling in the Church has become much higher. I hope that conservatives will come to terms with this, that the church will not split,” Hagen tells VG.
“In this way, the Norwegian church showed that it is on the same wavelength with the entire Norwegian society. “I would like the Open People's Church and the solution that makes it possible for same-sex couples to get married to be an important contribution to the development of an open and inclusive church,” says Hagen, who has previously spoken about how he, originally heterosexual, became bisexual. homosexual.
"The Long-Awaited Victory"
FRI (The Society for Gender and Sexual Diversity) feared that the consideration of the issue would end with the adoption of a special agreement for same-sex couples, but this did not happen. “This is really a long-awaited victory, we've been waiting for it for a long time,” says Ingvild Endestad of FRI (formerly the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organization LLH).
“Now it has been decided that weddings should be available to everyone, regardless of gender. We know that many people have been waiting for this day and rejoicing that they will finally be able to get married in church,” adds Endestad.
A new church service will be developed
In January, a new rite of worship will be adopted at the new congress.
“And then gays and lesbians will just rush to church so they can say ‘yes,’” Sandaker-Nielsen says.
“The new rite can be used by all couples, while today's ceremony can still be used by those who believe that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Now we have agreed that it is possible to disagree, and this means that conditions must be created for both,” says Sandaker-Nielsen.
Two years ago, the Church Council rejected a proposal to develop a separate wedding ceremony for same-sex couples. The Church Council consists of representatives of eleven bishoprics.
The Council meets once a year and is the highest representative body of the Norwegian Church; to put it simply, it is the church's Storting (parliament).
In 2008, the Marriage Act was passed, giving same-sex couples the right to marry, just like heterosexual couples. Then the church received the right, but not the obligation, to marry homosexual couples.
