US Archbishop Elpidophoros The baptism of a child of a gay family in Greece sparked a scandal - Elpidophoros did not inform the Metropolitan of his intention to celebrate the "sacrament" and they called on social networks to lift El Faculty positions at in Pidoforos.
On Saturday, the head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Elpidofros baptized the children of a gay family - actor Evangelos Busis and costume designer Peter Dundas, Elpidofros Over the years Always their friend. The "sacrament" took place on Saturday at the Church of Virgin Mary Faneromeni of Panagia in the Vouliagmeni district of Athens, where the two children were born through surrogacy. The Orthodox Church denounces homosexual relationships as a mortal sin and does not allow those who defend a homosexual lifestyle to participate in the Church's sacraments. "Parents" wrote on social networks, "This is the first baptism of openly gay people in the Greek Orthodox Church."
Greek media reports on the church topic were not reported in the first few days, but the topic spread in the media , caused a sensation.
Glyfada Metropolitan, Elliniko, Vula, Vouliagmeni and Vari Anthony wrote a "memo" to the Greek Orthodox Church "over the uproar over the sacrament of baptism of two children from same-sex families."
Anthony said he had no idea the baptized child was "raised by two people of the same sex" and did not attend the Communion ceremony. According to him, Elpidofros Archbishop asked him in writing for permission to "baptize two children of a Busis immigrant family from Chicago."
said in the letter: "The American Archbishop is acting in a tyrannical, tyrannical and anti-normative manner in my metropolis, and I would never have allowed this if I had known that the children did not belong to this family according to the Church's rules." , He said in the letter To back up his words, Anthony also published a letter from Elpidophoros, the Met's website said.
Netizens demanded that Elpidophros be deprived of their dignity. One user wrote, "The first baptism of homosexuals in the Greek Orthodox Church in Athens was not a mistake, it was Elpidophros." A well-orchestrated propaganda campaign by the Sodom supporters of ” In their view, this is a blow to Orthodoxy.
One user wrote: "It is unbelievable that a priest of an Orthodox church could be so shameless and shameless in promoting homosexuality."
Elpidophoros, who was elected head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in 2019, He is an active supporter of Ukrainian autonomy. In the United States, some clergy and laity believe Elpidoforos is guilty of delaying an investigation into a high-profile sex scandal in 2010 and oppose his candidacy.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Holy Synod of the Church of Greece will hold a special meeting on Monday, July 18. The Orthodox News Agency writes that in addition to organizational issues, the question of the baptism of American Archbishop Elpidophoros may also be raised.
Earlier, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Francis, issued a statement saying that same-sex couples have the right to establish formal families and must be allowed to formalize their relationships in the form of civil unions.
