Members of the influential Church of Greece’s permanent Holy Synod on Tuesday reportedly expressed their stern opposition to a draft bill legalizing same-sex marriage and the right of such couples to adopt a partner’s offspring.
A proclamation to the faithful detailing the decision will be read out in all cathedrals and chapels holding services on Sunday. Another Church epistle will be sent to Parliament deputies, expected to outline the Holy Synod’s reasons for opposing the draft legislation.
The same reports said the decision by the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece’s hierarchs, 81 Metropolitans (bishops) in all, was unanimous. The Holy Synod session was chaired by the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos.
The Metropolitan of Mesogaias Nikolaos first presented the Church of Greece’s theological and scientific objections to the pending law, in his capacity as chairman of a special synodal committee on bioethics.
“Every upending of morality deconstructs the value of an individual,” he said in opening his address.
The legislative initiative by the center-right Mitsotakis government to legalize same-sex marriage in the country has generated opposition on both the right and far left political spectrum, as well as dissenting voices by a coterie of ruling party MPs and even ministers. Nevertheless, current forecasts point to ratification by an large majority of MPs.
