My beloved LGBTQ Orthodox brothers, sisters, and siblings in Christ,
On this, the last day of Pride Month, I greet each of you with the joyful proclamation:
God is with us! If God is for us, who is against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? For we are sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!
We cling to these words, etched in our hearts of flesh, though many fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters in the Faith would destroy our spirit under the crushing weight of their hearts of stone. To them we say: Our pride does not signal the absence of humility, but the overcoming of shame. We are not ashamed. As your brothers, sisters, and siblings at the Lord’s Table, we LGBTQ Orthodox Christians strive repentfully to become proud with humility and humble with pride.
We strive also to pray for you, and to forgive you for what you do to us, as the Gospel commands us. Pray for us and forgive us when we fail to love you.
To my fellow LGBTQ Orthodox Christians I say, Rejoice in the Lord always!
ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE 