The following brief announcement appeared on November 9, 2023 on the website of the Patriarchate of Georgia. Patriarch Ilya’s blessing of Georgia’s accession to the European Union seems significant on a number of counts, not the least of which is that EU membership requires substantive legal protections for a candidate country’s LGBTQ citizens, residents, and visitors. Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s readers will recall our commentary in 2018 on the June 2016 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch Staff entitled World Congress of Families Gathering in Tbilisi Showcases Anti-LGBT Rhetoric and Conspiracy Theories. (WordPress and the Wayback Machine were forced by court order to remove our commentary on this report pursuant to the plaintiffs’ default victory [meaning the defendant did not participate in the proceedings at all] in the Trenham et al. v. Sanfilippo civil lawsuit.)

In the interest of fairness, we also draw our readers’ attention to Father Yannick Provost’s May 2018 report that the Patriarchate appealed to the Georgian government to guarantee the safety of well-known LGBTQ activist Giorgi Tatishvili.

Finally, not to be overlooked is the unmistakable subtext of Georgia’s need for protection from Russia.

Statement of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

(09.11.2023)

Yesterday it became known that the European Commission positively evaluated the steps taken by the Georgian authorities and made a recommendation to the European Council so that our country can get the candidate status.

Over the years, European Commissioners and other representatives of the European Union have always emphasized that Georgia’s unique culture is an integral part of Euopean culture and that the preservation and development of our country’s Christian traditions, spiritual values and, in general, its ancient culture is important for the European Union itself.

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A couple of weeks ago, we observed Intersex Awareness Day (October 26, 2023). Now we’re observing Transgender Awareness Week (November 13-19, 2023).

Hello! My name is Bobbi and I am an Orthodox Christian. However, you should know that there is more to me than this. I was born with an intersex condition, and I am a transgender woman.

My earliest memories are of a surgery at approximately age 2. I don’t remember much except that there was a veritable parade of physicians in white lab coats checking on me: fondling my genitals. I have scars on my genitals that suggest that I was born with an undescended testicle and hypospadias. There is yet one more deficiency in sexual development (DSD) which they were not able to “correct”: I have the medical definition of a micro-penis. Because of this early surgery I always knew that I was different. I endured a total of three surgeries on my lower abdomen before age 10. I’ll never know if the latter ones were to provide further “corrections” to my anatomy. Read More

The following Statement on Academic Freedom was emailed to the IOTA membership yesterday, November 10. We share it with our global readership to express our agreement with the Statement and our support for Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun.

Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun

As a scholarly society serving the Church, the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA) champions academic freedom. IOTA also promotes the healing of divisions within the Church and stands against the spirit of alienation.

On September 25, 2023, the Patriarch of Moscow suspended Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun from his priestly duties. The reason cited for this disciplinary action was Hovorun’s co-serving with the hierarchs and clergy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with which the Moscow Patriarchate unilaterally broke communion in December 2018. The unilateral breaking of communion runs against the spirit of Orthodox unity. When the communion is broken without serious theological reasons, the whole church suffers.
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For context see the extensive Metropolitan Joseph (Al-Zehlaoui): The Scandal section in our Archives 2020-23 linked at the top of this page.

Joseph Al-Zehlaoui (L) and Patriarch John X of Antioch (R)

On November 7, reporter Justin Rohrlich from The Daily Beast reached out to editor Giacomo Sanfilippo at Orthodoxy in Dialogue for comment on Joseph Al-Zehlaoui’s pending civil lawsuit against the Antiochian Archdiocese and individual members of the Board of Trustees. This was the first we heard of the lawsuit. Several hours after their telephone interview, Rohrlich’s Archbishop Accused of Lengthy Affair Sues Over His Stingy Severance (Unholy War) went live at The Daily Beast. Sanfilippo and Orthodoxy in Dialogue are cited a number of times. Our analytics show that other outlets around the globe picked up the story within the first few hours. 

You can read the summons and notice here. Although Sanfilippo is not named as a defendant, his and Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s role in Al-Zehlaoui’s downfall is summarized on pp. 2-3.

We offer the following highlights from, and commentary on, the contents of the summons and notice: Read More