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A Bed Undefiled: Foundations for an Orthodox Theology and Spirituality of Same-Sex Love

by Giacomo Sanfilippo (Peter J. SanFilippo)

Introduction
Sexual Love and the Ascesis of Orthodox Life

After many centuries of a predominant monastic preoccupation with complete sexual abstinence in the theological and spiritual literature of the Orthodox Church—even while the ordination of married men to the priesthood and the permanent diaconate as the norm for parish ministry underwent no decline—the modern and postmodern eras have witnessed a felicitous reclamation of erotic love in the writings of non-monastic Orthodox theologians, both ordained and lay. Apart from the recurrent theme of human eros as a metaphor worthy of God’s love for mankind in both the Old and New Testaments, this development traces its roots at least as far back as the preaching of John Chrysostom on marriage. A late 4^th/early 5^th-century contemporary of Augustine and celibate himself, Chrysostom astonishes modern readers who encounter for the first time his positive valuation of human sexuality independent of its procreative function. Read More

SEPTEMBER 2019

On Orthodox Ecological Theology

How Do Genes Affect Same-Sex Behavior? 

Disability in the Orthodox Parish: A Call to Love

Serbian Orthodox Bishops of the USA Say What?

Assad Regime Responsible for Majority of Attacks on Syria’s Christian Churches

Chaos & Beauty: Conference on the Legacy of Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh

Orthodoxy and Disability: The Conversation Continues

Holy Tradition and the Love of God: Sexuality and Gender in Contemporary Orthodox Theology Read More

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You cannot stop being a Christian if you love Christianity and Christ.

Olga Mark in “For I Am Wonderfully Made” (FIAWM)

This short essay contains some of my reflections on current debates over LGBT identity in Orthodoxy. I think that some criticisms of LGBT-affirming Orthodox thought miss some of these thinkers’ main arguments. I offer the following as a short analysis of these arguments.

Main Argument

One of the key theological insights of LGBT-affirming Orthodox theology is that the act of re-engaging with Holy Tradition is an act of love in imitation of the love of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. Reconsidering what the Tradition might have to say about contemporary moral issues is neither an act of betrayal nor an act of malice toward Tradition. It is an act of love for Tradition that is patterned after the love that constitutes God’s very being. This, I argue, is what LGBT-affirming Orthodox theology has to teach us about Orthodoxy itself.  Read More

I was delighted to see Charlotte Riggle’s response [Disability in the Orthodox Parish: A Call to Love] to my response [One Woman’s Story: Mental Health, Autism, and Orthodox Pastoral Care] to Father Isaac Skidmore’s article [On Mental Health Referrals by Orthodox Clergy]. Again I wanted to respond. 

Riggle has done an outstanding job of pointing all of us toward the many areas in the Church where inclusion still needs some work, to put it mildly.

I’m on welfare with a disability in the Netherlands. Compared to the rest of the world, I’m not that badly off. There’s room for improvement—lots of room for improvement—but generally speaking, it could be worse. It is worse, in many places.

However, from what I see in various countries, some views hold true everywhere. My value as a citizen is judged by my production. Do I generate income, taxable income, to offset the costs of having me in this country? Read More