As we noted a month ago in Dialogue at Last? Metropolitan Nathanael on Same-Sex Orientation (Part One), one of His Eminence’s most significant statements acknowledges the importance of science to our growing understanding of sexual diversity in human nature: “First, the Orthodox Church embraces scientific truth and medical knowledge, and the opinion to which I am responding [see reference here] has no basis whatsoever in science or medicine.”

It should go without saying that good theology is impossible absent conversation with good science.

Studies have indicated that same-sex orientation and behavior has a genetic basis and runs in families, yet specific genetic variants have not been isolated. Evidence that sexual orientation has a biological component could shape acceptance and legal protection: 4 to 10% of individuals report ever engaging in same-sex behavior in the United States, so this could affect a sizeable proportion of the population. On page 882 of this issue, Ganna et al. report the largest study to date, comprising almost half a million individuals in the United Kingdom and United States, identifying genetic variants associated with same-sex sexual behavior. They provide evidence that genetic variation accounts for a small fraction of same-sex sexual behavior and uncover a relationship to the regulation of the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen as well as sex-specific differences. They also reveal complexity of human sexuality. Read More

✠

Encyclical of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for the Feast of Indiction and the First Day of the Ecclesiastical Year and the Day of Environmental Protection

September 1, 2019

Prot. No. 582

✠ B A R T H O L O M E W
By God’s Mercy
Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch
To All the Plenitude of the Church
Grace, Peace and Mercy from the Maker of All Creation
Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ

Dearest brother Hierarchs and beloved children in the Lord,

With the goodness and grace of the all-bountiful God, today marks the 30th anniversary since the Holy Great Church of Christ [the Church of Constantinople] established the feast of Indiction and first day of the ecclesiastical year as “the day of environmental protection.” We did not only address our Orthodox faithful, nor again just Christian believers or even representatives of other religions, but also political leaders, environmentalists and other scientists, as well as intellectuals and all people of good will, seeking their contribution. Read More

AUGUST 2019

NOTE TO OUR READERS: Our Angels Unawares program to provide legal and humanitarian assistance to refugees and asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border seems to have ground to a halt after an initial burst of activity. Please click here to learn how you can help. If every reader contributed only $5 or $10 we would surpass our goal of $15,000 within days. RAICES will email you your tax receipt immediately.

Metropolitan Epiphanius Proud to Be Called a Banderite?

More Thoughts and Prayers…and Now Candles

Dialogue at Last? Metropolitan Nathanael on Same-Sex Orientation (Part One)

Growing Up with Two Dads

Crisis at the Border: What Can a Christian Do?

An Undelivered Homily on Gun Violence: Whose Words Will We Follow?

Mark the Date in El Paso: A March and a Day of Cultural Resistance against White Supremacy

Theosis in the City

Editorial: The OCA to Go under the EP?

An Orthodox Christian’s Story: I Came Out at Knife Point Read More

One of the most frequently heard criticisms of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s handling of the Ukrainian situation runs something like “you don’t ‘reward’ schismatics by receiving them back into communion.” Yet healing schism and reconciling schismatics to the Church has always been—from the beginning—precisely what the Church does.

If “you don’t ‘reward’ schismatics by grantng them autocephaly,” is this not precisely what the Moscow Patriarchate did in 1970 by creating the autocephalous Orthodox Church in America (OCA)? Giacomo Sanfilippo writes in Ukrainian Autocephaly: An Awkward Spot for the OCA:

As can be read here, on March 31, 1970 the Soviet-controlled Moscow Patriarchate and the schismatic Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America (popularly known as “the Metropolia”) entered into an Agreement which resulted in the immediate restoration of communion between them and—ten days later—a Tomos of Autocephaly granted by the former to the latter, followed soon thereafter by the name change of the latter to the Orthodox Church in America.

Metropolitan Hierotheos’ essay places these questions in an important historical and ecclesiological context.

Apostolic Tradition and Apostolic Succession in the Mystery of the Church

Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

In a previous article I announced that I was going to publish a text in which I would attempt to interpret what the Apostolic Tradition and the Apostolic Succession are within the mystery of the Church. This is the purpose of this present article, which does not claim to be authoritative, but emphasises a few truths and is open to correction. In any case, in the Church we always remain in the fear of God and in a state of discipleship. The Apostles of Christ have continued as Disciples of Christ for ever. Read More