This article appeared yesterday as an op-ed at the Kyiv Post.

“Honorary Patriarch” Filaret Denysenko

On June 24 the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) convened to address Filaret Denysenko’s schismatic activities which culminated in his uncanonical “church council” of the preceding week. Those who read Ukrainian can peruse the press release on the OCU’s official website.

As early as January 26, I sounded the alarm on these pages that trouble lay ahead. On May 14, I wrote that the time had come to suspend Denysenko from all episcopal prerogatives and duties—which would have included even the right to preside over divine services—and to depose him permanently if he persisted in his rebellion against proper church order. Again on June 17, I urged the OCU Synod to take preemptive disciplinary action against Denysenko before his council could take place three days later.

The Synod’s lack of decisive action prior to Denysenko’s council, and its reluctance to take the ultimate canonical step at its disposal even after the council, baffles the OCU’s supporters outside of Ukraine almost as much as Denysenko’s compulsion to sabotage the very Church that he shepherded right up to the eve of its autocephaly on January 5. Read More

If you’re a parish priest in a canonical Orthodox jurisdiction who feels spiritually, pastorally, and emotionally equipped to minister to Orthodox Christians, inquirers, seekers, and others who identify somewhere along the LGBTQI spectrum, please reach out to me at editors@orthodoxyindialogue.com. I’m the only person with access to this email account.

By canonical Orthodox jurisdiction I mean any of those belonging to the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, as well as the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

Outside of North America you know what I mean by “canonical”—which, in Ukraine, includes both the autocephalous Church and the Church under the Moscow Patriarchate. 

Your email should contain your name, the name and location of your parish, your jurisdiction, and a clear description of how you deal pastorally, or would deal, with LGBTQI persons. This will include the general conditions under which an LGBTQI person may or may not receive Communion from you—understanding, of course, that we cannot foresee individual situations.

Whether you make it into our directory will be my call. (Sorry.) Read More

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom:
she and her daughters had pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease,
but did not aid the poor and the needy.

Ezekiel 16:49

Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was a foreigner and you did not welcome me,
naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

Jesus Christ
Matthew 25:41-43

Read More

JUNE 2019

A Guide to Russian Propaganda (Video)

Kyiv Pride and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine

Tolerance Tyrants, Lavender Mafia, Homofascists, and Rainbow Radicals

Review: The Way of the Peacemaker: Seeking Peace in an Era of Extreme Conflict

A Virtual Listening Tour: Sexual and Gender Diversity at the Dawn of Modern Orthodox Theology

A Virtual Listening Tour: Priest to Mother, “Better Your Transgender Child Were Dead”

Who in the World Is Ioannis Constantinou?

A Virtual Listening Tour: Remembering the UpStairs Lounge

“The Good Wife” According to Father Josiah Trenham: Does Metropolitan Joseph Approve?

A Virtual Listening Tour: Saving the Lives of Our LGBTQ Youth Read More