On July 14 we published “St. Paul on Marriage” in response to Father Joseph Gleason’s terrifying distortions of Christian marriage. Some ten hours later he posted an apparent rebuttal entitled “Unconditional Respect from Your Wife.” The irony is lost on no one that a website subtitled “Christian Renaissance” should host his ruminations.

We do not use the word terrifying lightly: an Orthodox Christian therapist working on his PhD in clinical psychology—and whose research examines the relationship between psychological attachment, religious fundamentalism, and authoritarianism—has stated to us that Father Gleason’s false “theology” sets the stage for men pathologically insecure in their masculinity to abuse their wives and children on any number of imbricated levels.   

Gleason frames his dangerous views as “notes to Protestants from an Orthodox priest,” and imagines that adding “Rostov the Great, Russia” after his signature lends him some sort of mythic authority as emanating from “Holy Mother Russia.” He concludes his two pieces on marriage with the following:

Are you a Protestant who disagrees with this article? …[I]f you are…willing to listen, then I will gladly have a conversation with you.

“Willing to listen”…he demands the same kind of unquestioning deference from his readers as he does from his wife. To whom does Father Gleason listen? Does he realize how much of an outlier he is among Orthodox who write on marriage?

We urge Orthodox hierarchs, pastors, and lay theologians to join us in protecting women and children by responding on the pages of Orthodoxy in Dialogue or elsewhere. 

Love is supposed to be unconditional. So is respect.

The Bible teaches clearly on this subject. Unfortunately, many Protestant teachers are liberal cucks and uppity battleaxes who chafe at God’s requirements for marriage. These folks claim there is no hierarchy between husbands and wives, and that a wife should only respect her husband if he deserves it. Sitting at Rachel Held Evans’ feet and clipping her feminazi toenails would be more preferable to some people than simple obedience to the Apostle Paul…. 

Thankfully, the ancient Christian faith—Orthodox Christianity—is a breath of fresh air. This ancient breeze blows away the noxious odors of feminist feet, making them a distant memory. For 2000 years, the Orthodox Church has consistently taught that wives owe respect to their husbands. Unconditionally. Read More

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The following brief remarks respond to “Notes to Protestants from an Orthodox Priest – Ditch the ‘Honey Do’ List,” which was published earlier today.

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord…. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church…. Children, obey your parents in the Lord…. Slaves, be obedient to…your earthly masters…as to Christ…. Masters, do the same to [your slaves]…. (Eph 5:21-6:9)

Thus the Holy Apostle Paul lays out a blueprint for harmonious relations in the 1st-century Christian household. What immediately becomes clear is that he exhorts each family member either to behave like Christ or to treat the others as if they themselves were Christ. Each member approaches the others in a self-sacrificial mode of relationship characterized by reciprocal servanthood. When considered carefully, spiritually, prayerfully, this passage—part of which is read during the Orthodox rite of marriage—allows no self-aggrandizement of the husband, no infantilization of the wife. 

This becomes clearer if we retain the structure of the original Greek in the opening verse:

…being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ; wives, to your husbands, as to the Lord….

Paul addresses the exhortation to be subject, or to submit, to the husband and the wife equally, even as he articulates a vision for how this might work in actual practice to reflect and reveal the mutual love of Christ the Bridegroom and His Bride the Church. Read More

Orthodoxy in Dialogue has decided to publish the following as perhaps the most astonishing “teaching” on Christian marriage to emit from the keyboard of a 21st-century Orthodox priest. Our readers will remember Father Gleason from our article of March 20, “Convert Priest, Wife, 8 Kids Move to the Land of Orthodox Children’s Armies,” and from his interview published  on Today, Russian Insider, and Pravmir. In his interview he explains his reason for uprooting his family from their home in the United States and fleeing to Russia: 

…I didn’t want to live in a country without a future. When the Supreme Court legalized so-called “gay-marriage”, we were very frustrated. Every society is built on the foundation of the family. When the family is strong, society and the state are strong too. History has confirmed this many times. But without strong families, society crumbles. The homosexual lifestyle is a sin, and it destroys families.

Some of our readers have asked why we sometimes give a platform to voices such as Father Gleason’s. The fact is that the sort of false “traditionalism” which he “teaches” is gaining more widespread appeal in certain Orthodox circles in the West than we would perhaps like to admit. It serves no purpose to ignore it.

Orthodoxy in Dialogue is interested in hearing Father Gleason’s views on “Orthodox” wife-beating and the fundamental teaching (Eph 5:25ff) that the husband exercises his “headship” in the marriage not by putting his wife in her place and reminding her of her “subservient” role, but by dying for her.

While most modern church denominations pay lipservice to the idea of “equality”, there is nothing equal about it. The “Honey-Do List” is a one-way street. It is one of the ways in which modern women wear the pants, run the house, and control their husbands.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Brad Upton is one of the funniest men alive, and his comedy routines put me in stitches, so the laughing is easy.

The sad part, at times, is the subject matter. In particular, I am thinking about the dreaded “honey-do list” that modern wives often give to their husbands. [See video of Upton’s stand-up routine.]  Read More