While we applaud the Assembly’s commonsense statement, it seems symptomatic of the strange times in which we live that some of the faithful need a “blessing” to see their doctors for their medical care.
THE SUSPENSION OF FATHER MARK HODGES: A SMALL VICTORY FOR LGBTQ ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS by Giacomo Sanfilippo
This brief op-ed appeared yesterday on the Kyiv Post website.
On January 6, Father Mark Hodges of the Moscow Patriarchate’s daughter church, the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), traveled from his home in Ohio to Washington DC to participate in Donald Trump’s conspiracy theory-driven Stop the Steal rally, where the then-President had promised his supporters “a wild ride” in their efforts to overturn a democratic election by any means possible. The highly combustible, seditionist rhetoric that morning—by the President, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and his son Donald Jr.—erupted in a violent insurrection against the United States government which left five dead, including a Capitol police officer bludgeoned to death by a rioter wielding a fire extinguisher.
Hodges showed up at the rally in his cassock and pectoral cross, purposively identifiable as an Orthodox priest and a representative of the Orthodox Church. Were it not for a concerned reader of Orthodoxy in Dialogue, the blog that I founded in August 2017, no one but Hodges’ Facebook followers would have known of his activities in Washington on that deadly day. Instead, our publication of our reader’s open letter to Hodges’ diocesan bishop, followed by his open appeal to Hodges himself, has gotten Hodges suspended from all priestly functions for three months. He faces the possibility of permanent defrocking. Archbishop Paul Gassios, to his credit, acted swiftly.
The story wound its way quickly from Orthodoxy in Dialogue to numerous smaller online newspapers, and finally to Newsweek, Fox News, the Daily Beast, The Hill, and the UK’s UNILAD as of this writing. The Newsweek report links directly to Orthodoxy in Dialogue.
Read MoreShare this:
ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW ON MUSLIM TRAVEL BAN, PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT
ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE
Press and Communication Office
The Ecumenical Patriarchate expresses its delight over two highly symbolical executive orders of the new US President
The Ecumenical Patriarchate congratulates the new President of the United States, the Hon. Joseph Biden on assuming his duties, and expresses its delight regarding two highly symbolical executive orders signed immediately after his inauguration.
1. The decision to lift the travel bans imposed on 13 nations with predominantly Muslim populations.
It should be remembered that the Ecumenical Patriarchate has for several decades initiated a formal academic dialogue with Islam and hitherto organized some 15 joint conferences to discuss issues faced by all humanity in order to promote greater understanding and mutual respect between the two monotheistic religions, while also establishing peace and solidarity throughout the world.
In the framework of this inter-religious dialogue, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has – in the 30 years of his patriarchal tenure – officially visited numerous Muslim countries, including Iran, Bahrain, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, and others, where he has developed fraternal relations and firm communication with religious of Islam as well as leading academic personalities.
Read More
ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE 