IOANNIS FOTOPOULOS, above, is a hoary old priest in the Greek Orthodox Church, and like fellow clerics he is outraged that Greece had voted to legalise same-sex marriage in the face of strong religious opposition.
Fotopoulos expressed his horror in a video shot just before Greece became the first Orthodox Christian-majority country to approve marriage equality for gay people.
Rumblings of discontent among church leaders began earlier this year when it was announced legalisation would be fast-tracked by the government.
Opposition came not only from those in the Orthodox Church in Greece, but as far afield as Turkey, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, which heads Orthodox churches around the world, condemned the Greek plan.
Metropolitan Bishop Panteleimon, a spokesman for the Greek Church’s governing Holy Synod, said that its written objections would be sent to all members of Greece’s parliament and read out at Sunday services around the country on February 4.
He declared:
What the church says is that marriage is the union of a man and a woman and that is the source of life. The elders of our church are concerned with defending and supporting the family.
Yawn.
And the bishop of Piraeus claimed that homosexuality was a “mortal sin” and a cause of cancer. “Google it and you will see,” he told stunned interviewers on Skai TV.
It’s not only the God-squad who are up in arms. Far-right lawmaker Vassilis Stigas, head of the small Spartans party, described the measure as “sick” and claimed that its adoption would “open the gates of Hell and perversion.”
Kids as ‘pets’
Photo by Karolina Grabowska via Pexels
The Church’s main argument centred around the issue of raising children, claiming they are being treated as “accessories” and “companion pets” for gay couples.
Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said at the time:
We always listen to the opinions of the Church with respect, But at the same time, we are implementing our policy, and will listen to the views of society, civil society, the citizenry, institutions, and parties in total..
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Thoughts’n’prayers Mr Fotopoulos
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