Church of Finland slipping into "gay heresy" ??

[LBK]

This is concern over several administrators in key positions who want to have the church celebrate homosexual relationships. They are treading carefully, because other Orthodox churches would not be happy about this, but it's clear that they believe that within Helsinki they will make this an acceptable lifestyle choice. One already sees troubling signs of this, like homosexual couples showing up at liturgy, hand-holding or hugging throughout the service, and then going up for Communion (any requirement of confession or even membership of the parish is rarely enforced for Communion here).

The greater Orthodox Church has always been able to deal with such infractions on established doctrine and practice. If the Finnish church went ahead and recognised, however loosely, homosexual relationships, much less solemnised them, the Church as a whole would regard the Church of Finland as no longer part of the Orthodox Church. Simple.

[ialmisry]

I'm willing to read anything you offer

Please do - you'll notice that you're wasting your breath on the rational folks here who know that any kind of sex outside of marriage is not good, and that marriage in the Church is only for one man and one woman

for life.

[CRCulver]

The greater Orthodox Church has always been able to deal with such infractions on established doctrine and practice. If the Finnish church went ahead and recognised, however loosely, homosexual relationships, much less solemnised them, the Church as a whole would regard the Church of Finland as no longer part of the Orthodox Church. Simple.

Am I supposed to take that as some kind of consolation? I shouldn't worry that the Church where I live is torn apart by controversy just because the larger Church has nothing to worry about?

[LBK]

[Am I supposed to take that as some kind of consolation? I shouldn't worry that the Church where I live is torn apart by controversy just because the larger Church has nothing to worry about?

No, I mean it as if the Finnish Church decided to go against Orthodox doctrine and Tradition, it would soon find itself on the outer, as its unilateral decisions on such matters would be seen by the mainstream Orthod xChurch as contrary to its doctrines and practices. I hope this makes your dilemma clearer.

[PeterTheAleut]

[Am I supposed to take that as some kind of consolation? I shouldn't worry that the Church where I live is torn apart by controversy just because the larger Church has nothing to worry about?

No, I mean it as if the Finnish Church decided to go against Orthodox doctrine and Tradition, it would soon find itself on the outer, as its unilateral decisions on such matters would be seen by the mainstream Orthod xChurch as contrary to its doctrines and practices. I hope this makes your dilemma clearer.

Think of it as motivation for the Finnish Church to fight to remain faithful to Traditional Orthodox doctrine and praxis.

[mike]

For those, who doubt about the posistion of Finnish Bishops on homosexuality:

The Episcopal Synod states that the members of the clergy have committed themselves either to marital life or celibacy. It is the demand and ideal starting from the personal decision made by each member of the clergy. The teaching of the Church cannot be revised on the basis of signing any declaration. It is valuable that the Orthodox who have signed the declaration state this: ‘We aren’t creating any new practices into the life of the Church or draw parallels between homosexual partnership and marriage’.

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