09/03/2003 - 14:53, updated 02/24/2004
According to Komsomolskaya Pravda, an Orthodox priest married a couple of homosexuals in Nizhny Novgorod.
Denis Gogolev and Mikhail Morozov announced their intention to get married on the air of the Domino Principle program, and then everyone present in the studio was sure that the Orthodox Church would not agree to perform the sacrament.
Nevertheless, the KP claims that the wedding took place on September 1, and was performed by a Nizhny Novgorod priest, whose name the newspaper does not report. The Russian Orthodox Church has not yet officially reacted to the publication, but Komsomolskaya Pravda contains a comment by Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who recalled that the Church has an extremely negative attitude towards same-sex marriages, an Orthodox priest does not have the right to marry such people and for such an act can be defrocked.
The Nizhny Novgorod diocese refused to comment on the incident. Priest Igor Pchelintsev, responsible for press relations, said: "It's impossible, we can't say anything about it."
On September 4, it became known that the priest who performed the ceremony, after an investigation conducted by the diocese on September 2, was banned from serving. According to Igor Pchelintsev, a representative of the diocese, who told reporters about this, the incident is "a pre-planned provocation, designed to scandalously draw attention to the problem of same-sex marriage." Igor Pchelintsev also emphasized that "the Russian Orthodox Church, of course, condemns the very idea of "same-sex marriage" and traditionally, following the Holy Scriptures and Tradition of the Church, condemns homosexual relations as a mortal sin."
On September 9, it became known that even his son did not know anything about the fate of the priest who married homosexuals. According to one version, Father Vladimir Enert was secretly taken out of the Makariev Monastery, where he was sent after the publicity of the story of the wedding - the inhabitants of the monastery claim that the priest was taken away on the Volga in an unknown direction. According to another version, he is still in the monastery, but the diocese hides this. Neighbors say that some things were loaded from the priest's apartment all night.
According to Regions.ru, the threats of the son of a priest against a gay couple, which were reported in the press, turned out to be fiction.
On October 6, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church recognized the wedding of a homosexual couple as blasphemy, "trampling on the foundations of morality, the teachings of Holy Scripture and the canonical norms of life of an Orthodox Christian, and therefore not having grace and legal force" and decided to deprive priest Vladimir Enert and priest Mikhail Kabanov "as an accomplice sacrilege."
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the DECR, said that the term for which the Nizhny Novgorod priest was deprived of his dignity has not yet been determined: “It happens that this punishment is imposed for a certain time, it happens that it is imposed untimely. For a certain time, this punishment is removed and the priest is again allowed to serve.
One of those who got married, Denis Gogolev, told the Rosbalt correspondent that the chapel in which the wedding took place was destroyed a few days ago. "The Church has become a vicious institution, it's a sect without five minutes," Gogolev declared. "She spat on her canons herself." "Churches were demolished only by Lenin and Stalin."
The press secretary of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, priest Igor Pchelintsev, said that the dismantling of the chapel was not connected with the wedding of homosexuals, it was just planned to build a church on the site of the chapel for a long time.
Vladimir Enert himself denies his guilt and expresses disagreement with the decision of the Holy Synod to deprive him of his bishopric. According to him, he did not perform the wedding, and the photographs published in Komsomolskaya Pravda are fake. The priest believes that the hierarchy should have checked the authenticity of the photographs before making a decision. V. Enert declared that he "will never leave either God or the cross," since he served in holy orders for 20 years.
An ecclesiastical investigation led by Bishop George of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas showed that the photographs of the wedding were not fake, and the ceremony was indeed performed by a priest. But the Church, despite the perfect rite, refuses to recognize homosexuals as spouses.
A comment: See comments:
Green residue of "blue wedding": Orthodox priest for the first time in Russia "married" gays // Portal-Credo.ru. 2003. September 3.
Sign of the times. Blue passion with a taste of cahors as a starting shot before the start of the election race // Ibid. 8 September.
Participant of the "blue wedding" in Nizhny Novgorod DENIS GOGOLEV: "There is no Sodom sin on us ..." // Ibid. September 19
A. Morozov. About the so-called "wedding" in Nizhny // Religion and Mass Media. 2003. September 9
S. Bychkov. Gays are breaking into the temple // Moskovsky Komsomolets. 2003. 9 September.
Zubov M. Is it possible to "legitimize" the sin of Sodom? Church canons categorically do not allow "same-sex love" // Portal-Credo.ru. 2003. September 11th.
Dispose and demolish. The demolition of the temple, in which blasphemy was committed, turned out to be a necessary measure in response to the expansion of sexual minorities//Ibid. October 7th.
adelphopoiesis is not a sacrament. Don't confuse things. There are only 7 sacraments. Adelphopoiesis, the anointing of the monarch to the throne, the religious reinforcement of any political unions - all this is already secondary. By the way, adelphopoiesis was used repeatedly for monarchs (kings, princes, etc.) at war with each other, as a guarantee that they would no longer go to war with each other. In any case, this has nothing to do with the sacrament of the wedding.
The Pontifex "some foundations" can be canceled and can, but not sacraments and not dogmas, because they are higher than the priesthood and the Ecumenical Council (a collective decision of all the bishops of the church). In turn, each new Pope emphasizes his radical position in relation to the issue of the possibility of "marriage" for men with men. "As a result, the Popes apologize to gays and others offended by Christianity" - I haven't seen it on the account of apologies. In any case, it is better to consider each individual case for which there is someone who apologizes. The Pope is quite a smart and decent person, and will not insult a person and get personal, he simply speaks as he is from the point of view of his religion. The Church in general and the Pope in particular are repeatedly poisoned by these statements about "intolerant attitude towards gays." In turn, the religious institution of the Church is 2,000 years old and will not change for the sake of a temporary fashion for perversion. If a person wants to be a righteous Christian, then he must renounce homosexuality. Something you don't like? You go to all 4 sides. In my opinion, the position is extremely sober and adequate, but the position of homosexuals is very strange - they (the minority) impose their demands on the religious organization (the majority). Logics? No, I didn't! “they’ll just lose their parishioners otherwise in the future” - a statement that is not substantiated by anything, but if the Pope of Rome really allows everyone to get married with anyone (even with animals), then a huge number of people will really turn away from the Church. Fortunately, there are much more sober-minded people than madmen, so this will not happen. "leads to the formation of new cults, where this and much more will become possible" - sectarianism on the basis of homosexuality? I beg of you! It just sounds ridiculous. In turn, no one forbids anyone to create their own religious organization and do whatever they want in it, as, for example, the Pastafarians did. In turn, the LGBT has a good maza to rattle their rainbow church, where both "righteous Christians", and "advanced Buddhists", and Hare Krishnas, in general, all and sundry will hang out. In general, the LGBT god ordered everyone to love everyone and generally love everything that moves :)
If you really want to, but you can’t get married, then what Christian denomination will the suffering one go to?
The Russian Orthodox Church has officially stated that it categorically does not recognize same-sex unions and marriages.
The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted a document that defines all aspects of church marriage.
Previously, the Russian Orthodox Church relied on the provisions of the XVIII-XIX centuries. Of course, the arguments of such an ancient position are pretty outdated, so the church has re-formulated provisions condemning homosexual unions.
Not if a non-traditional family wants to sanctify their marriage, what religions could help them with this?
The Roman Catholic Church, despite its rather tolerant attitude towards homosexuality, still prohibits sacraments with such couples.
Pope Francis, at a meeting with journalists last June, said that the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the Christians of the world, are obliged to ask forgiveness from homosexuals for their past attitude towards sexual minorities.
But the Pope does not single out gays as a separate group of those disadvantaged by the church, but refers them to a broader category of people to whom the church must apologize.
And by "church" he means the entire world community of Christians. “The Church must apologize for having behaved inappropriately many times. And when I say church, I mean all of us Christians. Because the church is holy and we are all sinners"
When the Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church met in the Vatican in the summer of 2015, all its participants approved the final report, in which they retained the ban on same-sex marriages.
North American Christian churches have a fair amount of free-thinking on the issue of consecrating same-sex marriages.
The United Church of Christ in the USA sanctifies same-sex marriages.
The General Synod of the United Church of Christ (UCC) recently approved a resolution allowing same-sex couples to marry.
The OCCH is considered the oldest Protestant denomination in America. This tradition traces its lineage back to the parishes of the Puritans and Pilgrims, the first Protestant settlers in the northeast of what is now the United States. The CCH includes 5,700 parishes, more than 10,000 pastors and 1.3 million believers.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (4.9 million), United Church of Canada (2.8 million), U.S. Episcopal Church (2.2 million), United Church of Christ (1.1 million) ) - these American churches recognize same-sex marriages.
In Europe the most famous Christian churches that do not recognize homosexual relations as sinful are: the Evangelical Church of Germany (number - 24.8 million members), the Church of Sweden (number - 6.9 million), the Metropolitan Community Church, most of the Old Catholic and Lutheran churches and a number of churches Quakers.
As you can see, Christians persistently dreaming of getting married have a place to go.
The program is hosted by Veronika Ostrinskaya. Radio Liberty columnists Yakov Krotov and Giovanni Bensi are taking part.
Veronika Ostrinskaya: Orthodox priest Vladimir Enart was defrocked by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. Vladimir Enart, observing the traditional Orthodox rite, married a couple of homosexuals on the first of September. The wedding, which took place in one of the churches of Nizhny Novgorod, was declared illegal by the Synod. Another priest was involved in the case - father Mikhail Kabanov, in whose church the ceremony took place. He is forbidden from worship. According to Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Georgy, a girl and a young man turned to Father Mikhail Kabanov with a request to give the keys to the church on the first of September. Their parents allegedly were against young people getting married, and therefore the wedding had to be secret. Father Vladimir Enart was supposed to marry them. As it turned out later, the wedding was committed between two men, and the girl turned out to be a journalist, who subsequently wrote an article about the ceremony and provided it with appropriate photographs. And now our columnist Yakov Krotov is in direct contact with Radio Liberty in Moscow and Giovanni Bensi in Rome.
I would like to address the first question to Yakov Krotov. You, as a representative of the Orthodox Church, how do you view such marriages? If young people really love each other, why does the church consider such a marriage illegal?
Yakov Krotov: I think that, of course, there was no talk of any love, but it was a pre-election move of one of the young people who put forward his candidacy in the elections and wanted, albeit at the cost of a scandal, to unwind. Of course, if there was real love, people could do without a wedding. I know many people who love each other, live without sacraments, because they love deeply. I do not think that people who went on such adventures thought about love. And, of course, the fact of the wedding, the sacrament was not here, because there was neither love nor faith.
Veronika Ostrinskaya: Jacob, but if these two people are Orthodox believers, is the wedding ceremony in the church really important for them?
Yakov Krotov: I repeat once again: they, apparently, are not Orthodox and the wedding ceremony is unimportant for them. And for this reason, most likely, non-Orthodox: because Orthodox people, even if they have such a non-traditional sexual orientation, it would never occur to them to do something like that. An Orthodox is not just a person with roots, as Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk now says, these young people had Orthodox roots, with crown and foliage problems. Therefore, if a person is Orthodox, he goes to church regularly, he knows the prayers, he knows the commandments, he usually has a confessor. And before going to get married, they don’t go to the first priest they come across, but go to the spiritual father. In general, indeed, for a Christian, including an Orthodox one, such a situation is just as impossible as for a motorist there is no question of how to put warm air into a balloon - these are different ways of moving through life.
Veronika Ostrinskaya: Yakov, why, in your opinion, did the Orthodox priest Vladimir Enart agree to perform the wedding ceremony?
Yakov Krotov: I suspect that there is very little information here, unfortunately, I suspect, firstly, it is still unknown who this father Vladimir Enart is - is he a regular clergyman of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese or not. I suspect that these are the so-called sacral priests - there was such an expression in the 17th century, that is, freelance, some kind of stray, who has nothing to lose. He was shown on TV - this is a rather elderly person, of retirement age. And, apparently, in addition to the $500 that the Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist wrote about, he was given something else. The man knew what he was going for, he knew how it would end, and he understood what would be in the newspapers about it. Everything was calculated in advance, the person consciously chose to earn extra money with a willingness to leave the church. What to do? He made his choice and the choice, of course, is anti-Christian.
Veronika Ostrinskaya: Giovanni, I have a question for you: tell me how the Catholic Church treats same-sex marriages, and were there any precedents for such marriages?
Giovanni Bensi: You know, there is no difference between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in assessing homosexual relationships, and, moreover, homosexual marriages, this doctrine is the same and is based on the Old Testament and New Testament traditions, on the tradition of Holy Scripture. There were many such precedents in the West, especially in some countries like, say, Holland, in the Netherlands. But it is interesting that just recently, in early August, the Vatican, in particular, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is headed by Cardinal Ruffinger, published a document on this matter. A document stating that Catholics should not, under any circumstances, support proposals that are put forward in the parliaments of some countries to legalize same-sex marriage. There is a passage in this document that I briefly quote: "There is no reason to draw even the most approximate analogy between same-sex forms of cohabitation and God's plan for marriage and the family. Marriage is sacred, and homosexual relations violate the natural moral law. Same-sex relations do not arise out of a genuine need for sexual complementarity and can by no means be approved." This is the position of the Catholic Church. In fact, here, as I said, there is no difference from the Orthodox. Of course, one can argue, but the Catholic teaching, like the Orthodox, is based on Holy Scripture and nothing can be done. There is a long tradition here, which goes back to earlier times, and not only in church dogma, but also in literature. Recall that the great Italian poet Dante Aligheri in the "Divine Comedy" put in hell one of his teachers, whom he greatly appreciated as a scientist, but who was a homosexual. Therefore, there are no discounts in this area, according to Dante, he deserves hell.
Veronika Ostrinskaya: Giovanni, in the tradition of the Protestant church, are there such cases?
Giovanni Bensi: There is no such uncompromising attitude in the Protestant church. There are people in the Protestant church who say that the condemnation of homosexuality is historically determined, because in the old ancient societies there were such attitudes, there was such a mentality, such a mindset, and today things are changing. And, by the way, today there is another issue on which there are differences between Catholics and Orthodox, on the one hand, and Protestants, on the other. For example, this is the ordination of women to the priesthood. Catholics and Orthodox are resolutely against this, a woman cannot become a priest, but Protestants allow this. In the Protestant, in the Lutheran Church, in Germany, for example, and in other countries, there are even women bishops. Because they say that the exclusion of a woman from the priesthood is just historically conditioned. Two thousand years ago there was such an attitude towards a woman, today it has changed, so there is no reason to continue to adhere to the old foundations. The same, some say, applies to homosexuals. But just in such an Orthodox country as Russia or in such a Catholic country as Italy, this is unlikely to receive the approval of the church hierarchy.
Veronika Ostrinskaya: And I also have a question for you, Yakov: right now, changes are taking place in society in relation to same-sex love. Tell me, is some kind of change in attitude on the part of the church expected, or is it once and for all, based on Holy Scripture? If people love each other, do nothing wrong to anyone, society in principle accepts it already, treats this fact more calmly. Will the Church ever look at it differently or not?
Yakov Krotov: The Church should look at this with grief, with sympathy, with compassion, with love. But the fact is, already now there is some foulness in the current situation and this incident - after all, there is a double standard. It is well known that in the Russian Orthodox Church, as in any other religious denomination, among the hierarchs, among the clergy there are people with non-traditional sexual orientation. The most striking example is Bishop Nikon Vorobyov, whom no one excommunicated, no one deposed from the priesthood, unlike Enart, but simply sent to repentance, and then returned, made the rector of the temple, as far as I know, one of Moscow. And in Moscow there are people about whom it is well known that this priest is such and such, he is not punished. They are not punished, because it is a secret, because it is covered up. And in this regard, what was done with Enart, of course, is unfair. These young people should be excommunicated from the church, but for some reason this has not been done. For some reason, the priesthood was banned and Father Mikhail Kabanov was recognized as an accomplice in sacrilege, who gave the keys, but without trial, without investigation, without a canonical trial of the case, without the right to defense. In this sense, I would say that it is not the problems of same-sex marriage that are the most important in Russia today, but the problems of legal consciousness.
For the first time, the Catholic Church openly supported representatives of sexual minorities. Pope Francis addressed the LGBT community with the words: “If a person is gay, and is in search of God, and his intentions are pure, who am I to judge him?
Image source: © RIA Novosti. Photo: Vladimir Astapkovich
and urged to forgive homosexual priests.
Such a gesture of good will not only breaks the canons of religion, but also confirms the helplessness of the Catholic Church, and, in particular, its leader in the face of what is happening in the real world. After such speeches, it is not far from the recognition of same-sex marriage by Catholics. By the way, many experts wrote that the previous Pope Benedict abdicated precisely because of his helplessness in front of the “blue lobby”, which is gaining strength in European countries.
And, indeed, now in the world there is such a situation when gays are supported by the authorities, society, and the media. It would seem that what else is needed for the full legitimization of same-sex unions? Turned out to be a blessing from God. Without a church wedding, marriage is not a marriage for same-sex couples from Catholic countries. It is unlikely that it will be possible to receive it directly, but you are always welcome to involve the intermediaries of the Lord on earth in this.
Bloggers are already worried about the future of Europe. The well-known psychologist Mark Sandomiersky described what is happening as “global mass madness”. Blogger Konstantin Lugansky sees the future in gloomy colors: “Tomorrow this Catholic bastard will stop judging drug addicts, then pedophiles, and then just murderers...”
Philosopher Andrey Ashkerov, on his page on the social network, asks about the inexplicable status of homosexuals: “In this story with the triumphal recognition of gays around the world, I am interested in exactly one thing: what is the sum of the factors that turned a gay man into a “new proletarian” of the current phase of the permanent revolution?”. Alexander Kolmakov treats the story with gays with humor: “Before, they were afraid of the rebellion of the poor and built a middle class. Now, apparently, they are afraid of the rebellion of men, since they are building a middle sex.”
The words of the pontiff demonstrate the triumph of democracy in the form in which the West sees it. It turned out that the church lost the war with the "blue lobby" even when it let go Pope Benedict - a fierce opponent of same-sex marriage. And now the joke is becoming relevant that when choosing a new Pope, more than just black and white smoke may appear over the Sistine Chapel.
