Our Position on LGBT+
Statement concerning June 26 US Supreme Court decision from June 28, 2015
"does not bless 'same-sex marriages' or view them as sacramental"
"does see the image of Christ in every individual, and his or her worth in the eyes of the Lord Who died upon the Cross for our salvation."
"As the Orthodox Church in America, it is our responsibility to care for those who are in need, help those who are victims of prejudice, racism or persecution of any kind, and to provide for those who are sick, destitute, homeless or imprisoned."
Statement of the Holy Synod of the OCA on Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs Regarding Marriage (June 16, 2016)
The OCS teaches and maintains as revealed by God and taught by His Holy Church from the beginning of time that "God has established marriage as a lifelong, exclusive relationship between one man and one woman, and that all intimate sexual activity outside the marriage relationship, whether heterosexual, homosexual, or otherwise, is immoral, and therefore sin (Genesis 2:24-25; Exodus 20:14, 17, 22:19; Leviticus 18:22-23, 20:13, 15-16; Matthew 19:4-6, 9; Romans 1:18-31; I Corinthians 6:9-10, 15-20; I Timothy 1:8-11; Jude 7)"
"We believe that God created the human race male and female and that all conduct with the intent to adopt a gender other than one’s birth gender is immoral and therefore sin (Genesis 1:27; Deuteronomy 22:5)"
"Marriage can only be between two people whose birth sex is male and female."
Synodal Affirmations on Marriage, Family, Sexuality, and the Sanctity of Life (July 1992)
"No human being, whatever his or her religion, race, nationality or moral convictions, is to be treated in a wicked, evil or unjust manner."
"According to the apostle Paul, those engaging in homosexual acts, with fornicators, adulterers, idolaters, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers and robbers, will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Christians come from all these categories of evil doers who have, voluntarily and involuntarily, been caught up in the sin of the world. They are those who through their personal repentance and faith in Christ, their baptism and chrismation, and their participation in Holy Communion, have been “washed…sanctified…and made righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Orthodox Baptism and Chrismation Service)."
"Homosexuality is to be approached as the result of humanity’s rebellion against God, and so against its own nature and well-being. It is not to be taken as a way of living and acting for men and women made in God’s image and likeness."
"Men and women with homosexual feelings and emotions are to be treated with the understanding, acceptance, love, justice and mercy due to all human beings."
"Persons struggling with homosexuality who accept the Orthodox faith and strive to fulfill the Orthodox way of life may be communicants of the Church with everyone else who believes and struggles."
HOWEVER... "Those instructed and counseled in Orthodox Christian doctrine and ascetical life who still want to justify their [homosexual] behavior may not participate in the Church’s sacramental mysteries, since to do so would not help, but harm them."
Synodal Affirmation of the Mystery of Marriage
(http://oca.org/holy-synod/statements/holy-synod/synodal-affirmation-of-the-mystery-of-marriage)
"marriage involves the union of one man and one woman, as divinely revealed and experienced in the sacramental life of the Church. As such, the Church does not, and can not, condone or accept marriages apart from those involving one man and one woman who seal their relationship in the all-embracing love of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit."
Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops: 2013 Assembly Statement on Marriage and Sexuality (http://assemblyofbishops.org/about/documents/2013-assembly-statement-on-marriage-and-sexuality)
"Persons with homosexual orientation are to be cared for with the same mercy and love that is bestowed on all of humanity by our Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, the Church is a spiritual hospital, where we all are called to find the healing of our fallen humanity through Jesus Christ, who assumed human nature in order to restore it. All of us struggle with various passions, and it is only within the Church that we find the means of overcoming these passions with the assistance of God’s grace. Acting upon any sexual attraction outside of sacramental marriage, whether the attraction is heterosexual or homosexual, alienates us from God."