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Eastern Orthodox view of sin

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The Eastern Orthodox Church is particular in its view of sin.

Overview

The Fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church do not generally take a legalistic or juridical approach in their views of sin. For them, sin does not exist as an abstract and must be approached on an individual basis. Likewise, the prescription for sin must be filtered through human understanding in order to be effective. There is nothing within the Church that is automatic (latae sententiae). Though some acts are clearly always sinful (e.g., adultery), what is a sin for one man may not be for another; neither does the Orthodox Church see all sin as being the same.

The traditional practice of the Orthodox is to have a confessor, sometimes referred to as a spiritual father, to whom one confesses and who treats the sin on an individual basis. Thus, to make a blanket statement about any sin and how to deal with it would be inappropriate for the Orthodox Church. At best a generalized guideline may be stated with the knowledge that an experienced confessor will know when to effectively "bend the rules". You look like the skin on a bongo drum.

View on sexuality

Sexuality in general

From the Church's point of view, humans are not sexual creatures in terms of their essential identity, as modern society (under the influence of Freudian psychological assumptions) currently perceives humans to be. To Eastern Orthodoxy, our relationship with God is reflected in our love for each other and the union of two people is a reflection of our ultimate union with God; but as a result of man's disobedience and rebellion against God (i.e., the Fall), human nature has led man to adopt a more animalistic view of sexual activity which is not true to his ultimate transfigurable nature.

Eastern Orthodoxy holds that Adam and Eve did not have sex until the Fall of man, and that sexual sin and the Fall are intimately linked. This is not to imply that the sex act is inherently sinful, but rather that its first instance was in some way unlawful; sexual reproduction would certainly have occurred in an unfallen world, as God commands man before the Fall to "be fruitful and multiply" in Genesis 1:28.) The Orthodox Church does not hold with the views of Augustine of Hippo that sex is somehow inherently sinful [citation needed] , that one should only "descend to it with regret,". As St. Cesarios said, "copulation and birth of children in accordance with the law is free from any sin and condemnation."[1]

Marriage

One of the great fathers of the Church, John Chrysostom, in elaborating on the words of Paul of Tarsus states that "because man is prone to strong lustful feelings, and because all men are not strong enough to be celibate, the Church allows the temporary union of marriage as an alternative to sin". This is a commentary on 1 Corinthians 7, which states "To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion."

To some Orthodox, sex and marriage are both temporary states experienced in this world only. In Heaven all are equal and our relationship is with God (Matt. 22:30, Mark 12:25, Luke 20:35). Therefore, from this point of view we could say that the Orthodox Church does not support any sexuality at all, neither homosexual or heterosexual— indeed, it supports celibacy as the favored path.

Other Orthodox regard marriage as being eternal, that the crowns of marriage are received into Heaven during the holy mystery (sacrament) of marriage (as the text of the rite says) and therefore signify an eternal reality. Thus, while sexuality in its physical sense may not be continued in Heaven, the bond between a husband and wife is permanent, and celibacy, while an honorable and holy state if done for the sake of the Kingdom, is not by any means the most common path for all Orthodox Christians. With virginity, marriage is thus also understood as an ascetical working out of salvation. As the Bible says, the "marriage bed is undefiled" (Heb. 13:4). As is seen in the sacramental rites themselves, marriage is understood as being forever sanctified by Christ's presence and first miracle at the wedding at Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-11).

Far from denigrating marriage or seeing it as merely temporary, the Church uses it as a primary image in the New Testament of the union of the Church with Christ. The eschatological fulfillment of all things is in terms of the marriage of the Bride to the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9), i.e., the Church to Christ. "Thus, marriage is a sacrament—holy, blessed, and everlasting in the sight of God and His Church" (Orthodox Study Bible, p. 448). Or, as Fr. Alciviadis C. Calivas writes:

Orthodox theology has always presented Christian marriage as something absolutely unique, and, indeed eternal. In marriage, human love "is being projected into the Kingdom of God" (John Meyendorff), reflecting the intimate union between Christ and the faithful which St. Paul speaks of (Ephes. 5). Married life is a special vocation which requires the grace of the Holy Spirit; and it is this very grace which is conferred in the Marriage Service.[2]

Fr. John Meyendorff in Byzantine Theology (pp. 196-197) says:

The Byzantine theological, liturgical, and canonical tradition unanimously stresses the absolute uniqueness of Christian marriage, and bases this emphasis upon the teaching of Ephesians 5. As a sacrament, or mysterion, marriage reflects the union between Christ and the Church, between Yahweh and Israel, and as such can be only one—an eternal bond, which death itself does not destroy. In its sacramental nature, marriage transfigures and transcends both fleshly union and contractual legal association: human love is being projected into the eternal Kingdom of God.
Only this basic understanding of Christian marriage can explain the fact that until the tenth century no second marriage, whether of those widowed or of those divorced, was blessed in church. Referring to the custom of "crowning" the bridal pair - a feature of the Byzantine rite of marriage—a canon attributed to Nicephorus the Confessor (806-815) specifies: "Those who enter a second marriage are not crowned and are not admitted to receive the most pure mysteries for two years; those who enter a third marriage are excommunicated for five years." This text, which merely repeats the earlier prescriptions of the canons of Basil, presupposes that second and third marriages of those widowed or divorced can be concluded as civil contracts only. Actually, since the marriage blessing was normally given at a Eucharist, where the bridal pair received communion, the required temporary excommunication excluded the Church's participation or blessing in cases when marriage was repeated.[3]

Later Meyendorff also says:

The most striking difference between the Byzantine theology of marriage and its medieval Latin counterpart is that the Byzantines strongly emphasized the unicity of Christian marriage and the eternity of the marriage bond; they never considered that Christian marriage was a legal contract, automatically dissolved by the death of one of the partners.... Guided in its practice by the legal notion of contract, indissoluble as long as both parties were alive, the West seemed to ignore the idea that marriage, if it is a sacrament, has to be projected as an eternal bond into the Kingdom of God (ibid., pp. 198-199).

Homosexuality

Despite the church’s position of refraining from making blanket statements concerning any particular sin, there are many within the church both laymen and clergy who consider homosexuality a grave sin, using the pejorative Greek term "αρσενοκοίτες" ("arsenokítes") to describe homosexuals. Prominent clerics such as the leading bishop of the Church of Greece, Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, have described being gay as a "handicap,"[citation needed] leading to a series of reactions from the gay community and human rights activists.[citation needed]

The Orthodox Church in America offered the following advice at its 10th All-American Council in 1992: "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."[4]

There have been and continue to be a number of pro-homosexuality support groups within the Church specifically for the gay and lesbian community. One such group is Axios. In some cases, sympathetic members of the clergy have performed a service of union for gay couples.

Thus, though these isolated examples exist, none of these blessings for homosexuality are official praxis of the Orthodox Church. Official statements from the Church's hierarchy continue to be consistent in terms of the traditional position that homosexual behavior is sinful and thus damaging to the human person, and that homosexual temptation is a subject for ascetic struggle.

Transgender

Similarly, there is also a special ceremony where the transgendered person receives a special blessing as means to recognize his/her sex change, though this ceremony is not sanctioned by the Church hierarchy nor found in the standard service books.

There is the story of Onuphrius, a hermit saint, who had originally been a virtuous young girl. In order to preserve her virginity and to avoid a persistent suitor, Onuphrius prayed to God that He might change her into a man. God granted her wish and changed her. Pro-transgendered activists interpret this account to be a divine sanction of pursuing the transgendered, though these are a small minority. Those in the Church who maintain the more traditional view regarding these lifestyles interpret the account of St. Onuphrius to be exceptional and by no means to constitute a statement from God in favor of the modern movement toward sanction of transgendered life and behavior.

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/CMF/appendix.shtml
  2. ^ http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7106.asp
  3. ^ http://www.lasvegasorthodox.com/library/Orthodox_Practices/The_Sacraments.htm
  4. ^ http://www.oca.org/DOCmarriage.asp?SID=12&ID=26
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