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Orthodox Christianity, Sexual Diversity & Public Policy ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY, SEXUAL DIVERSITY & PUBLIC POLICY EDITED BY GREGORY TUCKER & BRANDON GALLAHER Orthodox Christianity, Sexual Diversity & Public Policy 1 ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY, SEXUAL DIVERSITY & PUBLIC POLICY Final Report of the University of Exeter & Fordham University British Council Bridging Voices Project, 2017–2020 Edited by Gregory Tucker & Brandon Gallaher We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who participated in our project and whose contribu- tions have enriched this report. We would also like to acknowledge the outstanding level of support and encour- agement given by the staff of the British Council in Washington, DC, especially Gerald FitzGerald, Sheridan Ruiz, and Brenna Fawson. The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of the authors. This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the funding partners and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the British Council. The copyright to this report is vested in the editors. This publication or any part of it may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, with full acknowledgment of the source. All other rights are reserved. Layout: Angelo Jesus Canta, angeloxcanta.com On the cover: LGBTQ+ activists participate in a march past the former Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood (now a museum) in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2015. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky) 2 Orthodox Christianity, Sexual Diversity & Public Policy iStock.com/dk1234 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. 4 Introduction to the Exeter-Fordham Bridging Voices Project & Consortium .......... 5 Orthodox Christianity as a Distinctive Religious Tradition: Essential Background Knowledge for Policy Makers ................................................... 7 Status Quo: Sexual Diversity in Contemporary Orthodox Discourse ....................... 10 Developing a Respectful Dialogue: Project Goals & Achievements ......................... 13 Let’s Talk: Afterlife of the Project and Public Policy ..................................................... 17 Appendix: (Eastern) Orthodox Churches ........................................................................ 20 Further Reading .................................................................................................................... 21 Orthodox Christianity, Sexual Diversity & Public Policy 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • This project investigated issues of sexual diver- • Theologians can find it difficult to agree on the rea- sity within the Eastern Orthodox Christian tra- soning and sources that undergird received teach- dition. These present some of the most complex ings and practices. For some, questions of sexual and contentious questions facing the Orthodox diversity are permanently settled as first principles Church today and and public debate over them is of Orthodoxy, whereas for others they are second- often polarised. ary, contextual, and potentially still open. • Responses of the Orthodox Church to questions • This project demonstrated that polarisation of of sexual diversity must be contextualised with- discourse on controversial religious issues can in the church’s distinctive theological tradition, be overcome through the careful construction of history, and contemporary geopolitical setting, spaces for dialogue. This relies, above all, on a noting especially the prevalence of anti-Western willingness of organisers not to foreclose diffi- sentiments today. cult conversations. • The attitude of most Orthodox Christians to- • Civil society actors can advance the work of this wards issues of sexual diversity may be char- project through educating themselves and oth- acterised as “conservative” in comparison with ers, co-operation with religious actors, enabling prevailing attitudes in the secular West. Despite further deep conversations, using our project re- wide consensus, there is diversity in pastoral sources, promoting our project’s work, and sup- practice and thought. porting further research. Onnere/Shutterstock.com AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov Photo/Sergei AP Michailidis Alexandros iStock.com/ 4 Orthodox Christianity, Sexual Diversity & Public Policy INTRODUCTION TO THE EXETER-FORDHAM BRIDGING VOICES PROJECT & CONSORTIUM From 2017 to 2020, scholars from the University The project was led by Dr Brandon Gallaher, Senior of Exeter (UK) and the Orthodox Christian Stud- Lecturer in Systematic and Comparative Theology ies Center at Fordham University (New York, USA) at the University of Exeter, England, and Prof. Ar- led a research project under the title “Contempo- istotle Papanikolaou, Archbishop Demetrios Chair rary Eastern Orthodox Identity and the Challenges in Orthodox Theology & Culture at Fordham Uni- of Pluralism and Sexual Diversity in a Secular Age,” versity, New York, together with Gregory Tucker, a as part of the Bridging Voices initiative of the Brit- research assistant at the University of Regensburg, ish Council. The project was funded by the British Germany. They worked with Dr Edward Skidelsky, Council, Friends of the British Council, and the Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Henry Luce Foundation, with additional support Exeter, and Prof. George Demacopoulos, Father from the Galileo Foundation. John Meyendorff & Patterson Family Chair of -Or thodox Christian Studies at Fordham Universi- The project investigated, within the Orthodox ty, as additional partners, and a large network of Christian tradition, attitudes towards LGBTQ+- per contributors, including theologians, historians, sons, frameworks for the conceptualisation and philosophers, sociologists, biological and medical expression of sexual identity, issues around the ac- researchers, psychologists and psychotherapists, commodation of diversity and dissent from official cultural anthropologists, LGBTQ+ activists, and teachings within church communities and societies pastors, drawn from across the globe. with majority Orthodox populations, and approach- es to legal provisions for the protection of LGBTQ+ Productive engagement with representatives of rights and acknowledgment of relationships (mar- Orthodox Christianity on issues of sex, gender, and riage/civil partnership). Questions of sexual diver- sexuality requires an appreciation of Orthodoxy as sity are some of the most challenging for the Or- a religious tradition with its own sense of identity thodox Church today and are frequently the subject and history, which differs from and is oftentimes of polarised debate. They are iconic of the bigger contrasted with other Christian traditions. challenge of how Orthodoxy will continue to de- velop its relationship with late-modern secular and pluralistic democracy. Orthodox Christianity, Sexual Diversity & Public Policy 5 6 iStock.com/Sviatlana Lazarenka iStock.com/Radila Radilova iStock.com/Bogdan Kurylo iStock.com/Sviatlana Lazarenka iStock.com/vasilyev_ivan Orthodox Christianity, Sexual Diversity & Public Policy ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY AS A DISTINCTIVE RELIGIOUS TRADITION ESSENTIAL BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE FOR POLICY MAKERS The Orthodox Church considers itself to bear The Orthodox Church maintains a highly devel- uniquely faithful witness to the ultimate revelation oped ritual system, which is, for most believers, the of God in Jesus Christ. This good news (“gospel”) touchstone of their religious life. It includes a rich is understood as a way of life that is disclosed per- cycle of feasts and fasts, the observation of which fectly and eternally in the person of Jesus Christ, extends well beyond the church walls into daily life. crucified and risen, and continues to be lived by the saints. Orthodoxy is concerned overwhelming- The church’s liturgical life is presided over by hier- ly with praxis (prayer, worship, ascetic discipline, archically differentiated ministers (bishops, priests, charity), which leads to the reorientation of the deacons, etc.), who also bear responsibility for human being in right relationship with God. This teaching and pastoral care. As successors to the Orthodox “way” is also thematised as doctrine, apostles, bishops are privileged bearers and inter- explicit statements of “right belief.” Doctrine and preters of this holy tradition. Orthodoxy places em- praxis are intimately related, since spiritual growth phasis on the faithful transmission of tradition, pre- depends upon right belief and right belief emerges serving a continuity of teaching within the church, from right worship. Belief, worship, and “daily life” the body of Christ. are inseparably intertwined. Orthodoxy today has been shaped by a series of The Orthodox Church treasures the Scriptures modern “revivals” of various aspects of its life: of (the Bible), which are regarded as words of life, the theology, characterised by a return to the sources meaning of which is not self-evident but revealed of the tradition, rejection of Western secular mo- within the life of the church. Thus, the Scriptures dernity, and an emphasis on the continuity of tradi- are ultimately understandable only with certain her- tion; of aesthetics, with an emphasis on pre-modern meneutic keys that are transmitted as part of the iconography and music; of ascetic life, seen in a re- apostolic tradition. They are proclaimed and inter- juvenation of monasticism, an emphasis on rigorous preted especially in the liturgy. discipline, and a confidence in the authority of spir- itual “elders”; and of liturgy, with a return in some places
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