Head of Fanar Archdiocese in US says why he baptized gay parents’ children

Elpidophoros and the baptism of a child of gay parents. Photo: Facebook page of George Bousis

The head of the Archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the USA, Abp. Elpidophoros, in an interview with Ta Nea, explained why he had baptized children adopted by a homosexual male couple.

Commenting on the words of the Greek primate about refusing to baptize children of such parents, Archbishop Elpidophoros stated that "the Phanar sees no obstacles for baptizing a child whatever their background may be."

"We cannot examine under a microscope how a child was conceived and how they came into the world," said the Phanar hierarch.

According to him, the role of the Church is to ensure legality, and it makes no crucial difference who the parents of the child are. What matters is who the godparents are.

"Our role is to ensure legitimacy. We should ensure that those who have custody of this child, be they the biological parents or legal guardians, provide their consent for the baptism. That’s the legal aspect. From a church perspective, it is essential to have a godparent who is Orthodox and serves as the guarantor for the child’s Orthodox upbringing. Parents cannot subject their own Orthodox devotion to evaluation and then decide whether the child should or should not be baptized. That’s the godparent’s task. Hence, if these two conditions are fulfilled, there is neither an ecclesiastical nor a legal obstacle to the baptism of a child. That’s what I did in 2022," Archbishop Elpidophoros said.

According to him, he was guided by these considerations when baptizing the children of homosexuals.

Recall that in July 2022, the head of the Archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the USA baptized the children of a gay couple in Greece, which caused a big scandal in the Greek Orthodox Church. The Metropolitan of Piraeus stated that Elpidophoros should appear before a church court. On this occasion, the Synod of the Church of Greece gathered, which sent a letter to the head of the Phanar. However, no public response followed from Patriarch Bartholomew regarding the incident.

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