The Orthodox Church of Greece has reaffirmed its opposition to civil same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples following a recent court ruling that upheld such adoption as constitutional. The Holy Synod repeated the position it first expressed in January 2024 after Greece’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled in March that adoption by same-sex couples is consistent with the constitution.
The Synod grounded its opposition in Christian theology rather than in shifting political fashion. It said the Church’s understanding of marriage comes from Holy Scripture, the teaching of the Fathers, and the sacramental life of the Church. Christian marriage, it said, exists to form a stable marital union, to welcome and raise children as the fruit of the spouses’ love in Christ, and to integrate family life into the life of the Church.
The statement also rejected the now-routine claim that sexual difference is merely a social construct. The Synod said the duality and complementarity of the sexes are given by God, not invented by society, and insisted that the bond between man and woman reflects the relationship between Christ and the Church. In that view, fatherhood and motherhood are not interchangeable labels but essential realities in both childhood and adult life.
The Church further warned that legal recognition of same-sex marriage inevitably draws a society toward same-sex parenthood through adoption or surrogacy. It argued that such legislation replaces fatherhood and motherhood with neutralized concepts of parenthood and risks privileging adult preferences over the interests of children. Even so, the Synod noted that civil legislation does not deprive the Church of its duty to teach the faithful or require it to redefine what it understands as sin.