Russian Orthodox Church raises fears over pro-gay Protestant Churches

by Brian Hutt
Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has told the head of the World Council of Churches of his concerns over the position of some Protestant Churches towards homosexuality.

WCC General Secretary Dr Olav Fykse Tveit met the Patriarch in Moscow today as part of his first visit to the Russian Orthodox Church since taking up office last September.

According to the WCC, Kirill expressed a “serious concern” about some of the challenges facing ecumenical dialogue in view of what he termed the “new positions of some Protestant churches” on several important moral issues, including their understanding of homosexuality.

The Episcopal Church in the USA in particular has pursued a liberal agenda in the last decade, consecrating its first openly gay bishop in 2003 and consecrating its first partnered lesbian bishop this year. The actions have angered traditionalist Anglicans worldwide and met with alarm from other denominations, including the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. the rest