I have recently been meditating to the Kontakion of the Dead (Kiev melody). Perhaps not appropriate for the season of the Nativity – but meditation is an Advent tradition. I love many things about Russia, and one of my best friends is Russian, but I am saddened when I consider the current treatment of the LGBT community in Russia.
Orthodoxy and the state were often partners in Russian history – but not always willingly. I cannot see into President Putin’s heart; I will not make comments on the motivations behind his cultural and religious policies. I will also not deny that very many people in Russia – perhaps the majority – dislike homosexuality and to varying degrees consider homosexual acts sinful.
But I ask this: how do they think their actions reflect Christ? Do they believe they are doing God a service by subduing the LGBT community? Do they believe that God will punish their nation if they fail to act, to suppress his supposed enemies? I will not assume that the majority of the faithful approve of the far right’s treatment of gay Russians. But ought they not to pursue justice? Is it right that people be beaten, blackmailed, and humiliated without comment? Are we not called to be lovers of compassion, lovers of justice?
I fear that the voice of westerners will do no good for these poor souls. Whenever we protest the injustices committed in Russia, not only are we accused of hypocrisy (and sometimes rightly so), but those whom we seek to help are labelled “traitors” and treated even worse. Where is the help for these people?
I know that many reading this will say that “It is not our job to promote sin”, calling homosexual acts such. But leaving aside the vexed question of “gay marriage” and other related issues, we are called to promote the doctrine of Imago Dei. When people say it is okay for neo-Nazis to drench people in urine because of their orientation and lifestyle, we tacitly agree with an attack on our value in the eyes of God. The Scripture does not say, “and those who sinned, He held them of less account”. It says, “for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son”.
I will not ask you to pray against your conscience, but I do ask you to echo this prayer to the extent you feel able.
Dear Lord and Father of mankind, we ask you to forgive us our sins: what we have done and what we have failed to do. Today we lift up to Your loving and attentive gaze the nation of Russia, troubled with so much division, hatred, and fear. Please bring healing to that land through the ministry of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray: amen.
All Along the Watchtower 
“But I ask this: how do they think their actions reflect Christ?”
I am not current with Russian culture and/or their civil laws and thereby must take your word for their mistreatment of these people, etc. But then what is a culture that normalizes sin to such an extent that all sins of the flesh become ‘normative’ and children grow up without fear or shame to experiment in any impulse that might occur to them?
I might say that ‘reflecting Christ’ would be to shun the sinner whilst leaving the punishment to the God: unless of course we are speaking of the corruption or violation of children: “But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Also, the ‘shaking of the dust off of one’s sandals’ of those who will not hear the teachings of the Church seems to be an appropriate response until one is moved to seek the Church and enter into that which they previously denied. At such a time they will find the Church as merciful as Christ and willing to embrace them as one of their own.
England made homosexual acts punishable by imprisonment and/or chemical castration and other remedies for their aberrant sexual appetites. The US, though identifying homosexuality as psychological disorder, never to my knowledge imprisoned anyone unless they forcefully took steps to ‘rape’ or ‘coerce’ adolescents or children into their ‘lifestyle’
All in all, if aberant sexual behaviour is normalized in a society, it is not unlike those who rebel against civil law though it should be more of a societal pressure rather than a civilly encacted set of laws that might be misapplied or abused. But the act of shunning a lifestyle is not ‘bullying’ nor is the speaking out against aberant sexuality or sexual appetites ‘hate speech.’ We have, and once had, a society where people self-policed such things and thereby protected their children and guaranteed them a right to be raised in a culture that allowed them to remain children rather than be exposed to sexuality at an inappropriate age in life and to explore a varying smorgashboard of sexual pleasures prepared at satan’s buffet. If as an adult they decide to embrace the lifestyle, then they will have to endure the shame of their decision and live in the shadows of society or in the privacy of their home. That to me seems appropriate enough.
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I take on board much of what you say, even if I don’t agree with all of it. I can certainly understand and empathize with your concern for the pastoral side and the message that could be sent out. As I say, I’m not trying to sway people to a particular position on homosexuality per se, merely to acknowledge that there is a problem with what is going on in Russia. Regarding the facts, they are real and documented. The neo-Nazis are notorious for uploading videos of themselves abusing homosexuals they have captured. There is also evidence of illegal police activity suppressing freedom of speech.
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And again, in case you missed it, I am not saying that the law enforcement of a country should be involved in this. Society as a whole has a responsibility to police immorality by making it a choice that few wish to make as it puts in the shadows of polite society . . . what we call peer pressure is an effective method of doing this. But once the cat is out of the bag, as what happened with the government getting involved with abortion, all morality can be questioned and effectively no ‘victim’ is a victim anymore except for the perpetrator who is now viewed as victim. Children’s rights claim a backseat to the hurt feelings of those who scandalize the childhood of our most innocent victims. This is why when a society begins fiddling in the moral realm without the faith that inspires such societal values then they are treading on thin ice and abuses are surely to follow. You either have competency or you don’t. A society can do this by common ethical norms . . . a government cannot. They will fail every time and are seen as either bullying a particular group or defending immorality which runs headlong into the common ethos of the culture. They cannot win and devise moral law without the support of society . . . though it appears they can sway or breakdown long standing norms and remake society although it may look a bit like Muslim society with etremes on both ends of the spectrum. Your mention of neo-Nazis reminds me of the cruelty the German Nazis showed toward homosexuals and yet the SS was known for their ‘macho’ brand of homosexual deviancy . . . another hypocritical subset not unlike their friends in the Muslim world.
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That didn’t take long. Scoop, you must be confused; this isn’t FreeRepublic.
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The only person who is confused is you. I do not read the FreeRepublic not do I participate in any activism anywhere . . . unless you think conventual, conservative values should not have a voice here or anywhere else for that matter. I think you doth protest too much, Steven . . . belying your own liberal activist mentality.
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I actually check the comments section here, mostly to read your comments. I’m not liberal (used to be quite conservative, actually), but your opinions are a bit too far to the right for my taste. Nonetheless, life would be boring if we all agreed.
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And I used to be of a somewhat liberal bent. But then I got married and had children during the sexual revolution in this country and had to concern myself with the filth that they were exposed to at very inappropriate ages. If your parents embraced that change then you probably do not even know what it was to live a life where common deceny was expected throughout society. When I grew up I could take refuge in any house in my neighborhood and be assured that the ‘grownups’ would protect me from any harm. We had no instructions not to speak with strangers and were not filled with distrust as to the intentions of every adult . . . including our teachers and pastors. Thanks, but no thanks, things were better when I grew up than they are today or during the revolution my children were reared in. We still had common moral values which today do not exist. Licentiousness is the overall goal of this revolution and it is largely held as a ‘common good’ already. Maybe once NAMBLA and other activists will widen that view in the future but hopefully not in my lifetime. We do reap what we sow and I am not so sure we are sowing good seed. Are you?
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By the grace of God, I certainly try to sow good seeds nowadays. Heaven knows in my twenties I sowed plenty of bad seeds in numerous ways.
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Me too!
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All jesting/teasing aside, I do think it’s an interesting aspect of the Catholic Church that people of such wide polarities of opinion can coexist within the same Church under the same theology, and not completely destroy it. During my time in Protestant churches polarities tended to either change the church bodies altogether, or they resulted in the splitting of church bodies into different entities that reflected the dominant opinions of the people. The Catholic Church seems able to absorb all of this and keep going without changing its essential beliefs, which is quite remarkable. It’s actually my bed time now, but take care. My apologies if I’ve been pushing the envelope on trolling your comments.
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Its quite alright Steven, troll away. 🙂
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Nicholas, I apologize for taking the comments way off topic. You wrote an excellent article and I always look forward to the thoughtful commentary you and the other contributors of this blog share. Keep up the great work!
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Thank you, Steven, that’s very kind of you to say. I’m glad you are enjoying the posts here, which you can see are on a wide array of topics. I tend to be known more for eschatology than other things, but this particular issue is dear to my heart. God bless.
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