Election Post-Mortem

I did not post any political commentary before the election, and ordinarily I would not after the election.  What prompts me to write today is the horrific scene I see from my fellow men, on both sides of the aisle.

Putting my cards on the table, I did not vote for President-elect Trump.  I also did not vote for Secretary Clinton.  I voted for Gary Johnson, primarily because I think the country needs a new voice.  The proof of that, in my mind, was the two major party candidates we had to choose from.  This is not a new sentiment on my part.  I haven't voted for a Republican since George W. Bush in 2000 (notably, I voted Libertarian for all of those as well, though I seriously considered voting for Sen. Kerry, in 2004, thwarted mostly by the fact that I lived in a state such that my vote for him would have done no good, something that is also true in 2016).

As a sidenote, readers of this blog know I do not heavily moderate comments, but I will remove any comments indicating to me that I wasted my vote or that my third-party vote is responsible for Mr. Trump winning over Mrs. Clinton.  Both because I disagree and because that issue is tangential to what I wish to discuss.  I offer my own voting history as background for a larger point.

With that said, I still remember 2008.  I did not vote for President Obama.  I did not support President Obama and I disagreed with most of his policies.  However........however.......I defended him against what I saw as unfair accusations.  I defended him from those who said his connection to Rev. Wright meant he was a Marxist racist.  I defended him from those who said he was a Muslim, not on the grounds that there would be anything wrong with him being a Muslim and also being President, but on the grounds that it was 1) untrue, and 2) completely bigoted against Muslims, since it implied this supposed affiliation should be a problem.  I defended him from those who said he was not born in this country, including our current President-elect.  Why did I do these things, for someone I generally oppose in principle?  Because he is the President of the United States.

That does not mean, in any sense, that we have to hope a given president's goals succeed inasmuch as they are inapposite to our own vision for our country or our lives.  We do not have to support the President when he promotes, proposes and implements policy goals that we believe harm our country.  We can and we should vigorously oppose those who do so.  That was true of President Obama, and it is true of President-elect Trump.  I am not speaking against opposition here.  I also believe we as Christians also ought vigorously object to the life, words and actions of President-elect Trump inasmuch as they exhibit a decidedly un-Christian and immoral view of the world.  What I reject -- and what I see far too much of since last Tuesday -- is opposing the President to the point that we are no longer making principled rejections on policy grounds, or even suggesting he is an unfit person to hold the office on moral or ethical grounds, but rather opposing him simply because we did not get the result we wanted.  Opposing him because we think his "vision for America" is not what we prefer.  In other words, opposing him not inasmuch as we disagree with him, but even where we might otherwise agree with him, simply because he was not our preference.  That is what President Obama's opponents have spent eight years doing, and it is now what President-elect Trump's opponents are doing, even as we speak.

How do we know this?  Simply look at the actions and words of the loudest voices, though certainly not the majority of voices by a long shot.  Protests and rhetoric that delegitimize the Presidency.  "Not my President" (hint: he will be your President, for at least the next four years).  Violence against those who voted for the new President or, in some cases, against the property of those who just happen to be in the vicinity of the protests.  Immediate and angry denunciations of the President-elect from media figures and, not for nothing, littering my Facebook feed.  This cesspool -- not very different in kind (if, perhaps, more worrisome in scope) than the cesspool that followed 2008 -- indicates to us that we as a nation have lost the ability to accept the will of the people as expressed in free and fair elections through our chosen political process.  And how do I know this is not a one-sided phenomenon?  Simply look at President-elect Trump's rhetoric leading up the election, when he and everyone else thought he was going to lose.  "He started it" is not an excuse I accept from my children, and I don't accept it now, but I do offer it as evidence that both sides of the political divide have a serious problem simply accepting that their preferred candidate lost.  This is not new, but it is worsening.

Let me also take a moment to also acknowledge and denounce the violence and violent and hateful rhetoric from some Trump supporters since the election.  Though some of those have turned out to be staged hoaxes, and though such rhetoric is largely tangential to my point since I am speaking to the larger issue of acceptance of free and fair elections, I have no doubt at all that some of it, perhaps most of it, is absolutely true.  Not for nothing, it is also expected given the acerbic campaign President-elect Trump ran.  I write this even though it is tangential to my point, only because I do not want anyone to think I denounce the actions of a small minority of opponents of the President-elect and yet ignore the actions of a small minority of his supporters.  And as above, I think it is completely fair to note that President-elect Trump has invited a large measure of this with his own rhetoric, and to criticize him on that point.

Our nation is built, in part, on the promise of free and fair elections.  That means that oftentimes we find ourselves living in a country led by people who do not share our core values.  Who are even completely opposed to our core values.  Many of us felt that way about President Obama.  I did.  And yet I felt compelled to defend him.  I felt compelled to not have the nation's verdict on my own policy preferences turn me into someone who would delegitimize the Presidency itself.  Where I opposed him on policy, I said so.  Where I did not, I congratulated and praised him.  Such is the hard reality of self-rule.

And yet, as Christians, we believe God is in control.  "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help."  Psalm 146:3 (MT).  Ultimately, I observe that we are a faithless people.  Two separate friends have recently noted that in our collective inability to accept the outcomes of free and fair elections, there is evidence that we have traded a Christian worldview in this country for an essentially Gnostic or quasi-Gnostic view.  We believe that this world is essentially bad, but there is an ideal world within our reach, but it cannot be realized without worldly power to bring it to fruition.  This utopian fantasy cannot be realized if the wrong people win elections and achieve worldly power, because its potentiality is only seen by some (usually, those who agree with us).  When our side loses the race for worldly power, we do not know how to react.  We believe the frustration of this utopian purpose is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to stand, and so we refuse the legitimacy of the outcome, as the outcome itself is deemed immoral and unacceptable.   As my friend Perry Robinson from Energetic Procession noted on Facebook, speaking of the current protests against President-elect Trump, "this is why their rhetoric is hyper moralistic and puritanical, to the point of making Pharisees blush at their self righteous smugness."  I go a step further -- I believe very firmly that this is a problem on both sides of the political aisle, for reasons I articulate above.

The Christian worldview, contra the above view, is that worldly power cannot overcome the Kingdom of God.  The most glaring and obvious manifestation of this is Pilate.

Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”

Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”  (John 19:8-11).

Jesus was not simply facing the prospect of having his preferred candidate out of office and not being able to impose his utopian vision of the world on others around Him.  No, Jesus was facing the wrath of the the office itself -- the religious authorities, the public authorities, and even the overwhelming weight of public opinion.  And they were not going to institute policy goals that Jesus disagreed with to the point His feelings were hurt.  Instead, they were going to flog, scourge and beat Him, then nail Him to a cross to slowly and in agonizing fashion torture and kill Him.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”

So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!”

Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?”

But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!”

So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.  (Mark 15:11-15).

It should be obvious by now that Christians do not seek victory in worldly authorities.  Christ didn't.  For Jesus, the governor, the chief priests and even the public at large were completely against Him.  And yet this was the stage for His greatest glory.  Christ defeated sin, death and the devil not by removing Pilate and getting a better governor to force the assembled crowd, the chief priests and the elders to live under His vision for mankind by the sword.  Christ defeated sin, death and the devil by submitting Himself to those same authorities,  dying on the cross for the life of the world and rising again on the third day.  Moreover, and quite notably, Christ did not react with violence, or even indignation, to His fate.  His Kingdom is not of this world.  And because He is in us and we in Him, neither is ours.

Viewing political candidates as enemies of God or enemies of the common good requires that we walk away from the Scriptures and strike out our own path.  For we are told in the Scriptures that the worldly authorities are appointed by God for peace, good order, and for our protection.  To serve us.  That some worldly authorities do not recognize this, or even seem to act against it, does not change this truth.  One might consider poor rulers as an act of Fatherly chastisement -- a Scriptural twist on the old saying "we get the government we deserve."

St. Paul writes:

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.  (Romans 13:1-7).

This is true of President Obama.  It is true of President-elect Trump.  It would have been true of Secretary Clinton had she won.  It will be true even if the office of the President of the United States is occupied by a despot and a tyrant.  Would that we would all act like it.

The Christian Church is not immune to persecution, even from worldly leaders.  We do not seek it out, but we are not immune to it.  I do not mean "persecution" in the sense too many in this country mean it -- that people disagree with us and say mean things that hurt our feelings.  I mean real persecution.  Through her history, the Church has been persecuted under the rule of the Turks, Communists, and otherwise.  Oftentimes, various Christians factions have persecuted each other, one reason the Great Schism persists to this day, I believe.  There is no guarantee that she will not face persecution now or in the future.  Our brethren in the Middle East are being persecuted horribly as I write this, for example.  If anything, Christ's words to us seem to foreshadow persecution, since He came not to bring peace but a sword, etc.

How much more is it true, then, that we have no cause to think that the loss of an election is the loss of our freedom, our way of life, our utopia.  There is no utopia this side of heaven.  Put not your trust in princes.  Return to a Christian worldview that recognizes that even in times of trouble, God is in control and the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent and believe the Gospel.  And above all, be kind to others.  Most especially our new President.  He too is redeemed by Christ the Crucified.  Let us all act like it.

Prayer from our Archdiocese on the Fifteenth Anniversary of 9/11/01

The following prayer was said after the Prayer Before the Ambon last Sunday in churches all around our archdiocese.


"O Lord our God, Who art Thyself, the Hope of the hopeless, the Help of the helpless, the Savior of the storm-tossed, the Haven of the voyager, the Physician of the sick; be all things to our land which fifteen years ago on this date was devastated by the cowardly and hateful acts of false martyrs; who imitated wicked Herod in his slaughter of the 14,000 innocents. To those who lost loved ones, grant the comfort thou didst impart to Mary and Martha before Thou didst raise their brother Lazarus from the dead, and care for them as Thou didst care for Thy Mother from the Cross, putting her in the care of the Apostle John. To the survivors, grant healing in every sense, as thou didst strengthen and heal the confessors. To those related to and aiding the survivors and the families of the fallen, grant the strength and compassion Thou didst instill in Thine adopted father Joseph, who was Thy guardian in Thine earthly youth. To those who died, grant remission of their every sin in Thy great compassion; both to those who like the wise servant and the wise virgins, constantly prepared themselves to enter the heavenly banquet at any hour; as well as those who emulated the Rich Fool, preferring to enjoy earthly pursuits and ignore heavenly ones. To us, grant the knowledge that while the devil still manipulates our Divinely-given free will to his own ends in this world, his power is fleeting and ultimately void, as Thou hast already crushed his dominion. And as for those who hate us, speak to their hearts as St. Procla sought to speak to her husband Pontius Pilate concerning Thee, and as Thou didst speak to Pharoah concerning the Hebrews, and so soften the hearts of those who seek our destruction. Spare, O Lord, those who protect us, the law enforcement agents and the first responders, from despondency, disillusionment, and all things which would undermine their righteous calling to protect us in the manner of our Guardian Angels, and care for us in the manner of the Good Samaritan. All this we ask of Thee our All-powerful and All-loving Savior, giving glory to Thee together with Thine unorginate Father and Thine all-holy and good and life-giving and Comforting Spirit; now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen."

Sacred Music Institute, 2016

I am a bit late in posting this.  Unfortunately taking 5 days off to go to a music conference in Pennsylvania threw a wrench into the rest of my life that I am just now extricating.  Still, I wanted to post about the experience, because it was amazing.

Our choir director, John, and I attended the Sacred Music Institute at Antiochian Village last month.  Our priest encouraged us to do so, and we were both eager to do so, though neither of us had ever been nor did we have any idea what to expect.  It was a combination of immersion in the music of the Church and information overload.  There is no way we could make use of all of the wonderful things we were exposed to, and yet we both left wanting to learn more.  The experience itself was great, we met a lot of new friends and even some folks connected to old friends, and in some cases "friends" we knew online but had not yet met in person.  We spent a lot of time learning from Bishop Anthony and being led by various choir directors and chanters.  And we got to see how others approach the unchanging Divine Liturgy we all celebrate each week, as well as the prayer offices, as well as chanting.  It's the same -- always the same.  And yet, within that sameness there is a beautiful variety available.

John spent most of his time "auditing" classes.  I don't want to misremember, so I won't try to recall each and every class he attended, but I can say he got a lot of exposure to information about small choirs, directing, different musical settings, and the like.  I know that he was impressed with the sheer variety of musical settings available for the parts of the Divine Liturgy such as the Cherubic Hymn and the Trisagion Hymn, as was I.  I am sure there are things we will use as we go forward, things we will try that simply will not work, and things that we will not bother to try.  I'm sure there will be suggestions vetoed by our priest or other members of the choir.  Even so, it was good to be exposed to them, and I feel comfortable that as we move forward, we will find use for some of the settings we used that week.

I, on the other hand, immersed myself in Byzantine notation for chanting.  My head is still spinning, but I intend to commit myself to learning this over the next few years (yes, years).  I found it interesting to learn that so much of what we do in Byzantine chant is actually written out in the notation, something that is more difficult to do in western notation.  I also found it interesting that resources for Byzantine notation are growing exponentially, so I expect to have greater opportunities to learn as the years pass.  Most especially, I found it valuable to be exposed to incredibly skilled and learned chanters who served at the prayer offices and the Divine Liturgy, including Bishop Anthony himself.  The variety of chanters allowed me to hear different interpretations of the Byzantine performance tradition, and to hopefully improve my own chanting as I continue to grow as a reader.  Right now I'm working on the most basic of the basics -- learning the various symbols used to denote what to sing and how those notes form natural attractions to each other.  I am not really exploring microtones at this point (there are 72 different tones in the Byzantine scale), but I hope to as I firm up my ability to read the music itself.

Despite the tight schedule, which had us basically occupied from 8:00 AM until nearly 11:00 PM, I managed to take some time away with the folks from the Byzantine notation classes to practice chanting and reading notation.  That is something I wish we could have done more of, because the practical aspects of chant practice are hard to learn when you have no time in the schedule and only sleeping and eating apart from the schedule.  As it is, we simply skipped some of the choir practice for the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy to make time to practice chanting.

This brings me to another great benefit of this conference -- the marriage of Byzantine chant with more modern choral arrangements.  We had the opportunity to celebrate the Divine Liturgy every day, using a different setting each day.  One of those was a traditional Byzantine liturgy, but the rest were choral arrangements.  And yet even within the choral arrangements, there was opportunity for the chanters to do the more traditional chanted pieces, especially for Vespers or for the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, which was preceded by Orthros.  It was a beautiful and seamless joining of the older with the newer, and yet was still done in perfect reverence and with utmost beauty.

I hope to return next year if possible, and I would recommend that anyone interested in the music of the Church likewise attend.  It was a valuable week for us.

Sunday of Orthodoxy

Our girls in 2011 on the Sunday of Orthodoxy
with the icons of their patron saints

Today in the Orthodox Church we celebrate the triumph of Orthodoxy, the victory of those in the Church who rightly venerate icons over the iconoclasts.  This victory was complete at the Second Council of Nicea in 787, where the entire Church condemned the iconoclasts.  We celebrate by processing around and outside the Church holding icons, in the case of my family, the icons of our patrons, St. John the Theologian, St. Stephanie of Spain, St. Elizabeth the New Martyr, St. Catherine the Great and St. Emmelia.  From our confession of faith today:

"As the prophets beheld, as the Apostles have taught,...as the Church has received... as the teachers have dogmatized,...as the Universe has agreed,... as Grace has shown forth,...as Truth has revealed,...as falsehood has been dissolved,...as Wisdom has presented,...as Christ Awarded,...thus we declare,...thus we assert,...thus we preach Christ our true God, and honor as Saints in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in churches, in Holy Icons; on the one hand worshipping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord; and on the other hand honoring as true servants of the same Lord of all and accordingly offering them veneration.

This is the Faith of the Apostles, this is the Faith of the Fathers, this is the Faith of the Orthodox, this is the Faith which has established the Universe."

Forgiveness Vespers

In going back through the blog (I can't believe we're going into our sixth year!) I am a little surprised I have never posted about one of the most beautiful services in the Orthodox Church - Forgiveness Vespers.

Falling on Cheesefare Sunday (the day we stop eating dairy products until Pascha), also known as Forgiveness Sunday, the Church holds a Vespers service in the afternoon following the Divine Liturgy.  The service is intended to usher in Great Lent, and draw the Church into a season of repentance, fasting, prayer and almsgiving.  It begins as a normal Vespers service, but during the Prokeimenon, the paraments are changed from gold to purple, the lights are dimmed, and Lent begins.  The service then takes on a more penitential tone.

However, the real beauty comes at the end of the service.  The choir sings the Paschal Canon, foreshadowing the feast to come, and culminating in the Paschal hymn "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!"  As this hymn is sung, each parishioner goes around the parish one-by-one greeting every other parishioner with the petition "forgive me, a sinner."  Each parishioner then responds "God forgives" and repeats the petition to the first.  This means that by the time Forgiveness Vespers is over, each member of the congregation has both asked for and received forgiveness from every other member of the congregation.  As it is customary to go to confession prior to the start of Great Lent, this means that each and every parishioner has been expressly forgiven by God and each and every other parishioner prior to the start of this penitential season, which is why tomorrow is called "Clean Monday."

Father Alexander Schmemann wrote regarding Forgiveness Vespers:

Now, forgiveness stands at the very center of Christian faith and of Christian life because Christianity itself is, above all, the religion of forgiveness. God forgives us, and His forgiveness is in Christ, His Son, Whom He sends to us, so that by sharing in His humanity we may share in His love and be truly reconciled with God. Indeed, Christianity has no other content but love. And it is primarily the renewal of that love, a return to it, a growth in it, that we seek in Great Lent, in fasting and prayer, in the entire spirit and the entire effort of that season. Thus, truly forgiveness is both the beginning of, and the proper condition for the Lenten season.

So it is that the request for forgiveness is answered not merely with "I forgive you," but with "God forgives," a hearkening to the Lord's prayer, "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." We remind ourselves and each other that we hold nothing against the other, because God forgives us.  As the Scripture says, "we love because He first loved us."

As best I can tell, this is a ritual unique to the Orthodox Church.  When we feast, we feast, and when we fast, we fast, and Lent begins with the ultimate fast, as we start Great Lent by fasting from holding our sins against each other.  We forgive, freely, as God forgives, freely.  And in so doing, we love, freely, as God loves, freely.  

Forgive me, a sinner.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

O Lord save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance

Granting to Thy people victory over all their enemies

And by the power of Thy cross, preserving Thy Kingdom

The Church, the Culture, Tolerance, Repentance and Love

Crowning, June 2013

I've been disappointed in much of what I have read online the past few days in the wake of the Supreme Court's historic decision to legalize same-sex marriage, which was handed down two days after the 20th anniversary of my own marriage and the 2nd anniversary of our Crowning in the Orthodox Church.  The disappointment is directed more toward the fringe extremes on both sides of the issue, though the same concerns seem to seep into the more murky middle as well.  The following encapsulates my specific concerns, and my thoughts on the issue as pertains specifically to the Orthodox Church.

To those disappointed in the Supreme Court's decision, I understand your concerns.  However, the tone and tenor of some of those concerns are both overblown and frankly ill considered.  I have seen everything from calls for like-minded states to secede from the Union, to claims that clergy will be "persecuted" by the government, to claims that our nation is now beyond hope, to claims that our country has abandoned God.  My response: settle down.  It seems to me a call to secede only goes to further the (IMHO, false) claims of those who slander those opposed to same-sex marriage by claiming they are no different than racists in the 1950s who opposed integration.  It also is quite an apoplectic response to what just happened.  Likewise the claims that clergy will be persecuted for not performing same-sex marriages.  In addition to suggesting the free exercise clause would forbid this, allow me to also submit that this country knows of no real persecution based on religion.  Our brethren are currently being beheaded, raped, burned and drowned in the Middle East.  And you feel persecuted because the government might remove your tax exemptions or people might shun you or treat you poorly based on your beliefs?  If the Church can withstand the pre-Constantinian Roman Empire, Islam and the Bolsheviks, we'll manage just fine in this brave new America.  Let us be glad to be so "persecuted" for the sake of Christ.  As for the claim that the country is now finally spinning down the tubes, this is the straw that broke the camel's back for you?  Beginning with the Court's decision in Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942), the Supreme Court has steadily increased Federal power at the expense of the state and local governments and the individual.  This is simply another extension of that ever growing power.  Beyond that, as a society, we have sanctioned the killing of our unborn, no fault divorce, sexual liberation to include cohabitation and, let's just be honest, serial bed hopping.  And all of this by heterosexuals.  Do you really think allowing same-sex couples to get married is the one thing that finally will send our country into the moral sewer and violate the sanctity of Holy Marriage?  Christians have been looking the other way as sexual sins go on right under our noses for decades now.  I would suggest this outcome is a natural result of our society's lax views on marriage and sexuality, not to mention the sin that infects us all.  And honestly, I don't think this is the end, but merely a step along the way.  The same logic that commands same-sex marriage to be recognized will inevitably lead to polygamy and polyandry, or simply polyamory.  It could easily lead also to at least some forms of incest being allowed (after all, there may be quite good reasons why I cannot marry my sister, given the potential for harm to our future offspring, but such concerns in no way argue that I shouldn't be allowed to marry my brother or uncle).  Not only is this not the last straw, it might be barely the first.

The most ill considered of all of these concerns, however, has to be the notion that our country has "abandoned God."  In the first place, we were founded largely by deists who were not Christians except in the most nominal sense.  Thomas Jefferson was a rank heretic.  Washington, by all accounts, did not commune in his Anglican parish.  Adams was a Christian, but he is more an anomaly than representative.  Putting "In God We Trust" on our money and "under God" in the Pledge does nothing to save our pluralistic, watered down civil religion from its own trappings.  Put simply, we are not a Christian nation, and we never were.  Further, our system of government is set up precisely to avoid making Christian doctrine into law.  And for good reason -- as an Orthodox Christian living in the heart of Evangelical and Teetotaler country, I have no desire to let the majority Christian denominations determine what I may and may not do.  I am not, and ought not be, bound by their doctrine.  Thankfully, we have the establishment clause, which forbids government from legislating based on religious doctrine.  I've long said that if the only argument against same-sex marriage is that God disapproves, then it not only ought, but must be allowed in the United States.  If that's the best argument that can be made, then prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying is unconstitutional, and every Christian ought to support the Court's decision, since the alternative is to have your religious beliefs trumped by the religious beliefs of others.

This brings me to those elated by the Court's decision.  First, congratulations.  In our country, we make our arguments, we vote, we submit our laws to the courts and we agree to abide by the outcome, whether it is through the direct democratic process, representative legislation or Court decree.  The Court has ruled.  There are reasons for all of us, you included, to be concerned about how the Court got to its decision, but the simple fact is you won.  Your arguments carried the day.  

I have seen far too many of you, however, dancing on the proverbial graves of those you defeated.  Including callous and frankly intellectually dishonest suggestions that everyone who disagrees with you is bigoted and evil.  I've seen this from a lot of sources, but this one from Gawker (I refuse to link to it and support the author with web hits) might be the worst (warning: severely foul language follows):

I can’t help but be happiest, though, about the defeat of the anti-marriage equality crusaders. The defeat of people who signed up to lose, who wasted their time and ours on a platform of animus and contempt. The defeat of people who put principle over the practical, who fought to preserve their limited understanding of an already imperfect institution over the actual human lives that would benefit from it. The defeat of people who did what bigots do: discriminate, vilify, fear-monger, argue irrationally and without respect to human dignity, and then bristle when they’re called out for what they are (bigots).


The jig is up. The world has turned and left you fuming, seething, weeping. Fuck you, Mike Huckabee. Fuck you, Bryan Fischer. Fuck you, Maggie Gallagher. Fuck you, Ben Carson. Fuck you, Fox News. You should all feel like assholes because you are all assholes. And now you’re also, definitively, losers. And it feels incredible.

Thus, "tolerance" dies (more on that infra).

While this language and forceful hatred is unusual, the sentiment is not, and I would like to see such nonsense stop.  There are people who have real, honest concerns about same-sex marriage, particularly in light of how we got there, determining that childbearing is no longer related to government's interest in marriage.  And you too, dear reader, might find yourself on the wrong end of that stick one day.  After all, it has not taken very long for "keep the government out of our bedrooms" to meld into "we want the government to sanction our private relationships."  You may live to regret that decision down the road.  Those who had concerns about the path that took us here are not all your enemies.  They are not all "bigots."  They are not all evil.  Some of them (many of them) simply disagree with you and have concerns. Please refrain from lumping them all into the same box with the Westboro Baptist Church (we mainstream Christians despise them too, after all), the better to flog them with your derision and hatred.

Which brings me to "tolerance."  The scare quotes are intentional.  Tolerance means being willing to live alongside those who disagree with you.  The greater the disagreement, the more tolerant one is to abide it.  What passes for "tolerance" anymore, however, is better described as "agree with me or else." The most intolerant, bigoted, hateful comments I have seen following the Supreme Court's ruling, and honestly preceding it, are those which claim that no dissent is legitimate.  No concern is honest.  All disagreement on this issue is bigoted and hateful.  This is not tolerance.  It is hateful.  Shame on those of you who think, speak and act this way.  You are what you pretend to despise.  And when your own rhetorical smears are turned against you on an issue you care about, you deserve whatever you get, because you set the rules of debate.  Be careful the poison you pick.

So ……… how does the Church deal with all of this?  I would submit, no differently than it ever has.  The Church does not and will not bless same-sex relationships with the Sacrament of Marriage.  Full stop.  Those who think that given enough public shaming and name calling and so forth, the Church will do an about face on this issue are sadly mistaken.  And while I cannot speak for the Roman Catholic Church, I feel quite comfortable saying the same is true of that communion, and collectively, we comprise roughly three-quarters of the world's Christians.  Both communions believe, and have always believed, that Christ, the Apostles, the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers taught that same-sex activity is sin.  The Church has held the same view on this issue for 2000 years, and it is not in the Church's nature to change its doctrine.  Given the fact that our aforementioned brethren in the Middle East are willing to have their heads sawn off rather than denounce Christ and His Church, it is unlikely that rude manners and petty childish behavior will bend the Church to change on this issue.  Given our ecclesiology, where each bishop is bound in love to his brother bishops, to teach the truth as handed down and never change the doctrine he received, those hoping for the Church to come around on this issue will be waiting into eternity.  This is what we believe, what we have always believed.  Get used to it.

However, steadfast though she is, it must be said that the Church does not condemn homosexuals, nor advocate hatred toward homosexuals.  As Father Andrew Stephen Damick has said:

When my gay friend asked me whether I was required to hate her, I told her no. She asked me why. I told her it’s because, even though I see homosexual activity (though not identity) as sinful, I believed my own sins were far worse than hers. It’s true. I really do. And I am (by choice) bound by my faith commitments to believe that, to see myself as the “chief of sinners.” I confess that every time I am about to engage in the most central act of my faith—receiving Holy Communion.

Father Andrew refers to the pre-communion prayer all Orthodox Christians pray before going to the chalice:

I believe, O Lord, and I confess that Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Who didst come into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

So while we do say homosexual conduct is sinful, we do not condemn homosexuals, even practicing homosexuals, much less condemn them to eternal damnation.  Instead, we place them behind us as sinners.  This is something that is not well understood, so much so that I have had lengthy discussions with people who, after literally hours of discussion, remain outraged that we see homosexuals as "sinners."  Well, get in line.  Behind me.  We see everyone as a "sinner."  No one escapes that judgment.  Nor do we pretend that those with same sex attraction are qualitatively different than we are, other than of course being lesser sinners than me.  Same sex attraction or activity is no different than the sin I commit every time I linger my eyes on a woman other than my wife.  Except, of course, that my sin is worse.  Worse because I am betrothed and wed to another.  Worse because I do it more often than I should.  Worse because I hold a clerical office in the Church.  Worse because I am to worry about my own sins and not those of my neighbor, so I commit the sins of self-love and pride when I judge my neighbor and excuse myself.  Moreover, we believe that sexual activity or attraction within heterosexual marriage can also be sinful.  Both when we seek out that activity selfishly and when we selfishly deprive our spouse of that intimacy.  So when we say we are worse sinners than you, please believe we mean it.  Because we really believe that we are.

The practical application of this within the Church is one of pastoral concern.  Meaning, for the most part, the communion status and standing in the Church of a gay Orthodox Christian is to remain between him or her and his or her priest and, by extension, his or her bishop.  It is to be dealt with in confession and with guidance by a competent spiritual father.  We do not interfere in that relationship between priest and penitent any more than we would interfere in any other person's relationship if we were aware they were greedy, or lustful, or prideful, or vainglorious, or whatever.  I do not ask my priest why so-and-so is allowed to commune while he/she does this, that or the other sin.  I will not ask my priest why one of my gay brethren is allowed to commune either.  It is none of my business.  The state of repentance of the homosexual is something for the homosexual to sort out with his spiritual father.  I have my own concerns to deal with, my own sins to confess and repent of, and I hope no one goes behind my back asking our priest why I am allowed to commune, chief of sinners though I be.

In short, the charge for us as Orthodox Christians is to remember our place in the world.  We call all to repent, and to get in line behind us in that endeavor.  We see ourselves as chief among sinners, and we are to defend and speak well of our neighbor instead of slandering him.  This means that when my neighbor is slandered for being a homosexual, I must defend him.  I must stand between him and those who accuse him and lay my own sins bare, for they are worse than his.  I must speak well of him and demand that others do the same.  I must refuse to allow him to be mistreated, or marginalized, or slandered.

And when he comes to me asking what he must do to be saved, I must point him to the Church and invite him to repent.  Lord grant that he will love me as much if I am ever able to put aside my pride and ask the same of him, for my sins are worse and my need is greater.  Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.