By George Koumoulli
“A man should never make love to his wife for pleasure”
The sex-centric outbursts of Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou have no end. Some time ago, he formulated the pioneering “theory” about the causes of homosexuality, according to which gays are born to mothers who are passionate about sex! Unfortunately for him, the scientific world received this theory with a mixture of sympathy for the metropolitan, while the reception of his theory by the Christ-named crew was cold. Lord, see how he came to that conclusion.
The Metropolitan of Morphou once again occupies the Cypriot public with his strange sermons. On Holy Sunday, after the divine liturgy for the feast of All Saints and Apostle Varnava, he answered questions of believers found in the holy monastery of Saint Avvakoum in Fterikoudi, about modern times. He explained in a video that has gone viral that he would not commune with a girl who lives with her partner without being married. The metropolitan wondered why marriage exists and gave the answer himself: “It is called marriage because it allows c@m- – -“, the despot said, stressing that “c@… Inside marriage it is a blessed act, but outside marriage it is not a blessed act.”
First of all, it is striking that a conservative metropolitan uses words heard in a chameleon. However we do it, there are some standards of behavior that we must adhere to. Just as it is not considered appropriate for someone to go with short trousers and an open shirt to the belly button at a wedding reception, a respectable citizen, especially a metropolitan, is not expected to use pimp language.
Neophytos’ definition of marriage is misleading. Sex itself -or f@m… As the Metropolitan calls it, it is marriage. The ceremony does not make the wedding! In the Bible, for example, a wedding was the couple’s first meeting when the groom took the bride home! Therefore, whether there has been a ceremony or not, the issue is the same. It is a marriage, as long as the sexual act has taken place.
But what Metropolitan Neophytos and his ilk need to realize is that there is a large group of Christians around the world, liberal Christians, who reject conservative views on sexual morality, arguing that the Bible is not the perfect word of God, but is merely a product of the human mind. During the Enlightenment period, scientific, historical, and literary methods of analysis were significantly improved and applied to the Bible itself. This led to conclusions of scientific and historical inaccuracies, since the authors of the Bible had different styles that seemed to depend on their ethnicity, culture, and age. They recounted the same events differently, seemed to make attempts to gather information, and made grammatical errors. They also recounted erroneous phenomena, such as geocentrism (the theory according to which the Earth is at the center of the Solar System), which dominated until the Renaissance and became a dogma of the Christian religion. None of this sounds like the words of an omniscient. In short, it is difficult to ignore the human influence on the scriptures. This suggests that the scriptures were written by witnesses of God’s divine events in history, such as the Incarnation, or times when God supposedly communicated or revealed Himself. What was recorded as a result, however, was simply what these people removed or added from such events, or from hearing about such events from the testimony of those who saw them. The words of the Bible are therefore merely human interpretations of what the authors of God’s revelation felt and understood. The Bible thus reflects the cultural and historical context of its authors’ people and requires constant reinterpretation to ensure its relevance.
Neophytos may unequivocally condemn premarital relations, but most liberal Christians (including Cypriots) accept them, at least in the context of a trial marriage. The engagements abolished a few years ago by the Holy Synod were essentially trial marriages. Living together with two people planning to get married helps them better understand the demands of marriage. Living together can also show how everyone responds to living in the same environment and sharing household expenses and chores. It is an opportunity to learn about each other’s habits and lifestyles, communication skills and family ties. In addition, a trial marriage can help couples understand how compatible they are sexually, which is extremely important for any long-term relationship.
For some social scientists, projecting obscurantist ideology through source humor accelerates secularization and democratization. In other words, society reacts by listening to ridiculous theories and frees itself from the tutelage of religious institutions and symbols. Democratization involves the legal, institutional and cultural aspects of society and manifests itself in the emancipation of citizens from all religious references, the establishment of areas of knowledge independent of religion, and the autonomy of individuals’ behavior from religious imperatives, such as the practice of sanctification. In this light, Neophytos’ contribution to the secularization and liberalization of Cypriot society is undeniably positive.
*Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of CypriumNews.
