The Russian Orthodox Church has severely condemned the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first Anglican bishops to have openly declared himself gay. In a communiqué of the Department of external relations, the Patriarchate of Moscow has announced the withdrawal of the Russian Orthodox Church from the Committee for cooperation with the Episcopalian Church in the USA, considering it “impossible” to continue theological dialogue and cooperation. In its communiqué, the Patriarchate reaffirms its rejection of homosexual relations, citing all the passages in the Bible in which it is affirmed that such relations are inadmissible between Christians. The communiqué recalls the friendship that has united the two Churches for almost two centuries and the support that the US Episcopalian Church gave to the Russian Church during the persecution and the period of the cold war. “Nonetheless writes the Patriarchate’s foreign Department the consecration of a gay priest has made any communication with him and with those consecrated him impossible” and “as a result of this situation, the Russian Orthodox Church is obliged to suspend its participation in the joint Committee of coordination and freeze its relations with the Episcopalian Church in the USA”.
