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Lutheran World Federation General Secretary sees no problem in the blessing of unisex partnerships

Moscow, November 1, Interfax - The general secretary of the World Lutheran Federation (WLF) Ishmael Noko sees a principal difference between unisex marriages and unisex partnerships and thinks that the church could bless the latter.

‘The Lutheran Church does not regard marriage as a sacrament, as the Orthodox and Catholics do. Certainly, the problems of marriage have an ethical dimension, but marriage is a civil contact rather than a dogmatic problem,’ Noko said in his interview to NG-Religii published Wednesday.

Commenting on the suspension of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Lutheran Church of Sweden due to the fact that the latter blesses unisex marriages, the WLF general secretary underscored that ‘the Church of Sweden blessed unisex partnerships and does not bless unisex marriages.’

‘The office of blessing the unisex partnerships differs from the office of blessing the marriage between men and women,’ Noko said.

According to him, ‘there are certain differences between the notions pf ‘partnership’ and ‘marriage.’ They are confused because not all languages discern them.

The interviewee called the elucidation of the problems of female priesthood made by the World Lutheran Federation in the recent years a ‘considerable achievement.’

‘We think that both men and women can be ordained pastors... Though this ‘equality of rights’ remains problematic for certain Lutheran churches, we are advancing in this direction,’ Noko remarked.

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