Gay wedding destroys church-literally.Leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church Russian Orthodox Church: see Orthodox Eastern Church. Russian Orthodox Church Eastern Orthodox church of Russia, its de facto national church. In 988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev (later St. didn't just condemn the union of Denis Denis, king of Portugal: see Diniz. Gogolyev and Mikhail Morozov at a chapel in Nizhniy Novgorod Nizh·niy Nov·go·rod or Nizh·ny Nov·go·rod A city of western Russia on the Volga River west of Kazan. Founded as a frontier post in 1221, it was formerly famous for its trade fairs. , they fired the presiding priest and ordered the church demolished. Gogolyev, 26, and Morozov, 24, caused a sensation in September when they bribed Father Vladimir Enert to perform Russia's first-ever gay wedding. "He didn't raise an eyebrow. I was surprised," Gogolyev told reporters, while admitting that the priest muttered "How shameful" during the ceremony. In the religious firestorm that ensued Enert was defrocked and the church was torn down because it had been defiled de·file 1 tr.v. de·filed, de·fil·ing, de·files 1. To make filthy or dirty; pollute: defile a river with sewage. 2. , a church spokesman said. The incident got the country talking about homosexuality, and a first-ever lesbian union in Vologda in October added fuel to the debate. Additionally, Gogolyev recently announced that he had gathered the 5,000 signatures needed to become the country's first openly gay candidate for parliament. |
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