He who speaks about human rights and their dignity and sanctity in the Sunday sermon must apply them in his institutions, in his decisions, and in his manner of dealing with cases. Yesterday’s statement of the Antiochian Synod does not observe the least of human rights and dignity, nor does it attain the lowest standards of evangelical love and its canons. “Love covers (a mountain) of sins,” if the Church is not the house of love, then where is its house? And if it does not reflect the conduct and the words of Christ — “Let him among you who is without sin cast a stone at her” — then what does it reflect? For if the Church does not protect our dignity when we sin, and the dignity of every sinner, then who will protect it? Are we not all sinners and have come short of the glory of God?
If the Church and its institutions are not a place of love, then they are no longer a place of God, “for God is love.”