Greek Church’s Archbishop Baptises Gay Couple’s Children
Image: Archbishop Elpidophoros (centre) with fashion designers Evanggelos Bousis and Peter Dundas on either side with children Alexios and Eleni聽in Greece. Image: Instagram
Fashion designers Evanggelos Bousis and Peter Dundas became the first gay couple to hold a Greek Orthodox Baptism for their children- one year old聽Alexios and three-month old Eleni – in Greece on Saturday.
America鈥檚 Archbishop Elpidophoros performed the baptism for the children of the out gay couple in Athens. 聽The baptism took place at the Panagia Faneromeni Greek Orthodox Church in the diocese of Metropolitan Nikolaos of Mesogaia.
Bousis praised the Archbishop on social media for his 鈥渓ove with no judgment鈥� view to hold the first 鈥渙penly gay baptism鈥� within the Greek Church.聽
He posted a series of photos with his husband and their children, Alexios and Eleni to Instagram, with part of the caption reading, 鈥淲e are proud to have christened our children Alexios and Eleni in the first openly gay baptism in the Greek Orthodox church! The Archbishop of America, his Eminence Elpidophoros for pushing change and love with no judgement of anyone in the church and honoring us by christening our angels.鈥�
Brother Hails Archbishop Elpidophoros
Bousis and Dundas鈥� families, friends and eight godparents joined to celebrate the christening of their children. Among the guests who attended the baptism and celebrations included supermodels聽Naomi Campbell and聽Natasha Poly, model and actress聽Dree Hemingway, Prince Nikolaos and Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark and Australian costume designer Catherine Baba.
Bousis鈥� brother George posted his congratulations to the couple and their family on social media too.
鈥淭hank you to our great spiritual leader, his Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, for christening the babies and not turning away any child or member of our faith. This is the progress and leadership we need in our church, where no person should ever be denied our Lord because of what they are, how they choose to live their lives, and who they love,鈥� George said.
‘We Always Wanted To Have A Family’
In an interview with Vogue Magazine in June last year, Bousis had voiced a hope that there would be a change in the way gay couples were viewed in society when it came to starting a family.聽
As their children were born from a surrogate mother, Bousis stated that having friends who also went through the same process helped the couple prepare themselves for what the experience would look like. He added that living in Los Angeles made 鈥渆verything easier鈥�, reasoning that it was 鈥渘ormal here to have a family the way we鈥檝e created our family. No one kind of looks at you or asks you weird questions.鈥澛�
Bousis referenced a Greek saying, 鈥測our soul is in your throat鈥�, speaking about his desire to want 鈥渁 baby that looks like Peter and this and that. And then you鈥檙e just like, hold on, I just want a healthy baby.鈥�
He spoke of the importance of having an open discussion and allowing people to talk about it more in order to normalise the idea of varying family structures and what parenting looked like. 鈥淚t should be something normal. We always wanted to have a family and now we can, and everyone should be able to,鈥� Bousis said.
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