The Holy Synod of Mount Athos has issued a statement condemning attempts to force the Church to recognize homosexual "unions".

"We can only deplore the public statements and positions of Church figures that create a scandal with religious people. It is clearly alien to the Gospel to understand that a 'homosexual couple' can be considered a family, and to recognize the "right" to adopt children, since any such form of adoption or upbringing is contrary to the Gospel, to human nature, to the mores and traditions of our people," - runs the statement of the Synod, signed by representatives of all 20 monasteries on Mount Athos.

Mt. Athos, also known as the Holy Mountain, a narrow 30-mi long peninsula, is an autonomously governed region in Greece. For over a 1000 years it has been a monastic republic, populated by monks of 20 large monasteries and scores of smaller monastic settlements. No females are allowed on its territory.  

The statement also notes with this regard that Mount Athos "with unbreakable liturgical and spiritual continuity humbly prays for the universe, for all people," but the conditions for participation in the sacraments of the Church are based upon the desire of the person himself to live the Gospel of Christ.