Bishop Hossam Naoum of the  Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem announced that the Anglican Church of Jerusalem continues to respect the traditional form of Christian marriage in its diocese.

The Bishop’s announcement, Sunday, followed a decision by the house of the clergy in regard to the teaching of Christian Marriage. A statement to the effect notes that “despite recent shifts in belief and practice within other provinces and dioceses of the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem has neither changed nor does it contemplate any future change, in its adherence to the Church’s traditional teaching and practice on Christian marriage as being a lifelong union between a man and a woman as detailed in the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution 10.1.”

The statement notes that the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem is one of three dioceses within the dioceses within the Province of Jerusalem & the Middle East (Jerusalem, Cyprus & the Gulf, and Iran),

 itself one of forty- two independent provinces within the Worldwide Anglican Communion. While these provinces are related by a shared history, mutual prayers and support, and consultations through the Instruments of Communion — the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting, and the Anglican Consultative Council — the decisions of external provinces, individually or corporately, are not binding upon any of the others.

The statement followed the rejection by Middle Eastern circles of the Anglican Church of the decision by the Church of England which voted on February 9^th, 2023 to offer blessings to same-sex couples while allowing clergy members can opt not to use the prayers, and the church will maintain its ban on same-sex marriage.

The Lambeth Conference Resolution 1.10 states

This Conference:

1. commends to the Church for the subsection report on human sexuality.
2. in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage;
3. recognises that there are among us people who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation. Many of these are members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the Church, and God’s transforming power for the living of their lives and the ordering of relationships. We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ;
4. while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex.
5. cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions.
6. requests the Primates and the ACC to establish a means of monitoring the work done on the subject of human sexuality in the Communion and to share statements and resources among us;
7. notes the significance of the Kuala Lumpur Statement on Human Sexuality and the concerns expressed in resolutions IV.26, V.1, V.10, V.23 and V.35 on the authority of Scripture in matters of marriage and sexuality and asks the Primates and the ACC to include them in their monitoring process.