Romanian 'Orthodox Priests' Calendar 2015 promotes social tolerance

The Romanian team behind the controversial “Orthodox priests” calendars is using the 2015 edition, their third, to promote a message of social tolerance. As in the 2013 and 2014 editions, the 2015 Orthodox Calendar features 12 months of hunky models striking homoerotic poses alongside religious iconography.

“The third series (#OC 2015) called “S.A.L.I.G.I.A” tells a story that takes place on the right bank of the Moskva River south of Moscow, where some priests believe that same-sex unions are NOT a sign of the coming apocalypse, contrary to what Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill may claim. These priests set out, in a humorous way, to remind the world that homosexuality is NOT one of the 7 deadly sins and in fact that Jesus Christ never even referred to homosexuality as a sin“, according to the product description on the main page.

OC (Orthodox Calendar) is the title of wall calendars and videos first published in 2012, featuring nude and semi-nude photographs of members of the Orthodox Church, according to their branding. The calendar is the brainchild of a group composed mostly of Orthodox eastern Europeans of the former communist region. The primary goal was to create the very first organized global effort against homophobia in the Orthodox Region, say the producers.

Every edition of the Orthodox Calendar gets a reaction from the press, including this year’s edition which was featured on Huffington Post. This year, the OC team released, for the first time ever, the calendar in two editions (one of them uncensored) and produced a Making-of DVD.

The Romanian Patriarchy refuted the calendar and the producers’ claims in the past, saying the models are merely “posing as Orthodox priests” and that the product is “indecent” and created with an “obvious intention to calumny and defame Orthodox ministers and desire to promote and justify their own ideology.”