We must emphasize once more that, according to Orthodox Christianity, having loving desires for people of one’s own sex is not at all sinful; it is perfectly natural, normal, and necessary. Having lustful thoughts and feelings of a purely sexual nature for others, however, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is unnatural, abnormal, and sinful. This should not, however, produce the fear, anxiety, shame, and guilt that it often does in those who have such thoughts, desires, and feelings—which is virtually