Q&A Home > H > Horoscope What is the church's stance on Horoscope?
Horoscope is a chart that supposedly reveals a person's character or future by showing the position of the earth, planets, and stars at a certain time such as the time of a person's birth. Astrologers cast a person's horoscope, and explain its supposed meaning.
Most scientists agree that there is no scientific basis for a belief in horoscope. Yet many people believe in horoscope, and base important decisions on advice from astrologers. Some people find it amusing to read the newspaper "horoscope" columns.
Astrology is distinct from both the science of astronomy and from the symbolic interpretation of the constellations advocated by certain Fathers. Zodiacal and planetary symbols on icons and in Orthodox Church buildings refer not to astrology but either to God's rule over the entire universe or to the apostles as being symbolically "stars" or "planets" in the heavens of the Church. The belief that the stars deterministically control human actions is contrary to the Orthodox teaching on free will.
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