Orthodox Reflections

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our Holy Orthodox Church is in crisis, especially in Canada.

By using Covid-19 as a pretext, the Archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church in Canada is ignoring and undermining both the clergy and laity in their protests and pleas to continue the Holy Traditional Paradosis of the Single Communion Spoon. (See His Eminence’s Sermon at Prophet Elias Church here.)

Additionally, the Canadian Archdiocese is unilaterally, forcibly, and in direct defiance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, directing its clergy to implement multiple communion spoons which are subsequently “sanitized” or “sterilized.” The method of spoon sanitization has no clear directive from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada, and targets the very Body and Blood of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, who is the Life of the world, our High Priest, the Offerer and the Offered. We find this to be a blasphemous and heretical innovation which undermines the sanctity of the Holy Eucharist and the core teachings of the Orthodox Church on multiple levels. For more information, please see additional posts providing more information on multiple spoons and the traditional communion here, here, here, and here.

This arbitrary innovation of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada, which oversees the entire Canadian nation from coast to coast, opens the door to heresy and the Ecumenist ambition of introducing the Shared Communion Chalice between various Heterodox creeds without any genuine conversion to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church. The practice of multiple spoons is not only being encouraged in the Greek Orthodox Churches of Canada and the USA (please see open letters to His Eminence Sotirios of Canada and to His Eminence Elpidophoros of the United States) but has also made inroads in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church and other Orthodox Churches. If the church you frequent is currently using the single communion spoon, it may not continue to do so much longer. The heretical practice with multiple communion spoons must be stopped here and now in the afflicted Orthodox parishes before it infiltrates other Orthodox churches.

By prohibiting the Single Communion Spoon, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada has demonstrated the following infractions:

• FAILURE to obey the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople which STRICTLY PROHIBITS any change to the mode of distribution of Holy Communion unless two criteria are met: a) a specific national or state law that prohibits the traditional mode of distribution of Holy Communion and b) written permission provided from the Ecumenical Patriarchate to change the mode of distribution of Holy Communion because of such a law. Currently, there is no Canadian national or state law that prohibits the traditional mode of distribution of Holy Communion. Additionally, there is no written permission from the Ecumenical Patriarchate to change the distribution of Holy Communion in Canada.
• FAILURE to consult with legal counsel to ascertain the legal rights of the Greek Orthodox Church in Canada according to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• FAILURE to correctly interpret and recognize the legal flexibility provided by various Canadian government and public health policies which use citations such as “advice” or “guidance” or “recommendations” or “which may” and refusing to acknowledge that such terms are not indicative of national or state law.
• FAILURE to recognize and act upon various public announcements made by Canadian government officials, such as the Ontario Associate Minister of Health on an online consultation to numerous Orthodox clergymen that the government will not police church activities and MPP Christina Mitas that there is no Ontario law prohibiting Holy Communion by means of a single spoon. Please see her video here on that topic.
• FAILURE to recognize that several Ontario municipalities have submitted to the Greek Orthodox Church of Canada in writing that they will NOT FINE or CLOSE CHURCHES and that the churches are free to commune by any manner they so choose. Please see this article for additional legal analysis.
• FAILURE to properly and transparently consult with or heed the advice of the Canadian Greek Orthodox clergy or the protests of the faithful laity, marginalizing them and undermining their faith, by labeling them as ‘extremists’ or ‘idolaters’ or ‘uneducated’ for upholding the Holy Traditions of the Orthodox Faith by means of the Single Communion Spoon.
• FAILURE to properly and correctly interpret Holy Scripture, the Church Fathers and Church History on the establishment of the Sacrament of Holy Communion by Christ and the authentic reasons for the evolution of its distribution from the Holy Common Chalice to the Holy Common Spoon.
• FAILURE to unify the Greek Orthodox Church in Canada, by promoting disagreement, defiance and schism amongst the practising Greek Orthodox Christians of Ontario and Canada because of the unwarranted and non-canonical directive to arbitrarily deviate from the Holy Traditional Paradosis of the Single Communion Spoon.

In this illegal and ungodly manner, multiple communion spoons are being arbitrarily imposed upon the pious Orthodox Christians of Canada, whose spirit and conscience is so grieved that many are leaving their parishes and seeking spiritual asylum for themselves and their children in other canonical Orthodox churches.

Let us all together with ONE voice bear witness for the ONE Holy Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church whose Life is nourished by the ONE Body and Blood of Christ, delivered by the ONE Common Communion Spoon.

Please make your voice heard by signing and forwarding this petition.

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