An Orthodox MD Letter to Apb Elpidophoros on Communion

Archbishop Elpidophoros with multiple communion spoonsBelow is an open letter to Archbishop Elpidophoros from a Greek MD about the multiple-spoon communion directive and its defense.

My dear spiritual family, I can keep silent no longer. Please edify yourselves with the Love of Christ by watching this 7 minute video a beloved in the Lord sent me.

Then, please read my open letter to his Eminence Archbishop Elpidoforos. I hope that he will read it too, or that at least others will draw his attention to it. Please forgive me if I offend anyone.

Your Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros (Lambrianidis)

As you can see, your flock is expressing confusion and distress over changes in Orthodox Liturgical Worship as a result of the coronavirus. They do not wish to be disrespectful to their Church’s hierarchs, and so they question themselves, their own faith and their own trust in God. In other words, they are questioning and examining their own hearts. Except for the odd (odd as in both very occasional and very strange) statements from church officials, the Orthodox flock is even wondering at the general silence of their hierarchs. We have read and heard a great deal from lay people, theologians, priests and monks, on the matter of how the coronavirus is affecting our Orthodox worship, but indeed, very little from hierarchs such as yourself; and the little that we have heard, has been confusing and upsetting, to say the least.

Please permit me therefore, to ask you a few questions as I would like to better understand your position. Please forgive the simplicity of my questions as I am not a trained theologian.

1. According to the Greek News, your Eminence, directed the parish priests of New York, Connecticut and Washington, D.C. to offer Holy Communion by using multiple metal spoons for single use during the distribution. You gave this direction in a memo dated May 18th, which was marked for priests only and which “should not under any circumstances be posted, shared or copied to email or social media.”

Can you please explain the reason for this secrecy?

Furthermore, yours, was the only Metropolis of the Archdiocese of America to direct the use of multiple spoons for the distribution of Holy Communion. In your memo, the priests of your Metropolis were directed to offer Holy Communion in this manner “as a temporary measure only…to protect our clergy and our faithful,” and “in lieu of a Communion Cloth, the parish will have disposable napkins…[that] will be burned the same day.”

Can you please clarify the reason for burning the disposable napkins? Is it to respect the remnants of the Holy Mysteries which our Church teaches do not transmit disease, or to destroy the coronavirus?

2. On May 25th, exactly one week after the circulation of your secret memo, Father Alkiviadis C. Calivas circulated “A Note on the Communion Spoon” which can be read here. In his “note,” Father Calivas supports your implementation of multiple spoons, using several arguments. I think I am correct in assuming that you agree with his arguments because you have not disagreed, because he published his support of your intention to use multiple spoons exactly one week after you circulated your secret memo, and because silence usually implies tacit agreement. I will not attempt to scrutinize his arguments as two well-written responses have already been presented, one by Father Peter Heers and another by Dr. Eugenia Constantinou. Both of these responders are well educated Orthodox theologians so I will not repeat their arguments.

I would, however, like to ask you a few simple questions. First, Father Calivas questions the incorruptibility of the Holy Mysteries when he says: “… Statements like, “the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ, and the medicine of immortality,” or “the Eucharist is a divine remedy, a divine medicine,” may be true…”

Is it not a dogmatic Orthodox truth that these statements are, in fact, true? If Father Calivas questions the truth about our Orthodox dogmas, does this mean that he does not really believe in them?

If you tacitly agree with him, does it mean that you do not really believe them? Please clarify your position and please ask Father Calivas to do the same.

Second, Father Calivas provides a lengthy and detailed explanation on the evolution of the various methods of distribution of Holy Communion. According to his explanation and my limited knowledge, these methods changed over time because of the changing practicality of the distribution of Holy Communion, not because of any changes in the underlying theology surrounding the nature of the Holy Gifts, and not because of any changes in our Holy Orthodox Tradition of the communal nature of their distribution. In other words, whether the Church used a common cup or a common spoon or a common priest’s hand, there was always something common that was shared by the congregation.

Is Father Calivas using the practicality of the past to justify a new and different theology of the Holy Mysteries in an attempt to make this new theology more acceptable to the Orthodox flock?

Third, Father Calivas justifies his position by quoting St. Nikodemos. I do not mean any disrespect to St. Nikodemos, but according to what I have learned, a saint is not someone who is perfect, sinless or infallible. These attributes belong only to God (and in Roman Catholicism, perhaps the Pope). In Orthodoxy, I believe a saint is someone who loves God more than anything else. Many of our saints are known to have erred on certain issues, possibly because they may not have been very well educated, but God, in His great mercy, looks at the heart and not the level of education. Nevertheless, isn’t this why our Orthodox Church does not rely solely on our saints to arrive at her Truths?

Isn’t this why our Orthodox Church relies on the Holy Spirit which reveals His Truths through the synodical system of our Holy Orthodox Church? I do not know of any Synod which accepted St. Nikodemos’ position on the distribution of Holy Communion during plagues. If there was such a synod, can you please let us know when that took place? And if it did take place, or if St. Nikodemos was correct by some other means, why were his methods not already widely adopted by the Orthodox Church in leper colonies, in TB sanitoriums, during the Spanish Flu, HIV, SARS, Ebola, Mers, and so on, all of which already existed or came about after 1809, when St. Nikodemos was around?

And finally, your Eminence, Father Calivas, with great concern for the feelings and safety of the flock, makes sweeping and unsubstantiated assumptions about our concerns with the deadliness of Covid-19 as pertains to Holy Communion. He also compares the deadliness of Covid-19 with that of past plagues and implies that our current plague is as serious or worse. He says, “As with the preceding epidemics, the highly contagious coronavirus has many people wondering and questioning the continued use of a common spoon for Communion.” He also says, “The real fears, reservations, and apprehensions of the people should not be dismissed with an air of superiority or a call to greater faith, as if the act of communing is void of human considerations and the limitations of the created order.” It seems, your Eminence, that you are in agreement with Father Calivas as you have not indicated otherwise.

Therefore, can you please clarify if there is any evidence that HIV, SARS, Ebola, Mers, Tuberculosis, Leprosy, or the Spanish Flu…and the more common Influenza and Pneumococcal Pneumonia which are always in the community, if any of these or other contagions have ever been shown to be spread through the Traditional methods of distributing Holy Communion?

This may be an unfair question because I think your answer would be no. In addition, I only personally know of one individual who stopped taking Holy Communion because of such fears. In comparison, many more heterodox have converted to Orthodoxy in spite of such alleged fears, which indicates to me that the number of people taking Holy Communion in North America has been increasing while all these plagues have been going on.

Even Father Calivas, himself, states in his note that “in [his] sixty-four years in the priesthood, [he has] consumed the chalice thousands of times after countless Divine Liturgies without fear or hesitation, as every priest does ”and he is still alive to this day and seems quite healthy as do most of our Orthodox priests. May they all continue to be so for many more yours, but this brings me to my next question:

How does father Calivas know what our “real fears, reservations and apprehensions” are? Has any hierarch conducted a survey or a poll? If we are to use the science behind coronavirus to alter the distribution of Holy Communion, should we not at least use a scientific survey to measure the real fears that your Orthodox flock may have? Otherwise, how can you assume that we are fearful? And why would you assume that we are fearful, when many of us lived through HIV, SARS (by the way, I was a front-line physician during SARS and I never stopped taking Holy Communion) and the annual Influenzas which can also be deadly, but we never stopped communing during these annual plagues?

I assure you, your Eminence, that the faith of your flock is not blind and we are no strangers to plagues. While the coronavirus may be unprecedented, plagues and death are not. We see and acknowledge the miraculous life-giving power of the Holy Mysteries in the robust health of our priests, and by his own admission, of Father Calivas, all of whom continue to thrive after consuming trillions of deadly microbes along with the chalice week after week, year after year. Although Father Calivas’ concerns for our feelings and our safety are touching, I could not help but feel that I was being categorized as a type of – forgive me for saying this – mindless sheep-shaped sponge, eager to absorb any feel-good compromises to my faith.

The fact is, if I wanted to always feel good, I would not be Orthodox, a faith which requires constant reflection, self-examination and humble repentance, among other things. Those feelings and the Orthodox way of life are hard. Also, if I wanted to feel safe, I would certainly never be Orthodox. There has never been anything more dangerous than being an Orthodox Christian in a secular world. Orthodoxy is not comfortable and that is one reason why I am Orthodox.

I was therefore, quite dismayed when Father Calivas wrote, “the real fears, reservations, and apprehensions of the people should not be dismissed with an air of superiority or a call to greater faith…” I wholeheartedly agree with doing away with airs of superiority, but why do away with a call to greater faith? Is there such a thing as having too much faith? Personally, I could always use more faith especially at this time, and I think I speak for everyone.

What bothers me the most, your Eminence is “the real fears.” Neither you, nor Father Calivas know what these actually are, or if you do know, you have not addressed them. Therefore, please permit me to clarify them for you; because I think my real fears are not just my own. I think these fears are shared by many others and these are the elephants in today’s Orthodox churches – fears which our hierarchs are ignoring and fueling with their condescending “air of superiority” by keeping silent, and when they do speak by assuming they know how we feel and what we want, by supposing we are ignorant pertaining to matters of our Faith, and by sending secret memos.

3. On June 2nd, Ancient Faith Ministries published on Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, the decision of our Patriarch, His All-Holiness Bartholomew, on the issue of the distribution of Holy Communion during the coronavirus pandemic, which can be found here.

On May 17th, just one day prior to your secret memo, your Eminence, His All-Holiness circulated a letter to all Orthodox primates (made public on June 1st) seeking synodical agreement on his position regarding the distribution of the Holy Mysteries during this pandemic. His letter to the primates clearly and emphatically indicates “no change (to the distribution of Holy Communion), and the communal spoon will remain.”

Your Eminence, were you unaware that his All-Holiness had sent this letter the day before you sent your secret memo? Or is this the reason why your memo had to be kept secret?

Did you then recruit Father Calivas’ support by pressing him to author that dreadful “note on the communion spoon” which surprised us all, considering the good reputation of Father Calivas as a faithful and excellent theologian?

Were you banking on Father Calivas’ excellent reputation to add credibility to your “temporary” heresy?

And did you also direct that this “note” of “his” come quickly and well in advance of the Patriarch’s public statement on the issue of Holy Communion, which it did on June 1st, by a time span of one week?

Were you, your Eminence, trying to make it appear as though you had already made your ecclesiastical decision before having any knowledge of the mind or intent of his All-Holiness Bartholomew?

If you did your Eminence, what is your agenda?

At this point, your Eminence, I will make no attempt to speculate on the possible answers to my questions. I do not wish to make wrong accusations but at the same time, I would be dishonest if I did not at least imply my “real fears.” However, do you now understand what these “real fears” are?

Your flock has many unanswered questions, not from our secular leaders regarding the coronavirus and church closures, but from our own shepherds. As Orthodox Christians, we expect misunderstandings and persecution from the world but not from within our own Church. I, for one, am not as much concerned about my physical health as the spiritual health of my Church which is my Holy Sanctuary.

As I said, I will not speculate, but I will confess that your ‘good intentions’ whether real or not, have personally caused me extreme spiritual pain. As you know, your secret memo and Father Calivas’ note came out in advance of our Patriarch’s announcement. During the intervening time, I nearly had a nervous breakdown, worrying about how the distribution of Holy Communion and its theology was going to be altered in our Orthodox Churches.

During that exact same time frame, my husband, who is a front-line health care worker, as I am, became ill with and tested positive for Covid-19. Thank God, all is well now, but none of us in my family experienced nearly as much fear, worry or anxiety from his illness as we did from your actions.

Perhaps, and I sincerely hope, I am very wrong in ‘fearing’ that you have betrayed your flock, your Eminence. Perhaps you truly care about how we feel and you genuinely want to take care of us and you just made an honest mistake. If that is the case, please accept my most humble apology, but, please understand that secrecy and silence is not the way to lead us, nor is giving way to what you imagine our fears to be. We, your flock, have God-given and constitutional rights to exercise our religious freedoms and the last people we expect to take those away from us are our own Church leaders.

Whether or not we feel fearful of taking Holy Communion in the Traditional manner remains our own personal faith issue, having freely chosen to be Orthodox Christians in the first place. I, for one, greatly resent others deciding for me where my faith lies or how strong I am or am not, in my moral convictions or religious beliefs. I have at least as much capacity to make my own decisions as do you. Even if your intentions were good, your Eminence, by assuming you know my spirit or my heart, you crossed a line. Only God knows me that well. Your job is the proper stewardship of our Holy Orthodox Church and the edification of our faith, not the dismantling of her Theology and the succumbing to our ‘fears’.

Again, I apologize if I have implied wrong accusations against you, your Eminence, but, the fact remains that the use of multiple spoons is insulting and an affront not only to our Crucified Lord, but also to His faithful. I hope that you will acknowledge your error and come to regret the heretical theology you have arbitrarily condoned surrounding the Holy Mysteries, something which has caused unnecessary and great spiritual pain to me and to many of my fellow Orthodox Christians.

I will not ask you for an apology, but I am praying for your repentance and for an immediate retraction of the use of multiple spoons on this continent within our Orthodox Churches.

By the way, please be assured that we are prepared for more plagues, trials and tribulations in the future. We know these are coming because our Lord has forewarned us. Please heed the call to greater faith yourself, and support us by leading us in a truly Orthodox manner, not by compromising Orthodoxy. We need Her now, more than ever.

Very Respectfully,
Irene Polidoulis MD

Please see additional correspondence with Greek bishops here.

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