For many Orthodox Christians, attending Divine Liturgy has been a difficult experience in the Age of Covid. Assuming you live in a place where Church is even legal, and depending on the guidance of your Bishop, each Sunday usually means dealing with some combination of the multiple spoon issue (Canada and some OCA parishes), mandatory masks for toddlers and up, social distancing, restricted attendance, temperature checks, sign up sheets for liturgy, sign in sheets for attendance (contact tracing), cancelled activities (coffee hour, classes, catechism), and suspension of many cherished liturgical practices (kissing icons, lighting candles, altar servers, kissing the priest’s hand, etc.)
Evidently going to Church is so dangerous, we should probably all skip it and just meet for Bible study over Mimosas and brunch. After all if it saves just one life… But seriously, this message of fear has obviously repelled a lot of Orthodox Faithful, as is clearly seen by the poor attendance at Divine Liturgy in many parishes.
Priests seem to be sensing they have a problem, but with their hands tied by oblivious bishops, they seem to be floundering for what to do as is evidenced by this email from an OCA priest that a reader forwarded to us:
We have been very diligent about enforcing Covid policies, but this has led to some uncomfortable confrontations. Some of our members feel like they are being watched at church, and parish council members have been put in difficult situations because there is a lot of pressure on them to enforce the rules. I am thankful for those who have helped with this up to now. It is not an easy job.
Going forward, parish council members and parishioners should not enforce Covid policies at church. I will follow up with people myself if necessary. It is important to me that people feel safe so please continue to wear your masks. There is always room for improvement, but on the whole we are doing a great job.
You will not be required to sign in when you get to church. If there is a possible Covid exposure, everyone will be notified by email. I hope this will help us create a more welcoming and friendly environment. The past six months have really taken a toll on our parish community. I challenge everyone to be more welcoming and friendly. Be humble and understanding. Think of others before yourself. Greet new people and visitors. Stay for coffee hour fellowship and help rebuild the family atmosphere that we used to have.
In addition to forwarding the letter, the parishioner also provided some background on what it meant to feel like she was “being watched” at Church. Parishioners confronted parents and demanded that young children be removed during liturgy because they had violated social distancing and/or pulled down their masks. Several parishioners have health problems that make them short of breath when wearing masks. If they pulled their masks down under their nose, or tried to move around the Church to find a seat (OCA – no pews), they would be confronted over their violations of social distancing and mask wearing. Do not even dare to greet a fellow Christian or try to carry on a conversation. Need a hug? Don’t even think about it!
Stand on the marked spot! Do not approach others! When it is your time, come forward for communion, receive, go back to your spot expeditiously! When dismissed, move to your car, avoid contact, be safe!
Can you imagine putting your kids through that once a week? Or even yourself? It seems not many people can, because the parishioner who forwarded us this email said that attendance on a Sunday morning reminded her of a Joe Biden rally.
So the priest realizes that the Gestapo atmosphere is ruining his parish, but he is actually powerless to change any of the rules. So he has written this email to ask the Orthodox Karens to please stop harassing others. Instead, they can now shoot them dirty looks, then complain to him after Divine Liturgy. At which point, he will go harass them and make them regret that they didn’t sleep in that morning.
We were also told that the trolling and judgement at this parish are not even confined to the Divine Liturgy. Evidently the priest was pictured on social media attending a family event without …. a mask! One of his parish Karens saw this and actually reported him to the Bishop. Instead of laughing profusely and asking the Karen to pray for God to give him an actual life, the bishop severely chastised the wayward priest over his failure to completely adhere to the rubrics of the Divine New Normal. Evidently that is just one incident of social media fratricide at this parish. Wasn’t there some Orthodox principle or other about not judging others, seeing to your own salvation…you know, something like that? I guess that was so 2019.
But we have to admit, this part of the email was the epitome of dark comedy: “I hope this will help us create a more welcoming and friendly environment. The past six months have really taken a toll on our parish community. I challenge everyone to be more welcoming and friendly. Be humble and understanding. Think of others before yourself. Greet new people and visitors.”
The Bishop sets forth policies that treat each person at Divine Liturgy as an infectious germ-bag from which you have to keep your distance. You must wear a mask, which covers half your face and prevents you from even smiling at anyone. We are in so much danger in Church that we can’t even kiss the icons but…. be friendly and welcoming to the new sources of contagion who have shown up to kill you!
Also amusing is that this parish has recently restarted in-person coffee hour. The priest is really encouraging everyone to stay and fellowship. In the Divine Liturgy, you are required to wear a mask while maintaining rigid social distancing. But in the social hall you can take off your mask and hang out with just anyone at a table for coffee and conversation? You are going to sit casually across the table from people that you, minutes before, were risking your life to stand next to in Church? Does the coffee neutralize the virus or something?
Christ warned us that a world that would crucify Him, would hardly embrace us: If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first (John 15:18). As Orthodox Christians, we expect to be pilloried by those who reject Christ and the Church. The walls of the Church are covered in icons of martyrs, and the stories of our saints bear witness that being Christian has historically been one of the most dangerous things a person could be.
What Covid has exposed, however, is that there is just as much danger within the Church as there is outside it. And many of us weren’t ready for that revelation. Orthodox Christians we have known for years have become people we hardly recognize over a virus with a 99.98% survival rate. God help us when real persecution starts.
We know several families from this priest’s parish who are attending Divine Liturgy on Sundays with us at a Western Rite parish in a nearby county. There are way fewer Covid rules, and no masks required. These families are constantly being asked by others in their old parish what they are up to on Sundays. By and large, they are not telling anyone where they are attending church. Why? Because they are afraid that the Karens will find out and mount an attack on the priest and the Bishop. They are terrified that fellow Orthodox Christians will ruin their new parish the same as they ruined their old one.
Not all parishes are going to survive Covid. Maybe not even all of our Orthodox jurisdictions. In fact, we may find ourselves with a much higher-level of Orthodox unity out of sheer poverty and desperation. God does work in mysterious and unexpected ways, after all. As one of our contributors wrote, we are in the middle of a great reset on more than one level. But there will be parishes that not only survive, but thrive. Those will be parishes that teach and practice the authentic Christian Faith. And they will also be Karen-free zones.
Nicholas, member Greek Archdiocese of America but hiding from Karen at an Antiochian parish until 15 days to flatten the curve ends or Christ returns, whichever comes first
We have a #karen in our parish. She was sneaking up behind people during the liturgy and signaling priest, who was not wearing a mask. She would go into fellowship hall and would tell everyone to wear a mask pointing ti signs on the walls. Well… I stopped coming to this “karengy”. The priest contracted the virus. We’ll see what happens.
The article on ‘Seeking Sanctuary at an Orthodox Western Rite parish’ is closed for comments , but I had a few thoughts on that topic. I came into the Orthodox Church by way of a conservative Continuing Anglican jurisdiction (i.e. not the “mainline” Episcopal Church U.S.A.) , so worshiping in the context of the Western Rite would not feel alien to me , although over the years as I’ve been a member of an Eastern Rite Orthodox parish I have come to prefer the Eastern Rite. But I’m not scandalized or put off by the Western Rite as some Orthodox seem to be. For those who question whether the Western Rite is “truly Orthodox”, I would recommend the Defense of Western Rite Orthodoxy written by St. John (Maximovitch)the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, which can be read here:
https://orthochristian.com/91138.html
When I was received into the Orthodox Church I didn’t feel like I was running away from something, but rather entering into that which completed and filled up what had been lacking in my former Anglican communion. (and , candidly, which corrected the theological errors which crept into Anglicanism over the years as it drifted apart from the Orthodox Church.) However, from my observations it seems many converts to Orthodoxy from Protestantism seem to have been running away from something , there is often anger or a feeling of PTSD at the errors of their former communion when they discover the fullness of the Orthodox Church. But my own experience was not so much a rejection of what I view now as the “almost Orthodoxy” of my former communion , but seeing it in it’s pure form , discovering that which it turns out had always been my heart’s desire.
Given a choice I would choose to attend Eastern Rite, but Western Rite is fine with me, too.
We have really come to love the Western Rite. While still preferring the Eastern Rite, we thank God on a regular basis that the Western Rite is available in a normal, non-masked, non-socially distanced fashion. Our kids were invited back to “in-person” catechism class at our old GOA parish via email last weekend. They would have to “socially distance” outside under a pavilion with masks on. The locality where the parish is located does not require masks outside. So the GOA is going above and beyond the regulations to instill fear in kids and make them breathe their own CO2 outside. The parish, also, still does not have a coffee hour, even though every Starbucks in the state is open for business. Meanwhile, coffee is served at the Western Rite Church each Sunday. The Western Rite is fully Orthodox, and we are so privileged to have the parish as an option.
That article on the Western Rite Orthodoxy claimed to be written by St John Maximovitch. In fact was NOT! It was authored rather by a mere deacon.
What a faithless generation we are that we cower in the face of contagion when our ancestors communed and were faithful in receiving in the same manner as we always have for nearly 1800 years. Years that brought us through various plagues and pandemics. Through the Black Death and other pestilence. Lord have mercy!
I don’t understand how all of you anonymous converts can see yourselves as doing anything more than gossiping. This was not edifying. I’m disappointed, because I am a fan of the Pascha Press facebook page where I saw this. Lord, have mercy.
Not all of us converted. And those that did, the most recent was 25 years ago. What was covered in the article that was private? All the comments were directed at public information, nothing about anyone’s personal life. What would you characterize as gossip?
https://inklesspen.blog/2020/10/25/a-place-not-of-this-world/
“We receive healing even from the door handle of the temple; simply by taking hold of it without even crossing the threshold of the temple we receive healing, healing of soul above all else because we are entering into the Temple of God, my brothers and sisters. As we enter into the Temple of God, we enter under the protection of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Who guides us in all Truth … When we enter the Temple we are not alone, we are surrounded by the those holy ones who were well-pleasing to God, whose intercession we beseech; we are surrounded by the Angelic powers, who serve the human race in the matters of salvation … when we enter the Temple we are not just gathering together, for in Holy Communion we are united with Christ Himself. How then could anyone say that the Church could be a source of sickness, death, and misfortune? No, my brothers and sisters. Guard your souls… Be resurrected in your mind and thoughts … Remember the Commandments of Christ … Now is the time for repentance. Now is the time to run to God, not away from Him. Take hold of the hem of His garment, and ask for mercy … not only for ourselves but for the whole world.”Met. Arseny of Svyatogorsk
One night when I was thinking about this, this thought came to my mind:
None of this is a question about biology, it is really a question of theology. Germ theory is only a few hundred years old. The liturgy predates that by over a thousand years.
Is the God we come to church to worship the sort of God who would let his children come to meet him in good faith and fall sick and die (leaving behind widows and orphans) just because they hadn’t discovered bacteria and viruses yet?
Is the God we count on to raise us from the dead bodily – and has maintained those of saints without corruption – incapable of preventing his own body and blood from being a vector for disease? Psalm 16:10
In complaining about other supposed Karens, the author of this post hilariously outs himself as a Karen. This is the most boomer-karen thing I’ve ever read.
So is there any way to complain about Karen behavior without becoming one?
The Bishop sets forth policies that treat each person at Divine Liturgy as an infectious germ-bag…
What an awesome line of a rhetorical point of fact…
The article was very good, and the signature paragraph — priceless.
https://http4281.wordpress.com/2020/05/23/waiting-to-become-orthodox/
That was a powerful letter. Did you get a response?
No response. Through a third party, Fr. Paul at Holy Trinity OCA, I found out that the sense of the hierarchy at the OCA is that I am going to have to be “worked with” before entering the catechumenate.
In other words, they were not all that happy with my letter, but didn’t have the politeness to write back to me, even in rebuff. My phone calls have gone unanswered as have my Emails.
Not exactly the warm, fuzzy welcome I was looking for.
Perhaps I was a catechumen too long ago, but isn’t the point of being a catechumen to be “worked with?”
Dear Edward:
Thank you for sharing your letter to Father Sean and your facebook post. In my humble opinion, both of your responses were awesome indicators that you have the true Orthodox Phronema (mindset).
f you cannot get a suitable Orthodox response where you are right now, please consider moving to Toronto, where we have the additional challenges of the multiple spoons and other profane aberrations to contend with. We can certainly use someone like you up here to fight alongside of us.
If you would like to know the real reasons why the Orthodox hierarchy are promoting the heresy of fear, please read two other posts on this website which can be found here https://orthodoxreflections.com/freemasonry-and-the-rise-of-ecumenism-in-the-orthodox-church/ and here https://orthodoxreflections.com/is-freemasonry-systemic-in-the-greek-orthodox-church/. The heresy of fear is the predecessor to the heresy of Ecumenism which is happening in tandem in North America’s Greek Orthodox Church, right before our very eyes.
God bless you for being an Orthodox martyr even before you become a catechumen. God sure works in mysterious ways!
Thank you for your kind words. While I would say that I have a considerable way to go before having a full and complete Orthodox Phronema, I am working on it by things like listening to AFR and reading articles online. I am Orthodox in my theology, soteriology, and praxis, including my Orthodox Prayer Books, Orthros and Vespers at my prayer corner, and my icons. All I lack is membership and a deeper understanding of the Orthodox Phronema. All in God’s time.
Not sure my wife would care to move to Toronto! Have to keep her wishes in mind.
Your prayers for my conversion will be most welcome.
This article is spot on. We have lost so much. To me, it is abundantly clear who is behind this whole worldwide tragedy.
Karen’s ruon all things. They are the ones who should be remaining at home instead of trying to ruin Orthodoxy for everyone else.
That was one of the best articles I’ve read in a while. Thanks.