Canadian Archdiocese Undermines the Power of the Holy Eucharist

christ-in-the-chaliceEveryone keeps saying that Holy Communion is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and therefore, you cannot get any virus by receiving Holy Communion. (If they did not accept this, they would be considered heretical). What they don’t say, is that you cannot get any virus from the spoon (lavida)with which we receive the Holy Communion, regardless of whether it is made of gold, silver or any other material. Why? Because when it is dipped into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, it is cleansed. It clearly shows this in the Bible:

In the Gospel according to Mark 5:25-29 the woman that had a flow of blood for twelve years was instantly healed when she touched Jesus’ garment. Note that according to the Jewish law, she was considered unclean and any one that touched her would be considered unclean as well. According to their law, Jesus would also have to be considered unclean when the woman touched His garment. Yet, instead of Him becoming unclean, it was the woman that became cleansed.

In the Gospel according to Luke 5: 12-13 a leper asks Christ, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” According to Jewish law, if you touched a leper you became unclean (and possibly even a leper yourself). Yet, instead of Jesus becoming leprous or unclean, the leper himself, was cleansed.

In both cases, when either the unclean person touched Christ, or Christ touched the unclean person, it was the person that was cleansed.

Now, in the case of the Lavida, when it is dipped into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ it is cleansed, even if it had any virus on it. Therefore, it is impossible for the next person that receives Holy Communion to receive any virus. There is no need to introduce multiple spoons or any other innovation.

I have heard the argument from many people, and unfortunately, also from some clergy as well, that a spoon is just a spoon and has no powers on its own, and that is correct. A spoon is just a spoon, even if it is made out of gold, until it is dipped in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Then it is not just a spoon but a Holy “LAVIDA”, even if it is made out of plastic. It is not the material that makes it special but the fact that it is dipped in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

As for the excuse that the government will close the churches or they will issue fines for those that continue to use one lavida, this is not true because the Greek churches that follow the old calendar and the other Orthodox churches, such as Serbian, Georgian, Antiochian and some Russian churches in Ontario, these continue to use one lavida and there are no fines issued or closures. We can receive Holy Communion from those churches using one lavida.

prosphora

You probably know that last Sunday the Archbishop announced in his homily at St. John the theologian that the next step would be for the ladies to prepare prosphora with wine added to the bread, to have both the Body and Blood (?) and that he, the Archbishop, for some time now, has been wondering if there is any other safe way to distribute Holy Communion. Why is he still worrying about safety, when there are no church fines or closures and when he, himself, keeps saying that the Body and Blood of Christ cannot transmit disease (but he has implied that the lavida can). I suppose that when everyone was saying that the multiple spoons would be temporary, they meant that he would stop using any spoons and start using prosphora with wine. It seems we will never go back to using the one lavida.

Finally, some of our clergymen are now trying to push the idea of multiple spoons and call the rest of us, who refuse to take Holy Communion with multiple spoons, “blasphemous”, because we “are afraid of what the people would think of us”. With all due respect fathers, we are not afraid of what people would think of us. What we are afraid of is what Christ will think when we tell Him that we were afraid we would get a virus by receiving Holy Communion with one Lavida and therefore we chose to receive it with multiple spoons.

May God help us all.

Christopher Papakonstantinou


Orthodoxy in Canada is in crisis! Sign the petition here to preserve Orthodoxy by upholding the HOLY TRADITION (PARADOSIS) of the SINGLE COMMUNION SPOON. Visit our petition page for more information.

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