Everyone 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.
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.
Xronia polla! May Panagia intercede for us all, especially for our troubled Archbishop. I really don’t mean any disrespect by saying this, I truly pray for his health and well-being. For as long as he holds this position, we should pray that he is of sound mind and spirit.
At divine liturgy today, when the spoons made their ghastly appearance, I could not help but think of our three new bishops, Their Graces, Batholomew, Athinagoras and Iakovos. Where do they stand on this travesty? What influence, if any, do they have on His Eminence? Are they willing participants, or like most of our priests too scared to speak up?
They should draw inspiration from their counterparts in the US, many of whom have been very outspoken. Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago, Metropolitan Evangelos of New Jersey and Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta, to name a few, have publicly declared their support for preserving Holy Communion in its traditional form. This is to their credit. But what of our bishops? Bishop Iakovos, in particular, has a large and loyal following who expect great things from him. His silence is deafening. We can only hope and pray that he and his fellow bishops are doing their utmost behind the scenes to derail this heresy and stop it in its tracks. Then they will truly be Άξιοι.
To Archbishop Sotirios,
I am one of those ladies you asked to make prosfora with wine. My Mother taught me how to make traditional prosfora when I was a teenager and I have been making them ever since. However, this wine-bread innovation of yours may be the reason why I may never make another prosforo again.
Far be it from me to remind you that the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom has specific prayers and prescribed instructions on the consecration process, none of which call for wine-baked communion bread. Your dangerous solution in search of a problem would therefore require changing the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. With this so-called solution, you have betrayed your heresy. Many argue you did this with the multiple spoons. The Orthodox Church is not used to liturgical reforms that innovate our holy mysteries and traditions. These are things in which heresy rears its ugly head.
Our wise Holy Fathers warned us about false prophets and their ilk. And in the words of our Lord and Saviour we also know that “By their fruit you will recognize them.” As a Good Shepherd He has prepared His flock for this moment and we must all heed His warning.
The Archdiocese has blocked me on its Facebook account, for no other reason than for respectfully raising questions about the Archbishop’s dire decisions as of late. I heard others have also been blocked in a desperate attempt to silence the laity and control their heretic narrative, as if their blasphemy could ever be normalized no matter how hard they try.
Your moderators, writers and editors may already be familiar with Elder Zervakos’ urgent appeal, “Ecumenism, Orthodoxy and Heresy” but for those in your wider audience who may not be, it is a timely confession of faith that has survived the test of time and relevance. I urge everyone to read it again and again – it will crystallize the essence of our current struggle and inspire us to forge ahead undeterred and unafraid of whatever the enemies of Orthodoxy throw our way. Perhaps most prescient of Elder Zervakos’ words of warning, “Hold onto your faith firmly and remain immovable on the traditions of the Divine Fathers, for we have arrived at the age that even the strong in faith are lost.”
https://orthodoxword.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/elder-philotheos-zervakos-ecumenism-orthodoxy-and-heresy/
Shame on Archbishop Sotirios. He has managed to yet again drive a wedge between members of Canada’s Greek Orthodox faithful. He does not unite but divide the flock when he accuses them of idolatry and heresy simply because we hold him accountable for his blasphemous actions. He is merely projecting his heresy on the faithful.
So be it. Let us be prepared to be attacked by our very own clergy who are essentially scared out of their wits of being relocated. THAT is the power he holds over them. So be it. If that is what it takes to defend God himself – because that is what Holy Communion is, GOD HIMSELF – from those who believe He can make you sick unless you receive Him on a separate spoon. So be it. Silence is not an option, it is complicity. We must speak up at each of our parishes, not abandon or surrender them to the heretics. And we must do so starting this Panagia, starting this Saturday – IF EVEN ONE SPEAKS UP, OTHERS WILL FOLLOW SUIT.
“We must not mind insulting men, if by respecting them we offend God.” Sage and saintly words from St. John Chrysostom. If we do not draw a line in the sand over what these impostors are doing to Holy Communion here and now, we will continue to offend God. We must take a stand at our churches and do so now before it is too late.
We agree. Not everyone does. Quite a few people have reacted with anger that we would dare to insult a member of the clergy. Before this controversy, I did not realize that their is a strain of sort of “neo-Catholicism” in Orthodoxy. Even when the Bishop is blatantly out-of-line, it appears that some want to ignore that and demand that we “listen to the bishop.” If that had been the historical attitude of the Orthodox Faithful, we would have long ago succumbed to one or the heresies that momentarily gained popularity among the clergy.
Nicholas, my dear brother in Christ, we can’t appease everyone, but above all else we cannot compromise with heresy. Period. The masses, the laity have always been the conscience of the church, upholding Orthodoxy when our hierarchs and clergy have not. This is our Council of Florence moment. We must act now the way our forefathers did to defend Orthodoxy and protect the sanctity of Holy Communion. Otherwise what is next? The Filioque? Papal primacy and infallibility? You may laugh, but tell me did you think we would be facing wine-baked prosfora as Holy Communion a month ago, or even a week ago? What is transpiring before our eyes is NOT a true expression of faith, nor is it inspired by the Holy Spirit. The laity must be decisive so this Archbishop is powerless to enforce his heresy.