Orthodox Reflections

In a welcome victory for religious liberty,  the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 5-4 to grant temporary injunctive relief to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. The diocese had requested the injunction on the basis that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s executive order on COVID-19 restrictions had been unfairly applied towards houses of worship. Attendance at services had been capped at 10 persons in a “red zone” – a designation awarded by the state on the basis of the perceived severity of COVID-19 cases in the area. Writing as a member of the majority, Neil Gorsuch blasted the executive order in uncharacteristically (for a SCOTUS member) harsh language:

Government is not free to disregard the First Amendment in times of crisis. At a minimum, that Amendment prohibits government officials from treating religious exercises worse than comparable secular activities, unless they are pursuing a compelling interest and using the least restrictive means available.

 

At the same time, the Governor has chosen to impose no capacity restrictions on certain businesses he considers ‘essential.’ And it turns out the businesses the Governor considers essential include hardware stores, acupuncturists, and liquor stores. Bicycle repair shops, certain signage companies, accountants, lawyers, and insurance agents are all essential too. So, at least according to the Governor, it may be unsafe to go to church, but it is always fine to pick up another bottle of wine, shop for a new bike, or spend the afternoon exploring your distal points and meridians. Who knew public health would so perfectly align with secular convenience?

 

Indeed, the Governor is remarkably frank about this: In his judgment laundry and liquor, travel and tools, are all “essential” while traditional religious exercises are not. That is exactly the kind of discrimination the First Amendment forbids.

 

Even if the Constitution has taken a holiday during this pandemic, it cannot become a sabbatical.

 

It is time—past time—to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues, and mosques.

These are stirring words. In an article in First Things, Nicholas DiMarzio, bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, laid out his reasons for bringing the lawsuit that had stirred Gorsuch to such passion:

At issue is the fact that the state does not consider church an essential service. But the practice of one’s faith, and a person’s relationship with God, is without a doubt an essential part of life. And I would argue that a person’s faith is much more critical than other services the state of New York has classified as essential during this pandemic. Churches have been lumped in with theaters, sports, and recreational facilities. New York’s failure to recognize the need and importance of the Mass is plain wrong (and this failure is not unique to the Empire State). Liquor stores are considered “essential” but attending Mass is not. This defies logic.

This sentiment echoes what Orthodox Abbot Tryphon wrote in a recent article entitled The Church is THE Essential Institution. One would expect all Christian leaders (Roman Catholic and Orthodox) to seize every opportunity to defend the essential nature of Christian worship.  Sadly, that expectation is wrong in too many cases.

It seems many Christian Bishops embrace COVID hysteria to a point that they refuse to stand for religious liberty. Good examples are the recent statements of  Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America, and Pope Francis, the Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. None of these men said anything about the essential nature of Christian worship, nor did they even support the right of their Faithful to congregate in their own private homes.

Let’s look at what these successors to the Apostles had to say at a time in November 2020 when religious liberty in America needed a secular judge, applying a secular Constitution at the behest of a Roman Catholic Bishop to defend it.

The day before Thanksgiving, Archbishop Elpidophoros issued a video subtly called Wear a Mask. We have dealt with the mask issue before, and will take up that part of his message in the future. For this article, we want to focus on other aspects of his message. In the video, Archbishop Elpidophoros states that he is speaking out due to the “upsurge” in the pandemic and then assures viewers, “This virus is not a hoax. It is a real and present danger.”

With all due respect to His Eminence, but if 9 months into a “pandemic,” you must use your position as an Archbishop to assure viewers that COVID-19 is a real crisis – then that fact alone assures you it isn’t. The lockdowns and mask mandates are affecting hundreds of millions of people, but the virus is not. We are certain that the virus is real enough, but there are actually two separate hoaxes being perpetrated. The first is the hysterical fear of a virus with a 99.95% (higher for younger ages) survival rate under the age of 70. If we were losing people in our lives, if our parishes were flooded with funerals, if our businesses were decimated by people calling in sick – in other words if we could see all this with our own eyes, then you wouldn’t need to keep telling us how afraid we are supposed to be. When we argue over the seriousness of COVID-19, the arguments in favor of hysteria always turn to reported case numbers, news articles about flooded ICU’s (somewhere, usually far away from us), and total reported deaths (with COVID-19, from COVID-19, or even misattributed to COVID). Personal experience rarely comes into the conversation.

The situation reminds us of Soviet news reports of bumper grain crops, even as citizens queued in long lines for meager rations to stave off starvation. Who are you going to believe? “Official sources” or your lying eyes?

The second hoax is that we can do anything to stop a virus. Here is a bishop of the Church, a man who should possess the utmost humility, endorsing the idea that we can fight a virus by shutting down the economy and making everyone wear masks. This is the ultimate rejection of his office. God gave us all an immune system, which can more than handle this virus if we keep it strong. But to believe that we can stop a virus from spreading is hubris of the highest order. Remember 15 days to flatten the curve? At the beginning at least, the public health officials told the truth, more or less. Based on bogus modeling data, politicians were afraid the number of patients would overwhelm hospitals. They wanted to slow the rate of infection to mitigate that risk. The goal was never to reduce the total number of cases. The goal was to spread them out over a longer time. No one at the beginning of the “pandemic” dared make the case that we could “end,” “stop,” or even “limit” the spread of a virus short of herd immunity (naturally occurring, via a vaccine or combined).

Nine months later, lockdowns and masks are still with us with no end in sight. And our moral betters keep telling us that  this time, unlike last time, if we just adhere to the rules then we can “limit” the spread, which would logically mean we can reduce the total number of “cases.” That is a hoax on a grand scale. One which tens of millions of disgruntled Americans recognize as a hoax, despite official assurances to the contrary. It is sad when the average Christian has more discernment and more trust in God than an Orthodox bishop.

But Elpidophoros is, sadly, not alone. Metropolitan Tikhon also wants you to know that we must be very afraid of the virus, and that the government is here to help. If you love your neighbor, then you have a duty to comply:

As you know, most parts of the world are currently experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States alone, there were over 184,000 cases and around 1,500 deaths reported on Sunday, November 22, 2020.

 

The national and local authorities across North America are encouraging a greater level of caution while adopting a series of measures in the attempt of limiting the spread of the virus. After many months marked by the present pandemic, and which have tested us in unprecedented ways, this surge comes right before one of the most beloved civil holidays in America, Thanksgiving. Thus, observing these important measures requires an even greater spirit of self-sacrifice on our part. While celebrating Thanksgiving this year, we will celebrate with care and caution, born out of love. For it is not solely for our own health, but out of love for our neighbor, that we must do everything we can to protect one another by limiting the spread of this virus not only in our parishes, but in the greater community.

So when a politician cancels your Thanksgiving under threat of arrest, that is “just a series of measures.” Sounds so innocent, doesn’t it? The government can tell you how many people can gather in your home. The government can keep you confined to your home. The government can stop you from seeing elderly relatives who are living in isolation and depression. The government can tell you to wear masks, even in your own home. The government can shut down your business or place of employment. The government can even shut down or severely restrict your Church’s ability to worship God. But, “out of love for our neighbor,” we must comply. It’s what Jesus would do.

Pope Francis also made it clear that responsible governments lock down the economy, which saves lives, and only immoral, self-centered Libertarians protest all that righteous goodness:

With some exceptions, governments have made great efforts to put the well-being of their people first, acting decisively to protect health and to save lives. The exceptions have been some governments that shrugged off the painful evidence of mounting deaths, with inevitable, grievous consequences. But most governments acted responsibly, imposing strict measures to contain the outbreak.

 

Yet some groups protested, refusing to keep their distance, marching against travel restrictions — as if measures that governments must impose for the good of their people constitute some kind of political assault on autonomy or personal freedom! Looking to the common good is much more than the sum of what is good for individuals. It means having a regard for all citizens and seeking to respond effectively to the needs of the least fortunate.

 

Look at us now: We put on face masks to protect ourselves and others from a virus we can’t see. But what about all those other unseen viruses we need to protect ourselves from? How will we deal with the hidden pandemics of this world, the pandemics of hunger and violence and climate change?

Bad governments respect individual rights, in which case people die. Responsible governments shut down their economies to fight a virus with a 99.95% survival rate. If governments are acting “for the common good,” then there are evidently no limits on their authority. The Vicar of Christ, who is also an expert in epidemiology, says to shut up and comply. The governments had to “impose” restrictions to save the “least fortunate” and you are bad people for protesting.

But only if you are protesting against lockdowns. If you are protesting as part of BLM, Antifa, or celebrating a Biden Presidency, then it appears you are all good according to everyone who matters. Not all protests are equally susceptible to spreading COVID.

Someone please let the Bishop of Brooklyn know that, for the common good, he should have let Cuomo practically close his churches. Maybe he can bring it up on a Zoom call with the Vatican for clarification.

What can we take away from the words of these three bishops, and so many others, as relates to us Christians in the “new normal?”

Obedience to Tyrannical, Unscientific Government Dictates is a Christian Moral Obligation 

If the government declares a crisis, not only do you have no rights, but you have a Christian moral obligation to comply with whatever the government says. If there are limits on this, then none of these very high-ranking Christian Bishops has ever articulated them in a way we can find. Civil authority has found the ultimate way to suppress any possible opposition from the Church – declare a crisis and claim any tyrannical action is all for the benefit of the poor and vulnerable. The Pope’s words about other pandemics such as “climate change” point to the severity of the danger we are in, as there is no reason for the governments of the world to ever stop declaring one crisis after another. Orthodox Archbishop Theodosy (Snigiryov) of Boyarka made it very clear that we stand on the edge of an abyss:

If the Church adopts a “whatever they say, we’ll do,” stance as its doctrine of responding to social problems, then in the near future, authorities in different countries will be able to close our churches, and deprive the faithful of the Liturgy under any humanitarian pretext—a pandemic, the danger of nuclear war, climate change, etc.

The Roman Catholic diocese of Brooklyn decided to make up its own mind about how to respond to the “crisis” and to assert its right to practice the Catholic Faith unencumbered by unconstitutional rules. Sadly, not all bishops (or Popes) wish to think for themselves and to allow their Faithful to do the same. Instead, they are using the authority of their offices to declare compliance with tyranny as a moral virtue. We are only just getting started down this road, and it will only get harder to resist the further we travel on it. If the government can shut you down over a virus, what else can they shut you down over? And at what point does the government start to dictate your beliefs, as a prerequisite to be allowed to open?

9 Months In and the Bishops Have Learned Nothing

The Pope’s op-ed illustrates that no matter how much data we gather, most Christian leaders have learned nothing about COVID since March 2020. The Pope used an anecdote about a time when he was seriously ill to explain his compassion for those on ventilators:

I remember the date: Aug. 13, 1957. I got taken to a hospital by a prefect who realized mine was not the kind of flu you treat with aspirin. Straightaway they took a liter and a half of water out of my lungs, and I remained there fighting for my life. The following November they operated to take out the upper right lobe of one of the lungs. I have some sense of how people with Covid-19 feel as they struggle to breathe on a ventilator.

It is curious to bring up ventilators in November 2020, because the panic over ventilators was misplaced even in the beginning. The U.S. spent billions on ventilators that went largely unused as COVID treatments quickly progressed past using them:

Months into a $3 billion U.S. effort to manufacture tens of thousands of ventilators to stave off coronavirus deaths, the government stockpile is facing a glut.

 

During the first weeks of the covid-19 crisis in March, health officials panicked over an anticipated shortage of ventilators, breathing machines that were essential to help keep patients alive. But during the months it took for companies to develop their supply chains, test prototypes and train workers to build them, the approach to treating covid-19 changed.

 

Instead of intubating patients — more common for hospitalized patients during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic — doctors are more likely to turn to a variety of breathing treatments. They range from flipping patients onto their sides or stomachs to aid in breathing to using high-flow nasal cannula systems, or continuous or bilevel positive airway pressure machines used for patients with sleeping disorders.

The medical community has not been simply sitting idle for the past 9 months. Doctors have developed treatments for COVID that have driven the rates of hospitalization, ICU usage, and mortality down to very manageable levels. Yet the bishops constantly talk as if we know nothing about a virus that not only is very similar to other Coronaviruses, but is also one we have been treating quite successfully for months now. We have met the virus, and it is way less frightening than was once feared.

Even as mortality has gone down and the ability to treat even severe cases has gone up, the one metric Bishops (and everyone else hyping fear) keep mentioning is “cases.” We’ve covered the issues with pretending that asymptomatic people who test “positive” are sick or contagious. But recently the problems with testing were at the heart of a court case that puts a judicial-stamp of approval on those doubts.

On November 11th, Portuguese judges upheld a decision from a lower court that found the forced quarantine of four German vacationers to be unlawful. The case hinged on the reliability (or lack thereof) of COVID-19 PCR tests. That verdict in a European Court condemned the widely-used PCR test as being up to 97-percent unreliable:

This is not the first challenge to the credibility of PCR tests. Many people will be aware that their results have a lot to do with the number of amplifications that are performed, or the ‘cycle threshold.’ This number in most American and European labs is 35–40 cycles, but experts have claimed that even 35 cycles is far too many, and that a more reasonable protocol would call for 25–30 cycles. (Each cycle exponentially increases the amount of viral DNA in the sample).

 

Earlier this year, data from three US states – New York, Nevada and Massachusetts – showed that when the amount of the virus found in a person was taken into account, up to 90 percent of people who tested positive could actually have been negative, as they may have been carrying only tiny amounts of the virus.

Top pathologist, expert in virology, and biotech CEO Dr. Roger Hodkinson said the following to government officials in Alberta during a zoom conference that was recorded and subsequently uploaded to YouTube, “positive test results do not, underlined in neon, mean a clinical infection… I’m absolutely outraged that this has reached this level, it should all stop tomorrow.”

Just 9 months ago, the idea of “lockdowns” and “social distancing” to mitigate a severe viral outbreak was mere theory that had first been kicked around during the Bush Administration in 2006. It was based on sheer conjecture, and at the time, it was considered wildly impractical. After 9 months during which lockdowns, masks, and social distancing have been the Secular Gospel of Salvation by Government Fiat, we can now conclusively state that they don’t work. States and countries that locked down hard are no better off than areas that did not. In fact, the “hard lockdown” areas are now gearing up for Round 2 and are already anticipating even harsher measures. Despite widespread mask compliance, the “cases” keep going up. The evidence is overwhelming that none of this is working. As one researcher summed up:

We replicate the variety of tests available in the literature and add the following important test of lockdowns — a before-and-after comparison for over 150 countries, and for one, two, and three months from the date of lockdowns. No matter what the test, the dominant result is that not only lockdowns were not effective, but that, in a large majority of cases, lockdowns were counter-productive i.e. led to more infections, and deaths, than would have been the case with no lockdowns.

UK locked down hard and is now locked again. Sweden never has. Do you see a benefit in terms of preserving life?

The results of lockdowns are event worse if the November 26th announcement of the CDC is accurate:

The record surge in coronavirus cases across the US is likely far worse, with an estimated eight infections unreported for every one infection counted, according to a government report — which would put the true tally closer to 100 million.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calculated that by the end of September there had really been as many as 53 million Americans contract the deadly bug — just under eight times the confirmed cases reported at the time.

 

Of those, the CDC believes about 45 million were sick at some point and about 2.4 million were hospitalized.

Despite all the lockdowns, the masks, the travel restrictions, etc. – the CDC now believes as many as 1/3rd of all Americans have already had COVID-19. And yet, somehow, the vast majority survived, with most Americans never even realizing they had it. Things are changing so fast, that even the chief purveyor of doom, Dr. Fauci, admitted that kids should be back in school.

But when the bishops talk or write, it is as if they are frozen in time. They speak about the virus as if it is a great unknown, and they champion counterproductive measures that have demonstrably failed in the real world. What is it going to take for the bishops to finally wake up and realize they sold their Christian birthrights for a mess of maggoty pottage?

Do All Lives Matter to Jesus?

The bishops tell us to accept the restrictions to protect the “vulnerable,” “our neighbor,” “the least of these,” etc. Rarely have we seen bishops, or their apologists among the Faithful, forthrightly deal with the fact that lockdowns cause severe harm to some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Such harm, in fact, that even if they worked (which they don’t), the “cure” is much worse than the “disease.”

A recent study has shown that as much as 60 percent of Black, Latino, and single-parent families are facing at least one material hardship: difficulty paying for rent, food, utilities, or health care. Overall, 40 percent of all American families are facing these hardships. University of Oregon neuroscientist Philip Fisher, author of the study,  said:

There’s an erosion of well-being that’s directly tied to money and the ability to pay for basic needs. There’s no reason to think people are going to be able to engage in nurturing ways with their kids when they’re worrying about food. This is a perfect storm of toxic stress. With what we know about how vulnerable kids are to stress early in life, it’s just shocking to me the way that it’s all adding up. We’re all going over the edge together.

Families are stressed, broke, and increasingly on edge. Schools are closed, so moms are dropping out of the labor force to care for their kids. During the course of the lockdowns, mothers of children aged 12 and under lost 2.2 million jobs in the United States alone. The losses were concentrated, of course, at lower income levels where life was already difficult enough. Struggling has now become poor, as 39% of households with an income under $40,000 reported a job loss. An additional 8 million Americans slipped below the poverty line as unemployment has sky rocketed, with more lockdowns on the way. Families can’t pay their rent, so as many as 34 million Americans are at risk of eviction.

Kids are replacing in-person activities with screen time that is retarding their social and mental development. It is estimated that over 40% of American adults are struggling with mental health or substance abuse. Many of them are parents with kids at home, which leads to abuse and neglect as the parents find it impossible to cope. Anxiety is rampant. Thoughts of suicide are exploding (especially among the young), as are actual suicides.

Globally, hunger is accelerating with fears that food insecurity has doubled to over 32%. Many families simply can’t afford to feed their children. Over 100,000 businesses have closed permanently in the United States. 1 in 3 restaurants are expected to close permanently while 86% of them have reduced staff. Businesses that once fed and clothed the families of owners and employees alike are now gone, never to return. As the situation worsens, crime (particularly violent crime) is escalating.

Tens of thousands of Americans between 25-44 years old have died from the impact of lockdown measures.  An American in this age bracket is 3.6 times more likely to die from the reaction to COVID than from COVID itself.

The elderly who are past their working years are also suffering. The elderly are most at risk from COVID so nursing homes have attempted to keep them isolated for their safety. The loneliness and isolation has reach such levels that among the elderly, death certificates now read cause of death as “isolation/failure to thrive related to COVID-19 restrictions”. This story on Twitter is an example of one older lady dying as a result of the lockdowns and the effect on her family. Even more frightening, CTV News, Medical Correspondent, Avis Favaro reported that 90-year-old Nancy Russell, died in October 2020 by euthanasia (MAiD) to avoid living through another COVID-19 lockdown. She was not disabled, chronically ill or dying. It is ironic that the restrictions designed to keep the elderly alive are actually making them want to die. Any Orthodox Christian, let alone a bishop, should have seen this situation coming.

Bishops and their apologists often frame those who complain of economic damage as “hard-hearted” or “unloving.” The choice we are told is between “saving lives” and “the stock market” or “mammon” whom we worship in our diabolical desire to murder Granny with COVID-19. These are obviously false dichotomies, and the bishops should be discerning and intelligent enough to see that. While the “benefits” of lockdowns are highly debatable, after 9 months we can see the real devastation they cause. Poverty kills. Isolation of the elderly kills. Hopelessness kills.

The economic effects of the lock downs are felt most acutely among the blue collar employees who can’t work from home. Unlike tech workers, bureaucrats, and theologians – they have to go to a job site everyday to earn the money to survive. These are the people the bishops, especially the Pope, claim to care about. Yet the children, the working poor, and the struggling single moms seem to be totally forgotten as many bishops fall all over themselves to bless this economic catastrophe. Why don’t all of the “least of these” matter to the bishops the way they matter to Christ?

A New Crew for the Ark of Salvation?

Many Christian Bishops (Orthodox and Roman Catholic) provide enthusiastic support for policies that are choking the life out of their flocks. They are aligned with politicians and public health experts that have become notorious for violating their own policies on travel restrictions, quarantines, dining, protests, masks and more. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, within an hour of urging Denver residents to not travel for Thanksgiving, boarded a commercial flight for Mississippi to see family. Governor Cuomo of New York, before he got caught, was planning to bring two daughters and his elderly mother to town for Thanksgiving, despite his own rules against that. We included a section on such hypocrisy in this article.

At the very least, one would expect the bishops to use their prophetic voice to call upon leaders to actually abide by their own rules. Speaking truth to power has been their job historically. But they don’t lecture the powerful. Instead, they lecture us on our obligations to follow the rules those in power make and then ignore with impunity. If any doubts lingered as to the seriousness of this “pandemic,” watching the politicians cavort as if it were 2019 would certainly erase them.

The bishops appear to have learned the usefulness of “kicking down” and “kissing up.” Many of their Faithful have noticed this, of course, and are not amused in the slightest. Much is being discussed in terms of The Great Reset in the global economy, and speculation is rampant as to how involved our Christian Bishops (the Pope above all) are in this effort to turn the world into a giant prison camp. This will be a total change in every aspect of the world from economy to politics to religion.

Among Christians, The Great Reset is provoking talk of the Antichrist. Each day, more technology is unveiled that we fear will be mandatory for us to even participate in society. Mandatory vaccines, immunity passports, digital IDs, implantable nanotechnology, a cashless society, and more. Roman Catholic Archbishop Vigano struck a nerve with his warnings about the use of technology to track and control us. Orthodox monks and bishops around the world are also discussing the current situation in the light of eschatology. The consensus being that we are in the “ramp up” phase to the appearance of the Satanic world order. But while many of the Faithful are in a state of prayerful worry over these developments, so many bishops just go about their business as usual. They either ignore the developing technological and political landscape, or endorse it as has the Pope.

Society is growing restive and increasingly rebellious against the lockdowns and the restrictions. This has already started to bleed over into the Church. The shepherds that are seen as apologists for the tyrannical New World Order will find themselves increasingly short on sheep. Many people around the world are looking for Christian leaders who will stand up for them, and not lecture them on embracing forced poverty, social isolation, and even possible starvation as moral obligations. Christians are looking for leaders who will speak truth to power, and who will demand an end to the trend towards electronically tracking and controlling our lives.  The bishops who stand up will attract enormous numbers of the Faithful. This will happen across jurisdictional lines and, possibly, even across national borders.

There may be a prophecy of this rise of new leadership of the Church from a Saint as spoken to his disciple who is now a famous Orthodox bishop:

Saint Porphyrios said to Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou:

 

“You will see, my son, that when you pass your 50th year [the Metropolitan is now 58 years old] that God has a plan to change the ‘crew’ of the ship.”

 

“I said to him, what do you mean, Geronda, the “crew of the ship”?. . .”

 

“The ship of Christ is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, Orthodox Church. Only this Church.,” he tells me. “Whoever is a ‘captain,’ whether he be a patriarch, an abbot, a priest, a deacon…He will change them if they are not doing their job well. He will allow a variety of events to happen – sicknesses, earthquakes, floods, and a massive war…and after all of this there will come a great peace with the NEW crew of the ship, which Christ will bring. And in the crew it is not only the captains, but also the simple people.”

Is the time for this new crew upon us?

The most important thing to do right now is to separate the bishops from the Gospel. Jesus is not at fault for what is happening to so many innocent people. Failures in miters are. So are their enablers among the Faithful who close their eyes to the harm of the lockdowns. Jesus cares about children and he cares about the poor. The bishops who best exemplify a spirit of Christ-like resistance to oppression will rightly find themselves with millions of tired, rebellious souls to care for. Those bishops bound to this world will reap a bitter and isolated harvest.

The Editorial Staff of Orthodox Reflections