Orthodox Reflections

– Contributed by Archpriest Geoffrey Korz, an Orthodox priest in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

We Must Learn Spiritual Lessons – Not Just Smile Silently and Move On

Recently, I traveled to a Church meeting in Canada, at which a major event for Orthodox faithful and clergy was being planned. This major event was to be the first such event since the three-year Covid lockdowns and related measures.

Expecting to find something on the agenda related to the effect of Covid and its impact on the faithful of the Church, I was surprised when I could locate nothing of the kind in the draft notes. As it turned out, I was mistaken, and had misread the agenda: during the planned four day event, we were scheduled to receive a thirty minute presentation on the subject, followed by fifteen minutes of questions.

The title of the item was, Good News from the Coronavirus Lockdown.

Good News? Really?

Of course, the lockdowns were anything but good news, especially for Christians, and especially in Canada. Naturally the title was puzzling.

I suggested this important question called for a fulsome conversation at our upcoming event, to discuss the lessons we have learned, and the mistakes which had been made.

I suggested the excellent study and report by the Assembly of Bishops in the United States, How the Pandemic Has Reshaped American Orthodox Christian Churches, might be an ideal starting point for comparisons, since the United States had both states with strict measures and those with more lenient ones (Canada had only strict ones). The study surveyed hundreds of parishes and clergy across the United States, and provided scores of objective insights from which our faithful and clergy could learn.

I suggested that, in light of the fact that the lockdown – lived over years, not weeks or months – was the most traumatic event for our faithful in a generation (and possibly, since the Second World War), it would be pastorally unwise to gloss it over, to wave it away as nothing, and to act as if the impact of it was fleeting and spiritually insignificant.

I clearly misread the room.

Most of my Canadian brethren at the meeting wanted to avoid the “negativity” coming out of the Church in the United States, where many American faithful had expressed anger against some bishops and priests as a result of measures taken during the lockdown.

There was a desire not to stir up emotions, which may have calmed down by now. Such a desire is naïve at best – especially at times when the world has been turned upside down, when false news rules the day, when it is as foolish for anyone now as it was for those living at the time of the Prophet Jeremiah to say, Peace, peace; when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6:14). Too much has happened.

In true Canadian fashion, there was a desire to avoid any “radical” opinions – much as the Canadian government had tried to do in our national capital during the truckers protest of 2022, in that case through arrest and freezing bank accounts.

One person present voiced the audacious view that everything during the Covid lockdown was good. “Everything… was good?” I asked, just to clarify, assuming I had heard him incorrectly.

“Yes – everything was good.”

Apparently he was living in an alternate reality.

During the Covid lockdowns in Canada, I can think of no faithful Orthodox Christian who could have listed anything that was good. On the contrary, the experience tested the faith of everyone – not because of the virus, but because of the lockdowns, and the divisions and distrust between the faithful caused by them.

More from Archpriest Geoffrey (Scroll Down to Continue)

Yet in hindsight, we remember that all things work together for good for those who love God (Romans 8:28). In light of this, and with the Covid lockdowns in our rearview mirror, let us consider some of the lessons that came out of the oppressive months of the lockdowns:

1. God revealed parishes that trust in Him, and those that trust in secular science. A multitude of Orthodox parishes took the unprecedented step of closing their doors during the Covid lockdown, isolating both sick people and the healthy majority from the holy services. None of the Church Fathers saw this, even during plagues. Rather, they assembled for the holy services, and prayed that God would deliver His people from death – or save the souls of those who perished. The opposite advice was taken from secular public health “experts” – completely ignoring every precedent from Holy Tradition and the experience of the saints who have governed the Orthodox Church since Apostolic times. Not surprisingly, the news continued to report panic-causing statistics every day. While many parishes flew into masquerade fever over masking during the holy services at the start of the lockdown, the most hysterical continued to insist on these disguises in perpetuity – some doing so even after their bishops had directed an end to the absurd practice. Others stationed sentries to prevent the faithful from venerating icons – in direct contradiction of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. (Presumably, these parishes will not need to celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy and the Triumph of the Holy Icons ever again, since they have declared this an optional practice). When secular science trumps Orthodoxy, weirdness wins. The lockdown shed a light on this faith in so-called “science” over faith in Christ and His Church.

2. God revealed false friends. Many Orthodox Christians assumed other faithful and clergy would be there for them in times of need, defending them if they were ever accused of something, or in jeopardy of losing their means of making a living. The Covid litmus test changed all that, and revealed those who cowardly remained silent when times got tough. Even more, the events of the lockdown brought to light those Church leaders who were willing to lend their voices to state propaganda, and to have that state propaganda used in thousands of firings from jobs of Orthodox faithful who would not comply with untested gene therapies. Now we know where such people stand, and this is a good thing, even though it has cost many Orthodox Christians lifelong friendships that were sacrificed to state loyalties and saving public face.

3. It is good to know which of our clergy are willing to claim medical knowledge about untested medicines, especially when those claims will gain the approval of the authorities – even when those clergy have no expertise at all. The Church has had these experiences before, of course, from the time of the Sadducees who conspired with the Romans, to the more recent Living Church leaders who conspired with the Soviets. When times are easy, the faithful of the Orthodox Church assume no one among them would adopt an ideology foreign to the faith of Christ. When times turn tough, however, divisions in the Church reveal both the enemies of Christ and His faithful, just as the Apostle said they would (1 Corinthians 11:19). This is important to know, especially since such circumstances can and will arise in the future. Such people can publically acknowledge the mistakes they have made, and be reconciled to their brethren in the Church, or silent estrangement can be maintained. Time will tell.

4. The lockdowns revealed those bishops and clergy who were willing to fight for their Orthodox brethren, and those who would throw them under the bus. Hundreds – perhaps thousands – of Orthodox Christians in Canada objected to taking the Covid shot because of its connection to the abortion industry. In almost every case, employers used the public statements of a few North American Orthodox bishops and priests to rule against religious exemptions for these faithful employees, and to justify their firing. Such situations were spiritually very good for the faithful, forcing them to draw close to God and His saints, and to the prayers of the faithful – to reject such apostate bishops and priests, and to leave their churches. The Report of the Assembly of Bishops tells this story in technicolour, as do the annual financial statements of certain Orthodox jurisdictions, who faced financial abandonment by their faithful. While a few hierarchs forbade their priests from writing letters of pastoral support for such faithful in their time of need, scores of other priests wrote hundreds of letters of support, saving the jobs of many faithful at a time those faithful needed it most. If times of division come upon the Church again, as seems likely, one can only imagine these faithful will remember those who were shepherds, and those who were wolves. That is a good thing.

5. God revealed Orthodox clergy who become papal and heavy-handed under pressure. The lockdowns saw some governments try to enforce the tracking of movement, as well as limiting or stopping the distribution of the Holy Mysteries. Some jurisdictions even implemented vaccine apartheid in their parishes, banning those without vaccine passports from entering church buildings. In light of the many truths revealed in the aftermath of the lockdowns, such churches might publically state to their faithful that such moves were an error in judgement, and that taking such unprecedented steps during a period of great testing and pressure marked a sign of human failing. This would be an example of repentance for the faithful, one which might even draw back some who have left the Church. If the report by the Assembly of Bishops in the United States, How the Pandemic Has Reshaped American Orthodox Christian Churches, is correct, however, the faithful who have left are gone for good, along with their donations and their children. The Orthodox Church will grow elsewhere, in places which are spiritually healthy – and in these spiritually dead places, unwilling to speak openly about their mistakes, it will die.

6. Our college-aged faithful – like other religious young people – also learned which of their leaders stood with them during the lockdowns. Most schools in Canada expelled those who refused, because of conscience, to submit to the untested shots, despite the relative lack of Covid risk to their age group and the demonstrated heart risk to young males. Once again, the statements of certain Orthodox leaders were used by colleges and universities as a grounds to expel such students. In Canada, one court appeal even decided on this basis that such claims were not religious, that they were a “political” statement, placing in jeopardy the capacity for Orthodox Christians and others on campuses to exercise their religious freedoms in the future – a result in part of the careless ramblings of a few approval-seeking false shepherds. These students who lost their academic years were blessed with a formative experience, one that gave them an insight into the kind of bishops and priests one should seek out in the Church – and the ones they should avoid.

7. God continues to reveal those who make excuses for the explosion of unexplained deaths of young people, and the skyrocketing suicide rates. Active clergy have a unique opportunity to speak with funeral directors, and any honest ones will tell you about the massive increase in deaths since the experimental cure some Orthodox mouthpieces advocated during the lockdown. This advocacy was irresponsible: clergy were not speaking of that which they knew, and even medical “experts” were speculating about experimental treatments, under conditions of public panic. Yet many clergy were also swept away by this panic, and offered endorsements with certainty, where they should have remained silent. Some tried to sidestep the matter, advising their faithful to consult their doctors – while knowing full well the advice the doctors would give. Such “spiritual” advice was fallacious, and marked another example of a time priests and bishops should have at least remained silent, if not sounding words of caution. In some cases, endorsements led to people taking shots which may have led to premature deaths. Having stood over the deceased bodies of such people and watched their loved ones weep over the effects of such ill-advised choices, one can only hope such Church leaders – wildly eager to jump on the trends of government certainties – will now make public repentance for their very foolish endorsements of untested gene therapy “cures”. If they would like to publically debate the matter, however, I would be happy to escort them to the graves of those who died – graves that speak louder than words to the losses that remain with us.

There is an old saying, if you cannot say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Here in Canada, many people live by such an adage, often to the point of avoiding the truth.

But silence does provide one opportunity, which our Orthodox faith teaches us. Silence provides us the opportunity to pray, to repent, and to reconcile. If it is used responsibly, the silence left to us in the wake of the Covid lockdown can be a time of great lessons for Orthodox Christians, and a time for great reconciliation for those in the Church. Broken friendships can be rebuilt, trust can be rejuvenated, and the integrity of leaders who made mistakes can be rehabilitated – if repentance comes first.

It is the very nature of the Orthodox Church to keep alive memories – especially the most painful ones. The memory of the witness of the martyrs of Christ is kept alive in each feast and service of the Church. The memory of the Death and Resurrection of Christ is revisited each Holy Week and Pascha.

What a loss it would be if the silent aftermath of the Covid lockdowns were used to try to forget the sins of a very evil time, to bury sins rather than repenting of them, and to charge unprepared into the future only to repeat them.

– Archpriest Geoffrey Korz is an Orthodox priest in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.