Orthodox Reflections

So many politicians have been violating their own COVID rules that it seems as if hypocrisy itself is on a national tour. By now, even casual observers of current events are aware of Governor Newsome’s maskless dinner party at a fancy French restaurant. Newsome dined with a large group including members of the state medical establishment, despite having admonished Californians to limit Thanksgiving festivities. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser traveled to Delaware for a Biden victory party, but didn’t follow her own quarantine protocols upon return. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced new lockdowns, even though the previous week she had been whooping it up maskless on the street with a huge crowd to celebrate Joe Biden’s apparent election. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards loves to visit country clubs, pandemic be damned. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock tweeted orders to city resident to stay home while at the airport getting ready to board a flight. Austin, Texas, Mayor Steve Adler spent a week vacationing in Mexico in early November after telling residents of his city to stay home and “not relax.” And recently, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo was seen maskless, in close quarters with others, at wine and paint night in a Providence area bodega.

These are just some of the hypocritical highlights from the political upper echelons. There are many more examples of mask and social distancing hypocrisy. One of the most prevalent would have to be called, “mask theater.” That is when a politician, spokesman, or journalist dons a mask only for the time the camera is rolling. An example of this is seen in the video to the left (click image to watch as 2 million others already have). In this example, the government spokesman is clearly maskless behind the stage. He puts it on only to walk out and be seen by the audience and cameras. Simply put – this man does not walk around behind-the-scenes wearing this mask. It is only for show. And he is by no means alone.

According to all the important people, COVID is a dangerous disease, we have to take “common sense” precautions that work, and we have to follow the rules or we risk killing our grandmothers. These points are incessantly echoed by our own Orthodox (and Roman Catholic) bishops like OCA Metropolitan Tikhon, “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.”

Follow the rules, or you are an unloving person risking yourself and others!  Jesus would wear a mask.

Only, as the above instances of hypocrisy indicate, those who make and defend the rules are clearly not following them. They aren’t wearing masks. They aren’t staying home. They aren’t hiding in their closets afraid they are asymptomatic super spreaders who will wipe out untold numbers of vulnerable old people. So that brings up a serious question – What do those in power and close to power know that the hysterical, overwrought general public doesn’t?

With a 99.7% survival rate, is COVID-19 really not that big of a deal? After all, the impact of the virus is largely concentrated in those over 70, with the most vulnerable being in long term care facilities (1% of the population but 40% of reported deaths). Maybe the elites realize that they are not really in any danger? Perhaps the powerful realize that masks and social distancing don’t work? Or, could the already powerful be simply using the virus as a pretext to seize even more power? Suppose we are actually seeing the rise of a new elite class for whom rules just don’t apply? After all, none of these hypocrites has paid any real price for their actions. Accountability must only be for the little people. 

One thing is for sure, not one of these hypocrites looks suicidal or out to kill their friends and family.

The widespread hypocrisy makes us wonder – where is the prophetic voice of the Church? Christ had much to say about hypocrites. Our Lord was not tolerant of those who would lay a yoke upon others that they would not bear themselves. The Church should insist that our rulers bear the same burdens as those over whom they rule. After all, these restrictions are unsustainable, inhuman, and cruel – as anyone forced to live under them can attest. Strangely, the Church in the form of her bishops has been remarkably silent about the hypocritical behavior of the ruling elite.

Why? Fear of retribution, perhaps? Many of the worst hypocrites are also the most apt to seek vengeance for even minor slights. But could there be more to it than that? Is it possible that important clergy are hypocrites as well – wanting to signal virtue while being fully aware that it is all theater?

The images below are part of a Tweet from St. Vladimir’s seminary. Notice that everyone, bishop included, was masked during the liturgy. As soon as the liturgy was over, off came the masks for a group picture. It was so vitally important to wear masks around the Table of the Lord, but the same people can huddle together maskless moments later to get a picture memorializing the first liturgy of a new priest.

COVID is evidently kind enough not to spread when posing for pictures. This is Metropolitan Tikhon’s Seminary (OCA). Does he know that these clergy don’t love their brothers and are willing to kill them by not wearing masks?

The day before Thanksgiving, Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Archdiocese issued a video subtly called Wear a Mask. In the video, His Eminence said, “I wear a mask, not as a statement but as an act of love. Love for my fellow human being. There are many vulnerable in our community. People who need our care and our concern. We can protect one another by this simple act of kindness and altruism. We must observe the instructions for social distancing and bear the burden of temporary separation so that we can come together again in the future in health and wellness.”

After such an emphatic statement, it was jarring to see the following Tweet from a GOA priest showing the Archbishop visiting a frail, elderly woman with no mask and no social distancing.

Now, we actually support him doing this. The woman has Alzheimer’s and might not be long for this world. The Archbishop was right to visit her, and right not to ruin that visit by wearing a mask. He was also right to comfort her physically and to cheer her and her family up in a difficult time. But the problem with this is – how many priests have been stopped from extending exactly this kind of mercy to others? How many priests, following their bishops’ instructions, have avoided close contact with the elderly because it was deemed too dangerous? The Archbishop did not lay out exceptions to his mask and social distancing policies in his video, or in any of his other communications that we can find. His statements seemed pretty direct and without any caveats to us  – if you love your neighbor, wear a mask and social distance. Unless you make the rules like His Eminence does, in which case your discretion is to be trusted.

Many other examples of clerical hypocrisy have been reported to us. Priests giving sermons on the importance of masks, only to be photographed later at cookouts among hundreds of people with nary a mask in sight. Priests telling everyone to socially distance at liturgy, then seen mingling at weddings or sporting events with not a care in the world. Clergy of all levels passively accepting church limits and closures, only to be seen out shopping at box stores with thousands of other people.

Meanwhile in Orthodox parishes, the Faithful are arguing, sometimes viciously, over masks, social distancing and lock downs. Some parishioners are turning into Orthodox Karens, trying to police other people’s mask and social distance compliance. Others are leaving masked-up parishes for ones that do not have such requirements. Some people are skipping church altogether. Potential catechumens are confused, wondering is this really the Church of Christ who conquered death by death? All the while, pro-mask parishioners accuse others of not loving people or understanding the Orthodox Faith, while anti-maskers accuse the other side of giving in to hysteria and falling for a hoax.

This disunity cannot continue. All of us, bishops and laity alike, need to understand that the current situation has been hopelessly politicized. The public health establishment has been a grotesque mass of contradictions, and government officials at all levels seem to be leveraging the “crisis” for their own gain. It is time for the Church to make her own policies concerning the pandemic, and to call out hypocrisy everywhere as needed.

During this process of discerning a new path, we ask the Church (clergy and laity) to keep the following facts in mind:

COVID-19 is no longer “novel.”

We have been dealing with it for over 10 months. Millions have been infected and already recovered. Thousands of doctors have successfully treated patients. There are vaccines now available. Continuing to argue that “we don’t understand” the virus or that there are no treatments, etc. is no longer justified. We know who is at risk, and we know who isn’t. Forcing the 99% who are not at risk to abide by stringent rules is arbitrary, unsustainable, and unlivable. The hypocrisy of the powerful shows this to be the case. It is time for the Church to lead the way back towards normality for the vast majority of her flock.

Masks and social distancing as policies are predicated on the danger of “asymptomatic” spread.

Before things went crazy, asymptomatic spread had never been taken seriously as a driver of transmission. As Dr. Fauci said in a January 28 press conference, “Even if there is some asymptomatic transmission, in all the history of respiratory viruses of any type, asymptomatic transmission has never been the driver of outbreaks.”  This is powerfully confirmed by a new meta-analysis published in JAMA by researchers in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and the Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. The study found a massive gap between primary transmitters who were symptomatic and those who were asymptomatic. Those with symptoms wound up transmitting the virus to household members 18% of the time, while those who were asymptomatic transmitted to just 0.7% of household contacts. That is 0.7% in the home, where you are going to be way more intimately connected to others than in Church, at a small business, in a restaurant, etc.  Realistically, if you are under 70, then your chance of dying from the virus after casually meeting with people who have no symptoms is 0.00035%, or 1 in 285,714. Stop worrying about killing people in Church by not wearing a mask. It is not going to happen. You are not loving your neighbor by wearing a mask. It is not a moral issue. Wear the mask, don’t wear the mask, but please for the Love of Our Lord and Savior we need to ditch the mandates and stop arguing over this topic. The witness of our Faith is harmed by this internal division.

Not only are masks and social distancing not needed, they don’t even work.

Below is a chart showing the difference in rate of hospitalizations between Florida and California. The states are polar opposites. Florida has no mask mandate and very few restrictions of any kind. California has been continuously under restrictions for almost 10 months and has 90% mask compliance. See for yourself. Again, we have been dealing with this virus for months now, and we have results on-the-ground we did not have in March. Time to rethink our assumptions. Most transmission is happening in the home, in long term care facilities, or other places where people are intimately packed-in together for long periods of time. Churches and small businesses are not the culprits here. Putting masks on parishioners/customers and limits on numbers will not help “slow the spread.”

Up to 97% of the people testing positive for COVID don’t actually have it.

The limitations of the PCR test are well-known. Its inaccuracy has been proven in court, and in multiple studies. The developer of the test criticized using it as a diagnostic tool prior to his death. Many doctors routinely denounce our current testing methodology as inaccurate and only designed to cause panic. While the general public seems unaware of this, it is apparent that the powerful understand the situation quite clearly. That understanding surely factors into their blasé attitude toward their own rules. They are in on the game. The Church should be “wise as serpents” to see truth behind the “case” number hysteria.

The total number of deaths credited to COVID is highly suspect.

As Tucker Carlson reported, “It seems entirely possible that doctors are classifying conventional pneumonia deaths as COVID-19 deaths. That would mean this epidemic is being credited for thousands of deaths that would have occurred if the virus never appeared here.” This tracks with previous reports of deaths from accidents, gunshots, heart attacks, etc. being reported as “COVID.” As noted, this entire fiasco of a “crisis” has been politicized. It is time for Orthodox Christians to quit hammering each other about how many people have died, as we don’t know that with any precision, and instead come together and move forward.

There are millions of people in this country, including more than a few Orthodox, who will never let go of this crisis.

They are all-in for the team. This “crisis” gives them purpose. It assigns meaning to their natural busybodiness. Never have they been able to let their inner Karen fly so free and be rewarded for it. Never have they felt so effortlessly virtuous as when they strap on a mask to go to Church or buy groceries. They believe that we face a grave health threat, and that each and every word from the mouths of “experts” on TV is to be taken as if carved on stone tablets by the very finger of God. Their compliance with COVID rules is a literal matter of life and death. They cannot be reached by logic or reason. They don’t listen to any opinions that contradict the official narrative. Perhaps they could be reached by bold, apostolic action, but even that is doubtful in many cases. This is, practically speaking, a new religious movement.  One that is incompatible with Holy Orthodoxy, a fact that will become apparent if the Bishops ever come to their senses. For now, accept that arguing with an Orthodox Branch Covidian is a waste of time, and is likely only to cause you to fall into sin. If you are a reasonable person, stick to talking to other reasonable people and pray for the others.

We can’t wait this out.

From the beginning of the “pandemic,” the experts have used hope for a return to normality as a weapon to keep us compliant. At first it was 15 days to flatten the curve. Then 30 days to slow the spread. Then the goal became to wait for good treatment options. When doctors began to successfully treat even tough cases, it became all about a vaccine. Now we have a vaccine, but still we must continue to lock down, treat others as infectious bags of disease, and wait for some magical day when St. Fauci will bless us to resume our lives. The public health and political establishments (much overlap there) are already talking about requiring masks and other restrictions all the way through 2021. If we “trust the experts,” we will not be going back to normal any time soon.

We must demand a return to normal and the Church must play a role in getting there.

People of God – stop fighting over masks and social distancing! Stop trying to make complying with arbitrary and unnecessary rules into a Christian moral obligation. Stop skipping liturgy. Go to Church without a mask if you feel like it, and then let the chips fall where they may. Sign the petition in favor of vaccine freedom and freedom of Orthodox Worship.

It is time for us to be the Orthodox Church again, in all her fullness and glory!

Nicholas – member of the  Western Rite Vicariate, a part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in America, a COVID refugee from the GOA