Orthodox Reflections

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

To recap, our Q&A Tour regarding the infamous multiple communion spoons began in Toronto on July 19^th 2020 at the doors of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. During this peaceful vigil, eight people, including his Eminence, Archbishop Sotirios, MPP Christina Mitas and members of the Greek Orthodox laity, met inside to achieve a better understanding as to how and why the multiple communion spoons were imposed in Ontario by the Archdiocese.

During this meeting, his Eminence admitted that his decision to proceed with the multiple communion spoons followed a telephone call with Public Health officials and/or government officials, but that he did not have any written communication of any kind from any level of government or public health office regarding our Communion practices. He even invited the people present at this meeting, to produce such a letter, something which, as a Hierarch of the Church, many would argue was his responsibility prior to imposing such a drastic change to our Communion practice. It can also be argued that a venture to produce such a letter would lead to (what his Eminence already knew) a ‘wild goose chase’ since such a letter would be in direct violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and therefore could not, and did not, exist.

Afterwards, MPP Mitas addressed the crowd and confirmed what many already knew, that there was no Ontario Provinical Law that interfered with Holy Communion practices. However, under the Emergency Act, authority was given to each individual jurisdiction and local public health unit of Ontario to act accordingly. Therefore, MPP Mitas also promised to request an FOI (Freedom of Information) from City of Toronto’s Mayor John Tory that would clarify the City’s legal position and power regarding Communion practices in Toronto.

In actual fact, all Greek Orthodox churches in Ontario had resumed the practice of Holy Communion with the single communion spoon for three Sundays in a row in June while the Emergency Act was still in effect and despite a City of Toronto recommendation that communion services should be fully suspended in all churches. Our communion practice came to an end after someone (we still don’t know who) complained about it to Toronto Public Health. The complaint was followed by a visit to Toronto’s St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church by a public health inspector, at least one phone call between his Eminence Sotirios with a public health and/or government official, no Holy Communion on July 5^th, multiple spoons on July 12^th and phase I of the Q&A Tour at the doors of the Archdiocese on July 19^th, 2020.

Since that time, frustrated Orthodox laity have been trying to get the promised FOI from the City of Toronto with no success. This is not surprising for the following reasons:

First, any written legislation (which is very different from written advice, recommendation or guidance) that interferes with any group’s religious beliefs or practices would be opposed to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This would be cause for litigation at a Supreme Court level and no level of government would want to be involved in such a thing or even appear to violate the religious freedoms of any group, especially in Ontario which is the most ethnically diverse province in Canada. Therefore, the Provincial government washed its hands clean of any such potential problems by giving the local jurisdictions special authorities under the Emergency Act.

Second, the City of Toronto itself, is by far the most ethnically diverse city in all of Canada, and would never want to be viewed as racist or biased against any group’s religious practices. This would be a very bad political move at any government level. Therefore, no local jurisdiction would legislate any changes to anyone’s worship practices. In other words, the local jurisdictions also washed their hands clean of any such potential problems by exerting their authority under the Emergency Act only so far as providing advice, recommendations or guidance, but no form of legislation of anyone’s worship practices was generated or can be enforced as such.

In this manner, any complaints regarding the Province’s Emergency Act are dealt with as follows: If the complaint goes to the Province, the Province redirects the complainant to their local jurisdiction to which special authority was given. If the complaint goes to the local jurisdiction, that office points to the authority given to them by the Provincial Emergency Act. From a liability perspective, it’s a no fault system, but the bottom line is that there is no legislation that requires the use of multiple communion spoons. There is, however, an implicit threat, and this is the premise under which his Eminence Sotirios continues to justify his broad multiple communion spoon imposition.

So, what transpired with our requests to get an FOI? Here is the first email chain which has protected the identity of the parishioner who started it:

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In summary, this first attempt was derailed with the excuse that Councillor Thompson’s office was experiencing a staff shortage and therefore could not provide an FOI which according to my understanding, is the right of any Canadian Citizen to obtain. This office was too busy to address someone’s rights which implies that they did not wish to deal with this matter at all.

Here is another email chain which has also protected the identity of the parishioner. This one got a little further:

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The parishioner who generated the second email chain did telephone the Toronto Public Health Covid-19 Hotline and the summary of the discussion was as follows: Public Health and local government do not police individual churches. Only if there is a Covid-19 case which is traced back to a church, or if someone complains to public health regarding any church, then a public health inspector would investigate that church. If it was found that the Covid-19 case or the complaint was related to the communion practices of that church, or any other practices of that church, then measures would be taken at the discretion of the public health inspector. The individual on the phone could not specify what type of measures would be taken and indicated that these would depend on the individual situation. However, the first measures that would be taken include a visit/inspection by public health to the local church in question, followed by public health “education” at that church.

This parishioner asked specific questions regarding church closures or fines, but the response that was repeated was again, first a visit by a public health inspector, followed by education. After that, if the church failed to comply with the recommendations, the “measures” taken would be individually determined. In other cases where some Greek Orthodox churches in Toronto were found to be above their 30% capacity, those churches where closed by the City the following Sunday but reopened the Sunday after that – a small price to pay, in my opinion, in comparison to desecrating a Holy Communion practice. As indicated in the second email chain, such measures are enforceable by public health, not the government or the police.

In conclusion, therefore, when someone complained to Toronto Public Health regarding the communion practices of Toronto’s Greek Orthodox St. Demetrios Church, prompting a public health inspection, the issue raised only involved that church and not all Greek Orthodox churches of Toronto, of Ontario or of Canada. In addition, when any church is reported to public health for any reason, the first response is an inspection and the first intervention that may follow is education, NOT indefinite church closures or fines, as the Orthodox laity were misled into believing by the Archbishop and some clergy of the Greek Orthodox Church of Canada.

When that someone complained to public health about the communion practices at St. Demetrios, Archbishop Sotirios, could have dealt with the issue locally and pastorally instead of immediately imposing a province-wide multiple communion spoon practice. The possible reasons as to why he did so, have been discussed elsewhere, but this second part of our Q&A Tour strongly indicates that the Orthodox laity in Canada were misinformed, misled and mistreated, not by any level of government or public health office per se, but by our own hierarch. Some say that the Covid-19 crisis has been too good of an opportunity for his Eminence to miss, for the furthering of another agenda. Some even say that the complainant was someone from within the Archdiocese.

May God have mercy on us all.

Irene

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.