The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, under the yoke of which many American Orthodox groan, is guilty of a new heresy which can be expressed in two parts. This most recent heresy is what one might call “Religious Covidism”. In my tentative definition for our Orthodox context, Religious Covidism is the unspoken contention that preservation of one’s physical health supersedes the need for one’s spiritual healing.
Preservation of one’s physical health supersedes the need for one’s spiritual healing.
-Religious Covidism I
After a year and a half of an epidemic whose severity has been blown way out of proportion to the actual threat to public health, the hierarchs have made it clear that their devotion to the sacramental life of the Church as handed down by Tradition is only secondary to a fastidious prevention of even the slightest threat of contagion by the novel coronavirus. For a time last year they shut down the parishes entirely. Even when they allowed them to open up, they demanded that each parish follow the strictest of all metropolitan or municipal restrictions. Inconvenient obstacles were put in the way of regular participation in the Divine Liturgy by parish councils who obediently followed all of the guidelines imposed. Access was severely limited to the life-giving sacraments of confession and absolution, and to the medicine of immortality which is the Eucharist. Initiation into the Faith by way of the rites of baptism and chrismation were long delayed. Weddings were rescheduled. By putting up these roadblocks to the mysteries, our hierarchs tacitly indicated that their loyalty to the mandates of the local magistrate trumped their faithfulness to Sacred Tradition. My real suspicion is that the hierarchs were afraid of being sued for liability if anyone blamed a local parish when he got sick.
To be sarcastic, you might say, “Who needs a bishop when you have a mayor to protect you?”
Loyalty to the mandates of the local magistrate trumps the requirement of faithfulness to Sacred Tradition.
-Religious Covidism II
Without so much as stating it outright, the hierarchs have guided our Church from the standpoint of a truly worldly mentality. These two correlating statements are, I would posit, the New Heresy of the Greek Orthodox Church. As if the longer-standing heresies and schisms to which I have heretofore spoken were not already enough for us to deal with, now we have this new heresy. Wonderful. Sadly, some other Orthodox jurisdictions are not exempt from guilt, so it is not just GOARCH’s fault.
Only time will tell whether the hierarchs’ draconian measures have actually saved more lives than they have ruined. Since Covid-19 has a recovery rate of nearly 100% for most people, I seriously doubt it. Too many parishioners have stopped coming to services. There have been too many suicides and cases of depression; too many bankrupted retailers and stressed families to think that the bishops’ reflexive actions have done more good than harm. If we think like true Orthodox, heirs of the Church of the countless martyrs who paid for their salvation by sacrificing their lives before ancient magistrates, then we can only be dubious of our present leadership’s wisdom. May God grant them the humility to repent, although I am not going to hold my breath until they do. May God forgive us all for our mutual responsibility for their present offices.
Lawrence B. Wheeler – Originally published at Handwritings on the Wall
NOTE: As an editorial note, we would like to point out that in the state of Florida, Greek Orthodox parishes are still asking everyone 2 years of age and up to wear masks at Divine Liturgy. This is in accordance with a letter from Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta. The letter, from early August 2021, is still being run in weekly parish bulletins (as of 10/29/2021). Our schools in Florida do not require masks, nor do private businesses. Other Orthodox jurisdictions are unmasked, even the OCA which was almost as bad as the GOA at the height of COVID. In fact, the only place a 2 year-old (or anyone else) in Florida is likely to be forced to wear a mask these days is in the Divine Liturgy at a Greek parish.
Please note in the excerpt below from the Metropolitan’s letter that he considers his first and foremost duty to be the health and safety of his flock. This article is spot on – most hierarchs are completely focused on physical health at the expense of spiritual health. It also appears that even after 19 months of empirical and experimental data to the contrary, that at least some of our hierarchs continue to pretend that masks on toddlers are somehow about “loving your neighbor.”
Good to learn that the people are refusing to play the Covid Endgame any further. The slow awakening for many to the fact that all its rules and privileges are the premise of the concocters and instigators is more than timely.
Sadly, a multitude of voices rise to soothe and lull the Orthodox conscience with arguments that the committed acts of apostasy/heresy/schism/unia-zeitgeist are not really something so significant and serious, and that in the history of the Church such things have also happened before, and most importantly – they are not something concerning the nature of Faith, they are not dogmatic issues. However, Bl. Fr. Seraphim Rose is adamant in his warning:
’’Even as in the days of St. Maximus the Confessor, it (i.e. ecumenical ecclesiology) is a dogmatic issue; for he who commemorates an open heretic, who declares that the Orthodox Church is not the Church of Christ but only a ‘part’ of it (see the Enthronement Address of Patriarch Demetrius), thereby joins himself to his heresy and takes him for his leader on a path whose ruinous outcome is now surely more than evident. ‘‘ –The Zealots of Mount Athos – In: The Orthodox Word, Nr. 46 (1972): pp. 220-223.
This can hardly be put forward more clearly and unambiguously. From Rome’s Vatican II redefinition of the Church in the 1960s [with the then EP’s approval], then as it stands now, this liberal theology is still capable of sending the Orthodox conscience to sleep, although since then the manifestations of apostasy/heresy/schism/unia-ecumenism have become more daring and even shocking: the mutual lifting of anathema between Rome and Constantinople without the formal consultation with other local Orthodox churches, the multiple cases of joint prayers with heretics/schismatics and even communion of Roman Catholics, Protestants and pro-abortion & LGBTQ politicians and clergy in Orthodox and non- Orthodox churches! A picture is worth a thousand words; check these out: https://orthodoxreflections.com/category/ecumenism/
Bl. Seraphim’s deep conviction is that nothing in the Church can be separated from the Truth or be indifferent to it. Furthermore, we shall find the true Church where there is ‘‘striving for righteousness,’’ that is, striving for genuine spiritual life rather than coldness, conformism to the zeitgeist and ‘‘comfortable Christianity’’ or a “Christianity with ease.”
Orthodox Christians must obey God rather than man; they must abide in the immutable Orthodox faith and stay away from those who adjust it to the humanistic spirit of the time.
Bl. Fr. Seraphim, whose sharp mind penetrated the essence of this apostasy, came to the following conclusion:
’’The crisis of Orthodoxy lies in the loss of the savor of True Christianity. This savor has been largely lost not only by the Moscow hierarchs, [remember, this was written in the 70’s] but by most of the Russian ‘dissidents’ as well, as likewise by the ‘Paris’ school of émigré theologians, by the apostate Patriarch of Constantinople and all who follow him, by new calendarists and renovationists and modernists of every sort, and by the simple people everywhere who imagine they are Orthodox because their fathers were or because they belong to a ‘canonical church organization’.’’ –The Catacomb Tikhonite Church 1974, The Orthodox Word, Nov.-Dec., 1974 (59), 235-246.
Holy Orthodoxy and the Church have given us the tools to transform our minds and especially, our hearts. All are contained within Holy Tradition: attending Church, fasting, prayer, the reading of Scripture, the reading of the lives of the Saints, and the teachings of the Fathers –all these things can work to make us holy people. It isn’t enough to just possess the tools, we must actually use the tools if we are to build anything of lasting value.
The world cannot take from us true faith unless we give it freely to it. We are the only ones who can betray ourselves, for if we hold fast to the phroneo of Christ, then nothing can harm us, unless we harm ourselves.
This is why the enemy is working so diligently to seduce everyone, but most especially right-believing Orthodox, to willingly and freely compromise themselves and their faith. Thus, we must understand that there is a war for our phroneo, and we must, by God’s grace, guard it with all our strength. Compromise will mean defeat and even possibly death.
To the nay sayers, read:
Blessed Disobedience or Evil Obedience? Archpriest Theodore Zisis Jun 13, 2019
https://russian-faith.com/explaining-orthodoxy/blessed-disobedience-or-evil-obedience-authors-foreword-n3317
– Author’s Foreword
This article is from Author’s Foreword of the excellent booklet — Blessed Disobedience or Evil Obedience? — written by Archpriest Theodore Zisis. The full booklet is available via these links:
• Author’s Foreword
• Chapter 1 – Immediately After Ecumenism Came Homosexuality
• Chapter 2 – Blessed Disobedience or Evil Obedience?
• Chapter 3 – The Holy Scriptures on Obedience
• Chapter 4 – The Holy Fathers on Obedience
• Chapter 5 – Do We Have the Right to Speak?
Doxa to Theo.
Serious question:
Why does anyone still go to a parish under the Greek Archdiocese? Other than “I like my parish” what could possibly be the reason people remain under these charlatans.
Sure, if it’s the only parish in 100 mile radius, I can get that, but other than that I see no justification.
Just let GOARCH go the way of the Dodo, it’s doing a mighty fine job of that on it’s own.
You didn’t even mention the absolute pinnacle and height of covidism, which was displayed by Bartholomew and Elpidophoros and their creepy Masons/Archons organization, who just gave Albert Bourla, the Jewish head of the criminal Pfizer corporation, a special “Athenagoras award.” This was accompanied by one of the most bizarre and insane speeches from Bartholomew I have ever seen a human being give. The detachment from reality is insane. I’m not exaggerating – https://orthodoxtimes.com/ecumenical-patriarch-presented-the-athenagoras-award-to-three-scientists-who-fight-against-covid-19/
Herman,
You write about a ‘…creepy Masons/Archons organization, who just gave Albert Bourla, the Jewish head of the criminal Pfizer corporation, a special “Athenagoras award”.’
— What is truly a disgrace are not the voices within Orthodoxy that go along with the mainstream narrative, but the ramblings of certain oppositional voices (and it would be a truly frightening prospect if they where to determine the face of the Orthodox Church after all this is over).
There is a certain tradition among certain circles of “Orthodox” “Christians” which should better be buried. Once and for all.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Nilus
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion
(A first step for burying that tradition could be: avoiding that dismal and ridiculous “Orthodox Ethos” website.)
There is another strain of tradition among Orthodox Christians that we should uphold:
https://orthodoxwiki.org/Maria_(Skobtsova)
https://orthodoxwiki.org/Alexander_Schmorell
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fJVijyyGZig
https://www.vaxtestimonies.org/en/
https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/shows/the-jerusalem-report
Obviously the “creepy masons/Archons” is not a Jewish reference as they are, in fact, at least nominally Orthodox. Having published two articles on Masonic influence within the Orthodox Church on this website, it is getting tiring having every reference about Masons being turned into an accused anti-Semitic reference. Bourla could be a Sikh, Orthodox, Hindu, Muslim or Atheist and the award would still be inappropriate. He is the corrupt head of a sociopathic company. We have quoted the work done in opposition to vaccine mandates in Israel many times, including here:
https://orthodoxreflections.com/vaccine-passports-digital-control-and-the-orthodox-christian-fight-for-freedom/
The poster will have to speak for himself, but we took the reference to Bourla’s religion to be frustration over the fact that an Orthodox award is routinely given to non-Orthodox whose associations are not appropriate. That would include Biden, but for us, would equally include pro-abortion “Orthodox” politicians like Sarbanes.
“Bourla could be a Sikh, Orthodox, Hindu, Muslim or Atheist and the award would still be inappropriate.”
Indeed. So I wondered for what purpose the poster mentioned that he is Jewish.
Our hope is that he is just frustrated with the parade of corrupt non-Orthodox (and mor then one corrupt Orthodox TBH) who get this award. We have lodged complaints over this award directly to Karloutsos multiple times. The people honored have been a veritable rogues’ gallery. Karloutsos is gone, but the pain continues.
I can’t believe that we can’t have an adult conversation amongst Christians without someone coming along whining like you are. It’s obvious to anyone but the most ignorant or blind that yes, there is an open Jewish/Zionist conspiracy to take over the world, in order to bring about the Jewish Messiah aka Antichrist to rule over us from his throne in a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. This vaccine drive/Great Reset is a depopulation agenda to kill off many undesirables, and enslave as much of the world population as possible in order to make rebellion impossible. This has all been explained to us by the Holy Fathers, it’s nothing new, and shouldn’t be controversial for Orthodox people to discuss, except for groups like the ADL threatening to throw people in jail for “hate speech” if we talk about it. This issue is too serious to get politically correct over. Bourla is a Jewish head of an incredibly corrupt pharmaceutical company that has been convicted of multiple felonies and is currently trying to inject CHILDREN with a dangerous experimental drug, and our supposed “first among equals” is rewarding him for this. It’s enough to make me sick. I can’t believe I’m witnessing this actually unfolding in my lifetime. So yes, the fact that he is Jewish is extremely significant, as is the fact that Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Gamelaya in Russia, etc. etc. etc. are run by Jews. Not Hindus or Sikhs, but specifically Jewish people. I’m sorry if this is uncomfortable for you, but face the facts. This is not racism, it is an acknowledgment of the eschatological reality which began when the Jews rejected Christ and crucified Him, and began searching for another. And your slandering of the Orthodox Ethos website is not appreciated – Fr Peter Heers is risking everything in order to bring this material to us, to enlighten us, to wake us up, to help us reach salvation. He is truly a light shining in the dark right now, one of the only visible members of the clergy standing up against this satanic tyranny. God bless you and may He give us strength to face the trials to come.
Covid, also known as “cash cow”. They’ll keep it going till cow is no longer profitable.
I used to attend a GOA parish but since May of 2020 I go to a ROCOR parish. That would be where to go if I were you. My former parish now is open but I think they would close down again at the next crisis which is why I won’t go back.
Pam Irein, I have been attending Saturday vespers at the ROCOR parish on the windward side of our island. I’ve discovered a greater sense of freedom, peace and devotion there. On the other hand, the preoccupation with Covid protocols at my Greek parish has now trained us to react with alarm at public contagions. As you say, I don’t doubt at all that they will close down again when the next crisis comes.
Thank-you, Lawrence. Although I do not regret converting from Catholicism, I’ve come to realize that I don’t know who is more a disgrace to their office, Catholic hierarchs or Orthodox hierarchs. GOD BLESS
Stephen, I share your concern. Years ago, I used to attend Catholic masses with my wife, but I just couldn’t bring myself to convert to Catholicism since I was so scandalized by the other crisis in their sphere. I hope you won’t be too discouraged by what is happening in Orthodoxy.
“It is VERY discouraging. And I am absolutely convinced that after 20 months of these actions, returning to “normal” won’t happen because habits (innovations) have come to stay.”
Athanasia, that is my concern, too. Whether by intention or not, we have been conditioned…one might say “reeducated”…to think and act out of fear of a disease that is treatable and rarely fatal. It’s a type of hypochondria that is not a healthy development for our parishes. Bold Christians mustn’t cower in these circumstances. Let’s shake this off and press forward.
Thanks for letting us know that “the shoe is on the other foot” in your area. I.e., the Greeks are more liberated than the “Russo-Americans”. Go figure. Do you plan to switch over to the Greek parish?
Lawrence, I have no plans to jump anywhere at this time. I do, however, plan to visit other parishes in my local area just to go out an about for spiritual edification.
I know parishes outside Florida who are under Alexios and mask free. I’m curious why churches in one of the most free states are requiring masks. The GOA hierarchs requiring masks are anathema.
The Greek parish in my neighborhood is wide open: fellowship, no masks, one spoon for the Holy Eucharist, no distancing, Sunday school is open, etc., etc.
However, the OCA parish has no coffee hour/ fellowship, no in-person adult education, no in-person meetings, masks are required to enter the church and worship, no kissing icons and multiple spoons to serve the Holy Eucharist. This inspite of the bishop’s directive/blessing to “open up”. The caveat? “As you feel comfortable.” The priest obviously doesn’t feel safe or comfortable, contrary to his words that “people are still afraid to come to church.”
No amount of talking, pressing, current articles on the decline of the virus, nothing will convince him.
As someone said to be, “He cares for those who afre fearful. How is he caring for those of us who are hopeful?”
It is VERY discouraging. And I am absolutely convinced that after 20 months of these actions, returning to “normal” won’t happen because habits (innovations) have come to stay.
I pray for him every day. I feel very sad that he is so afraid.
Moving to Florida soon. I know for sure that we will not be attending a Greek parish.