We wanted to draw attention to a new statement by the Chancellor and the General Counsel of the Orthodox Church in America. The statement can be found at this link. There must have been some rumors or charges around how the lock down of parishes occurred, because that is mentioned in the second paragraph. No real comment on that, as we don’t have any background, nor do we really want to look into it.
It is worth a read for any Orthodox Christian, but particularly if you are in the OCA or have an interest in that jurisdiction’s affairs. Some of us are in the OCA, while all of us are interested in pan-Orthodox affairs.
Here are some thoughts.
First, we know this is written at least partially by a lawyer, and it is a justification letter for past actions that might have attracted criticism, but good grief is the tone of this thing stern. You can almost picture your least favorite college professor wagging his finger in your face.
You love us, the Orthodox Faithful, remember? Could you at least acknowledge how painful a test this has been for everyone? Maybe the OCA was totally justified in every single action, but the whole thing has been horrible for everyone involved. Compassion would be nice.
It is not just this communication, however. We’ve read quite a few statements and pastoral missives that could be summed up as, “Deal with it.” Some of the laity have been just as bad. We’ve seen online rants in which those having issues coping were called “whiners” and worse. This situation has really hurt a lot of people. So can we be nicer in light of all that pain?
Second, we really appreciate the thoroughness of the statement. Irrespective of the tone, we appreciate the transparency. Kudos on that.
Third, can we do town halls, QA sessions, Reddit AMA’s? It is the 21st Century and we are livestreaming services and doing coffee hour via Zoom. Yet, the OCA has a task force making very important recommendations, and we can’t talk to them. Communication fills in the blank spaces in people’s minds, reduces anxiety, and prevents the growth of bitterness and conspiracy theories. Professionally, many of us do “webinars” with hundreds of attendees and a live question board. Would it be too difficult to have regular updates / Q & A, etc.? A conference call once in awhile? Facebook live?
For most of us, our bishops are not local. In fact, many Orthodox Christians are lucky to see their bishop once every couple of years, and many probably never even meet the ruling hierarch of his / her jurisdiction. Orthodoxy cannot be practiced remotely – livestreaming liturgies proves that. But could we at least use the technology we have to improve communication and get us closer to our hierarchs? There might be less bi-lateral finger wagging that way.
Fourth, here is the summation of the communication:
The Task Force is confident that, with the abatement of the current pandemic, all such regulatory provisions in each of the states will be abandoned and that state intervention in the religious life of all American faith communities will become nothing more than a footnote in history.
In Florida, the OCA parishes are requiring masks (for example) that are not required by the State of Florida. While some businesses are requiring masks, it has been our personal policies not to visit those businesses. For us, the only place we would have to wear a mask in Florida would be at a Divine Liturgy. I am not sure about Georgia or the other states in the Diocese of the South. So does the above quote mean that the requirements in excess of local regulations are going to be relaxed shortly? Or is it going to be on a diocese by diocese basis to keep all parishes aligned? Are local and state regulations the only consideration, or is there a concern for CDC guidelines? Will the decision be made for the OCA alone, or is there going to be coordination?
School will definitely open in Florida in August, so can the OCA parishes get back to altar servers and catechism? We could ask more questions, but the statement is not open for comments or questions. Nor is there a link for questions via email. We appreciate that the statement indicates a desire to return to normal as soon as possible. It would be nice to understand fully what that means.
Finally, we applaud the inclusion of the general counsel on this statement. It was very, very clear that lawyers were involved in crafting the responses of the various Orthodox jurisdictions. Good for the OCA for being transparent on this. While bishops have put forward “Christian love” and various other reasons for how we got here, it has been pretty clear that the legal situation was at least as much of a driving force as Orthodox pastoral concern. We find that level of candor refreshing.
