In March of 2020, we were admonished by hierarchs and clergy to “take care of each other” by masking and social distancing if we had to go out, but otherwise to obey the public health directives to stay home and “stay safe”. We were told that this was following Scripture, and the gospel. That closing our churches was the Christian thing to do because we are to obey the governing authorities and because we would be helping slow the spread of this plague.
I remember the dictum back in the 80s when we were told by various theologians and pastors that it was not the Christian thing to do to sit down and block the entrances of abortion clinics to prevent abortions from occurring on any given day. Because we were trespassing. The question is – if there is ever a time when a Christian disobeys the governing authorities? To my mind, there is: when the governing authorities forbid us to do what Christ asked us to do, and when the governing authorities require us to do what Christ said we should not do.
Our hierarchs and clergy told us that we must obey the pubic health directives. They expressed their commitment to the public health directives, and some even went so far as to threaten withholding the Eucharist from those who were lax in complying. Something about this has felt off to me from the git-go. There was something that felt wrong about it, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was — other than the fact that after awhile it was clear that the directives had no relationship to science, even though that was the mantra — to “follow the science”. And now that we have read Dr. Fauci’s emails, it is clear that even he knew that there was no scientific basis for any of the restrictions imposed.
In my mind, over the last 15 months, I have questioned, “Why didn’t our hierarchs and clergy know that? Why were they so blindly wedded to a narrative that had no basis in reality?” So now hierarchs and clergy are exulting over the end of the restrictions, praising parishioners and congratulating Christians who “laid down a part of our lives for our friends.”
Those who did so were following Scripture and “the gospel”. The Scripture that I personally heard used was Romans 15 — where it says we “who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” That verse was the reference used to support the idea that we must make it possible for parishioners who are physically weak and/or vulnerable to the plague to attend services. That meant an absolute mask requirement, social distancing enforced by actual marks in the worship space where households could stand, and a rigid adherence to a very limited number of people allowed to sign up for and attend services.
The other verse was from John 15 — that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for his friends. Both of those Scripture passages are confusing to me when applied to the public health directives. They just don’t make sense. I could be wrong, but my understanding of the first reference was that we should be careful of our brothers and sisters in Christ who have weaker *faith*, or who have some hesitation about the propriety or morality of a certain course of action. Maybe you *could* apply it that way if fellow parishioners were hesitant about masking or social distancing or NOT masking or social distancing…? But I never heard it interpreted that it was referring to those who are physically weaker or vulnerable to disease.
As for the second reference, I don’t quite get how staying at home and staying safe is laying down one’s life for one’s friends. Unless it means being willing to allow your business to go bankrupt, or willing to forego making a living. But that would mean that you would have to believe that you can transmit the plague even if you aren’t physically sick. We were told that early on, of course. However, in one of Fauci’s recently uncovered emails, he downplayed if not dismissed the possibility of asymptomatic transmission.
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The admonition that complying with these public health directives was following “the gospel” was also mystifying. What gospel is that? That sounds like a social gospel, maybe. But not THE Gospel. In one of his epistles to the Corinthians, St. Paul articulated the Gospel I am familiar with:
“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
How would following these public health directives relate to that Gospel? Overnight, it suddenly occurred to me — and I don’t know why it took me this long to figure it out — what it was that has nagged at me about obeying these public health directives. Obeying them, in fact, has been to disobey what Christ said Christians should do — if we don’t want to be one of the goats:
“Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.”
Isn’t *that* what we should have been doing all this time? Shouldn’t we have been visiting the sick and the dying in hospitals and nursing homes? (That was not allowed. We were forbidden to do what Christ said we should do.) Shouldn’t we have been going out into the streets, if necessary, to feed the hungry and help the homeless find shelter? Shouldn’t we have been visiting people in prison, especially if they had contracted this plague? Comforting the family and friends of those who succumbed to this plague?
What did Christians do during past plagues? I’m pretty sure they went out and cared for the sick. They built hospitals, too, if I’m not mistaken. Shouldn’t we have been delivering food to shut ins? And maybe even helping people find some of the treatments for this plague that have emerged that could keep them out of the hospital? I have a very special friend who did that for me when I was sick with this plague just this past April. She sent me a nutraceutical that some doctors are using to treat their plague patients. She paid for it and had it shipped to me.
Somehow I don’t think that cowering at home and staying safe is laying our lives down for our friends. Much less fulfilling the Gospel.
Sophia – member of the Orthodox Church in America
How best to loosen watchfulness, then to first constrain and distract, and then announce “freedom”. Now is the time to be even more increasingly watchful of “innocent” infiltrations and RENOVATIONS in “relief” , “mercy”, and “joy”(not on the *surface) related to the global banker IMF, WEF, Blackrock, Klaus Shwab, NATO,UN etc. Satanic PLAN-demic) Many tentacled , well-funded LEGIONS are sneaking in.
Is anyone seeing any bishops backtrack (repent) of former decisions to mask, lock down, and endorse vaccines? Just wondering what is going on out there. Are any churches still in lockdown? Still masking children?
We have not seen any repentance, but at at least Archbishop Mark of Philadelphia and Eastern America (Orthodox Church in America) in a statement actually acknowledged that the lockdown, masking, and other measures actually had negative consequences. So that is a start of sorts:
https://orthodoxreflections.com/vaccine-passports-digital-control-and-the-orthodox-christian-fight-for-freedom/
If the parishes that have “no masks for the vaccinated policies” are enforcing them, then kids under 12 have to still be masked. That is a great question though, as to where it is happening in real life and where it is just policy. You can’t pretend your toddler is vaccinated, since it is not approved (yet, they are trying). It would be interesting to hear from someone, especially in the Greek Archdiocese, as to whether the kids are still in masks or if they are simply ignoring the policy set forth by their bishops.
That is a key verse you quoted regarding the sheep and the goats. The actions we were ordered to obey by the demon authorities of this world and our own Church authorities is outrageous, inhumane, faith destroying and not showing love. These actions caused a lot of miserable deaths. Imagine, locking elderly people in their rooms, not permitted to have a visit from loved ones, under constant threat of getting a killer plague and being killed by it! People could not even attend funerals! I have not and will not obey such rules. Why really did so many Bishops and priests ‘play along’ with the secular orders? This is an agenda being played out and it isn’t going to end. Wait until people start to realize there was no virus. It was all a well-orchestrated psychological operation to force compliance and bring in their new world order.
Any diocese, hierarch, church, or clergyman that has ever been taken to court for an action done in the capacity of their rank or in governing the church, sure knows how the government works, especially the younger generation of clerics that have replaced the ones who have reposed. There is almost no one now from the Old Country. They know all about their protected First Amendment rights because it’s the one they roll out from the outset. It’s very sad that not one of them said anything for our sakes when it came to this past year.
I think many orthodox hierarchs also misunderstand how our government works, not to mention the ones that introduced Covidian liturgical practices even when the government didn’t ask them to do. We have a constitution with a First Amendment that prohibits interference with free exercise of religion. That amendment is above any individual person or directive in the government. Sometimes government officials act outside their authority. We do not need to obey all laws. Have orthodox hierarchs never taken a class on government? Orthodoxy isn’t that dissimilar from how the government works, as we have the holy tradition. Not every directive that comes from a bishop is in harmony with the tradition. The laity do not have to obey unconstitutional laws, obey laws contrary to our faith, or obey when hierarchs introduce nontraditional innovations in worship like excluding laity, social distancing, masking, prohibiting veneration of icons, et al. I think they just want us to move on as if nothing happened last year. How is that possible? We learn from experience and this has been a life changing experience. You repent when you sin and you grow. If we as a church brush off what we did without repenting, individually or collectively, we give rights to the devil and will keep sinning in the same way. We are actually “in this together” as a church so if any of us contributed to it through action or inaction in any way it’s time to repent and resolve never to allow this to happen again. It’s also time to get catechized as Constantine Zalalas said in a recent lecture só that we do not allow departure from our practices again.
Jesus touched lepers. I’m pretty sure the Rabbi Fauci of the time said not to do that. Jesus also ate bread without washing his hands (ew!) and I’m sure the Rabbi Fauci of the time had something to say about that because the gospels record a little exchange thereon.
I have been reading a book titled THINKING ORTHODOX: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind, by Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, PhD. She’s a presbytera.
In one section of the book, she is writing about how freedom exists in the Church; here’s a brief quote:
“Freedom is an essential characteristic of the Christian life. Christ promised that the truth would set us free, not that we would be enslaved to it… the balance between our God-given freedom and the authority of Tradition… This is not freedom as it is understood by the world. Freedom in Orthodoxy is freedom from compulsion, not freedom to do as we please…
“The Church recognizes and affirms our individual freedom… Discerning truth from falsehood is possible only if one possesses the Orthodox phronema. The Roman Catholic Church issues statements and imposes obligations on the faithful, who are expected to believe and comply…
“…The Orthodox faithful are neither told nor required to submit to the Church. If we conform… we do so because we choose to obey — to hear and to accept — the Tradition, not because it is demanded that we submit to it as an authority.”
And that with reference to Holy Tradition. How much more so should we have been given freedom with reference to lockdowns and mask mandates…?
This so called presbytera has a husband who is part of GOARCH, the worldly organization filled with clergy whose ordinations deserve NOT to be honored because they are FALSE by their own actions. Watch out Jennie, I’m on to you. Renounce your false bishops and clergy, then I will believe every word that comes out of your mouth.
What a strange response.
Is the jurisdiction you are part of white as driven snow?
NO such thing. And if it is so, your presence there mars it a bit.
Why the chip on your shoulder, Theodore?
Their hiercarch Elpidophoros thought it wonderful to celebrate the divine liturgy for the feast of St Bartholomeow on June 11 at the Episcopal church in New York City. This is a church that praises the LGBT agenda among other anti Christian agendas. Elpidophoros also gave a homily in praise of the LGBT community. No jurisdiction is white as snow and that’s NOT the point. The point is the deliberate desecration of the Orthodox church by such a hierarch. I gather you don’t mind that by your response to me. Make it your business to know what’s going in and keep your head out of the sand.
Elder Ephraim’s monasteries are also a part of GOARCH and stand for tradition. Just because a leader does some evil that does not mean the people should be blamed for them. God is the judge and we get leaders (good and bad) that can lead us to repentance if we choose.
There are also many wonderful and faithful priests in GOARCH as well as wonderful and faithful parishioners. There is definitely trouble at the top, and that has ripple effects all the way down. It is a very serious situation that we pray is rectified in the future.
“There are also many wonderful and faithful priests in GOARCH…”
There are many wonderful Muslims who aren’t terrorists,….so what? the majority is what matters. The exceptions prove the rule not disprove it. Its a dumb way to argue in all its manifestations and it only serves evil to say “there are so many good people in this overwhelmingly evil group.”