Orthodox Reflections

Bishop Benjamin of the OCA Diocese of the West recently sent a cautionary letter to his clergy. The bishop expressed his concerned that compliance with his COVID directives was “sliding” in some parishes. His complete letter is here. An excellent discussion of the letter is posted here.

Bishop Benjamin is evidently aware that his Fauci-style policies are not popular in the parishes. So in the letter, he encouraged his clergy to blame him for the misery of their people. The Bishop said to inform the Faithful who complain, “That horrible bishop makes me do it.”  Based on this letter, there is indeed a lot of horror going on and many things that should rightly terrify faithful Orthodox Christians about Bishop Benjamin and his brother bishops.

So a bishop can make anything a requirement to attend liturgy and receive communion?

In 2020, Bishop Benjamin cooperated with the closing of his parishes. He accepted re-opening them with strict limits such as mandatory masks, “social” distancing, no kissing icons, canceling social activities, and more. At one point, it appears that multiple spoons were being used in his parishes, something he still considers appropriate for those “weaker” in faith. To be fair, Bishop Benjamin is not alone here as some combination of the above happened in many dioceses, in most Orthodox jurisdictions, and all of it was justified under the “emergency” nature of this situation.

However, even as “15 days to flatten the curve” has now become almost a full year of “emergency powers” to “defeat” the virus, the bishop is still demanding parishes comply with the following list:

Nevertheless, I write you today to remind you of the non-negotiable directives you and your flocks are required to follow:

 

1) Everyone present in the temple must wear a mask that covers their nose and mouth.

 

2) Everyone must observe social distancing.

 

3) Should anyone who was present at a service acquire the coronavirus and test positive, you must suspend services for two weeks.

 

4) You have a blessing to use one spoon for Holy Communion as the virus is not food-borne. However, you may use multiple spoons should you feel it necessary for the “weaker” among your flock.

 

5) If I learn you are not strictly observing these directives and one of your parishioners dies of COVID 19, I will not hesitate to suspend you.

 

6) Those who refuse to follow these directives are to be denied Holy Communion until they agree to follow them.

If anyone refuses to wear a mask, that person is excommunicated. If anyone tests positive, then the entire parish is excommunicated for two weeks as the parish will be closed. If a priest is reported to have not scrupulously followed these directives, and a parishioner has died, then everyone is excommunicated until a replacement priest can be located. The episcopal office has truly expanded in power. A bishop can now require whatever he deems appropriate as a pre-requisite for attending liturgy. He can enforce his edicts under the penalty of excommunication, even if his actions have no basis in Holy Tradition, church history, or the sacred canons. Nor must he consult his priests on these matters, as only his opinion is relevant.

As one group of OCA priests wrote, “Freewill is replaced with tyranny of a temporal magisterium that can change from day to day. This is the definition of a cult and not the Holy Church.” Instead of a single Pope in Rome, it appears that the Orthodox Church in America has spawned multiple scattered throughout the land. Among them, obviously, is Bishop Benjamin.

What comes next with all that power?

Contrary to the Church’s behavior in previous epidemics, bishops such as Benjamin have acquiesced to gross violations of the rights and moral obligations of the Faithful. Some bishops have gone even further, not only actively endorsing repressive measures, but even issuing their own requirements above and beyond what was demanded by secular authority. This enthusiasm for authoritarian measures (in the name of protecting public health), combined with seemingly unbounded episcopal power, are truly  terrifying as we ponder – what could be coming next?

Here are just a few possibilities that the Bishop Benjamins of the Orthodox world could end up making as “non-negotiable” directives in the future:

• Masks all the way out to 2022 – Or even beyond, according to St. Fauci. The bishops appear to be listening to the public health “experts” uncritically, despite their abysmal track record thus far. At this point, it is quite probable that (should Jesus tarry) our Bishop Benjamin and his brothers will be issuing mask “directives” for years to come. Since infectious diseases are perpetually with us, perhaps even the rest of our lives.
• Two masks are better than one – Bishop Benjamin and other bishops required masks in Church because the CDC reversed its previous advice and started recommending them. The CDC now recommends double masking. Some “experts” have already started promoting triple masking. Will Bishop Benjamin and the rest hold the line on only one mask for attending liturgy? After all, how effective can one mask be if the CDC says you actually need two? If the Bishops don’t stay current with the CDC recommendations, is that not the same as admitting mask mandates are just so much theatrics and we have all been played? While some bishops will ignore double masks (despite the implications), and others may finally learn to think for themselves, none of us should be surprised if future “directives” from a bishop or two include two masks as a requirement to attend liturgy.
• No vaccine, no liturgy – Bishop Benjamin said that you have a moral responsibility to wear a mask, and you are selfish if you don’t:  “It is not about politics, but love and concern for the neighbor. Personally, I feel those who refuse to wear masks and socially distance are being selfish. You may remind everyone of the freedom that comes with obedience.” The Bishop, being the man of God that he is, has already been vaccinated against COVID. He is clearly not selfish and unloving like so many of us who worry about a new, and relatively untested gene therapy. While the vaccine is not yet required, that possibility looms on the horizon. Governments and businesses are already discussing requiring proof of vaccination to fully participate in society. If you need a vaccine passport to travel, attend a movie, or go out to a restaurant – can Church attendance be far behind? If that day arrives, what do you think Bishop Benjamin’s reaction will be? Do you think he will stand up for the right of patients to exercise voluntary, informed vaccine consent and the right of people to live free of behavioral control (the way the Russian bishops have done)? Or will he lecture you on your moral responsibility to be vaccinated and issue a “directive” affirming the requirement for proof of vaccination to attend liturgy? If he does, who will oppose him? Given the silence on vaccine freedom of choice from the entire Assembly of Bishops, and their previous record as a body during this “crisis,” those refusing the vaccine and/or the accompanying electronic tracking may find themselves bereft of episcopal support. Will the priests stand up at that point? Some might, but if the threat of losing a job is enough to silence most priests, it is hard to know how many will be willing to risk actual jail. If you plan to refuse the COVID vaccine (as tens of millions of Americans have indicated they will), then you might want to discuss this petition with your priest and get his honest opinion – before you find yourself locked out of Divine Liturgy and excommunicated.
• More lockdowns on the way – When all this started, more than one hierarch proclaimed there was no choice as a Church but to go along as this was all so “unprecedented.” The implication, of course, was that this was a period of time that would eventually end, and we would go back to “normal.” There is every indication that governments, big businesses, and global NGOs have no interest in letting go of the almost unlimited power an “emergency” has given them. (Bishops as well, one might ask?) As COVID cases drop and vaccines are administered, a new crisis might be needed to justify imprisoning the plebes in their own homes. Perhaps a new “variant” of COVID or a new virus? Possible, but not needed. The global elites already have the next justification for continuing the lockdowns, even if everything is quiet on the virus front going forward. Many of our “best thinkers” are already openly discussing the need for climate lockdowns to reduce carbon emissions and “save” the planet. Does anyone think churches would be exempted from closure this time? Having accepted church closures and stiff regulations to protect public health, is it likely that Bishop Benjamin would oppose such measures that are intended to “save” the Earth? In fact, it is a good question as to whether any of the bishops would oppose any policies from eating synthetic meat to banning cars that are justified based on preventing climate change. In fact, in place of resistance, it is quite easy to foresee many bishops actively endorsing and promoting the entire climate lockdown agenda. The Greeks are especially likely to be on-board, as the Greek Archdiocese is under the control the “Green Patriarch” of Constantinople for whom climate change is an obsession.
• New and improved threats to public health – Now that would-be dictators have seen how easy it is to seize power in the name of public health, expect that term to become way more expansive than ever.  Democratic Senators recently introduced the “Anti-Racism in Public Health Act of 2021,” which would establish a Center on Antiracism at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This bill will “declare racism a public health crisis and name racism as an historical and present threat to the physical and mental health and well-being of the United States and world.” The new center will “aim to develop new knowledge in the science and practice of antiracism.” Gun violence, right-wing extremism, homophobia / transphobia, and “domestic terrorism” have all been mentioned as additional candidates to be declared a “public health crisis.” The CDC told Bishop Benjamin when to close his churches, when to open them, and how to conduct his worship services. He and most of his brother bishops complied every step of the way. We even see CDC guidelines posted in our parishes as if they were icons. What if the CDC commands Churches to provide anti-racism and other politically “woke” training? What if the parish is required to report anyone with non-conformist / dangerous attitudes that could negatively impact public health? What if the CDC requires regular monitoring of church services to guard against homophobic / transphobic messaging? Or decrees that churches “dangerous” to public health must close? What if the CDC requires church members to sign forms disavowing various wrong opinions and disinformation – all to protect public health, of course? What would Bishop Benjamin do, when he has already enthusiastically gone along thus far to fight a virus with a 99.98% survival rate? What would Archbishop Elpidophoros, who famously marched with BLM, do in those circumstances? If the last year has taught us anything, it is that reality can far exceed the limits of even the most creative imaginations.

Perhaps, given the circumstances, we should all seriously rethink the prevailing attitudes towards the power of bishops.

Bishops seem completely immune to facts and reason.

Masks, social distancing, attendance limits, and even lockdowns are predicated on the rather new and novel notion of asymptomatic viral spread. The asymptomatic spread narrative was effectively destroyed by the publication of a Chinese study involving nearly 9.9 million individuals. It revealed not a single case of COVID-19 could be traced to an asymptomatic individual who had tested positive.

This result was confirmed by a 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.

Mask-specific research failed to find any benefit to them. Whether one mask or more, they simply don’t work against an aerosolized virus. Then, of course, there are the empirical results of the past year in which mask mandates, draconian lockdowns, and other measures have made no discernible difference in the severity of the outbreaks. Just compare results from draconian states such as New York or California to relatively free Florida to see how little impact any of these measures really had.

Masks are useless and unneeded at best, harmful at worst. There are substantial problems with mask wearing, particularly for children. One study of over 25,000 school-aged children identified 24 distinct health issues associated with wearing masks. The study demonstrated that masks harm children physically, psychologically, and behaviorally. Not just children are impacted. This is a link to an article with over 20 documented reasons why masks are harmful. This is an article one of our contributors did on why your mask in Church will not save anyone. Many leaders, including politicians and even Orthodox bishops and clergy, have been caught not following their own rules on masks.

Given all that data, along with the continuously moving goalposts for returning to “normal,” we fully expected that by now the Successors to the Apostles would have had enough of all this. Lord have mercy, were we ever totally, completely wrong.

For Bishop Benjamin and many of his brethren, facts are never allowed to get in the way of feelz:

Nevertheless, these are not optional directives. And, even if they or you feel they are unnecessary, they will not hurt anyone and may well protect someone who is vulnerable. Finally, you are free to blame me. “That horrible bishop makes me do it.” If one life is spared this devastating disease through these measures, certainly they are worth it.

If it saves one life… Well, it won’t, and masks do hurt physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But after all these months, it is quite clear that trying to talk sense into quite a few of our bishops is simply impossible. We are left with prayer only, because logic and reason appear to have completely failed. Fortunately for us, with God all things are possible so we must continue to pray and hope.

The shark has been jumped, doubling down like this makes Orthodoxy look bad.

Millions of Americans have now recognized how contradictory and illogical much of our COVID response has been. Some woke up after so many things changed immediately after Biden was sworn in. Others finally saw the light when the CDC came out in favor of two masks. Realizing people who had recovered from COVID or had been fully vaccinated were still expected to mask and social distance Red Pilled many. The ongoing political drama of opening schools, despite the evidence that it is very safe, was the last straw for untold millions of parents. Even for those who truly believed the official COVID narrative at one time, things have just gone on too long.

But not for Bishop Benjamin. For him, it is forever March 2020. Bishop Benjamin ignores scientific data and all the practical lessons of the last 11 months while blithely dismissing opposing opinions with extreme condescension:

I know we are all getting weary of the pandemic. And I am hearing that the directives I and the Holy Synod have mandated are “sliding” in some parishes. I also realize there are those who consider them intrusive and, for some very odd reason, “anti-Orthodox”. Perhaps it is a reflection of the great divide we are currently experiencing in America. For some among us, the wearing of masks and social distancing oddly have become symbols of where one stands politically, on the right or left.

Months into the “never ending crisis,” an increasing number of the Faithful have tuned out their bishops while many outside the Church wonder aloud, “What is wrong with the Orthodox?” Protestants and even some Catholics (bishops and priests) are offering all kinds of resistance, some even being arrested and going to jail. The Orthodox are conspicuously absent from the ranks of incipient martyrdom at the episcopal level. It is a bad look, and one that, God willing, will not continue as a great opportunity for Christian leadership is being squandered.

We must continue to pray for the bishops. As Lent approaches, perhaps we should even pray more. We need strong leadership now more than ever, so may God have mercy on us all in these terrifying and dangerous times. Simultaneously, we need to remember that the bishops are subject to Holy Tradition, the sacred canons, and to historical precedent. If necessary, the parish clergy and the Faithful should remind them of that reality. On a regular basis.

Vladimir – member Orthodox Church in America