How the Korean Church is handling Coronavirus

(Orthodox Korea) - The unexpected calamity that has emerged in China with the deadly Coronavirus epidemic, it has also struck our homeland in recent days.

Apart from the special prayer, which we have already started offering in our everyday Church Services, and by which we ask the Lord for the victims of the Coronavirus, for their loved ones, and for the protection of all people from this great danger, we have also decided to take certain safety measures, in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Health of our country.

For this reason, we urge all believers to follow the following instructions until the problem ends:

1. During the Divine Liturgy all believers will wear masks.

2. Before entering the Church, they will disinfect their hands with a disinfectant present at the entrance of the Church.

3. They will not shake hands with anyone.

4. They will not kiss the hand of the Clergy.

5. They will not kiss the Icons, but they will bow before them.

6. They will not use the liturgical books at the time of prayer.

7. They will not receive the Antidoron from the Clergy, but on their own as they leave the church.

8. The Agape Meal will not be served following the Sunday Liturgy.

9. The various group meetings of the Faithful as well as the Catechumens will not take place.


Hoping soon to overcome this crisis in our country and at a global level, let us pray in a humble spirit and repentant heart to our Philanthropic Lord to show His mercy and free us from this grave problem.

Comments

  1. SojournerFebruary 27, 2020 at 6:31 PM

    I’ve found this whole Corona Virus incident peculiar. The symptoms are mild at best unless you’re suffering from a weakened or compromised immune system already, which although not without concern, is no different from any other virus.

    The standard flu virus has already killed far more people than the Corona Virus, and there’s no cure for the common flu or cold either. This seems like another Swine Flu situation, every few years we’re told a new avian flu virus will wipe us all out, and it makes great news but meanwhile I don’t see any reason to panic given the facts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael LFebruary 27, 2020 at 8:14 PM

    You are correct that histeria is overblown but coronavirus has 1-5% death rate (similar to diphtheria) vs .05% for flu, if it did reach the same amount of people we are taking about ~100x the deaths and the 20x hospiitlization rate. Nothing to sneeze at.

    ReplyDelete
  3. John (Ad Orientem)February 27, 2020 at 9:13 PM

    By and large these measures seem sensible. I would however note that the face masks people are wearing and that are flying off store shelves are being panned by most of the medical sources I have looked up. The consensus is that that they have little to no value in preventing contraction of the disease. The only masks that are seen as potentially effective are respirators, which are both expensive and in such short supply that there are no where near enough just for medical staff.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Archimandrite GregoryFebruary 27, 2020 at 10:26 PM

    I was wondering how they will handle Communion given to the laity by the Spoon?

    ReplyDelete

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