Communique regarding the COVID-19 (Corona) virus (31 March 2020)
With the Communiqué of 18 March, the Ecumenical Patriarchate announced the decision to suspend all ecclesiastical rites and events within its territory, until the end of the month, as well as its intention to return to the issue, should it be deemed necessary by current developments.
Already, because cases of COVID-19 are dramatically multiplying throughout the world, with many casualties, and because, for this reason, the imposition – and rightly so – of strict and restrictive measures continue in almost every country, the abovementioned ban will unavoidably remain valid for the Sacred Center of the Phanar and the Dioceses of the Ecumenical Throne throughout the globe until further notice, depending on the course of the pandemic.
The Mother Church of Constantinople prays and wishes that the appropriate effective medicine to combat the disease will be found soon, so as to overcome this great crisis and to address its effects on society and the economy.
From the Chief Secretariat
of the Holy and Sacred Synod
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
EP lockdown extended indefinitely
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
So begins the turning of churches into museums. If we can all liturgy online who needs a local priest or staff. The EP is really good at running Churches with no people. He should add Great Bishop of none to his long list of titles.
ReplyDeleteNormally I would give you "LOL" at your anti-EP cynical humor. Given the present circumstance however...
DeleteIt’s meant as both humor and has a point. Sometimes people need to hear the truth even if they don’t like it.
ReplyDeleteYou can't be serious (unless your a recent and thus ignorant convert). There is a time for everything. Is now really the time for the usual anti-EP internet sport nonsense? Don't you have something important to do, like build up the Body - or at least grow up?
DeleteJake's point about the seriousness of the pandemic is noteworthy. However, when a 3-sentence communiqué packs in 3 totally unnecessary & rather controversial buzz-phrases such as "The Sacred Center", "The Ecumenical Throne" and "The Mother Church" the Phanar is pretty much asking for folks like Jacob Lee to point out the painfully obvious.
ReplyDeleteThe sentimental bit at the end about "wishing" for a medial cure soon is silly magical thinking. I say this as a physician. Short of a miracle, which is certainly possible, we're in this for the long haul, and for us here in the USA things are about to get very ugly & painful (my wife, who is also a physician, will be staffing an ICU full of COVID patents...and some data suggest that healthcare workers have risks that approximate the elderly & infirmed).
All this is to say that both Jacob Lee's & Jake's points can be true at the same time.
These Byzantine/imperial titles, along with the general exagerated and extroverted mediteranean style of communication, are a bit hard on the ears for us in a more reticent English/northern European culture. That makes Jacob's point not obvious, but parochial. If I was a modern politically correct type, I might even call him "racist" for what best is a lack of understanding on his part...but I am not ;)
DeleteMy prayers are with you and your wife Timmy. Be good to each other, because I am sure anxiety/worry is very high for both of you right now.
Jake, thanks for your prayers and the good advice. This coronavirus pandemic is a cross that the whole world must bear & each person individually; I pray that we receive the grace to do so for the benefit rather than the detriment of our souls.
DeleteNo the EP’s first response is to close Churches. Not a call to safe distancing and prayers. Why would your go to be close Churches to “preserve liturgical practices”? Think about, this is what a absentee father does who has no relationship with his flock. He has no flock to speak of In Istanbul unless you count clergy and seminarians. Our local parish seats 500. You could put 200 in at a time families sitting 10 feet apart. We have two priests and a deacon. You could have multiple services. You can have people outside. So many possibilities but closing Churches should have been a last resort.
ReplyDeletePastor Jake,
DeleteFactually no, that was not his the Ecumenical Patriarch's first response - but it is the right one (and temporary) given the circumstances.
You do know the history don't you? The long slow fall of Byzantine (eastern Roman) Empire, the crusades, the Ottoman captivity, the Greek war(s) for independence, the population exchange, and the immigrant phenomena of the 20th century? Perhaps a bit of effort on your part rather than a bland "he has no flock".
As far as your working out how to do social distancing and epidemiology...wake me up when you have the training/experience to even have an opinion.
The "no flock" thing is untrue as the Greek Orthodox population of Constantinople numbers around 3000 (~ 2000 Rum and ~1000 Neopolites) while the total Orthodox Christoan population is larger, of course.
DeleteIf the banks, Home Depot and the Grocery Stores can stay open and practice social distancing why not the churches? Why are we so afraid to die? It seems like everyone is afraid if we go to Church we will get it. Why is church so much worse than the things all of us are doing like keeping our families fed, employees paid and going weekly to our kids schools to pick up and drop off assignments. Any one of those things could give us the virus, yet we do it. The suggestion that we can social distance not divine distance make every one loose their minds. In a time Crisis the Church and God should be who we turn to. Instead we have turned to the almighty Costco.
ReplyDeleteJake & Jacob Lee: You fellas "fight nice" as my grandmother used to say, and remember that we're all on the same team here. Christ is the Judge, and from my perspective I'm thankful that he is merciful rather than just.
ReplyDeleteMake no mistake Timmy - God is just with the tempering of Mercy.
ReplyDeleteIndeed! The mystery of Christ being both a just judge and a merciful judge is truly great, and it seems contingent upon the degree of one's heart to see his/her own sinfulness & willingness not to judge as well as to forgive others.
DeleteIf there's one thing I've come to know with certainty over the years it's that I really am a very selfish & lazy sinner who occasionally manages to do some good here & there, so in that vein I ask your forgiveness, Fr. Gregory & friends. Kyrie Eleison.
God forgives and I a sinner forgive you. Please forgive me through the mercy of Christ our God.
DeleteWhy am I so furious about closing Churches? Because they hold the cure. They have what people need. If people truly understood the Church’s benefit to society, they would be knocking down the doors begging to be let in. We have lost our greatest weapon to fight this Virus.
ReplyDeleteFor what it’s worth comfort wise, monasteries are still going strong and many churches are still holding services private or otherwise. I’ve been blessed to be at a parish that remains open and there are many in America and especially in Orthodox countries that haven’t slowed down one bit. (See Romania, Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia, etc). I’ve been doing my best to stay out of arguments about this, its not worth losing our peace. After the dust settles I’m sure each jurisdiction will evaluate their response and hopefully make a proclamation on how they will handle such situations in the future. For my part it will definitely make a difference on where I decide to attend and become ordained in the future.
DeleteExcept buildings, liturgy, pieties and the like don't "hold" the cure - Christ. Christ is also not a 'benefit to society', as His kingdom is not of this earth though this is a common error - see Acts as to how even the apostles themselves right up to the end were saying "now, Lord, now are you going to establish the kingdom of Isreal..."
DeleteThe "weapon" is not a weapon at all if its spirit (i.e. the Spirit) is replaced by the idol's of externalities, pieties, and yes even liturgies become object-in-themselves, which is just a replacement of one Law with another (see Romans 7).
Do you worship the Icon, or the God for which the Icon is a window? Do you worship the Church and all her actions/representations, or the God?
You are correct Jacob. It's the saddest thing I've ever witnessed.
ReplyDelete