What the EP is doing now

(Orthodox Times) - In a statement issued by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, it is stated that from today on in every Eparchy of the Ecumenical Throne there is an “ecclesiastical decision and order to suspend all religious rituals, events and ceremonies, until the end of March, except for Christians’ personal prayer in the temples, which will remain open as before.”

It is also clarified that “in all Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monasteries the holy services would be performed normally by their monastic fraternity, but secular pilgrims would not be accepted.”

It is also noted that this ban will be revised in the light of the development of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate urges “emphatically” everyone to “minimize their outings and travels and stay in their homes, for their own protection and the protection of the community as a whole,” while stressing the need for everyone to obey the decisions and orders of the competent health authorities “for the common good.”

The statement, issued by the Chief Secretariat of the Holy and Sacred Synod following a meeting of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s hierarchs in Constantinople, also stresses that “the Ecumenical Patriarchate is monitoring the situation with a high sense of responsibility towards all its faithful and all human beings, without exceptions.”

It also highlights the spirit of self-sacrifice that health officials work with, and expresses the gratitude of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, “both for their superhuman and exhaustive efforts to help suffering people, and for the risk they knowingly run, when interacting with those infected with covid-19.”

As a further measure, it is announced that “the operation of the Patriarchal Offices in the Phanar, where the Ecumenical Patriarch and the clergy of the Patriarchal Court will perform the regular holy services and pray for the whole world and the quick end of this ordeal, is suspended until further notice.”