Monday, June 1, 2020

Monk Paul of the Holy Mountain: "De-mystifying the vaccine for Corona virus"

(impantokratoros.gr) - It is with sorrow and wonder that we are observing an event unprecedented in world history [1]. In the name of “love” for the elderly and the more vulnerable, vaccination is being scheduled for all people worldwide, in order to exterminate the implacable “invisible enemy”, known as Corona virus SARS-Cov2 (COVID19):
  • A necessary legal framework that will abolish the right to individual choice and will “defend” the benefit-right to public health (Law 4675/2020 for Greece) [2]
  • An accompanying governmental authoritarianism to enforce it
  • Creating demand and expectation for the vaccine (terrorism-brainwashing by the media with the dilemma of “vaccine or social incarceration-isolation”)
  • Unilateral funding for the production of the vaccine, for controls by clinical trials, for mass-production in vast quantities and for delivery to every corner of the planet - at the expense of research for finding and producing specialized antiviral drugs.
These are just some of the steps in the protocol already being implemented in order to reach this milestone event. Businessmen, journalists, government officials, and international NGOs are almost daily propagating the vaccine like a magic wand that will supposedly allow humanity to return to the pre-COVID era. On the other hand, instead of the scientific community (with the exception of an excessively projected, vaccine-obsessed elite), stigmatizing this misinformation, it has been keeping a “fishy silence” about what people should really expect from the vaccine, with the exception of a few inspired instances, such as Professor Dr. Yannis Ioannidis [3]. In fact, this specific “pandemic” anything BUT justifies worldwide vaccination. Let's see why:

1. The particularly low mortality rate of the disease, but also its distribution by age, clearly denote that vaccination, whenever it becomes feasible, must be targeted. This percentage is fictitiously over-evaluated for the time being (~2.5%) : on the one hand, due to the over-representation of severely positive cases of the virus [4], and on the other, given that the death toll from COVID has also included the deaths of cases found positive for COVID but with other, underlying diseases (not the SARS respiratory syndrome) [5]. Recent studies which have estimated the number of deaths in relation to the actual number of people exposed to the virus – based on serological tests (antibody tests) in a specific geographical area – have determined that this percentage is of the order of magnitude of seasonal flu (certainly <1%) [ 6].

It should be noted that even if the epidemic returns, as is the case with influenza, the health system will deal with it more effectively, as now there is experience in managing the disease (more ICUs). Hence, mistakes of “Italy’s kind” will not be repeated, leading to a further reduction of the mortality rate. Based on the above, even if a safe and effective vaccine is produced (something especially difficult for corona viruses’ biology), it can be justified for administering it only to high-risk groups, as is done with the seasonal flu vaccine. Needless to say that it is not justified for administering it to children - who are in their vast majority asymptomatic, nor to people who have been exposed and are immune to the virus (positive antibody test), given that they already have what the vaccine would have given them.

2. Covid19 virus, as opposed to influenza, mainly affects people in the third and fourth age groups, where the phenomenon of immune senescence [7] occurs – that is, the reduction in size, quality and duration of their immune response-protection - which can occur, after being vaccinated. In other words, the vaccine-induced active immunity may not be capable of protecting the elderly, who are the par excellence “target” of the corona virus; hence, the finding of an anti-viral therapy should be a priority – assuming that the protection of the elderly is in fact what is desired.

3. Related to the above, is that with seriously ill patients, acute respiratory failure occurs through an immuno-pathological mechanism (a “storm” producing inflammatory cytokines and reducing CD4 and CD8 T-mediated immune response [8]). There are serious concerns that vaccination will exacerbate this immune complication in the event of a subsequent viral infection and will consequently worsen the patient's clinical course. A similar effect was observed with the FeCoV coronavirus vaccine, which affects cats and causes peritonitis. [9].

4. The logic of eradicating an infectious disease through global vaccination, on the one hand presupposes the existence of a very safe and very effective vaccine, and on the other hand, most importantly that there be no other hosts of the virus in the natural environment. That is, man has to be the only species that can host the virus. This is true of the polio virus, but it does not apply to the coronavirus, because all research suggests that the virus originated from bats. Unknown and controversial remains the intermediate link (host?) which had transported it from the bats' caves of Wuhan city. In any case, the disappearance of the virus through global vaccination would only be temporary - in other words, a terrible waste of resources, inasmuch as it could transfer from its natural refuge (the bats or the intermediate host) to the human population at any given moment, capably mutated for bypassing the existing herd immunity and initiating a new pandemic.

5. Coronaviruses, being RNA viruses, mutate rapidly, gaining genetic and therefore antigenic diversity. This diversity, especially for coronae, also increases through RNA recombination, due to the particularly inconsistent mode of transcription of viral RNAs. Two types have already been identified for SARS-Cov2, S and L [11, 12]. It is doubtful that a vaccine can provide both equal coverage for all strains of the virus that emerge, as well as permanent protection over time, hence underlining one more time the importance and priority of finding anti-viral drugs against coronavirus. It is quite likely, therefore, that over time, a global vaccination evolve into regular global vaccinations.

Could this perhaps be the aim? Perhaps the corona is the long-awaited pretext for launching the universal transition to a hybrid human biology, where the human body will be protected, strengthened and ultimately dependent on platform technologies (genetic engineering, digital interfacing) through regular vaccinations-updates. But why all the rush for a vaccine that not only does not promise much, but is the cause for concern in the scientific community, especially if it is produced in a hurry and implemented en masse? Finally, do the pharmaceutical industries serve man, or does the opposite apply?

The reality is that ~ 99% of people infected with coronavirus survive. Emphasis (ie funding) should be placed on how to target the 1% of those who don’t survive, in spite of a host of pharmaceutical options (immuno-modulators, monoclonal antibodies, RNA polymerase inhibitors, proteases, etc.). Already, the first results from the form of hydroxychloroquine-azathromycin [13] as well as from a monoclonal antibody that targets the superficial glycoprotein S of the virus [14] are very encouraging.

Of course, part of an anti-viral strategy is also the development of a safe and effective vaccine. However, as analyzed, its forced production (1 year instead of at least 6 years) with so many gaps in the knowledge of the biology of the corona is not indicated - much less its mandatory mass implementation. It is a tragic scientific forfeiture (if not absurdity) in the age of Molecular Biology - whose aim is to provide Medicine with specialized (even personalized) treatments minimizing any side effects – that there is discussion solely about intervention in 100% of the human population, in order to “protect” 1% of it from a flu-like virus, with a suspicious pharmaceutical half-measure. Quite simply, this is a WRONG approach, certified by the fact that for so many years there has never been any global vaccination against the flu virus - which would have been far more plausible, inasmuch as it strikes all age groups.

Man, as a rational being with critical thinking, has the ability to voluntarily choose whatever is recommended by medicine and biotechnology in favor of his health, while simultaneously undertaking the consequences of those choices, given that interventions in the human body are rarely without side-effects. Vaccines are not exempt of this rule. [15] The choice of not being vaccinated does not endanger public health, as long as it does not abolish another person's right to receive the vaccine - and with it, any protection it provides. It is therefore self-evident that the final decision-responsibility for receiving a vaccine belongs to the person being vaccinated, since he will necessarily have to live with any complications that may arise. No eventual compensation can restore irreversible damages to a person’s physical and mental health. Consequently, that which is condemnable is every kind of complaisance that criminalizes a person's stance towards living in a body free of suspicious vaccines, and which transforms societies from democratic, to herds of undecided and expendable animals.

One can perceive from the aforementioned that the law pertaining to compulsory vaccination [2] and the related propaganda in favor of the vaccine – with the Covid19 virus pretext - have no scientific origin and reference. They do not defend but rather undermine the good of public health, and they enable the monstrous financial interests involved, as well as the obscure agenda of certain “big brothers” with power-loving appetites. Finally, they militate against the freedom of a person’s spirit and body. As such, they should be retracted at a scientific, legal and mainly at a spiritual level.

The clime in which these schemes are developed and consolidated is fear. The Mass Media of Intimidation carefully create and maintain this clime. Fear is a mighty inner force of man; it can paralyze his will, but it can even steel it. The question is in which direction a person directs that fear. If he turns it towards God, the only One worthy of being feared (Luke 4: 5), then he will receive enlightenment in return, boldness and courage - according to His words: “be of courage, for I have overcome the world” (John 6:33). If a person remains focused on the phobias of this age, he will receive in return even more anxiety, confusion and cowardice, according to the Psalm: “they cowered in fear, where there was no fear” (Psalm 5: 5). The intentional persistence to de-sanctify the Sacrament of Holy Communion is not by coincidence; its purpose is to elicit and generate fear that will support the myth of the vaccine - as is the case throughout the ages, with all fictitious concoctions that lack any logical grounds.

Every time there is mention of saliva, spoons and the like - by those who have targeted Holy Communion -the miracle comes to mind of the born blind man (John 9). The Lord, with a “sanitarily unacceptable” action, restored the eyes of the blind man! He mixed His saliva (a means of spreading viruses and bacteria) with soil (a source of millions of germs) and “smeared” the clay mixture over the eye sockets of the blind man (mucosal conjunctiva: a point of entry for germs and the onset of infection). We are familiar with what ensued, just as we know that no science is able to reproduce that result. Quite simply, if it had taken place today, apart from the Pharisees of that time, among Jesus’ accusers would also be certain narrow-minded infectious disease specialists. 

I pray from the depth of my heart that God will make them worthy of experiencing the Power of the Sacrament. The Lord is there, and invites them. He will never obligate them ...

Hagiorite Monk Paul
Biologist, MD Molecular Biology and Biomedicine
Vouleftiria, Holy Mountain.
______________________


References:

1. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/TheOptimist/Articles/coronavirus-vaccine-development-gavi
2. https://www.e-nomothesia.gr/kat-ygeia/nomos-4675-2020-phek-54a-11-3-2020.html?q=4675
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwPqmLoZA4s
4. https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m1113.long
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4BGMn3Xg2Y&feature=emb_logo
6. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.14.20062463v2
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2265901/
8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S205229752030024X
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16322745
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eradication_of_infectious_diseases
11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7108124
12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7108196
13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7102549
14. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16256-y

14 comments:

  1. I will be the first to say it:

    Monk Paul, MD, is a scientific, religious, and moral idiot. His argument against vaccination is especially delicious. With (Orthodox) Christians like these, who needs the Devil?

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    1. Such insults say more about the one from whom they issue than the one at whom they are directed.

      rlb+

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  2. I found this article very well written, and fairly logical. Brought up some good points, that Ill be chewing over.

    Particularly, the almost messiah status of Vaccination, and the implications of anything that would make it mandatory. I agree with this danger. I also think his suggestion of focusing on the oldest cohorts make sense. He also is true that the media is horrible at reporting on statistics and science and has overhyped. The narratives (while based in truth) are not helping us and creating fear.

    Some minor beefs, The epidemiologist community was talking about true death rates of .3-1.5% as early as mid-March, much lower than the case fatality rate used by the media. However even .3-.6% which seems to be the consensus is 3-6x greater than influenza, so "same magnitude" is correct, but still closer diphtheria levels. Excess death analysis has generally showed under counts not over counts of deaths. That being said, I do think the conversation would have been different if we were talking about ~.5% death rates in the media. Vaccines for flu do exist and are widely administered for free in most socialized medicine countries, and are effective at reducing death rates with a much more mutating influenza. Anit-retrovirals have been tested from early on, as it was effective with SARS, some do look promising but the drug mentioned has had very mixed results unfortunately. SARS hasnt re-emerged either.

    Excellent point about communion with the spoon, but at least the articles I have seen are about bearing the weak, not that it is a transmission vector. Good question whether this "accomodation" is the right message.

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  3. "The Late Great Planet Earth," Orthodox style.

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  4. Them Athonites sure do love their conspiracy theories. Last time I heard 'em this riled up, it was over the barcodes and 666.

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  5. Part 1: Axios Hagiorite Monk Paul!

    As a physician who keeps up with the purely scientific and medical dialogues (ie no pharma or governmental agency or media agendas) and as an Orthodox Christian convert bookworm blessed to be catechized by a Patristic archbishop and parish priest, I believe Monk Paul beautifully represents the findings of unbiases science, true medical compassion to do no harm to anyone in the most efficient, cost-effective and respectful way for all, and understanding and reverence for the Orthodox beliefs in the Divine Energies present in our Sacraments, Churches, Holy icons, Divine Liturgies, etc.

    If one believes in the Resurrection (really believes), the Divine Energies are the “logical” corollaries. Of course I learned that we individual Orthodox are not to rule on what is Orthodox because by definition because instead we rely on the consensus of those few true theologians of the Church ~ The Holy Fathers ~ to interpret Holy Scripture, to comment on and guide us toward the Ineffable Mystery of the All Holy Trinity, to defend the Faith from heresies. If we actually read the words of the Divine Services, the Holy Scriptures as interpreted by the Holy Fathers, the Prologue by St Nikolai, the Philokalia, the findings of the Ecumenical Councils considered valid and not Robber Councils, the writings of the Saints and Holy Fathers, etc., we have no trouble understanding what Monk Paul concludes as an Orthodox monk.

    If we read about vaccines scientifically and understand the dangers and fail rates even in the normal process, we would agree.

    Religious liberty is at stake in our country as well.

    Compassionate care for the vulnerable is also at stake.

    Medicine itself is now compromised by anti-human, utilitarian, profit-driven, power-seeking anti-medicine destructive forces which make me as a physician weep. Read Ezekiel Emannuel MD, guiding light of the AMA and Obama-care utilitarian, on who he considers worthwhile and shudder. Beneficence is out the window and the utilitarian supreme. Caring physicians can no longer advocate effectively for their patients in the ER or hospitals or with insurance companies. Please here at least try to adopt a caring attitude toward all by understanding Monk Paul’s prudent desire to put resources where they will help both the vulnerable and spare the less vulnerable as well as your pocketbook. I have learned with sorrow as a prescriber that the real clinical trials for a new medicine are when they are released as FDA approved and the unsuspecting docs and patients start to use them. I quickly learned to try to get people off them and to minimize their use if truly necessary. Wouldn’t natural preventive approaches to minimize the need for manufactured products with potentially wretched side effects be wise? The Orthodox lifestyle/diet/fasting periods have now finally been proven to be the healthiest. No surprise that the Holy Fathers and the Church of Christ Himself would recommend only healing and the healthiest.

    I do not understand either the tone of superiority as commenters here assess, judge, even mock Monk Paul. Are you biologists or physicians? Are you dedicated enough to give your life for the love of God to pray for us all on Mt Athos? How did our small secular American minds develop all these years? Most of us have brainwashed since birth and we end up commiting the early error in Eden. Instinctively we are like the Greeks who loved to debate the novel with St. Paul, the Protestants who assume the role of interpreters, the Catholics who defer to one man as Pope, the argumentative like Arias who prize our own “haughty reasoning” above the pure unadultered message from Christ.

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    1. 1) So you and yours (i.e. "Patristic archbishop and parish priest") are Trad Orthodox, Super Orthodox, "True" Orthodox...

      2) You believe Orthodox Christianity is a form of guruism:

      "....Of course I learned that we individual Orthodox are not to rule on what is Orthodox because by definition because instead we rely on the consensus of those few true theologians of the Church ~ The Holy Fathers ~ to interpret Holy Scripture, to comment on and guide us toward the Ineffable Mystery of the All Holy Trinity, to defend the Faith from heresies..."

      3) Monk Paul has met with your approval - he is a true Orthodox guru:

      "... If we actually read the words of the Divine Services, the Holy Scriptures as interpreted by the Holy Fathers, the Prologue by St Nikolai, the Philokalia, the findings of the Ecumenical Councils considered valid and not Robber Councils, the writings of the Saints and Holy Fathers, etc., we have no trouble understanding what Monk Paul concludes as an Orthodox monk...."

      4) No, no we don't agree

      "...If we read about vaccines scientifically and understand the dangers and fail rates even in the normal process, we would agree...."

      5) No religious liberty is not at stake - what's at stake is a hyper ritualism and the Idol some have made of the Sacraments

      "...Religious liberty is at stake in our country as well..."

      6) You right about all this:

      "...Read Ezekiel Emannuel MD, guiding light of the AMA and Obama-care utilitarian, on who he considers worthwhile and shudder. Beneficence is out the window and the utilitarian supreme. Caring physicians can no longer advocate effectively for their patients in the ER or hospitals or with insurance companies..."

      7) Maybe (just a thought) you don't understand because of your apparent guruism. Monk Paul is an the Mount Athos version of an anti-vaxxer libertarian conspiracy theorist. Even in the domain of Sacramental theology, his metaphysics is speculative at best. Of course the Devil has always tried to de-mystify and de-sacrmentalize the Church...Monk Paul and all like him HELP this process with his false 'Heroism of the Fathers!'...it would be one thing if they actually follow the Fathers, but in this case Monk Paul is setting up a false conspiracy which they counter with an Orthodox form of Puritanism.

      Secularism (of the heart, of the Church) is THE issue today, and that this leads to a basic epistemic problem - who do we trust? Secularism can only be countered by 'putting on Christ'. However, your look for Christ outside of yourself - in monks, so called "patristic" clergy and gurus. The "unadulterated message from Christ" is not *out there* - it's within, the Kingdom of God is within...

      "I do not understand...Are you dedicated enough to give your life for the love of God to pray for us all on Mt Athos? How did our small secular American minds develop all these years? Most of us have brainwashed since birth and we end up commiting the early error in Eden...the Protestants who assume the role of interpreters, the Catholics who defer to one man as Pope, the argumentative like Arias who prize our own “haughty reasoning” above the pure unadultered message from Christ."

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    2. Dear Jake, No gurus, just devout well-respected Orthodox clergy who pointed me to the expanse of the Orthodox Faith including the Holy Fathers who carry on the work of the Apostles and are our teachers! Since then am grateful for so many writings which support our beautiful Orthodox Tradition fully! Hoping we are all “traditional”. Perhaps someday you too will be drawn to read the Holy Fathers in depth and see all from a different vantage point. All the best in Christ to thee on thy chosen path Jake...

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  6. Part 2: Axios Hagiorite Monk Paul!

    Blessedly our Orthodox fronema is quite different, really from Christ. This whole debate and the fear out there really DOES reveal what we truly believe or do not believe. All the Apostles and early believers were mocked for their belief in the Unthinkable, True Resurrection. Are we abandoning this belief actually? For once that awesome Supra-natural event is accepted as real, what the Holy Apostles, Holy Fathers, righteous Ecumenical Councils conclude about the Divine Energies flows so “naturally.”

    I pray everyone here including me will deepen our Faith. And if you have not yet found a priest or spiritual father who answers your questions by quoting the Holy Fathers humbly, valuing the teaching of these as supreme over any supposedly rational secular jousting, I pray you will. Our Orthodox faith is of course Supra-rational since our All Holy Trinity is ineffable, beyond reasoning, All-Loving, All-Healing. It is the Hospital for us all, including hierarchs who may be ill and we must have/take/participate in the Spiritual Medicine prescribed by Christ. And prepare to be mocked, not to mock. Please search more if you have not yet found such.

    Please excuse the length! Have not been able to post for awhile due to tech ignorance and the tone of many comments here and the lack of gentle Patristic educational replies by Orthodox priests have grieved me deeply. I am concluding that we American Orthodox barring a few exceptions are woefully ignorant. Glory to God for the monasteries and spiritual fathers and clergy who know and teach from the Orthodox fronema! Including Monk Paul. Glory to God for the scientists and physicians and believers who risk mockery by going against the tide.

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  7. Dear Troon,

    There are many of us who have converted that will continue to live the Faith, despite the mockery directed against us. We'll continue to live faithfully in our communities, to be co-strugglers alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ.

    What a joy and immense blessing it has been for me to be able to visit the Republic of Georgia and Ukraine both within the last four years! It is truly sad to see the "ignorance" in our US Orthodoxy.

    There has been a rush by some here to prove that our Faith is compatible, informed, and does not contradict Science, Medicine, or Reason. And yet, when Scientists, Physicians or medical professionals, or Philosophers who are Orthodox represent the Faith, they are not only mocked, but are made out to be completely irrelevant.

    I often take comfort in praying the words of our Savior, Before they hated you, they hated me. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

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    1. "...There has been a rush by some here to prove that our Faith is compatible, informed, and does not contradict Science, Medicine, or Reason..."

      You don't counter secularism and faithlessness with either a false metaphysical theology - which is simply to accept the terms/ground of nominalistic "Science/Reason" - nor with a "Heroes of the Faith - Unite!!" guruism...well you can, but then your just an unconscious victim of the spirit of the age...

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    2. Dear Father Alexis,
      Thank you for your posts and the gentle understanding and opportunity to learn which you offer to us here. I am so happy you have been to Georgia and Ukraine! The Georgian Orthodox hymns on youtube are incredible and Met. Onouphry’s is truly marvelous. On St. John of San Francisco’s birthday, wonderful to speak of him! I so hope more Orthodox will read the Holy Fathers and the lives and writings of the Saints, fantastic. Just received Holy Communion today, so quite a Day of rejoicing! We are so blessed in our Orthodox Church!

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  8. Dear Jake,

    Thank you for your reply and thoughts. This will be my last post in this thread.
    God Bless you!

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