A Response to “On administering Holy Communion in a Time of a Plague”
This was sent to me and deserves a read. You can read the Calivas article here . We can all agree that we are living in unusual times. However, the nature and extent of the illness that we face, and the proper response of the Church, is a matter of much disagreement. We have seen various responses to the COVID-19 epidemic: calls to close our Churches as infectious vectors, and demands to open them as places of spiritual healing. Directives a) ordering the cessation of sacramental life as part of an effort to “flatten the curve,” and cries for access to the divine grace that flows forth from those very mysteries; b) calling for the restriction of “at-risk persons,” and serious questions about the validity of such controls, c) instructions to liturgists to wear personal protective equipment during the celebration of the divine services and the distribution of the holy Mysteries, and uncertainty about the fitness of such practices. Who has been championing what and on behalf of whom? The ...
I took Fr. Bogdan's online 'how to read Patristics' class this summer from SVS. He is an excellent teacher, quite the contrast to too many of my seminary classes. He is a student of Golitzen, recognizes the contribution of Origen, and otherwise a "subtle" theologian. That is to say, Orthobro's will be disappointed that he is not a simplistic (metaphysical) literalist (i.e. I am sure he recognizes the threshold of a church is not a supernatural barrier to viruses), nor a true believer in "Holy Russia".... ;)
ReplyDeleteI suppose I should add that he is not a "progressive" in any sense either, not being interested in women's ordination/LBGTQwerty anthropological revisionism, etc. Orthobro types can (or at least should) listen to him, but not if they are looking for mere approval of their presuppositions, their anxious dialectical spirituality
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