16 March 2020

Who Said Two Vast and Trunkless Legs of Stone

I'm kinda upset at my church right now (I attend a Russian Orthodox church). Pretty much every episcopate except ROCOR has cancelled at the very least the fellowship hour after church and Sunday school. Most are going to a limited liturgy of simply the priest, deacons, and a couple choir members. Meanwhile, my parish is still going full liturgy, full fellowship meal, everything. As a Sunday School teacher plus a member of a food team that provides for the fellowship meal, this makes me a little angry. We, as Christians, are meant to care for the sick and infirm. How are we showing our love for our neighbor by not taking precautions to keep them from getting sick? What we should be doing instead is organizing volunteers to do needed work (grocery shopping, etc.) for people who shouldn't be exposed to crowds. Instead, I'm having to decide whether to back out of Sunday School and Fellowship in order to protect others (I'm still working, I'm still at a university, these places are hot-beds of disease), thus leaving my fellow parishioners in a lurch.

There is no reason to believe that limiting exposure during liturgy and afterwards is against our faith.  As Metopolitan Tikhon of the OCA said "No one should feel any concern about the canonical implications of being absent from the divine services. We find ourselves in extraordinary circumstances that require extraordinary responses. The holy body and precious blood of our Lord can never be a source of disease, it is after all for the healing of soul and body, but the COVID-19 virus can still be passed through the congregation. Out of love for our neighbor, we must do everything we can to protect the vulnerable by slowing the rate of infection not only in our parishes, but in the greater community, and thereby allowing the hospitals and medical community to more adequately care for those most at risk."

That was exactly my thought and what I put forward to the council. Others agreed, but the deacon, who I feel has a lot of influence, was very adamant that we don't change anything. Love him like a brother, but he sometimes has very rigid views on some things.

I'm really not sure what to do about this. I worry that the lack of any concrete action on our part will hinder our witness to our neighbors, especially if we are part of an outbreak. I'm already trying to figure out how to tell my parents (non-Orthodox) about our parish's decision without causing them to have issues about it. They're already a little freaked out that I have to come into work.

I guess for now all I can do is pray that our priest makes an executive decision to be smart about it.

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