COVID'S TOLL ON THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH
from: Comonweal

(18 Dec.) Denial and defiance among the clergy have led to deaths. Depending on how you count, the Orthodox Christian Church has fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen autocephalous (i.e. self-governing) jurisdictions. To date, three of its autocephalous leaders—Irinej of Serbia, Ieronymos of Greece, and Anastasios of Albania—have been hospitalized with COVID-19; Irinej of Serbia died from it on November 20. At least a dozen Orthodox bishops have also died from the virus. Among the lower ranks of clergy, the numbers are even more alarming. In Russia, more than one hundred priests or monks have died.

Perhaps we should use these grim statistics to remind ourselves that the clergy often serve as "first responders" to the sick and suffering. In the age of COVID-19, a routine pastoral visit can carry genuine risk. Digging a little deeper into some of these cases, however, suggests that too many Orthodox clerics, bishops included, have acted as though they think they are immune to the virus. Why? Have they wrongly extrapolated what they believe about the Eucharist to extend to their role as sacramental officiants? Do they naively think that God protects the clergy (or perhaps all "true" believers) from illness?

Let's start with the case of the much-loved and respected Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radović) of Montenegro, who succumbed to COVID-19 on October 30. Prior to Patriarch Irinej's death, Amfilohije was the most prominent Orthodox bishop to die from the pandemic. Amfilohije was also one of a dangerously large number of bishops who flouted social-distancing recommendations. Not only was he regularly seen in public without a mask, but he also suggested that large religious gatherings (such as a religious pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Vasilije Ostroski he attended in May) were "God's vaccine."

Patriarch Irinej presided over Amfilohije's funeral on November 1. Thousands of mourners attended the crowded funeral. None of the clergy and few of the attendees wore masks during the long service. Nineteen days later, the patriarch died. Again, there were thousands of mourners, and again most of them ignored guidelines on masks and social distancing. Then, on December 4, the locum tenens of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the man entrusted to steer the Church through the election of a new patriarch, was himself hospitalized with COVID-19. It would be difficult to overstate the extent to which the virus has crippled the leadership of Serbian Orthodox Church.

The situation in Greece is only marginally better. To date, six of the nation's eighty-two bishops have contracted the disease; one has died. Metropolitan Bishop Ioannis of Lagas, sixty-two, an outspoken critic of government efforts to curtail church services during the pandemic, died on November 15. The Episcopal Synod of the Church of Greece has been more willing than their Serbian counterparts in supporting government imposed, social-distancing restrictions. But there are, of course, those who publicly flout the guidelines. One priest in northern Greece urged parishioners to defy government restrictions, irresponsibly proclaiming "you're either with Christ or the coronavirus." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: Orthodox Christians believe that when the bread and wine for the Eucharist are consecrated, they become the mystical but very real Body and Blood of Christ. Because they are sanctified and holy, they cannot contain or carry any bacteria or viruses. This, however, doesn't apply to the spoon that is used to serve the holy elements: some Orthodox Churches now are using two spoons; one that is dipped in a glass of antiseptic alcohol solution and then exchanged with the other one that the clergy has just used to commune a person. Other Churches may use a disposable spoon and discard it after each use.

BELARUS: REGIME ALLOWS ARCHBISHOP'S CHRISTMAS RETURN
by Olga Glace: Forum 18 News Service

(24 Dec.) On 24 December, the regime allowed Belarus' senior Catholic leader, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, to return to his own country after barring him for 16 weeks. He will lead Christmas Masses in Minsk. The return followed a plea from Pope Francis, delivered to Aleksandr Lukashenko by the former Nuncio on 17 December. Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei – who had been present at the meeting – spoke of "a range of negative elements" connected with the Archbishop.

More than 16 weeks after the regime blocked Belarus' senior Catholic leader, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, from returning from Poland, it once more allowed him to enter his own country today (24 December). The Catholic Church confirmed he had arrived back in Minsk and announced that he would lead two Christmas Eve Masses and two Christmas Day Masses in the capital Minsk.

The regime removed obstacles to Archbishop Kondrusiewicz's return following a letter from Pope Francis, handed over on 17 December in a meeting in Minsk between Aleksandr Lukashenko and the former Nuncio to Belarus, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, who had flown in from London. However, five days later, Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei – who had been present at the meeting – criticised the Archbishop, speaking of "a range of negative elements connected with this person."

The 74-year-old Archbishop Kondrusiewicz heads the Minsk-Mogilev diocese and is also chair of the Conference of Catholic Bishops. Belarusian border guards refused Archbishop Kondrusiewicz re-entry to his own country on 31 August, without giving any explanation. He then spent most of the more than 16 weeks since being denied re-entry based in a parish near Bialystok in eastern Poland, trying to find out why he had been barred from his own country and leading his diocese of Minsk-Mogilev remotely.

It remains unclear whether the regime has confirmed that Archbishop Kondrusiewicz has Belarusian citizenship and whether his passport has been returned. It also remains unclear if he remains on the joint entry ban list operated by Belarus and Russia. Political tensions have been high since the falsified August 2020 presidential elections. The regime identified the Catholic Church as playing a leading opposition role, without specifying why it thought so. The General Prosecutor's Office gave official warnings to an Orthodox priest and a Catholic bishop, while several Orthodox and Catholic priests have been among those fined or jailed. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: Background to this story: The archbishop, a citizen of Belarus, had traveled to Poland for a short visit, but received word that he was not allowed to return to Belarus. This amounts to being exiled and/or being stripped of his citizenship, which the Belarus constitution does not permit. Bialystok, the Polish town on the border with Belarus, is a place I've visited in "the bad old days" of the 1970s.

SEPARATIST AND SUPPORTER OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IS THE ORGANIZER OF RALLIES IN KYIV AGAINST PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine

(30 Dec.) Recently, a rally was held in the capital of Ukraine against the visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Users of social networks noticed an interesting person among those who stood with posters. One of the photos shows the face of a pro-Russian figure in Ukraine, Valentyn Lukiyanik. This is reported by Channel 5 with a message to Dukhovny Front Ukrayiny ("Spiritual Front of Ukraine").

As you know, Valentyn Lukiyanik was the head of pro-Russian organizations under the guise of Orthodoxy. Thus, he presided over the "Kyivan Orthodox Brotherhood of St Michael the Archangel" under the omophorion of the UOC-MP, and was also co-chairman of the "Union of Orthodox Fraternities of Ukraine and Russia". Lukiyanik also held rallies against the visit of Patriarch Bartholomew in 2008. After the Synod of the UOC-MP revoked the blessing of his organization, in 2011 the Synod banned Valentyn Lukiyanik from receiving communion.

Also, Valentyn Lukiyanik was one of the organizers of the pro-Russian rallies on November 6, 2015, and March 17, 2016, in Kyiv and one of the organizers of the so-called "anti-Maidan" and "processions" with imperial red and yellow flags and icons of the late Tsar Nicholas II.

In 2016, Lukiyanik, together with the organization "Union of Orthodox Fraternities" headed by him, called for joining the "Immortal Regiment". Immortal Regiment is a Russian propaganda public organization, registered in 2011 in Tomsk (Russia) by three journalists. In 2017, in Simferopol, Donetsk and Moscow, during the rally, participants displayed images of Russian soldiers killed in the Donbas next to portraits of dead Soviet soldiers.

Lukiyanik also was noticed in purely political actions as a member of the "Spiritual and Patriotic Union "Novorossiya", the "Left Opposition". He actively opposed the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church, European integration, NATO, the arrival of Patriarch Bartholomew and the Pope. He called for the revival of the "Second Russia" on the territory of Ukraine.

It is worth noting that it was under the name "Novorossiya," with the support of Russian troops in Ukraine in 2014, that the Union of terrorist groups of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) was formed, which operate in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine by Russia. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: It is apparent that Valentyn Lukiyanik is acting as a Russian agent, supporting the rebel forces in eastern Ukraine and opposing the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The question remains: why does the Ukrainian government not arrest this person and try him for treason?

HOW THE PANDEMIC HAS ALTERED THE LIVES OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
from: Disability Scoop

(16 Dec.) Over the summer, Sherri Brady sent out messages to fellow parents of children with disabilities asking for help getting the word out about a virtual picnic she was organizing. The answers she received back made it clear the families needed more than an online get-together.

Pandemic life had become overwhelming stressful, they told Brady, the Southern California representative for the Rett Syndrome Foundation. The parents were having a hard time keeping it together — supervising their kids' online school and therapies, dealing with meltdowns, struggling with financial problems from lost employment, worrying about their medically fragile kids falling ill, and mourning the loss of social activities and the outlet they provided.

"By the time I got to the third (parent), we were all in tears," said Brady, whose daughter, Lauren, 23, has Rett Syndrome, which affects brain development. "The floodgates just opened. My heart broke for them. I felt awful because there really wasn't anything I could do." The pandemic has been especially hard on families caring for children with disabilities. Since March many have had to contend with the loss of in-person support from teachers, aides, therapists, family members and home health workers. Some have gone months with no services at all.

Now, after 10 months of staying home, some of these families have settled into the new reality and are receiving better support. Some have found creative ways to adapt, parents and advocates said. But others, like the parents Brady talked to in July, are still struggling to get their children the help they need.

"We've been busier than ever," said Crystal Smith, program manager at the McClaney Family Resource Center in South Central Los Angeles, which provides guidance and support to families of children with disabilities. "Parents and caregivers are beyond stretched. There needs to be some sort of a reprieve." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: This is a good example of how we as Christians could care for "the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind" as Jesus Christ did and as He taught His disciples to do. We have the free tools such as Skype, Google Meet, and Zoom - not perfect and not as good as in-person meetings - to visit with those in our churches and in the community who need help. DO IT!

OUTSPOKEN MOSCOW THEOLOGIAN DEFROCKED BY ORTHODOX CHURCH
from: The Moscow Times

(31 Dec.) The Russian Orthodox Church has defrocked one of the country’s most prominent theologians after he was found to have slandered a fellow priest who died from COVID-19. Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, a well-known radio and television personality whose views on homosexuality, blasphemy and Russia’s Orthodox hierarchy have made him one of the country’s best-known religious figures, had described Alexander Ageykin, the head of a Moscow cathedral who died of the coronavirus in April, as a "dumb careerist" on his LiveJournal blog.

The Moscow Episcopal Court on Tuesday found that Kuraev had not "changed his ways" since receiving a warning in 2015 and concluded that his public statements accusing the Church hierarchy of "organizing a schism" were blasphemous. The decision to defrock Kuraev — who described the move to The Insider news website as his "canonical murder" and "a New Year’s present for Patriarch Kirill" — must be approved by the Patriarch, the highest authority in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Kuraev has long been a polarizing figure in Russian Christianity. In 2013 the outspoken theologian alleged the existence of a "gay lobby" at the heart of the Orthodox Church, after which he was dismissed from his teaching position at the Moscow Theological Academy. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: See our news headline below MOSCOW'S MOVES AGAINST ORTHODOX CHURCH DISSIDENTS SEEN BACKFIRING – OPED which explains how this action and the suspension of a popular abbot of an Orthodox monastery might have the opposite of the intended effect, only making these men more popular among the general public.33

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH POSTPONES CHRISTMAS READINGS TO EASTER DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC
from: Interfax-Religion

(30 Dec.) The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church moved the traditional Christmas readings from January 2021 to May in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

"The participants in the meeting decided to postpone the events of the 29th International Christmas Educational Readings for the period from May 16 to 19, 2021, renaming the forum as the 29th International Educational Readings," the final document of the Synod, which had an online meeting, said.

Thus, the annual Christmas Readings this time will take place during the Easter period. "It is extremely difficult to hold the plenary session and most of the sectional events of the Christmas Readings in January 2021 in person if the current level of complexity of the epidemic situation remains," the Synod said on December 8.

The topic of the upcoming Christmas Readings is articulated as "Alexander Nevsky: the West and the East, historical memory of the people," since the 800th anniversary of the birth of the holy noble prince will be celebrated in 2021. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: We don't know the exact date of Christ's actual birth, so why not celebrate it in May? But why associate it with a national hero? That seems rather nationalistic.

COVID-19: 25,526 PEOPLE IN BULGARIA FINED FOR NOT WEARING PROTECTIVE MASKS
from Sophia Globe

TURKEY WILL CONVERT AN ARMENIAN CHURCH INTO A CULTURAL CENTER
from Christian Persecution

UNITED THROUGH SPORTS 2020 WORLD VIRTUAL YOUTH FESTIVAL: INT'L. PARALYMPIC CTTEE.
from Disabled World

SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH HEAD HOSPITALIZED FOR COVID-19 ONE MONTH AFTER PREDECESSOR DIED
from Radio Free Europe

METROPOLITAN ANTHONY (PAKANYCH) FEARS THAT THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH WILL DESTROY THE UOC-MP
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine

CHINESE BELIEVERS ARE STANDING FIRM EVEN IN LIGHT OF PERSECUTION
from Mission Network News

FORMER SCHEMA-HEGUMEN SERGY SUSPECTED OF PERSUADING 10 NUNS TO COMMIT SUICIDE
from Interfax-Religion

METROPOLITAN HILARION CELEBRATES DIVINE LITURGY ON THE RELICS OF ST. NICHOLAS THE WONDERWORKER IN BARI, ITALY
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate

JOHN OF KRONSTADT: SAINT OF COMMUNION, SAINT OF CONFESSION
from Orthodox Christianity

MOSCOW'S MOVES AGAINST ORTHODOX CHURCH DISSIDENTS SEEN BACKFIRING – OPED
from Eurasia Review

HUNGARY AMENDS CONSTITUTION WITH TRADITIONAL DEFINITION OF FAMILY
from Christianity Today33

The Fix Is In

Check out the numbers in https://rickmercier.com/2020/02/20/registered-voters-in-america/. On 6 January 2021, electors from the 50 states of the U.S. are to be recognized by the U.S. Congress. The Republican-controlled legislatures of six "swing states" have chosen and sent alternate electors to Washington D.C. because they claim that the numbers simply don't add up: there were far more votes tallied than the number of registered voters in the U.S. and there were statistically impossible surges of votes, after the polls were legally required to be closed at 8:00 p.m. on Nov. 3, about 98% for the Democrat presidential candidate in the early morning hours of 4 Nov. 2020 and beyond when poll watchers had been ushered out.

In the end, there were approximately 153,000,000 votes tallied. Voter turnout is usually about 50% of registered voters. Is it reasonable that with even a high voter turnout of 60% (which would require 255,000,000 registered voters, or about 122,000,000 more than those registered in February 2020), tens of millions of votes overwhelmingly for the left would turn up in the six swing states after the polls closed? Check the numbers for yourself: do the math. The numbers simply don't add up. The recent election does not appear to have been free and fair, it appears to have been heavily manipulated toward the left.

I've lived in the USSR during its final months and then in Russia for a total of 17 years and have witnessed how the vote counts were often manipulated to produce an overwhelming victory for the "pre-ordained" candidate. I have personal knowledge that the communist cadre were being trained on how to manipulate the vote count there. I write this not because I'm rabidly pro-Trump, it's because I'm pro-fairness and pro-life. If you've known me for the last few years, you know that I actively opposed Trump in 2016 because of his personal morals.

But the behavior and policies of his opponents in the recent election are even more immoral, and both politically and economically disastrous. In spite of Trump's often rude and eccentric behavior, his policies in these years have proven to be more pro-life than any previous U.S. president in the last century, the all-intrusive state was cut back, and the economy flourished. Just as the Lord God used the pagan Emperor Cyrus of Persia to return the exiled Jews to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls, God has used Trump. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. I don't subscribe to any conspiracy theories about the pandemic, but it and the accompanying panic and shutdowns have been disastrous for the American people and the economy. IMHO (in my humble opinion), things could get quite messy in the U.S. around 6 January when Congress decides whether to accept the electoral college votes, so PRAY FOR AMERICA!

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WHY are we NOT doing ministry? HOW can we start doing it again? Go to: Christ Sending Out the Twelve to see WHY & HOW: we've been conditioned over the centuries to think - "It's too hard, too expensive, and anyway, the government should do it." Then ENROLL in our *free* course "A Biblical Theology of Ministry" that starts on Monday, 4 Jan. 2021! (We will accept late enrollments for a few more days.)

Our news headline above JOHN OF KRONSTADT: SAINT OF COMMUNION, SAINT OF CONFESSION commemorates his repose in the Lord on 2 January 1909 (Gregorian calendar), which is 20 December 1908 according to the old Julian calendar that was being used at that time in Russia. St. John of Kronstadt is known to have performed many miracles during his lifetime, and even after his death miracles happened near his tomb or when people asked him to intercede for them. In January 2007, we had decided to become Orthodox, and while we were still catechumens learning about the Orthodox faith, I had chosen him to be my patron saint.

In August 2008, we visited the monastery in Kronstadt (a suburb of St. Petersburg) where he lies in repose. As I was kneeling at his grave to venerate him, a voice came into my head -"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could be chrismated on the centennial of his repose?" But I immediately thought - "That would be too much to ask of our priest!" - so I put the idea out of my mind. But in autumn our priest decided that we were ready to be chrismated, and asked me what date we would like. So my wife and I were chrismated into the Orthodox Church on 20 December 2008, the centennial of his repose.

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