The pontiff’s traditional St Peter’s Square address was replaced by an online message for Catholic Easter last weekend.
A week later, the Greek Orthodox church is making its own adjustments for this weekend’s Easter (19 April) feast as global infections surpass 2 million and deaths near 150,000.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew released an Easter message urging Christians to stay at home during the holiday. “You should rest assured that if you are hurt by the closed churches, your Patriarch is distressed and troubled,” he said, reassuring Christians that these measures do not affect their faith. “However, I reassure you that there was no other way. At this critical time of the pandemic, doctors and medical scholars propose the mandatory measures enforced by the state. We, too, must contribute to the protection of our neighbours. Naturally, we pray to the God of love, the physician of our souls and bodies, that He might strengthen the sick in their suffering and support the difficult work of doctors, nurses, and all those who self-sacrificially strive to address this immense problem.”
The patriarch’s directive sent last month for the closure of Greek Orthodox churches includes those of Australia. In an interview script which Archbishop Makarios circulated to the media following Neos Kosmos’ request for an interview, he said the only reason the Archdiocese was forced to close its churches nationwide was to protect people.
“We do not want our participation in the Divine Liturgy and other communal worship services to result in anyone becoming ill or even dying because they become infected,” he said.
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“Certainly, all the services are being conducted by the priest and the chanter. The bells continue to ring. The services are being live streamed through the internet. People know that their priest is there, and that he continues to offer the bloodless sacrifice for the health of all people; for all those who are not in the Church, and for the repose of all those who have departed this life.”
He did however, encourage people to watch the services live-streamed through social media. “The bells continue to ring. The services are being live streamed through the internet,” he said.
Churches around the world have made a number of adjustments. From St Spyridon’s priest lighting ‘candles of hope’ for the faithful at no cost purely because he wants them to feel the spirit of Easter, to St Anthony’s Saint Yourself a Seat programme where a saint of your choice can be propped up on a pew for $20 to priest’s in remote islands and villages vlogging as a way of staying connected to parishioners; it seems that the church – once suspicious of social media – is now wholeheartedly embracing it on all its platforms.
Another of the adjustments which the church has made has been in the transportation and dissemination of the Holy Flame. The initial plan to transport the light to different homes, an initiative thought of by the Municipality of Argyroupolis which was quickly scrapped.
The Holy Flame which is believed to miraculously appear at the Holy Sepulchre, the tomb of Christ, will still be transported from Jerusalem to Greece, the Patriarchate of Constantinople and indeed the world – though Australia has traditionally been left out of this process. Nine different lanterns will board nine flights to transport the ‘light of God’, however the delegations will fly to Israel to receive the flame on Saturday without the usual fanfare.
In Athens, Greek Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister for the Diaspora, Kostas Vlasis, will receive the Holy Light without too much pandemonium . “We are concerned of the gathering of faithful,” he said. “It is a pity to lose the efforts that have been made up until now to restrict the spread of coronavirus.”
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Though congregations around the world will remain home, their prayers will be needed more than ever. Archbishop Makarios hopes that a vaccine will be found soon and has a theory that it will be discovered in the USA. “Beyond the scientific facts, it is well known that the second most powerful nation in the world is China, while America, which is the first, has a huge debt to China. The balances between power are always very delicate,” he said.
“I foresee that the vaccine to treat and cure this virus will be discovered in the USA since in this way the existing economic balances which have been threatened will be maintained.”
He added that we “must all face” the pandemic “with unity, faith, obedience to the governing bodies and the scientific community, and with prudence and sobriety.”
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Candles of Hope
Father Steven Scoutas of St Spyridon Church said that despite doors being shut to the public, he feels a deep spiritual presence between the empty pews. Parishioners are thirsting for a prayer, and he has been inundated with requests from all around the world to light a candle. “Spiritual good will come of this as people, deprived of church, will realise their religion meant more to them than they thought,” he told Neos Kosmos.