Vaccination and the Orthodox Church

In the Cypriot and Greek Orthodox Churches, events are observed due to which a schism occurs on the basis of vaccination / non-vaccination.

First, the Greek Orthodox Church, represented by the Holy Synod, opposed compulsory vaccination, stating that it “everyone’s personal business”, moreover, in some churches began refuse the sacrament to the vaccinated… But then the situation began to change dramatically.

The first sign was the statement of Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, who named the priests who oppose vaccination, “schismatics”… And after that there was a joint statement by the Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Jerome of Athens and All Greece – with appeal towards universal vaccination.

It is noteworthy that Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus motivated his statements with the arguments that doubt in medical science offends God, since the Word of God claims that medicine was inspired by God:

“The church is a body. This is not an uncontrolled space. The Church is expressed by the Holy Synod, not every priest. Disrespect for the body of the church has consequences. In this case, we go to anarchy and schismaticism. Those who do this have schismatic views, they are outside. body “.

The Cypriot Church decided to follow in the footsteps of the “Big Brother”, but, as usually happens, in a somewhat exaggerated form. The head of the Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos, issued an ultimatum to his clergy: those who were not vaccinated before January 15 “will no longer be priests of the diocese.”

In response to this statement, dozens of believers gathered last Sunday in the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, at a protest rally against Chrysostom’s ultimatum, the newspaper reports. cyprus-mail…

The protesters demanded that the ultimatum be lifted. Speaking at the protest, epidemiologist Dr. Elpidophoros Soteriades said it was unacceptable and illegal. “You know the scientific truth,” he said, addressing the archbishop into a microphone. Apart from considerations of legality and scholarship, he said that what the archbishop does is non-Christian.

“If we turn to canon law,” says the author AOJ Konstantin Mikolenko, then we will see that it, as sanctions for various offenses, involves the following measures of punishment: prohibition in the priesthood, defrocking, excommunication. What Archbishop Chrysostomus threatens is, in fact, a ban in the priesthood. It is high time to accept a new canon, something like this: “Whoever is not vaccinated will be ordained, if a cleric, let him be overthrown, if he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.”

But canon law does not know such a “crime” as refusing to vaccinate. Vaccination is not a doctrinal or even moral issue, it is a medical issue. Moreover, even from a medical point of view, the question of the effectiveness of vaccination is very, very controversial. Anyone can open the news feed and see how European countries, in which 70%, 80%, or even almost all 100% of the population are vaccinated, are breaking records for the number of cases today.

WHO head Tedros Ghebreisus admitted in November 2021 that vaccinated people are the same carriers of coronavirus as unvaccinated people. Then on what grounds does Archbishop Chrysostomos allow vaccinated priests to serve?

The ultimatum of the Primate of the Church of Cyprus quite logically caused a protest among the believers, who on January 9 gathered near the residence of the Archbishop in Nicosia and demanded that the ultimatum be canceled. That is, turmoil has begun in the Cypriot Church, which can develop into serious moods.

And one more interesting observation: the most categorical and irreconcilable position on the issue of vaccination is taken by the hierarchs of those Local Churches that have recognized the OCU: Constantinople, Greece and Cyprus. There is something to think about “…

Time will tell how and what will come around these events, but it is already clear that there will be little good from this …

…



Source link