Priests can be removed from ministry and even defrocked for refusing to vaccinate, and also for the fact that their attitude has pushed people to refuse vaccination.
The representative of Archbishop Chrysostom, Archimandrite Triphyllius, explained why the primate of the Cypriot Church forbade priests who oppose vaccination from performing divine services, informs Greek edition of Dogma.
On the Vanguard program in Cyprus, Archimandrite Triphyllius stated that Archbishop Chrysostom “invited all the priests of the archdiocese, personally met with them and asked their opinion about vaccination and everything else, in order to make some decisions with all indulgence and with fatherly love.”
The archimandrite said that in the diocese they were suspended “not only for refusing to vaccinate, but also because by their attitude or behavior they influenced and encouraged people to be against vaccination, or even prevented it.”
According to him, “it could have been done not with the help of microphones, televisions or meetings, but in confession, in your inner circle. When a believer approaches a priest and asks him if he (the priest – Ed.) has been vaccinated, and the priest answers: “I can’t tell you,” then the believer begins to suspect and ask questions,” Archbishop Chrysostost’s representative added to his story. .
Like us previously reportedthe head of the Cypriot Church, Archbishop Chrysostom, put forward 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 Cypriot capital, Nicosia, to protest against Chrysostom’s ultimatum, the publication reports. cyprus mail.
The protesters demanded the lifting of the ultimatum. Speaking at the protest, epidemiologist Dr. Elpidoforos Soteriades said it was unacceptable and illegal. “You know the scientific truth,” he said, addressing the archbishop through a microphone. In addition to legal and scientific considerations, he said that what the archbishop does is unchristian.
“If we turn to canon law,” says the author life expectancy Konstantin Mikolenko, we will see that it, as sanctions for various misconduct, involves the following penalties: prohibition in the priesthood, deprivation of dignity, excommunication from the Church. What Archbishop Chrysostom threatens is, in fact, a ban on priestly service. It’s time to adopt a new canon, something like this: “He who is not vaccinated will turn, if he is a cleric, let him be deposed, if he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.”
But canon law knows no such “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 ambiguous. 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 today are breaking records in the number of cases.
The head of WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, 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 Cypriot Church quite logically provoked a protest among the faithful, who on January 9 gathered near the residence of the archbishop in Nicosia and demanded that the ultimatum be cancelled. 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 precisely those Local Churches that have recognized the OCU: Constantinople, Hellas and Cyprus. There is something to think about…
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