Source: Fletcher School of Tufts University Fletcher Prof Elizabeth Prodromou shares her thoughts on Human Security & Religion in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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The Very Reverend Dr. Cyril Hovorun is Expert and Contributor at Encyclopedia Britannica, Associate Dean of St. Ignatios Theological Academy (Sweden), Director of Research at the Institute of Theological Studies at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine), and Acting Director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University (USA). From 2007 to 2009, he chaired the Department of External Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. From 2009 to 2011, he was the first Deputy Chairman of the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Source: The Wheel The pandemic now ravaging the Orthodox Church is not only COVID-19 but also fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is a sort of populism for the church. It is based on post-truth and conspiracy theories. Although it pretends to be pietistic, it is quite secular and secularizing. I would apply to fundamentalism the phrase once coined by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “cheap grace.” Fundamentalism is a cheap spirituality and a cheap substitute for genuine ecclesial existence. The circumstances of the COVID 19 epidemic demonstrate that fundamentalism not only corrupts minds and muddies faith, but can also kill bodies. It is time to treat…
Source: The New York TImes Even as the monasteries of the Orthodox Church are besieged by the coronavirus, apocalyptic-minded priests balk at state restrictions on public worship. By Andrew Higgins MOSCOW — A physics student at Moscow State University, Dmitri Pelipenko turned away from science in 2018 to devote himself to God, enrolling as a novice monk at Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church. His spiritual journey, derailed by the coronavirus, came to an abrupt and gruesome end shortly after the Orthodox Easter. Admitted to the hospital after testing positive for the illness, Mr. Pelipenko…
Source: St. Phoebe Center Webinar: “The Female Diaconate in a Time of Pandemic” Sunday, May 3 7 – 8 pm Eastern Daylight Time REGISTER HERE On Sunday, May 3, the Church reads from Acts 6:1-7 in which the apostles appoint others to help with ministry in the early Christian Church. This has traditionally marked the beginning of the office of the deacon. On this day, the Church also reads an account of the Myrrh-Bearing Women who, when they go to anoint Christ’s body, are told of His Resurrection and instructed to tell the disciples, beginning the Christian witness to the…
Source: Public Orthodoxy RELIGIOUS MATERIALITY IN POST-CHERNOBYL CONTAMINATION by Elena Romashko The publication of this essay coincides wit the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Saturday, April 26, 1986. In March 2020, we were asked to work from home because of the pandemic of coronavirus. We could not even imagine how quickly the situation would escalate to a global lockdown. Looking at the warm and beautiful weather my husband said, “It’s hard to believe that being outside can be dangerous—the world around looks exactly the same, like nothing has changed.” His words stung me with a flashback: Sonja, one of my informants…
Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago
Source: Greek News By Apostolos Zoupaniotis New York – His Eminence Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago is the youngest member of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Archdiocese of America, but during the past 30 days of the Coronavirus crisis, that changed everything in America, he made some really tough decisions. “The decision to suspend services throughout the Metropolis on Sunday, March 15th was the most difficult decision I’ve made as Metropolitan”, he told the Greek News in an exclusive interview. Until then, the directive about the maximum number of people allowed to join a gathering was 250. But Nathanael, seeking the…
Source: The New Yorker By Paul Elie In the time of the coronavirus, the symbolic motifs of religion have turned literal. Lent, the forty-day season of preparation for Easter, is usually a time of symbolic deprivation: giving up meat on Fridays, giving up chocolate, giving up unkindness, giving up carbon. This year—Lent began on February 26th—the coronavirus has demanded quite literal deprivation: no going out, no eating out, no shopping, no seeing friends. For too many people, it has brought the pain of job loss, illness, and death. Ambulance sirens ring out constantly in the otherwise empty streets of New York…
Photo by ΜΟΤΙΟΝΤΕΑΜ/ Ververidis Vassilis, FILE.
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America New York, NY – His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America announced today the postponement of the Apostolic Visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the United States due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. The visit will be rescheduled after consulting with the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization in order to ensure the health and safety of the Faithful who yearn to receive the blessing of His All-Holiness as he visits the Archdiocese. Commenting on this development, Archbishop Elpidophoros said: “The health of our Ecumenical Patriarch and our communities is our utmost…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Briefs Clergy on his Call with Secretary Azar New York, NY – Today, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America held a Virtual Town Hall with the Metropolitans of the Eparchial Synod, the Bishops, and over 325 members of the National Clergy, organized by the Archdiocese Presbyters Council (APC), in order to discuss the magnitude of the Pandemic crisis and took questions from the clergy. The Archbishop briefed the clergy on last night’s discussion that he had with Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, where they identified two areas in which the Church…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America New York, NY – His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America and the Most Reverend Members of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, have issued guidelines to the Clergy and Laity of the Archdiocese to face the outbreak of the Coronavirus, Covid-19, that has spread throughout the world. Recognizing that this outbreak impacts not only on the most vulnerable members of the community, but upon all people, the Archbishop and the Eparchial Synod have issued an Encyclical (www.goarch.org/-/encyclical-covid-19-pandemic) containing guidelines (www.goarch.org/-/directives-covid-19) to the Clergy on how a Parish can best…