RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Russian church issues emergency instructions for coronavirus

R.P.Ts. SYNOD RECOMMENDS COMMUNICANTS SWITCH TO DISPOSABLE CUPS

Interfax-Religiia, 11 March 2020

 

The synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs) urged strict observance of measures for preventing coronavirus.

 

"The Holy Synod considers consistent and scrupulous observance of sanitary hygienic measures of a preventive nature in parishes and monasteries to be important, especially in those regions where epidemic conditions have been officially recognized as severe, including a wider use of sanitary solutions for the disinfection of icon cases, which believers kiss, and the use of disposable cups for beverages," the synod's statement says. A synod session was held in Moscow on Wednesday.

 

Thus, whereas hitherto after taking holy communion in the RPTs, believers are given "drink" (wine mixed with water) from several vessels, now in light of the spread of the coronavirus it is recommended to switch to individual cups. At the same time, as Interfax was told in the patriarchate, communion itself will be distributed out of a single spoon.

 

In the event of the spread of coronavirus infection into a specific region, additional preventive measures may be used, the statement notes.

 

"It is impermissible to take the coronavirus infection lightly, to neglect medical prescriptions, and to ignore prophylactic measures that subject one's self and associates to the danger of infection," the document says.

 

The synod expressed condolences to relatives and friends of victims of this illness in China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, and other states, and it also called the labors of physicians and volunteers who are helping the sick and trying to halt the spread of the epidemic "blessed before the Lord."

 

Along with this, the leadership of the RPTs calls for "restraint, sobriety, and prayerful calm" and notes that a believing person should not be subject to panic and fear due to the spread of unreliable information about the illness.

 

The Holy Synod calls everybody to intensified prayer for overcoming the illness and for granting strength to physicians struggling with it. (tr. by PDS, posted 11 March 2020)


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