KIRILL
URGES BELIEVERS
NOT TO ATTEND CHURCHES IN CONDITIONS OF CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Interfax-Religiia,
29
March 2020
Patriarch
of Moscow
and all-Rus Kirill reached out to believers with a call to pray
at home and not
in churches, in order to protect themselves from illness during
the coronavirus
pandemic.
"I urge
you, my
dear ones, in the coming days, until there is a special
patriarchal blessing,
to refrain from visiting church buildings and, if someone says
something to
you, remind them of the example of Maria of Egypt," the
patriarch said on
Sunday after the liturgy in the church of Christ the Savior.
The
primate of the
church acknowledged that this decision had not been taken
lightly. "I have
been preaching from the pulpit for 51 years and I urge people to
attend church and
to overcome the drag of their own evil will and external
circumstances, and I
have devoted my whole life to this direction, and I hope you
understand how
difficult it is for me today to say: refrain from attending
churches" he
said.
The
patriarch said
that he was inspired for such a step by Saint Maria of Egypt,
whom the church
specifically venerates these days as a great saint, who "during
her
earthly life adopted the angelic nature," who far from
monasteries and
church buildings, deep in the desert, that is, in solitude,
saved her own life
and "gave the physical body the strength to endure so much in
the
unbelievable circumstances that the Lord gave this remarkable
saint."
"May the
Lord by
her prayers preserve all of us from infection and illness, but
most important
may her example of solitude help us to realize the importance of
solitude in
our personal 'deserts,' in our apartments. Let us take upon
ourselves a piece
of the accomplishment of Maria of Egypt in order to preserve
ourselves and our
relatives and friends, and perhaps also to feel the achievement
of this great
saint who lived the greater part of her life in solitude only
because she
believed in the Lord and heard his voice. We believe that today
the Lord is
calling us to take her path even in the conditions of modern
metropolises," the patriarch said.
He said
the church
calls today "the victims in our families" to take upon
themselves the
obligations to strictly obey all those prescriptions that the
health
authorities of Russia are imposing.
An
Interfax correspondent
reported that on this occasion few people gathered for the
service and several
came in masks. (tr. by PDS, posted 29 March 2020)
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