METROPOLITAN
ILARION
CLEARS UP MAIN CONTRADICTION IN QUESTION OF COMMUNION
The
church considers
that it is impossible to contract the coronavirus from
communion, although it
takes precautionary steps, since it is possible to contract the
disease from
the chalice and spoon by which believers take communion, the
head of the
Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow
patriarchate,
Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion declared.
"The
sacred
gifts are in the chalice, and we make communion with a spoon.
Like in a glass
with water there is water, but there is the glass itself. We
touch it just like
people kiss the chalice after communion. Where is the guarantee
that the virus
does not remain on the chalice or on the face? . . . There is no
contradiction
here; there is just clarification here," the metropolitan said
during an
online conference with believers.
This is
the reason,
he said, that now after each communicant the spoon in wiped with
a special
linen soaked in disinfectant, in accordance with the
instructions adopted by
the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In
addition, during
the pandemic, believers do not kiss the chalice and their lips
are wiped with disposable
towels. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 April 2020)
METROPOLITAN:
R.P.Ts.
WILL DECIDE HOW TO CONDUCT PASCHA DURING SELF-ISOLATION
The
head of the
Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow
patriarchate,
Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion, urged preparing mentally
for the fact that
there will be no possibility of going to churches on Pascha,
but the Synod of
the RPTs has to discuss this question.
"We
must
mentally prepare for the fact that the current situation will
remain. We will
think over and discuss with the Holy Synod how we will prepare
for Holy Week
and the Resurrection of Christ," the metropolitan said during
an online
conversation with believers.
At the
same time he
urged believers to prepare for the fact that, most likely, the
celebration of
Pascha will be restricted "to watching the broadcast of the
patriarchal
liturgy on central television channels," and not going to a
church
building. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 April 2020)
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