CONFLICT
BETWEEN
SYNODAL AGENCIES OF R.P.Ts.M.P
Vladimir
Legoida
criticizes Metr. Ilarion's idea of confession by phone or Skype
Church
sacraments,
including penance (confession) and communion, cannot be
performed remotely and
there is no possibility of changing such a condition, the
chairman of the
Moscow patriarchate's synodal Department for Relations of Church
with Society
and News Media, Vladimir Legoida, declared on 3 April; he also
is a member of
the working group under the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox
Church of the
Moscow Patriarchate for coordination of the activity of church
institutions
under conditions of the spread of the coronavirus infection, RIA
Novosti
reports.
"There
are
things which are impossible to be done remotely—these are the
sacraments. Here
nothing has changed and I do not see here the possibility of
going in step with
the times," Legoida declared on a broadcast of the program
"Splendid
Evening" on radio Vera. He said that self-isolation because of
an epidemic
is a special trial, "because for a time a person is deprived of
the
possibility of taking refuge in the sacraments."
On 29
March,
Patriarch Kirill urged believers not to attend churches because
of the spread
of the coronavirus infection. Presently the chairman of the
Department for
External Church Relations of the M.P., Metropolitan Ilarion,
declared that it
is quite permissible to make confession over the telephone or by
other means of
telecommunication.
Metropolitan
Ilarion
has an official position as a permanent member of the Synod of
the Moscow
patriarchate, and Vladimir Legoida, as a layman, is not a member
of the Synod.
Nevertheless, since he occupies the office of press secretary
for the
patriarch, Legoida is authorized to relay the position of the
head of the
Moscow patriarchate. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 April 2020)
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