IN PERM,
M.V.D. AND
S.K.R. ARE ASKED TO CHECK AFTER EASTER SERVICE AT WHICH
PARISHIONERS KISSED
CROSS THAT WAS NOT DISINFECTED
by Ivan
Zhilin
A
resident of Perm,
Ekaterina Goncharova-Forsiuk, complained to Rospotrebnadzor, the
Ministry of
Internal Affairs, and the Investigative Committee about an
Easter service that
was conducted in the church of All Saints.
"[Archpriest]
Andrei
Litovka, despite the strictest prohibition on mass events, is
conducting
a service with the kissing of icons and a cross without any
treatment and with
giving parishioners communion from the same spoon," she wrote on
her
Facebook page, attaching a video recording in which it is
visible that
parishioners approach the clergyman and kiss a cross, which he
is holding in
his hands, while after each kissing the cross is not really
treated.
Andrei
Litovka
himself, in conversation with the publication 59.ru, reported
that "I only
touched with the cross the forehead of those who approached."
Earlier
the Perm
department of Rospotrebnadzor ordered the restriction of access
to churches for
parishioners on Easter. A similar request was also issued by
Metropolitan of
Perm and Kungursk Mefody: "With the blessing of the hierarchy
and in accordance
with the order of the chief state sanitary doctor for Perm
territory, it is
necessary to limit access of parishioners to worship services in
the churches
of Perm diocese until further notice," the metropolitan's
statement that
was published on the website of the metropolitanate says.
Novaia
Gazeta was not
successful in getting comment from the metropolitanate regarding
the service in
the church of All Saints; the office staff is not answering
calls. (tr. by PDS,
posted 20 April 2020)
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