In an official statement to the faithful of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta, Metropolitan Alexios encouraged faithful to remain vigilant and to keep taking communion.
The 77-year-old hierarch, who presides over parishes in the American southwest, including Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and the Carolinas, issued a statement on March 13, 2020 via the Metropolis website.
“The situation is, of course, one that can change quickly, but as your Spiritual Shepherd, I offer this message for reassurance,” Metropolitan Alexios wrote, while echoing the words written by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America in an earlier encyclical.
Alexios then went on to list and encourage the observation of safe practices in church, including refraining from kissing priests’ hands.
On the matter of communion, which involves the use of a common cup and spoon and the sharing of wine and soaked bread that the Church believes is transformed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ– Alexios not only remained firm in encouraging faithful to continue the sacrament, he said that if you’re afraid or nervous about participating, it was “not in the Orthodox ethos.”
“When outbreaks such as these happen, one of the first questions we often receive is regarding the Communion Cup shared by all the clergy and the laity. It is important to remember that we believe the Eucharist is the literal sanctified Body and Blood of our Lord. Therefore, to be afraid or nervous considering the holiest of sacraments is not in the Orthodox ethos,” Alexios wrote in his statement.
In fact, Alexios continued, “In times of worry and caution, the church encourages its faithful to participate in the sacraments, particularly Communion, for forgiveness of sins, and for our Lord’s guidance and protection.”
Mixed Messages from Orthodox Hierarchs
Other Metropolitans throughout the United States are sending differing messages about scheduling of services and the sacrament of communion.
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America published an encyclical and extensive guidelines for Greek Orthodox Churches throughout the nation to follow regarding safety of the faithful but stopped short of suggesting liturgies should be cancelled. On the matter of communion, Elpidophoros’ directive was that the sacrament of Holy Communion was to continue as usual.
He did, however, offer words of comfort to those who were questioning taking communion or were afraid.
“No one should be criticized for making the choice to refrain for a time from their participation in the traditional liturgical practices of our Holy Church. These measures do not change the traditions of the Church but are rather temporary precautions during this time of crisis,” Elpidophoros said in his encyclical.
Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit, who didn’t specifically touch on the issue of communion, is entrusting his priests to use their own discretion regarding cancellation of services, based on the situation in their own locality. His full letter is here.
“I do not need to tell you the importance of our Divine Services for our people and indeed, for the whole world. Nevertheless, rather than mandate any set of services in the parishes, I entrust each priest to use his discretion, based on the situation in his particular locality, to determine that schedule,” Nicholas wrote.
The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston, presided over by Metropolitan Methodios, also issued a statement to his New England-area parishes on March 13, asking for compliance with the directives of the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control.
“Cancellation of worship services is a decision taken by the Parish in accordance with the guidance and directives of the local civic authorities,” Methodios wrote.
In the San Francisco Metropolis, Metropolitan Gerasimos announced that amongst other directives, “all non-liturgical gatherings at the church are to be cancelled… the passing of trays should be discontinued… all directives from the local authorities that impact church services including liturgical assemblies must be followed,” and “Each priest is to use his discretion depending upon his particular locality in conjunction with the information provided by authorities.”
The full message posted on the website of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco is here.
The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago published a statement on March 9, 2020, effectively sharing information and resources from the Archdiocese directives but not offering any specific directives unique to the Chicago Metropolis. The full message from Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago is here.
No public information was available on either websites of Facebook pages of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Denver at the time of the publishing of this piece.
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