On the Closure of Churches – 2
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My previous post “On the Closure of Churches” made some people wonder whether I am not taking the threat of the viral pandemic seriously, or whether I am advocating for some sort of disobedience to our civil authorities. I do not think that it is absolutely necessary for me to clarify my position. First of all, I try to make it abundantly clear that I am not a medical doctor, nor do I have any training in virology. Anyone who cares about what a non-expert like me thinks about such complex matters as pandemics, is making a serious error in his or her judgment. Secondly, not only did I not advocate for breaking social-distancing rules, but we, along with everyone else, have dutifully closed our services to the public and are in full compliance with all applicable government orders.
That said, however, I find it important to continue the conversation about the place in which the Holy Church finds Herself today. Should our only response to the government’s order to jump be in asking ‘how high?’ Or should we have a healthy degree of self-awareness and take personal responsibility for both our physical and spiritual health and needs? I trust it is obvious to everyone that the situation with the pandemic is developing very rapidly, and many things are in a state of flux. But here are a few things that I find important to observe and of which to be aware.
The Eucharist
At the risk of being misunderstood, I must nonetheless say that I am quite surprised at the response of many Christians to the closing of their churches to the public. Participating in the Eucharist has been dangerous and even deadly many times in the history of the Church. I do not at all suggest that the present ban on public religious worship in some states in the U.S. is in any way akin to the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, the Soviet Union, or the Middle East–absolutely not! Neither is it of any spiritual benefit to purposefully or through negligence get infected with the new virus and to spread it around. But the very idea that Christians should stay away from the Body and Blood of Christ in an attempt to preserve their health seems somewhat out of step with the countless examples of saints who risked torture and painful death every time they came together to celebrate Divine Liturgy.
Of course, it may be pointed out that by staying away from church we protect not only ourselves but also our loved ones. This is true, and we must not disregard our duty to others or take it lightly, but refusing to even consider a balance in this matter is hardly wise on our part. During dangerous times, Christians gathered behind closed doors, at night, in the dark, baptized their children in secret–precisely in order not to needlessly subject themselves and their loved ones to danger. And yet they also believed that their lives were in God’s hands, and that this was more important than the very real dangers they faced. There is just something inconsistent about Christians who risk getting infected while stocking up on toilet paper at a Walmart or Costco but are not willing to take a similar risk when it comes to going to church.
As I mentioned earlier, in our small Mission, we will continue to celebrate the Eucharist but limit the number of people who can be in the sanctuary at one time to only three. So, no, this is not a call for civil disobedience. However, this situation does call for a healthy degree of skepticism. In Illinois and California, for example, the two states that are now in lock-down, recreational cannabis dispensaries have been declared “essential services” and exempted from the said lock-down. Governments in those states found the risk of pot users’ getting and spreading the deadly contagion to be acceptable when weighed against the needs of these pot users. Apparently, it has been determined by the governors that simply live-streaming someone smoking pot on the internet would not be sufficient to address those essential needs, and that the smokers must have an opportunity to actually partake of the weed. I certainly understand why state governments do not consider the Body and Blood of Christ to be of equal importance to the faithful as marijuana is to pot smokers. What I do not understand is why there are so few faithful asserting the essential nature of and their personal need for the Holy Communion.
The Price of Closing Churches
Naturally, I am very much concerned about the health and safety of those among us who are the most vulnerable–the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. But there may be a price to pay for preventing them from coming to church and directing them to self-isolate. There is always a price to pay. Some of the elderly, for example, may be the ones who will not find it particularly meaningful to watch a video on the internet of someone else partaking of the Holy Communion. They may also be less likely to communicate with their parish priest through the various technologies and IT-platforms to which we are switching our worship. In very small parishes, it may be possible for the priest to keep in touch with most faithful. But in larger communities, there is a physical limit to how many people a priest can visit in any given week; and then he must wonder whether he might be spreading the virus from one home to another. How many of our elders might end up being left without meaningful access to prayer, confession, communion, or even a basic opportunity to speak with their pastor in person? Why are we so content when our churches are declared non-essential together with taverns and movie theaters, and not at-least-as-essential as liquor shops or cannabis dispensaries?
It is not the young, the healthy, the internet-savvy, the ones surrounded by friends and family, and the ones who are the most active in their parishes who are at risk of “falling through the cracks.” It is the most vulnerable, the chronically-ill, the elderly, the lonely, the ones who do not always come to church, the ones, whose address or telephone number is not at the top of a priest’s mind–they are the ones whose mental and emotional state or physical conditions may get exacerbated by the lock-downs and quarantines. There are still more than 640,000 deaths of heart disease in the U.S. every year–that is more than 1,700 every single day. How many of them will be our parishioners in isolation? So far, in March, mental health crisis hotlines are reporting a spike in calls with many receiving double the usual number. Anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, mental health concerns are exacerbated in any crisis situation. But this time, we are telling our flock to stay away from their community and from the Body of our Lord. There is always a price to pay.
Religious Freedom
I am not truly concerned with the social-distancing measures as they are applied to our churches in the short term. If the experts say that this makes good sense, I have to trust the experts. But I am very much concerned that there does not seem to be a coherent and intelligible standard or an exit strategy. (We are generally not good with exit strategies.) Why is the same standard applied to a tiny rural mission church as to a metropolitan megachurch? Is there an epidemiological standard or rationale for such things? And what are the exact conditions when the churches will once again be re-opened? The entire State of Illinois went on a lock-down when the number of coronavirus cases in the state reached 500. Again, I am not an expert on this matter, but I cannot imagine that in my lifetime Illinois will ever have fewer than 500 cases again. It is a virus, and it is here to stay. So, there must be some other benchmark, but which? If we do not know what that benchmark is, we cannot verify that politicians are indeed making correct decisions, and that churches are indeed non-essential and should remain closed even for Pascha, while liquor shops, marijuana dispensaries, and other essential services should remain open and available.
There is another worrying trend that I must mention. When I first heard the idea that we should not take our cellphones to church for the fear that the government might use our location data, I thought that it was utterly ridiculous. The very next day, it was announced that the U.S. government was working with tech companies to use cellphone location data to track the spread of the virus. To be sure, it is proposed that the data be anonymized. For now. The Russian government went a bit further and announced a plan to track those infected with the virus and send alerts to the phones of those people who may have crossed paths with them. South Korea and Israel are already doing that. And Hong Kong outfits people with GPS bracelets to ensure they stay in their homes–just like we do to people on house arrest, parole, or probation here in the U.S. Considering that the W.H.O. is “applauding” China’s response to the pandemic (Hong Kong is an administrative region of China), and that our President is apparently “impressed by the efforts made” by North Korea, anonymized location data from our cellphones may be just the beginning. And just like the War on Terror, this “war on virus” will not be won in a month or two, and the “tools of war” may be here to stay. So, yes, next time I celebrate Divine Liturgy, perhaps I will leave my cellphone at home. I firmly believe in the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment, but just like Christians in the times of persecution (which we are not!), if I can take reasonable precautions to avoid becoming a test-case, perhaps, I should.
Resilience
All of these things are concerning to me, but I believe in the innate resilience of our system of government. Soon enough, people will begin to adjust to the new reality of life and to question more, to pay more attention, to assert their religious freedoms. It may not be soon enough for us to be able to publicly celebrate Pascha this year, but with God’s mercy, if He grants us more time for repentance, we will celebrate next year. Perhaps, my humble ramblings will help ask some questions and find some answers about the way we are to practice our Orthodox faith during a pandemic. For example, is Christ still in the midst of the two or three gathered together if they gathered by video chat? Can a priest celebrate Divine Liturgy with a chanter “present” via FaceTime? Is it now an acceptable and preferred pastoral practice to require infants and the elderly to abstain from communion during the flu season, because they are in the most vulnerable category, and we should not put them at risk, no matter how large or small?
Finally, while I believe that churches should respond to contagious outbreaks by adopting the most robust measures that are reasonable, I am very uncomfortable with allowing politicians of any stripe to dictate whether we are allowed to offer the Holy Eucharist as a community of the faithful, or whether it is better for us to watch an internet video instead. The politicians may be expected to address things temporal, but it is the pastors of the Church who are tasked with matters of the eternal. It is to a priest, not a politician, that the bishop hands a portion of the Lamb, saying: “Receive thou this pledge, and preserve it whole and unharmed until thy last breath, because thou shalt be held to an accounting therefore in the second and terrible Coming of our great Lord, God, and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” For us to obfuscate this awesome responsibility and to not even question the situation when civil leaders act to interfere with the very heart of our faith, the Holy Eucharist, would indeed be a grave mistake to make.
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Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov 
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