Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The enemy has moved within our walls. Please read the following letter written by a very well respected and humble theologian, Constantine Zalalas. It seems an Orthodox Church in the Boston diocese now offers the option of receiving Holy Communion with a plastic spoon to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
My heart became so heavy after reading this, I am truly sick at heart. Please do not take this lightly and share it with others. I also encourage you to contact the Boston diocese to protest this heresy.
In Christ,
Sylvia
Communicable Diseases and the Common Cup
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
A Blessed Lenten Season!
It is with much sadness, pain of heart and love for our Holy Church that I write these lines only a few days after the first Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, which is the culmination of her many and great victories against heresy.
There was something different however about this particular Sunday of Orthodoxy in the Americas. I honestly did not expect to witness this sort of thing in my lifetime. It seems that my holy elder (A. Mitilinaios) was justified in teaching that ecumenism leads to secularism and faithlessness.
On this Sunday of Orthodoxy 2010, most of the parishioners of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Rutland Vermont (Diocese of Boston), separated themselves from the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church. Alas! They were administered “hold communion” with an individual plastic spoon!!!
The liberal and anti-orthodox agenda of the New York based newspaper National Herald, well known for the anti-monastic and extreme views of its theological section is what propagated this most sacrilegious and impious action. During the Christmas season (as most liberal newspapers spill out their anti-Christian venom to please their patron, Satan), the “theologians” of this Greek-American newspaper (most of its subscribers are Greek Orthodox) published a commentary by a Dr. John Collis a “distinguished physician and a former member of the Archdiocesan council” (God help us.), on the perils of contracting the H1N1 virus via the Eucharistic, or Common Cup.
His purely scientific, rationalistic, and secular views on this most central and profound mystery of the Body of Christ, of the Orthodox Church, is characteristic of the higher echelon of the scientific community. Tragically, that commentary sowed a great many seeds of doubt in the already darkened minds of the readers of this very popular newspaper.
The tares that he sowed (Matt.13:25) this past Christmas season in the minds of “these little ones for whom Christ died”, did not take long to sprout and grow according to the audacious testimony of a Theodore Corsones who seems to be quite proud of the innovationist spirit of his parish priest. I hereby include the contents of his entire letter to the editor of the National Herald issued 2/20-26/2010.
RUTLAND, VERMONT CHURCH
PROVIDES PLASTIC SPOON
To the Editor:
In response to the article written by John Collis, M.D., this is to inform you of the procedure in use this winter at our Greek Orthodox Church in Rutland, Vermont (St. Nicholas Orthodox Church).
The priest instructs the parishioners who prefer to use individual plastic spoons to be first in line. Then, as each one of them approaches, an altar server provides a plastic spoon and the priest administers hold communion (???) to each of then with a plastic spoon. Each spoon that is used is discarded!!! How!!! Where!!! [Emphasis is mine].
Then, those that wish to receive Holy Communion with the common spoon do so immediately afterwards. It works very well and all are pleased with this procedure.
During this winter season, most parishioners are using individual plastic spoons.
Theodore Corsones
Rutland, Vermont
I tried to refrain from any further comments on this travesty but I cannot resist enumerating some of my personal questions on this matter:
1. Did the parish priest receive a blessing from his Metropolitan Methodios?
2. Is he still using the Divine Liturgy of St. John the Chrysostom/Basil?
3. Does he still summon the communicants to draw near with: Fear, Faith and Love? What for?
The fear of God does not exist: It has been replaced by the fear of H1N1!
The faith in this awesome mystery has evaporated. Those scandalized by the Herald and Dr. Collins no longer believe that what they partake is the very Body and Blood of our Creator but a possible disease agent!
The Love for God, which is the first and foremost of the Christian commandments, has been superimposed by self-love, which according to the Fathers is the main source of many evil passions.
In closing I humbly suggest that the Metropolitan of the Holy Diocese of Boston should consider spending less time organizing dialogues and pilgrimages to the Vatican with his Papist friend Archbishop O’Malley, because it sends the wrong signal to his priests and confuses the weak members of the only Church of Christ - the Orthodox Church. More time needs to be spent to immunize the flock with the antibodies of traditional orthodox spirituality so they can once again worship our Lord with fear, faith and love.
For more information please refer to two of our past homilies: Communicable Diseases and the Common Cup. They can be found under the Question and Answer category #8 and #9 and can be downloaded (at no charge) from www.Philokalia.org.
Asking your ardent prayers to have this great temptation expunged from His Holy Church, and to grant forgiveness to His sinful servant Constantine.
**EDITOR'S NOTE: Please read this excellent post, entitled Poly-phenols and Not-So-Poly Faith, on the blog Orthodox Quiet Revolution.
25 comments:
this is very sad :(
Lord, have mercy!!
This is sad. We are not Orthodox, but our priest always told us that when studies are done on this sort of thing that priests come out healthier than all other people. If the common cup were so contaminating, the priest would be worst off since he finishes it after everyone else.
So sad!
Oh my gosh. That is SO sad.
I can't believe it. Nothing sanctified can be harmful. Period. Forget germs, our son was born with bad swallowing problems and had to have thickener in everything or he choked (we had to learn CPR to bring him home) but he TOOK COMMUNION from baptism on, a teaspoonful of thin liquid, every week, without a cough, gag, color change, sinus sounds, or any aspiration at all whatsoever. Admittedly, the first time MY faith was not so great, and I told Brian to tell Father to give him just a bit of the soaked bread, and Father misunderstood and gave him JUST liquid, so I figured okay, it's not that MUCH liquid, I'd just pound his back afterward. Then he didn't so much as cough. We never told his speech therapist, she'd have had a coronary at the thought of us letting him take thin liquid, but yeah. I will get in line last if I'm visibly ill, so as to not to possibly make anyone ELSE nervous, but if Patrick could swallow it from Day One without any problems... germs are no threat.
Lord, have mercy! This is SO sad!!
But how do we communicate this without the priest (or his superiors who may have authorized this, if they know about it) feeling like we know better than them, etc. or are being disrespectful?
I remember when SARS was a huge issue in Canada a few years ago....a visiting bishop had heard that the Catholic Church was going to be changing around its Communion protocol somehow and people were sending up unsigned notes asking if we would. They got an emphatic NO along with a reminder that this TRUE Body and TRUE Blood grant *eternal life*, and are those of the True Healer...so how can they possibly transmit disease??
This makes my heart soo heavy.
As an Orthodox theology student and current member of the Boston Metropolis, I certainly do not disagree with the intent of the article here written by Mr. Zalalas. The issue at hand is one that is theologically erroneous and deserves to be addressed as such. It is, indeed, a travesty that this practice has emerged in one of our parishes. –A practice that effectually reduces the receipt of the Precious Body and Blood of Christ to little more than a purely symbolic act. (Which we, as Orthodox Christians, wholly reject.) However, I am disappointed with the venom that is subsequently directed toward His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios in the remainder of the commentary.
It is unclear to me the relevance of introducing to the discussion His Eminence’s dialogue and exchange with any outsider (be they “Papist” or not.) I absolutely reject the post hoc fallacy here presented linking ecumenical dialogue to “secularism and faithlessness.” This is absolutely ridiculous. Metropolitan Methodios’ relationship with Archbishop O’Malley does not equate to the poor discretion and decision-making of the priest servicing the Rutland parish. Consequently, one cannot blame this most unfortunate event on the ecumenical discussion Metropolitan Methodios engages in. This is a fundamentalist outlook and is not necessarily reflected or supported in the views of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America or by the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Might I suggest that we appropriately address the theological error here presented in Mr. Zalalas’s article and leave his jab at ecumenical discussion out of the picture. In as much as the situation needs to be addressed (and we all agree that it does), I am certain that His Eminence will adequately and appropriately address the treatment of the Holy Eucharist.
I am an orthodox priest in Romania, using here my wife's account.
At first I was angry with this heretical view of using plastic spoons to administrate Holy Communion. At last, I wept.
A priest is not allowed to innovate of any kind in the liturgical life, neither in the faith. He represents, and represents only his bishop.
That's why his bishop is involved here. The "political" subtleties of those who are in the Archdiocese of Boston are not known to me, but that's what I've understood from the article.
You should know that this heretical attitude is showing off here in Romania, too.
I was angry when different parishioners of mine asked me the same thing. We are the only ones to do "this job" unhygienically.
One of my suggestions was that they should get the blessing of my bishop, His Eminence Bartholomew of Cluj. IF THEY CAN.
The other was that if their concern relates to the hygiene of the others, they should do something about THAT, and help the others not to be unhygienic (our community is small, it is true). They should be one, and when a member was in hurt, they all should feel the hurt (not ill), and in order to heal, they should not separate The Body of Christ.
Have a Blessed Lent,
pr. Lucian
This so-called priest has shown that he had no faith and therefore could not transmit anything: neither faith nor communion. Is that the faithful should follow such a liar ? Not at all. Just one word : Anaxios !
Maxime...such harsh words. We are not the ones to judge. We need to do what we know is right, but with gentleness. It is Great Lent and Satan is working harder to tempt us all. Let us pray and leave this matter in God's hands.
I am also very grieved to hear of such things taking place in our Holy Orthodoxy. But am glad to see the theologian Constantine Zalalas addressing it properly.
Αγάπη, I am also a theology student, in Thessaloniki, and I must disagree with you. I think Mr. Zalalas was very prudent in linking such acts to ecumenical involvement. Once the Hierarchs stop relating to the Holy Orthodox Church as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, as THE BODY of CHRIST, and start relating to other "churches" as members of the Body of Christ this mindset influences the faithful. When the Ecumenical Patriarch gives away the Qu'ran as a gift, calling it "holy" and "scared" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9f_4jPvGEA&feature=player_embedded)and the Metropolitan is involved in ecumenical events than the natural consequence is the people reflect this behavior. Just as the Hierarchs stop relating to the Orthodox Church as the only Body of Christ, the people stop relating to the Holy Communion as the Body and Blood of Christ. The evil does start with ecumenism which leads to secularization and ultimately faithlessness. It's important for us to realize this and stand firm against all forms of innovation.
@ Marfa
Really so harsh? This affair of plastic spoons is going to make laugh all those are convinced that priests are charlatans who sell wind, that our Church is a refuge for weak people without any courage, and even our Saviour and Lord Jesus is a charlatan, an idol of a man who has maybe existed but who cannot save because he is dead, that’s all. Do you want this? We can see our own sin, “and my sin is ever before me”, but accepting that be sure that we make it bigger and heavier before God and before men. It is a contra-testimony of our faith that is reduced to an association like an other that makes meetings with archaic suits and exotic songs not really necessary for follow a morals like others but not superior.
Please, sister Marfa ! In XC .Kali Sarakosti Maxim
It comes down to faith, doesn't it? Disease cannot co-exist with the healer and physician of our souls anymore than darkness can exist in the presence of Light. If we believe this truly is the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then our fundamental approach is that in receiving communion, we are receiving healing, in whatever form He chooses to work in us. Thus to even consider that the consecrated elements could contain, much less transmit illness, is to reveal our lack of faith. I imagine germs and viral elements meeting the same fate when encountering the consecrated elements that drops of water do when hitting a heated pan.
Exactly! entering the church is entering another dimension, another space, another time, really, is entering the antechamber of the Kingdom, and receiving Holy Communion, our whole being, body, soul and spirit enters invisibly the Kingdom and become one with that other dimension which is the Body of Christ. It is so for centuries and it should not be nowadays ?
A disease could be transmitted by Christ Himself?
I do not judge anyone, but maybe those who used plastic spoons were right to do (not to be sick and die for the plastic protects without doubt, it is even well known) for : 1 Corinthians 11:27 "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body."
This is so sad, and honestly, I'm surprised the priest made this choice. Lord have mercy.
I'd be very surprised if this happened with knowledge or permission of the Metropolitan; the story is so fantastical that I'm seriously doubting its veracity.
If it is indeed true, it is very likely that serious repercussions will come to the priest from the Chancellor and/or Metropolitan, neither of whom tolerate Liturgical shenanigans. However, I also doubt that such repercussions will be made public.
Either way - whether the story is true or false, whether the act, if done, was done with or without knowledge of the Metropolitan, whether any repercussions result, what is vitally true is the same - we, in the world, need God's prayers. May He have mercy on us, guide us, and enlighten us, to the Glory of His Name, and the attainment of His Kingdom.
We are going to see more of this, Sylvia, I am sure. I often recall St. Kosmas who said that in the final days we shall be seeking each other for strength in faith because we won't be lead to God by the clergy anymore.
i totally agree. Ecumenism leads to atheism.
I just want to share with all who may be concerned the official statement released to all GOA parishes in the Boston Metropolis from Metropolitan Methodios regarding H1N1.
I'll quote a bit but you can read the whole thing here: http://www.boston.goarch.org/news/metropolis_news/476.html
(My parish published this in the monthly bulletin...)
"It should be noted, that the Church has always been clear in its belief that diseases are not transmitted from the Holy Chalice which we believe contains the very body and blood of our Savior. Hence, the distribution of Holy Communion was never a question even when various diseases ravaged the world. As is well known, Priests consume what remains in the Chalice at the end of the Divine Liturgy, regardless whether it was celebrated in a parish church, a hospital or hospice chapel."
Just my 2 cents, we all err in judgment. This priest is no exception. We don't need to condemn him or his parishioners we need to pray that this deviation will be discontinued immediately and this will be a "teaching moment" for the whole parish regarding the holy truths...
Irene,
Yes, I believe we will see more of this as well. Lord have mercy on us. St. Kosmas' prophecies are all beginning to unfold aren't they? Have you read the one about the two Pascha's?
CassC,
Thank you for the link. I agree, we all err, and I pray that this incident has opened the eyes of the parish priest and the repercussions that will be taken turn him on the road of repentance. I also hope this was a learning lesson for anyone else who has had thoughts such as these.
The Metropolis of Boston has responded to this platic spoon controversy. See here:
http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2010/03/metropolis-of-boston-responds-to.html
Anonymous-
That response is from October 2009. Do we have anything more recent? I don't understand why this letter to the editor just appeared in the February edition of The National Herald and the Metropolitan's response is from October. Thanks for the link though.
Hi Sylvia,
Metropolitan Methodios just released a follow-up statement to the Oct statement which specifically addresses this incident. It starts out reiterating the Oct statement then adds this new response:
"Regrettably, a priest serving in New England --- surely pressured by well meaning parishioners concerned with the outbreak of the H1N1 flu pandemic --- utilized plastic spoons to distribute Holy Communion. This unacceptable violation of Church order was addressed in accordance with Ecclesiastical procedure.
The Metropolis expresses its regret that this lapse of judgment resulted in widespread controversy, and is appalled that some individuals questioned whether this practice was authorized. It expresses its fervent prayer that those who arrive at rash judgments --- hurling paranoid condemnations in the press and on the internet --- will rather invest their time in prayer and self examination during the Great Lent. They should reflect on the countless passages in the New Testament which urge the followers of the the Crucified Lord to avoid gossip and the sin of judging others. Let us all etch in our hearts and souls the prayer of St. Ephraim"
http://boston.goarch.org/news/metropolis_news/540.html
Anyway I perhaps am not aware of the full publicity this got but at least it is good that a public clarification was issued...
CassC,
Thank you so much for the info! When you say he added this portion to his October statement, what happened in October that he made the prior statement?
I too am glad he made commented on the issue publicly.
He seems to have been very understanding with the "well meaning parishoners" and the priest but, in my opinion, was rather harsh with his stating he was "appalled that some individuals questioned whether this practice was authorized." Considering that every decision made in the church needs to be authorized, I think it was a normal reaction for people to question it. I actually think that was a good thing rather than people assuming it was. I feel like he spent more time addressing the responses to this incident, which should be understandable from people who love the faith, and not even addressing the incident itself.
In October(ish) the Roman Catholic Diocese made of number of concessions due to the H1N1 scare including suspending the traditional kiss of peace (i.e. shaking your neighbors hand) and I believe there may have been an article or two in the Boston news papers on religious communities response to such illnesses. One of my coworkers actually came into my office saying that they heard on the news that the "Greek" Churches were still giving communion with a common spoon. So it was part of public consciousness at the time the original statement was made. I know that other metropolises also put out statements around that time.
As for the tone of the response, mmm, I'd better not comment!! ;-)
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