Christian Unity and Witness in the Midst of the Pandemic
By The Very Rev’d Protopresbyter Fr. Anastasios D. Salapatas
What have we learnt from the Pandemic?
Online Day Event for Young People
Organised by the Youth Office of the
Archdiocese of Thyateira & GB
12 December 2020
First
of all, I would like to offer my very many thanks and gratitude to His Eminence
the Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and GB, for having under his Archepiscopal
and spiritual care the Youth of our Sacred Archdiocese, for establishing a
permanent Youth Office at the Archdiocese and for blessing our Conference
today.
We
also need to offer our thanks and appreciation to Alexis Florides, the Youth
Officer of the Archdiocese, for his dedication and all the hard work that he
has offered in order for this event to be a success.
I
am really grateful that I was given the opportunity to speak to you about
“Christian Unity and Witness in the Midst of the Pandemic”. Allow me to suggest
that it would probably be better if instead of the term “Christian Unity” we
used the term “Ecumenical movement” or “Ecumenical communication”, as I think
the latter expresses more clearly and accurately what is actually happening in
the field of the modern era Inter-Christian Relations.
In
any case, I would be delighted to share with you, not just words and thoughts,
but mainly my personal as well as my pastoral experiences, in the new
environment that we live in.
We
are living in strange and uncharted times. Since the beginning of 2020 all of
humanity is experiencing a new and quite unique way of life. A life that is
being lived behind closed and even locked doors. The spiritual experience
though, is that while the doors (especially those of our Churches) remain
closed, the souls of the dedicated Christians remain wide open.
In
the United Kingdom we officially started the lockdown on Monday March 23rd,
the day after the Veneration of the Holy Cross in the Eastern Orthodox
calendar! It was a beautiful and sunny day, when the British Prime Minister Mr.
Boris Johnson addressed the nation and introduced the new and confined way of
life.
On
the evening of that day the treasurer of my Parish phoned me to inform me that
he had cancelled the order of the various kinds of candles for Holy Week.
Immediately, I realised that what had actually been cancelled was not just some
boxes of candles, but the Holy and Great Week itself. I had never had such an
experience before and thus I felt disheartened! The night came, but I was full
of thoughts and could not sleep at all.
The
Orthodox Church, as all Christian denominations and all earthly organisations, found
herself in the strange position of having to respond to the current need of
communicating her message; she also has to make sure that her faithful are
staying focused and remain close to the Church, while we are still away from
our usual place of worship.
In
my 35 years of priestly life, I never had the experience of such a Holy Week
and Easter like this year’s one. We were celebrating all Sacred Services,
without our faithful present, but we were quite blessed to have the use of
modern technology, which transferred the Church into the homes of all our
people, especially of those who are familiar with the relevant technological
facilities.
The
Services of the Orthodox Church are quite colourful during Holy and Great Week,
full of flowers, beautiful smells of incense, colourful vestments and many
interesting and unique customs (decorated tomb - epitaphios of Christ, various
ribbons hanged in certain places within the interior of the Church, candles
with the paschal light, red eggs, Easter cookies etc.). All these were either
missed, or not personally experienced by our people this year.
It
was very upsetting to hear the closed doors of the Church being hit and banged
by the people, who couldn’t understand or accept why they were left outside
(like the foolish virgins of the Parable), or to see certain others “attend”
the Service through the Church window.
During
Holy Week, I left in one of the front windows of the Church, palm crosses and
the holy light, for the people to help themselves.
In
my Parish’s particular case (at the time of the first lockdown) I have to
emphasise the importance of having good relations with our local Group of
Churches, as I was supplied with palm crosses by my local R/Catholic colleague priest
when I needed them for our Orthodox Palm Sunday (which was Easter Sunday for
Western Christianity this year).
It
is important to highlight that, although our Churches were closed and even
locked this year for Holy Week, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ had
actually happened and the open hearts and souls of our faithful had actually
experienced this in a mysterious and supernatural way, enormously assisted by
the live streaming of the Sacred Services and by the actual realisation of the
Pauline idea of the “home Church”, which was experienced this year in a very
powerful and spiritual way.
A
parishioner had sent me a photograph showing his two kids “attending” one of
our Services, by watching it at a large screen of their family computer. It was
amazing to see that the two children were actually standing in front of the
computer, holding candles! I was almost in tears when I saw that picture.
His
Eminence Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain in his Easter
Message this year had underlined:
«In the darkness of the night a small, but unwaning flame comes to an
empty world of darkness. It is the light
of Christ and the message of hope, for he says to us - “fear not, for I am with
you, be not dismayed, for I am your God” (Isaiah 41:10). He comes, once again, at this critical moment
in history to offer us joy instead of sadness, hope instead of despair, and
truth instead of deception. Although we will be apart, the joy of the
Resurrection unites us and gives the strength to say to others that we still
believe! We have the same faith and courage as the women who stood at the foot
of the Cross, the same as the Theotokos who waited by the tomb, the same as the
Myrrh-bearing women».
Easter
2020 had been celebrated and taken its place in both Church and social history.
But, the enclosed way of life continued. In many different ways, this kind of
life imitates the monastic life, which is one of the Christian paths of
spiritual life, with a great and long history.
************************************
On
Wednesday of Easter Week (22nd of April 2020), I had the chance to communicate
and discuss with my colleagues at the Group for Evangelisation, which is a
Committee under the Inter-Christian Organisation called the Churches Together
in England. I have been a part in this Group for more than 25 years,
representing our Sacred Archdiocese in it. This Group has produced some
interesting works over the years and it certainly brings together important
people for across the Christian Denominations.
Because
of the lockdown we couldn’t meet in person, as we usually do, but with the help
of modern technology we organised α Zoom meeting and we had the opportunity to exchange our
news, as well as our views on the current crisis and on what we think that the
future will be like, after the Pandemic. This meeting had taken place in a
spirit of fellowship and reconciliation.
Of
course, our time was limited, but from my point of view, I mentioned at that
meeting, among other things, the following thoughts and experiences:
We feel, like everyone else, that we are experiencing intense inclusion,
if not a strange form of imprisonment and confinement. However, in these
circumstances we exercise a monastic virtue, that of obedience, since we humbly
and strictly follow the instructions of our Ecumenical Patriarchate, our Holy
Archdiocese, and obviously those of the British Government.
The way we operate in our Parishes is now impersonal, since we
communicate with our congregation only online. This is done out of absolute
necessity and obviously cannot remain for the future. Unfortunately, at this
time we can not share with our faithful their joys and sorrows. Of course we
can not visit them when they are sick, or when they have any kind of need.
Also, it is impossible to offer them Holy Communion, or the other gifts of the
Church, such as the holy bread (antidoron), the palm crosses, holy water,
icons, incense, etc.
Then
the other members of the Group spoke. Some of the very interesting themes -discussed
there- were as follows:
-
People today have developed anxiety, insecurity and fear of the unknown.
-
Many Parishes have been severely challenged, because of the Pandemic, with huge
financial problems, and some will not be able to open at all, when it will be
decided to return to normality.
-
The way to return to normality is not clear. What will happen if society
decides to open up while the virus vaccine has not been found?
-
We also do not know what to do about physical contact with people, such as
handshakes and hugs.
-
When we make online communications with associates and parishioners it is found
that, because they speak from the comfort of their home, they are more
comfortable, more open psychologically and do not have the formality, as when
we are in church on a Sunday.
-
At this time our world, in terms of our personal participation in it, is
proportional to how far we can walk, and of course it is exclusively
"earthly", since we do not have the ability to travel by sea and air.
These
were some of the stimulating remarks and comments heard there at that meeting.
In
the end, this was an interesting communication, which left us all with a sweet
sense of cooperation and fellowship in the spirit of Christian love.
************************************
In
the morning of Tuesday 20th October 2020, the members of the same Group
for Evangelisation had gathered in person at the Greek Orthodox Church of St.
Panteleimon and St. Paraskevi in Harrow NW London, where I was the Parish
Priest at the time.
His
Eminence Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain, His Chancellor Fr.
Nicodemos and Fr. Nephon, together with the clergy and the lay leaders of the
Community had welcomed them there.
This
interesting meeting had started with a Service at the Church, where the 1st
Canonical Hour was celebrated in a traditional Byzantine manner, with our
Archbishop presiding over it.
Right
after the Service I had the opportunity to welcome to our Church the members of
the Group, who most of them were actually entering an Orthodox Church for the
first time in their lives. Because of that I thought of explaining in detail
the actual setting of the Church, with all the special characteristics, from an
architectural as well as from a decoration point of view.
I
can tell you that they were all amazed with the beauty of the icons, with the
splendour of the wood carving and with the magnificence of the theological
symbolism of all those elements that are found in an Orthodox Church building.
Then
the Revd Dr Benjamin Aldous, who is the Principal Officer for Mission and Evangelism
at the Churches Together in England, offered thanks and kind words on behalf of
all members of the Group attending the meeting.
His
Eminence then spoke for a little while presenting to those gathered at the
Church a summary of the Orthodox Faith and of our Holy Tradition. His words
were full of biblical and patristic references and everyone was very pleased to
listen to him speaking about the richness of Orthodoxy in a very scholarly way.
After
the Church gathering, they all moved to the Community Hall where they were
offered cordial hospitality by the local Community. After lunch, His Eminence
spoke at length about his vision on Evangelism in the Archdiocese of Thyateira
and Great Britain. The Archbishop offered a momentous lecture, in a manner of
both traditional and inspiring way, by which he showed his commitment and
dedication to evangelising, as well as re-evangelising, the flock that was
entrusted to him by our Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The
new Angel of Thyateira, Archbishop Nikitas, spoke at that gathering to members
of other Christian Denominations with dynamism, honesty and realism about his
vision to bring people together, to instruct them and offer them catechism on
our Christian Faith and to make them experience in a very personal way the
beauty of the Orthodox Faith and the richness of the Orthodox way of life.
In
the official minutes of that meeting we read the following detailed reference
to His Eminence’s lecture:
“Archbishop Nikitas shared for about 25 minutes on
his vision and priorities for the Archdiocese of Thyateira and
Great Britain. A synopsis of his talk is included below.
Speaking without notes Archbishop Nikitas set out
his vision for evangelism and ministry in general in the Archdiocese.
Archbishop Nikitas explained that there are over
half a million in the Archdiocese, 300,000 of which have their routes in the
sadly divided nation of Cyprus. 150,000 Greeks from the mainland and a number
of Romanians, Serbs, Russians, Irish, Welsh etc. He explained that the Orthodox
are part of the soil and share the common saints and traditions of the land.
The problem with Christians is we tend to focus on
what separates us rather than on what unites us.
If we don’t come together and work together, we are
going to be a lost community in many parts of the world.
There is no such thing for me as social justice. It
is the heart of Christianity. It’s simply the truth. We don’t have to separate
it. Orthodox tend to see things in a different way. Why do we have to put
things into different categories?
We as Christians, we as families, as churches have
failed. We have failed society because Christ told us to go and preach and
teach and baptise. The Christian churches today have really forgotten the idea
of evangelising. It doesn’t mean you stand on a street corner and ask “Are you
saved?” My response is “I think that’s God’s decision!”
The church has failed to fill that emptiness in the
hearts of the people. We are losing the opportunity now, especially in this
crisis period, because people are looking for the answer now.
Jesus is the answer to the savagery, the cruelty of
the world. We have failed to develop the theme of Christ as the answer to our
problems. We’ve made him unapproachable at times. We’ve made it too complex. We
don’t know what words mean anymore. We’ve made things too difficult and
complicated. So how do we change these things?
In our communities We have to forgive people, we
have to love them and be a good example to them. Then we can lead them to
Christ.
So, what are we trying to do as an Archdiocese?
1). Mandating that English should be used – some of
our Parishes use only Greek. Liturgical and NT Greek or modern spoken Greek.
2nd and 3rd generations struggle. More English should be used. Attract younger
people and help them comprehend.
2). We have a Greek liturgical discussion group and
we are using Zoom all the time. Gospel of John via Zoom - 200 people joining. Average
Orthodox believer knows very little about Orthodoxy. Evangelisation and
understanding of the faith are not just for children. The icons are an aid to
teaching and telling the stories of the faithful through the past ages.
We can do things together but we are still divided
– if we had a faith commission, we would have to have many representatives from
the Christian community and be careful where to place them. Even we Orthodox do
not speak amongst ourselves.
That’s one of the saddest things because when you
talk about preaching the gospel, we are a community which is divided and a
house divided among itself will not stand.
Look at our world now. A world of pain and sorrow,
people are hungry, political leaders want to tear the world apart.
The vision of the churches is in the wrong gear. We
have forgotten ‘go and make disciples’.
In the Archdiocese we have more services in the
chapel with doors open. And some people are curious and wandering in. We need
to be more inviting. We have two basic questions:
1). If Jesus was in my place what would he do?
2). If the other person was Jesus what would I do?
We need to develop lay people and see how critical
all roles are.
I’m asking my Clergy to be more inclusive and
inviting. Aren’t we responsible for helping others? Actions speak louder than
words. The answer is Jesus”.
************************************
On
the afternoon of the same day, 20th October 2020, an International
ecumenical Prayer Meeting for Peace took place in Rome at the Church of Santa
Maria in Aracoeli. The Meeting was organised by the Community of Sant’Egidio on
the theme “No one is saved alone – Peace and Fraternity”.
His
All Holiness our Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, along with Pope Francis as
well as with other religious leaders, attended the Prayer Meeting.
The
event took place at a time when the number of new coronavirus cases in Italy had
been steadily increasing in the previous weeks.
In
addition, the Ecumenical Patriarch gave an interview on the official site of
the Vatican, where among other things noted that: “We completely agree with
Pope Francis’ invitation to abandon indifference or even the cynicism that
governs our ecological, political, economic and social life in general,
including our self-centered form of unity, and to dream of our world as a
united human family.”
He
added also, “Economic development has not reduced the gap between the rich
and the poor. Rather, it has prioritized profit, to the detriment of the
protection of the weak, and contributes to the exacerbation of environmental
problems. And politics has become the servant of the economy. Human rights and
international law are elaborated and serve purposes alien to justice, freedom
and peace. The problem of refugees, terrorism, state violence, humiliation of
human dignity, modern forms of slavery and the Covid-19 epidemic are now
putting politics before new responsibilities and erasing its pragmatic logic.”
He
finally noted that, “The Christians of the nascent Church called each other
“brothers”. This spiritual and Christ-centred fraternity is deeper than natural
kinship. For Christians, however, brothers and sisters are not only members of
the Church, but all peoples. The Word of God has taken on human nature and
united everything in itself. Just as all human beings are God’s creation, so
all have been included in the plan of salvation. The love of the believer has
no boundaries and limits. In fact, it embraces the whole of creation, it is
“the burning of the heart for the whole of creation” (Isaac the Syrian). Love
for the brethren is always incomparable. It is not an abstract feeling of
sympathy towards humanity, which usually ignores the neighbour. The dimension
of personal communion and fraternity distinguishes Christian love and
fraternity from abstract humanism.”
The
Prayer Meeting concluded with the lighting of candles and the signing of the
“Rome 2020 Appeal for Peace” by His All Holiness, Pope Francis, the other
religious leaders and political representatives, including Mr Sergio
Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic. The Appeal affirms, “[A]
world that is amply connected … often lacks a sense of fraternity. All of us
are brothers and sisters! Let us pray to the Most High that, after this time of
trial, there may no longer be 'others', but rather, a great 'we', rich in
diversity. … Let us work together to create a new architecture of peace”.
************************************
Meanwhile,
my dearest friends, all people are trying to live life as normal as possible. But,
going out, buying things, talking to others, are at the moment quite
challenging issues, mainly because of social distancing. This is the new
culture. Very different to what our people have been used to.
In
the Orthodox Church and more specifically in the places were the Orthodox
people originate from, this kind of distanced social behaviour is not a normal
attitude. Orthodox Christians and in particular Greeks will hug and kiss, will
touch each other, will talk closely to each other and they will generally socialise
with closeness. It will most probably take quite a bit of time to return to
this kind of open social and inter-human behaviour pattern after the Pandemic
is over.
Concerning
Church going, we all look forward to open our Churches again in a normal way
and gather together as we traditionally do in our places of worship, where the
icons, the incense and the sacred music will fill up our souls with the beauty
of Heavens.
Thank
you for listening to my humble thoughts.
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