On face covers and masks...

In the glory of our Holy Triune God

Archim.  Savvas Hagiorite

Wearing a mask/face cover in the temple of God is blasphemy to the Holy Spirit, it is unfaithfulness and impiety.

The face cover/ mask is:

1.    Blasphemy to the Holy Spirit who resides inside the temple. It introduces doubt and also the idea that the faithful may become infected from the temple or from his brother inside the temple.

2.    It is contempt to the ‘in the image’, it is a cover of the image of Christ, which eminently appears on our face.

3.    It is in violation of the 62^nd Canon of the Quinisext Ecumenical Council which prevents us from wearing face masks.

4.    It is in violation of the commandment which states that we ought to worship God “having our face uncovered” so that we see His Glory, communicating thus with our Lord and with our brothers face to face.

5.    It is distortion of the Orthodox Worship, e.g. it is impossible to fulfill the liturgical act of kissing in the Divine Liturgy and also the kissing of the Holy Icons, of the priest’s hand and of the Holy Relics, while wearing a mask. All of the above are commandments of the Lord, Who taught us how to officiate the Divine Liturgy. Additionally, it is in violation of the commandments of the Holy Spirit of the Holy Fathers, who determined that he who doesn’t kiss the Holy Icons with his lips, becomes excommunicated, in accordance with the VII Ecumenical Council. Additionally, it introduces novelty in the Orthodox Worship.

6.    The Divine Worship is reminiscent of carnivals. Reverence is affected in general and more specifically during the Holy Communion. How can he who has just had communion, wear a mask, with the blood of Christ on his lips?

7.    It is a novelty in the Church, prohibited by the VII Ecumenical Council. “But every novelty and breach of the Holy Tradition is condemned by the VII Ecumenical Council with severe punishments to those who invented and applied them; with dismissal to the clergy and with aphorism to the laymen and monks”. Karmiris I., “The Dogmatic and Symbolic Monuments of the Orthodox Catholic Church. VII Ecumenical Council. Excerpt from the minutes of the 7^th and 8^th session, p. 241, Athens. (From Ioannis Litinas, “How will you show your faith through your works? If you despise death”)

CONCLUSION

Wearing a face cover/ mask inside the Holy space of the Church is:

1.    Blasphemy to the Most Holy Triune God.

2.    Violation of the Orthodox Faith (Dogma) and Life (Ethos).

3.    Distortion and mockery of the Orthodox Worship.

4.    Violation and contempt of our Christ whom we wore through the Holy Baptism and we carry His image.

5.    Unfaithfulness and impiety.

6.    Impermissible novelty in the Holy Tradition.

Glory to our Triune God unto the ages!

Archim. Savvas Hagiorite

-------------- 

On the Holy Church, the Holy Icons, overcrowding and the Holy Communion.

In the glory of our Most Holy Tiune God, our “source of sanctification”.

By Archim. Savvas Hagiorite

1. The Holy Communion is our Christ. How can it be possible for our All-good Lord to allow that we get sick through His Most Holy body and blood? The Holy Communion enables the faithful to become like God and they become entirely fire and light.

2. In the Office of the Holy Communion we say: “The Body of God both deifies and nourishes me: It deifies the Spirit and wondrously nourishes the mind”.

3. Also, according to St. Symeon the New Theologian’s attestation, our body parts become Christ. In his 15th Hymn he writes: “We become parts of Christ, our body parts become Christ, and my hand is Christ, and my foot is Christ, of wretched me …not fully perceiving our body ugliness, we all resemble Christ in all our body parts”. How can it be possible for he who becomes god by grace to transmit disease?

4. Additionally, the Antidoron which is given on sufferance in place of the “Gift”, that is the Holy Communion, and also Kollyva, Artoklasia, the Holy Oil and the Holy Water, all these are sources of sanctification and not of infection; for they have the Divine Grace which dwells in them through the blessings that are being read.

5. The Holy Icons are also a source of sanctification. By worshiping them, we worship the Divine Grace, that is, the Holy Spirit that exists in those portrayed in them. In accordance with the VII Ecumenical Council, he who does not worship the Icons becomes excommunicated, that is, he becomes separated from God. We clean the Icons regularly out of reverence and not out of fear of transmitting germs.

6. The Priest is “in form and in place of Christ”; he is Christ among us. When we kiss his hand, we worship the Divine Grace of his priesthood, that is, Christ. How is it possible for the Lord to transmit disease to us? “The Holy Fathers teach: a Priest, by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, has more power than all laymen put together!” (St. Gabriel Confessor and Fool for Christ of Georgia).

7. The Lord gave us the Divine Liturgy. In the Divine Liturgy we have the liturgical kiss. The Priests kiss each other saying: “Christ among us”. In the past, people used to do the same, men with men and women with women. Since Christ is among us, how is it possible for disease to be transmitted from one to another? Would the Lord have given us this liturgical practice If there was a risk of transmitting disease ?

8. The Divine Grace inside the Church sanctifies everything, even the walls and the dust.

9. During the Consecration of a Church, we say: “This House has been founded by the Father, this House has been made firm by the Son, this House has been renewed by the Holy Spirit, which illuminates and supports and hallows our souls”. Then we kneel and pray: “send down Thine all-holy and worshipful, and almighty Spirit, and sanctify this Church; fill it with the light everlasting; elect it for Thy dwelling place; make it the abode of Thy glory…Appoint it for a haven of the tempest tossed, for a healing of passions, for a refuge of the weak, for an expelling of evil spirits. Let Thine eyes be open upon it day and night and let Thine ears be heedful of the prayer of those who shall enter therein in Thy fear, and in devoutness…”

10. How is it possible for the Church, which is “a healing of passions, a refuge for the weak, an expelling of evil spirits…”, to become a place that enables the transmission of disease?

11. Everything inside the Church is sanctified. I recall a church on a pilgrimage to Kalymnos, where even the walls emmited a scent.

12. The entire space and even the dust of the Church, is a source of sanctification and of health of both body and soul. St. Gabriel Confessor and Fool for Christ used to say: “if you knew how much blessing comes in the Divine Liturgy, then you would collect even the dust from the floor of the church, to wash your face with”. St. John Chrysostom teaches us that even the dust from the Holy Relics has Divine Grace. The church in Chernobyl, where the famous terrible nuclear accident took place, had zero radio activity, while that of the surrounding area was very high.

Glory to our Most Holy Triune God, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Archim. Savvas Hagiorite