Orthodox Reflections

America is a secular nation in an increasingly secular world. Such is the “conventional wisdom.” Maybe that is true as a general trend, but faith still matters for quite a large segment of the population. A fact the secular world has noticed, and regularly exploits to its benefit. Which is why in the war against “vaccine hesitancy,” the vaccine stakeholders (Big Government, Big Tech, Big Pharma, and investors) are recruiting clergy and churches as marketing allies to increase vaccine uptake.
Vaccine stakeholders are counting on Christian leaders to convince their flocks to take the vaccine, usually casting it, implicitly or explicitly, as a “moral duty” to protect others. For Christian institutions, there is a lot of downside risk to this approach. As the current alarm over myocarditis in young, vaccinated men makes clear, we don’t really know much about the effects of these vaccines. These vaccines would not be the first to be withdrawn in history. There have been previous vaccine disasters that even affected presidential races. Any Christian organization or leader lending moral authority to encourage taking these vaccines will end up sharing the blame for anything that goes wrong. Not only in this world, but also the next.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-dangers-of-religiously-based-marketing-for-covid-vaccines/

This past weekend, social media was full of posts by joyous Orthodox Christians. For many, this was the first Sunday in months they had attended a mostly normal liturgy. Masks were gone, along with social distancing. Some Orthodox Christians reported the largest attendance at liturgies since mid-2020. It was heartwarming to read.

The welcome changes resulted from the CDC updating its guidelines. Those fully vaccinated against Covid no longer needed to wear masks. The CDC guidelines were implemented by different Orthodox jurisdictions and dioceses in two different ways. These two policy approaches could be summarized as “no masks” and “no masks for the vaccinated.” They are very different in their social and spiritual effects, even if they look similar on the surface. https://orthodoxreflections.com/vaccine-segregation-in-american-orthodoxy/

Using vaccine trial data, an Orthodox Christian medical researcher debunks the "95%" efficacy claims put forward for Covid vaccines. The truth is closer to 1%. The vaccines provide such little protection, that vaccinating the entire U.S. population would reduce deaths by less than 2%. If people are properly informed that their ineffective protection from a Covid vaccine is actually 1% or less, and not 95% as advertised, vaccine uptake would drop dramatically, and in this particular instance, it should. Even in the clinical trials, side effects were more common than building actual immunity. What you don't know about Relative Risk Reduction and Absolute Risk Reduction could kill you. Science is in real trouble. https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-real-efficacy-of-covid-19-vaccines-a-medical-researcher-debunks-the-claims/

The Orthodox Church changes you and changes the culture over time. It is good for leaders to understand how Americans think so as to effectively lead them. In this article, we - why do baseball managers argue calls when they know it almost never works?
https://orthodoxreflections.com/dear-bishops-pt-2-unforced-errors/

God is love. As Orthodox Christians, we are called to love even those who spitefully use us. Our own worst enemies are to feel our love as burning coals heaped upon their heads. We all know this, of course, but what we seem to have forgotten is that true love requires compassion. As Elder Paisos of the Holy Mountain reminds us:

This is the most important thing of all: to have true love among yourselves . . . not false love. Always, when there is true concern for each other, compassion and love, one can act correctly. Kindness and love are empowering.

Because of the incarnation, Christ rules not just as Son of God and Creator of all things, but also Son of Man; His rule is based in trust: we trust Him because He is One of us and can be “touched by the feelings of our infirmities.”[2] In the half-dome icon you see the Holy Mother of God seated on a throne with the Christ-child on her lap. The image is clear. She, having given Him His Humanity, is that throne upon which she sits and He rules. She and the throne are one; she provides the cosmological platform to rule men as Man. Without this throne in and of the human race, His governance—while fully valid—would amount to tyranny because we would be ruled by a God and not a Man.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/dear-bishops-governance-without-relationship-is-tyranny/

The common good gets defined by those in power. In this moving article, a member of the Greek Archdiocese uses fictional vignettes to explore - what happens when you or your faith are defined as the threat to the 'common good?"
https://orthodoxreflections.com/for-the-common-good/

We just got a heart wrenching testimonial from a nurse who was asked to leave her OCA parish because, in her job, she would have to treat Covid patients. She appealed to her bishop, and got no response. Thank God she found a Serbian parish. As we have done before we are putting together an article of testimonials of those whose family / faith has been impacted by parish / jurisdictional compliance with NPIs. Please tell us your story via email or our contact form.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/contact-us/

Starting in Fall 2021, Hellenic College Holy Cross requires students and staff to be fully vaccinated. In addition to the ethical concerns about the use of aborted fetal cells, this move by HCHC violates the principle of voluntary, informed consent for medical procedures. The Russian Orthodox Church, among other Orthodox jurisdictions, has stated that vaccine coercion is morally unacceptable. To prepare for ministry in the Church, young men, at almost no risk for COVID, will be forced to take an experimental treatment with uncertain short-term and long-term side effects. This situation is all the more troubling as many Orthodox Christians have already relied on religious exemptions to avoid taking vaccines which are not FDA approved. These treatments are available only under an “emergency use” authorization. Secular institutions have honored the freedom of conscience of Orthodox Christians, but an Orthodoxy seminary apparently will not. The situation borders on the surreal.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/open-letter-to-holy-cross-hellenic-college-on-covid-vaccine-requirement/

In Greece, the bishops agreed to begin the Paschal services at 9 p.m. on Saturday to comply with a curfew. Celebrating the Resurrection of Christ on the 2nd Day is absolutely uncanonical. As should be no surprise, not all Greek priests were willing to go along. So far, we know about six priests from Thessaloniki who dared to hold Paschal services at the appointed time in violation of the curfew. These heroic priests are now facing charges: https://orthodoxreflections.com/covid-persecution-of-the-church-accelerates/

In Greece, the bishops agreed to begin the Paschal services at 9 p.m. on Saturday to comply with a curfew. Celebrating the Resurrection of Christ on the 2nd Day is absolutely uncanonical. As should be no surprise, not all Greek priests were willing to go along. So far, we know about six priests from Thessaloniki who dared to hold Paschal services at the appointed time in violation of the curfew. These heroic priests are now facing charges

Questioning the efficacy or cost-benefit of a particular vaccine is not “anti-science.” Anti-science is the notion that a single medical treatment is appropriate for all people, regardless of age, physical condition, preexisting conditions, and location.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/orthodox-christianity-and-vaccine-informed-consent/

They want to change the law of our Orthodox Church. There is a plan, slowly slowly to have one Pascha with the Catholics and one with the Jews, to guide the Orthodox to One World Religion before the Global Dictatorship!
https://orthodoxreflections.com/metropolitan-neophytos-of-morphou-defends-orthodoxy-against-covid-restrictions/

The problems we are now experiencing in the  Orthodox Church are not caused by the COVID event, but the COVID event is revealing what sort of people we have become. Before the COVID era, our level of comfort was unsustainable.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/my-people-are-destroyed-for-lack-of-knowledge/

Our Western Rite parish never had many restrictions, and has long since discarded the few it once had. The local Serbian parish simply ignored Covid the entire time. They are none-the-worse for it. The local OCA parish has announced an end to all restrictions (including masks) at the end of May. Our state is wide open. A few localities have mask mandates, but they can be comfortably ignored by anyone who chooses to breathe fresh air. But for the Greeks, there is no end in sight.

Which makes any thinking person ask, why?

There is no scientific basis for the policies the Greeks are so dedicated to enforcing.
https://orthodoxreflections.com/faithfulness-to-covid-at-the-expense-of-souls/

Mom comes back in room after evening prayers and says, “Stop answering questions about the icons and put the kids to bed. They have school.” Young acolyte says, “You can tell us more about God tomorrow.” #orthodoxchristianproblems

it was quite heartening to read the directive from Archbishop Mark of Philadelphia and Eastern America (Orthodox Church in America) that vaccination cannot become a prerequisite for participation in Church life. His Eminence even prohibited anyone from being asked about their status. There is much good in that statement. It is the closest to an endorsement of voluntary, informed vaccine consent that we have seen from a hierarch in the US. The statement also acknowledges that the Covid mitigation measures actually caused extreme suffering. This was quite welcome, as so many previous hierarchical statements focused only on the effects of the virus, and not the millions of victims of quarantining perfectly healthy individuals. The statement also noted the very important fact that Covid hospitalizations and deaths were already declining before vaccination became widespread. Further, the statement makes clear that there is a diversity of opinion on matters pertaining to the virus, responses, and the vaccines. Keep your judgment to yourself. That is a basis for restoring unity among the brethren that has been badly damaged. In addition, it made clear that proof of vaccination is not a requirement for attending Divine Services. Finally, the Archbishop clearly acknowledged that the vaccines are experimental. https://orthodoxreflections.com/vaccine-passports-digital-control-and-the-orthodox-christian-fight-for-freedom/

Millions of Christians are no longer in church on Sundays. We need to be very, very clear about what is and what is not happening to cause that sorry state of affairs. Some people who quit church no longer believe in God. That is quite sad, but those lost souls are a minority. The majority of “missing” Christians still have faith. At Orthodox Reflections, we know of many Orthodox Christians who barely attend liturgy under current conditions, but still contend earnestly for the Faith as podcasters, authors, bloggers, and evangelists. They love God, but reject the “new normal.” Unfortunately, many churches are more obsessive about enforcing the “new normal” than most secular businesses.

So to all the clergy, do not blame mass apostasy for your diminished flock. The vast majority of people skipping church services continue to believe in God. It’s you they don’t believe in, and that is your fault.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/of-course-church-membership-is-declining/

An Orthodox MD provides an easy guide to the use of aborted fetal cells and their purposes in Covid vaccines for those who wish to know.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/an-orthodox-md-tries-to-work-out-the-biothecial-kinks-of-the-covid-19-vaccine/