Archbishop Elpidophoros of America expressed his position on Holy Communion and how it is distributed during a pandemic, in a video answering a question posed by Presvyterea Nicole.
As he pointed out, “What is more important for all of us? The Communion, the Body, and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ, or the way we receive the Body and Blood? The answer is easy. It’s not the way. It’s the Communion itself that saves us, and gives us Eternal Life.”
He also emphasized that the tradition of the common spoon was not something that had been decided by any Ecumenical Council or any Synod of Orthodox Churches in the history of the Church.
He added that this was a practice that had been proven very effective, very practical, very welcome, and that’s why it had been widespread without any effort and without anybody imposing or forcing the faithful to use the Common Spoon.
He even noted that what matters was that we received from the Common one Chalice, not the one Common Spoon.
For this reason, and since there are concerns from some parishioners, he decided, following a discussion with the Metropolitans at the Holy Eparchial Synod, that “we have to do everything possible to keep everybody in Communion.”
