The administration of the Church of Greece is seriously considering the possibility of temporarily suspending worship services in the temples of Greece until Lazarus Saturday, according to well-informed sources at orthodoxia.info. Archbishop Ieronymos has already convened an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss only the developments surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.
Following the government’s decision to close schools, sports fields, theaters, cinemas, restaurants and cafés in order to prevent the coronavirus spread, it seems impossible that the temples will remain open.
At the same time, different Metropolitan’s approaches to the issue compel the Church at the highest level to make decisions, especially after the prime minister’s address who explicitly mentioned the issue of places of worship. “Whatever is valid for public gatherings also relates to churches as well,” the prime minister said in his address.
THE SCENARIOS
It is almost certain is that all worship services, Vespers, Compline, Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts and Rejoicings liturgies will be suspended for at least two weeks.
It remains unclear whether the Sunday Divine Liturgies will be suspended, a fact that should not be considered unlikely. Should all of this go to plan, chants will be heard again in the temples on Holy Week.
Another idea is to perform the Divine Liturgy without the presence of the congregation in the church but with the speakers open for the parishioners. These topics will come up for discussion in the Standing Holy Synod on Monday.
However, it would be difficult to seal off the temples as has been the case in other countries. The temples will probably remain open so anyone who wishes to visit them can pray.
Owing to the Great Lent, there have been no weddings or baptisms planned in the temples of the territory but it is still unknown what will happen with the funeral services and cemeteries.
Already in some Metropolises such as that of Mesogaia and of Kassandreia, the Metropolitans have already suspended all liturgies except Sunday Divine Liturgies. The Church of Albania has made a similar decision while many Metropolises of the Ecumenical Patriarchate around the world decided to close their temples in accordance with the instructions of the local authorities.
