The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, chaired by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, met today on the issue of coronavirus.
As they point out, the Holy and Sacred Synod urges all believers to comply with both WHO health guidelines and the relevant guidelines of each state.
On the subject of the Holy Communion, “The Mother Church of Constantinople knows empirically from its two-thousand-year existence that the Holy Communion is” the antidote to mortality “and remains firm in its Orthodox teaching concerning the Holy Eucharist”.
Read the communique of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
The Holy and Great Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, convened under the presidency of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and among other issues, thoroughly deliberated upon the events of the COVID-19 (Corona) virus and with a feeling of pastoral responsibility, points out the following:
1) Despite the seriousness of the situation, prudence, patience, and the avoidance of panic are advised.
2) The Church has and continues to respect medical science. Thus, the Church recommends that all the faithful adhere to the official directives of both the World Health Organization and the pertinent pronouncements and legal regulations issued by the civil authorities of their respective countries.
3) The Ecumenical Patriarchate expresses its gratitude to all those working self-sacrificially within all health, medical, nursing, and research fields in order that this new pandemic be confronted and treated.
4) The Mother Church of Constantinople knows empirically from its two-thousand-year existence that Holy Communion is “the antidote to mortality” and remains firm in its Orthodox teaching regarding the Holy Eucharist.
5) It is considered self-evident that faith in God, as transcendence and not as the abolition of human reason, along with prayer strengthen the spiritual battle of every Christian. Therefore, the Mother Church of Constantinople urges its spiritual children throughout the world to intensify their petitions so that, strengthened and illumined by God, this contemporary tribulation may be overcome.
