On Wednesday, November 10, 2021, at the invitation of the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a meeting of the representatives of the recognized religions was held with the Prime Minister of the country Xavier Bettel, the Minister of Health Paulette Lenert, and with the Director-General Dr. Schmit.
During the meeting, the Orthodox Church was represented by Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium accompanied by the Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Panagiotis Moschonas, Hierarchical Vicar of Luxembourg.
The evolution of the pandemic and the compliance with preventive health measures within the religious communities was the subject of this meeting. Government representatives stressed that unfortunately there is a resurgence of the virus, especially among those who are not vaccinated, and for this reason, the attention and meticulous observance of the Government’s measures concerning the gatherings of people indoors is necessary. The religious communities of the country are called to contribute as much as possible to the awareness of the faithful in the necessity of the observance of the measures but also of the vaccination of those who still hesitate to do so. The government is ready to work with religious communities to better address the dangers of transmitting the disease through places of worship.
All the religious representatives, agreeing with these remarks, described the measures they take within their worship community.
Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium after thanking the Government for the initiative of this meeting said that he has given the relevant instructions to all the Orthodox parishes of Luxembourg for the strict observance of the necessary sanitary measures during the worship events, while he himself has been actively involved in trying to convince the faithful of the necessity of vaccination. The Hierarchical Vicar of Luxembourg then presented in detail the measures taken in the Orthodox parishes of Luxembourg, which are considered satisfactory by the Government’s health officials.