Important Message from His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos Regarding COVID-19

Important Message from His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos Regarding COVID-19

Beloved Faithful of the Metropolis of San Francisco,

Christ, Who is the source of our Life, our Hope and our Consolation, has never abandoned His Church. Persecutions, theological upheavals, wars, and times of illnesses or diseases have never separated us from Him. The Church will always be a beacon of every good gift unto humanity and all creation. Christ is and will ever remain the good Physician of our souls and bodies. 

The appearance of the COVID-19 virus on the world stage has presented a great challenge for our civil authorities and medical experts. We are responding appropriately to the ever-changing information about this virus and efforts to contain its spread in order to save lives. We are constantly reviewing the guidelines promulgated by local health departments. 

Until further notice, the following directives are in place effective immediately in addition to what has already been offered to us by the Archdiocese on March 6, 2020:

·        All programs (GOYA, JOY, HOPE, Young Adults, Church School, Greek School, Senior Citizens, Bible Studies, Sports Leagues, Greek Folk Dance, etc.), are to be cancelled.

·        Fellowship and Coffee Hours are to be cancelled.

·        Memorial services will still be celebrated, but Koliva will be distributed in the Narthex in pre-filled cups or plastic bags following the service for the faithful as they leave.

·        The passing of trays should be discontinued. Instead, a place to accept offerings will be provided in the Narthex.  

·        All non-liturgical gatherings at the church are to be cancelled.

·        Any churches that host other groups for gatherings of any sort should cancel those activities.

·        Parishes with more than one priest may offer more than one liturgy to increase social distancing of the faithful.

·        All directives from the local authorities that impact church services including liturgical assemblies must be followed -  most especially social distancing and hand washing.

·        Each priest is to use his discretion depending upon his particular locality in conjunction with the information provided by authorities.

I found this message from Fr. Maximos Constas, Interim Dean of Hellenic College Holy Cross School of Theology, to be particularly meaningful, “This is a time to be cautious, careful, and to follow the advice of responsible and informed individuals. Together with these, the best defense and protection of our health is to have faith in God, placing ourselves under His care and protection. Our faith and God’s providence and love are the best defense against every threat and every illness, both physical and spiritual. ‘Look to the signs of the times,’ as St. Ignatius of Antioch says, ‘but then look to the One who is beyond time’ (Letter to Polycarp 3).” 

We must continue to be prayerful and faithful, and trust that the Lord will deliver our world from this disease. Please offer the attached prayer service, individually and collectively, that all those who are suffering are granted healing, and that the Lord will enlighten the medical professionals as they seek to control the spread of COVID-19.

As we journey through Great and Holy Lent amidst these challenging times, let us walk with faith, strengthened by the Lord’s mighty hand and illumined by His Grace and Peace.

With Love in Christ,

+Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco

Mitigating the spread of COVID-19

News concerning the spread of COVID-19 continues to fill our inboxes, to dominate our media, and to occupy our conversations, but our response as Orthodox Christians though remains ever the same: while we heed the advice of our health care providers, (who help us to mitigate the risks to our families and our greater communities), we do not succumb to fear. Rather, we remain always: ever hopeful, grace-filled, loving and faithful, based upon the teachings, beliefs, and practices of our great Orthodox Christian faith.  

Resiliency is in our Christian DNA.  Christ, who is our Life, our Hope and our Consolation, has never abandoned His Church. Not during its many persecutions, nor theological upheavals, nor during times of illnesses or diseases.  The Martyrs, as well holy men and women in each and every generation, have testified to this truth in their lives, to us, as will do so as well to the faithful who are yet to come.  The Church will always be a beacon of every good gift unto humanity and all of creation, a creation mind you, which is always in need of grace and redemption.  To put this into plain language: Christ is and will ever remain the good Physician, the Church is His hospital, the Sacraments are His Medicine, and we the faithful, are both His appointed care providers, as well as being His patients too. 

With this in mind; having received directives from local health care providers, both in and outside our parish, as well as from fellow clergy throughout the region, we will be implementing the following procedures:  

1.     We will continue to pray services.

2.     In order to reduce the risk of exposure, while continuing to provide the Sacraments as well, we will be shifting to two Liturgies on Sunday for the time being.  Orthros will begin at 7:45AM, followed by the first liturgy.  A second Liturgy will begin at 10:30AM (memorial services will be prayed at the close of this Liturgy).  

3.     At the close of every service, will we ask for intercessory healing through prayers offered to our Lord, the Theotokos and the Saints. 

4.     We will continue to take appropriate steps to ensure the wellbeing of our parishioners by:

a.     Regularly disinfecting all surfaces (including icons), doors, chairs, etc.… before and after services. 

b.     Removing some seats from the church to create more personal space during worship.

c.     Asking that you only bow in front of the icons to express your love of the Lord, the Theotokos and the Saints. 

d.     Providing hand sanitizer in key spots around the church.

e.     Administering the Holy Eucharist in the usual and sacred manner.

f.      Not passing the offering tray at the end of service. Instead, there will be baskets in the Narthex after services so that you can continue to support our ministries.

g.     Suspending the serving of snacks and food in the fellowship hall. 

h.     Suspending ALL studies and meetings at the Parish to limit the spread of the virus. 

5.     If you are the elderly or at risk (due to a compromised immune system) or are sick or symptomatic, we encourage you to stay at home and to consider streaming services instead: http://www.goholycross.org/Broadcast/  or http://www.goannunciation.org/live-services

6.     If you are not able to attend services, and would like a pastoral visit, please contact us at the Church Office or via email. 

Additionally, no one should be or feel criticized for making the choice to refrain for a time from their participation in the liturgical life of the Church. May these precautionary measures and our prayerful responses be blessed during this crisis. We should strengthen one another, as the Apostle Paul says: For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with Him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (I Thessalonians 5:9-11) [-Archbishop Elpidophoros]

Prayers in times of illness (please include in your daily disciplines)

A Prayer For Doctors, Nurses, and First Responders

O Lord Jesus Christ our God, Lover of Mankind, Physician of our souls and bodies, who did bear the pain of our infirmities, and by whose wounds we are healed; Who gave sight to the man born blind; Who straightened the woman who was bent over for 18 years; Who gave speech and sight to the mute demoniac; Who not only forgave the paralytic his sins, but healed him to walk; Who restored the withered hand of a troubled man; Who stopped the flow of blood of her who bled for 12 years; Who raised Jairus’ daughter to life; And brought the 4-day-dead Lazarus to life; And who heals every infirmity under the sun:

Do now, O Lord, grant Thy grace to all those who have labored and studied hour upon hour, to go into all the world, and also to heal by the talent You have given to each of them. Strengthen them, by Your strength, to fear no evil or disease. Enlighten them to do no evil by the works of their hands, and preserve them and those they serve in peace, for You are our God, and we know no other, and to You we ascribe glory together with Your Father who is from everlasting, and Your most Holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

A Prayer For Those who are Ailing

O Lord Almighty, healer of our souls and bodies, Who puts down and raises up, Who chastises and heals also; now, in Your great mercy, visit our brothers and sisters who are sick. Stretch forth Your hand that is full of healing and health, and raise them up, and cure them of their illness. Put away from them the spirit of disease and of every malady, pain and fever to which they are bound. And if they have sins and transgressions, grant to them remission and forgiveness, for You love humankind. Yes, O Lord my God, have pity on Your creation, through the compassions of Your only-begotten Son, together with Your all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, with whom You art blessed, both now and ever, and to ages of ages.

Prayer to the Theotokos for Healing

Where bitter sorrows overcome us, there will Patience and Rest be revealed. Where the torment of despair dwells in the soul, there will shine the ineffable Light of Divinity! Console the fainthearted, strengthen the weak, bestow softening and enlightenment upon embittered hearts. Heal Your ailing people, O All-merciful Queen! Bless the minds and hands of our physicians, that they might serve as instruments of the All-powerful Physician, Christ our Saviour. We pray before Your Icon, that You might truly live with us, O Sovereign Lady! Stretch out Your hands, filled with healing and cures, O Joy of the sorrowful, Consolation in afflictions, that having speedily received miraculous help, we may glorify the Life-creating and Undivided Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Tommy Apostolos Fundraising Dinner Postponed

A story of faith on the leper island of Spinalonga

A photo of Hrysanthos Katsoulogiannakis, the leper priest

The tiny island of Spinalonga located in the Gulf of Elounda in north-eastern Crete was the last leper colony in all of Europe from 1903-1957. At it’s peak, the colony was comprised of nearly 400 inhabitants. It was recorded that the lepers who lived on Spinalonga island were angry at God, the reason being that their ailment was a huge, unbearable ordeal. It was an isolating and tragic life as they were unable to leave the colony, although it was possible for their families to visit.

A priest from Ierapetra town in Crete had dared to visit them once, to perform a Liturgy together with the colony's new settlers. The church in which he invited the lepers to gather was falling into ruin. Sadly, not a single soul turned up for the first Liturgy in the humble church.

The lepers listened to the chanting, stubbornly remaining inside their cells, sometimes drowning it out with their groans and sometimes with their curses. But the priest went there again. During that second visit, one of the patients bravely showed himself at the doorstep of the church, with the following statement: "Priest, I will sit through your Liturgy, but only under one condition. At the end, you will give me Communion. And if your God is as almighty as you say, you will afterwards conclude the Liturgy (by partaking of what was left in the same Chalice) and not be afraid of my leprosy".

The priest nodded compliantly. These words were overheard from the neighboring cells and various individuals began to gather near the side of the church, where there was a small gap in the crumbling wall that offered them a limited view of the inner sanctum. The lepers remained in waiting until the end of the Liturgy and watched the priest, in tears and kneeling before the Sacred Table of Offering, as he concluded the ritual.

A month went by. The lepers waited for him. They were convinced that this time he would come as a patient and not as a priest. And yet, the priest returned, healthy and rosy-cheeked, and with his morale invigorated began to ring the church bell of the old chapel.

From that time on, and for at least ten years, Spinalonga island had a priest of its own, this priest. The lepers restored the church by themselves, and along with the church, they restored their faith. They took Holy Communion regularly and they would always secretly observe their priest during the conclusion of the Liturgy, to make sure that the "miracle of Spinalonga" was repeated, over and over again.

In 1957, with the discovery of antibiotics and the cure for leprosy, the leprosarium was shut down and the island was deserted. Only the priest remained on the island, until 1962, offering memorial services for the lepers, until 5 years after their death.

A more through account of the story (in Greek) is posted at: https://www.romfea.gr/prosopa/1721-enas-theostaltos-agios-sto-nisi-ton-kataramenon

Faith with Works (OCF Lenten Retreat)

Further thoughts and recommendations concerning COVID-19

As many of us have become aware from the news, the first case of death from COVID-19 in California has happened in Kaiser Roseville.  This is then an opportunity for us to learn what we can about the virus and also to attempt to limit its spreading within the community. We do so remaining prayerful for those who have been exposed to the virus (and other ailments), and also thankful for those who look for cures and those who tend to the ailing.  We must also never forget that we are a prayer, faithful, hopeful and joyful people, firmly grounded in the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

One of our physicians has prepared the following information for us:

COVID-19 infection presents with flu-like symptoms, fever, cough, and sore throat, as well as abdominal pain and diarrhea in some cases. Adults age 60 y.o. or above, and people with weakened immune system (for example, on biologics, chemotherapy, with history cancer or lung disease) are at risk for severe illness due to respiratory failure (inability to breathe effectively).

Most common ways the virus is transmitted is through contact with infected body fluids (for example touching a contaminated surface of an object within 6 feet of an infected person who was coughing or sneezing, then touching your eyes, mouth, or nose). Virus lives outside the human body for about 2 days. So good cleaning and hand hygiene are very important.  

The second most common way to contract the virus is through droplets of bodily fluids from coughing, sneezing, or eating within 6 feet of a person who has an infection. The way to protect yourself from this mode of transmission is through wearing a simple surgical mask. 

The least common way to get sick from the COVID-19 is airborne transmission. There are special masks that can be purchased online, however they do have to be fitted in order to work properly. Additionally, non medical personnel purchasing them has led to a shortage in some hospitals. Therefore, if you travel to the Emergency room, a hospital, an airport, on a plane, or in a crowded situation with higher risk of exposure to sick people, consider a surgical mask, along with safety googles and hand sanitizer..  

At the parish, we will do the following: 

• provide alcohol based hand sanitizer and wipes in the Narthex to help maintain good hand hygiene. 

• sanitize surfaces in and around the parish, including icons and the blessing Cross. 

• provide surgical masks in the Narthex, which you may wish to put on if you have a cough (though best to stay home if you are sick) or if you are over 60 or have a weakened immune system.

Thankfully, little children are much less likely to get severe illness from COVID-19. They can however pass the infection to others even if they themselves may have mild illness, because they commonly won't cover their cough or wear masks withe ease.  If a child is sick, consider keeping him/her at home out of respect for those who are older and or with weakened immune systems.

Again, thank you to all of our medical professionals at the Parish.  May God continue to inspire them in the care of the ailing through the intercessions of Ss. Cosmas and Damian, Ss. Kyros and John, S. Panteleimon, S. Luke of Crimea, and all of the physician saints. May the Lord be merciful to all! 

La Divina Liturgia, Holy Cross Church Sacramento

COVID-19: Practical and Spiritual Considerations

In each and every service of the Orthodox Christian Church we pray in general terms for the whole of creation. Appropriately, we also call to mind instances and circumstances that demand our specific prayers, always asking God to have mercy. In recent days, our prayers ought to include those who are ailing, those who are caring for the sick, and those who researching, ever looking for cures that bring forth healing.

As news of the spread of the novel coronavirus (now referred to as COVID-19) has continued, it provides us the opportunity to pause, to pray and to consider our response as Orthodox Christians. I therefore share with you a few of my thoughts. 

To help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, including Covid-19 and the flu, the CDC has suggested the following:

·         Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

·         Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.

·         Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

·         Stay home when you are sick.

·         Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

·         Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

Of course, these suggestions are just good habits for all us in any season and at any age.  We take logical steps to ensure our wellbeing as well as to care for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Why not clean our icons and the blessing Cross between services, for instance? We should always take any and all appropriate measures to stay healthy regardless of season. And, as other recommendations are made, we incorporate them into our routines, be it at home, in the work place or at the parish, thanks be to God!

As a brother priest shared with his community though, fear and anxiety often increase at moments like this. Thankfully, Christians are not defined by fear. Rather, we put our trust and hope in Christ who is Himself Life. He is the One, the Physician, who brings healing of both body and soul, through the intercessions of the saints in the Church, which is likened unto a hospital. All of us then who are ailing in soul and or body, in each and every generation, find healing in Christ, in His Church and in His Mysteries. 

How fitting it is that we will pray Holy Unction on Monday evening at 6pm as has been our tradition. Together, after asking one another for mutual forgiveness in Great Vespers on Sunday evening, we will in obedience to our Lord ask the Holy Spirit to consecrate olive oil so that when we are anointed by the priests, in fulfillment of Scripture, it will be unto our healing, forgiveness and salvation. Truly, God remains wondrous and glorious!

I should also add that the other practices of our Orthodox Christian Faith will continue to bring healing, most notably, the Holy Eucharist.  Although the instruments that we are using, that is the chalice and the spoon are imperfect, for well over a millennia, they have held and passed to us He Who is Perfect, He Who is Life, He Who is healing.   Again, we are not receiving symbols, rather we are receiving the actual Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  

For those who are unaware, I should add that regardless of setting, be it in a monastery, in the parish or even in a hospital, the deacon or priest consumes whatever remains in the chalice or on a spoon after communing the faithful.  We consume what remains of the Holy Eucharist with thanksgiving knowing full well that it is Life, regardless of who receives before us. Is this not an ongoing miracle that takes place around the world in every monastery, parish and cathedral of our Orthodox Christian Church and in each and every generation?  Simply, we continue to humbly heed the admonition of the Deacon who directs us in the Liturgy, to receive the Holy Eucharist with “the fear of God, with faith and with love”...unto salvation, regardless of circumstances, because of He Who Is Christ our True God. 

I would be remiss though we’re I not to write that all of the practices and disciplines of our faith, even the reception of the Holy Eucharist, are done voluntarily. There is no coercion to do something with which we are uncomfortable.  God is big enough to handle any of our questions and concerns, because He is patient, long-suffering and abounding in mercy towards and for all of us. Guilt is not attached to any practice; a spirit of humility is what characterizes our response to each and every awesome expression of God’s love for us. 

In closing, these are simply my thoughts as we prepare to enter Great and Holy Lent and as we consider the spread of COVID-19.  Of course, I am not a medical doctor, but I do have the privilege of being a physician of souls, so to speak, in spite of my sins and unworthiness.  Let us then pray most fervently that Christ, Who is the Physician, will continue to heal and sustain all of His creation. 

Catechetical Homily of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the beginning of Holy and Great Lent, 2020

Prot. No. 188

CATECHETICAL HOMILY

AT THE OPENING 

OF HOLY AND GREAT LENT

+ BARTHOLOMEW

BY GOD’S MERCY 

ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE – NEW ROME

AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH

TO THE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH,

MAY THE GRACE AND PEACE 

OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST,

TOGETHER WITH OUR PRAYER, BLESSING AND FORGIVENESS

BE WITH YOU ALL

***

         We offer hymns of thanks to the God of love as once again we enter Holy and Great Lent, the arena of ascetic struggle, fasting and abstinence, of vigilance and spiritual awareness, of guarding our senses and prayer, of humility and self-knowledge. We are commencing a new and blessed pilgrimage toward Holy Pascha, which has “opened for us the gates of paradise.” In Church and as Church, as we behold the Risen Lord of glory, we all journey together along the way of deification by grace that leads to the heavenly goods “prepared by God for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

         In the Church, where “the eternal mystery” of divine Economy is realized, all things have their unwavering theological foundation and pure soteriological reference. The incarnation of God and the deification of man are the pillars of the Orthodox faith. We move toward our eternal destination in the love of Christ. Our God, Who is “always for us,” can never be reduced to some “higher power” enclosed in transcendence and the grandeur of almightiness or its holiness. Instead, He is the pre-eternal Word of God, Who “assumed our form” in order to invite humankind to the communion of His holiness, of the genuine freedom. Man, who from the beginning “has been honored with freedom,” is invited to freely accept this divine gift. In the divine-human mystery of salvation, our synergy also functions as a witness in the world of the blessing that we have experienced—“what do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7)—through the love for the ‘brother.” 

         Holy and Great Lent is par excellence a period of experiencing this freedom bestowed by Christ. Fasting and ascesis do not comprise a discipline imposed externally, but a voluntary respect of ecclesiastical practice, obedience to Church Tradition that is not a sterile letter but a living and life-giving presence, a permanent expression of the unity, sanctity, catholicity and apostolicity of the Church. The language of theology and hymnography speaks of “joyful sorrow” and “the spring of fasting.” This is because authentic asceticism is always joyful, springful and bright. It knows no dualism or division; it does not undermine life or the world. “Depressive ascesis” that leads to an “aridity of human nature” has nothing to do with the spirit of Orthodoxy, where the ascetic life and spirituality are nurtured by resurrectional joy. In this sense, fasting and ascesis contain an alternative proposal for life before the promised false paradise of eudemonism and nihilistic pessimism.

         Another essential element of Orthodox ascetic spirituality is its social character. The God of our faith is “the most social God,” “a God of relations.” It has rightly been said that the Holy Trinity is “the negation of loneliness.” The individualization of salvation and piety, the transformation of ascesis into an individual achievement, overlook the Trinity-centered essence of the ecclesial event. When we fast for ourselves and according to our whim, then fasting does not express the spirit of the Orthodox tradition. Spirituality is the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit, Which is always “a spirit of communion.” The genuine Orthodox spiritual life always refers to the ecclesial dimension of our existence and not to some “spiritual self-realization.”

         In adhering to the dedication of this year by the Holy Great Church of Christ to “the pastoral renewal and due concern for our youth,” we call upon our Orthodox young men and women to participate in the spiritual struggle of Great Lent in order to experience its anthropological depth and liberating spirit, to understand that Orthodox asceticism is a way of freedom and existential fulfilment in the context of the blessed life in the Church, whose core is to “speak the truth in love.” Our Orthodox youth is called to discover the holistic character of fasting, which is praised in the Triodion as “the commencement of spiritual struggles,” as “food for the soul,” as “mother of all good things and all virtues.” It is not simply an abstinence from certain foods, but a struggle against self-love and self-sufficiency, a sensitivity toward our suffering neighbor, and a tangible response of support. It is a Eucharistic use of creation, existential fulfilment, communion of life and solidarity. Ascesis, fasting, prayer and humility convey the fragrance and light of the Resurrection, from which they receive meaning and direction. As the quintessence of ecclesial life and its eschatological orientation, the Resurrection inseparably links the ascetic life with the Divine Eucharist, the sacrament of foretaste of the ineffable joy of the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The fact that the Divine Eucharist is preserved as the center of the life in the Orthodox Church is associated with the fact that the Resurrection is the foundation of our faith and the bright horizon of our ascetic spirituality as well as of our good witness in the world.

         With these thoughts, we humbly invoke upon all of you the mercy and blessing of the God of love, so that we may pursue the race of Holy and Great Lent with devout heart, reach the saving Passion of Christ our God and, glorifying His ineffable forbearance, shine brightly for the feast of His splendid Resurrection that leads us from death to endless life.

Holy and Great Lent 2020

+ BARTHOLOMEW of Constantinople

Fervent supplicant for all before God