An Orthodox perspective on the Coronavirus...

An Orthodox perspective on the Coronavirus... 

“You should be afraid not of cholera, but of serious sins, for the scythe of death mows a person down like grass even without cholera. Therefore, place all your hope in the Lord God, without Whose will even the birds do not die, much less a person.”
+St. Anthony of Optina

A reflection on the Coronavirus and our response:

If you are in the Church, which means, trying with all your strength to believe and practice what our Orthodox Church teaches, then let us take the above teaching literally. Let us not just say we believe but let us voluntarily put ourselves into the arms of God and His protection and use this moment to mature our spiritual understanding.   

People whose faith is not formed as yet tend to give in to fear, and fear drives us to panic, and panic scatters our reason, and thus we become like animals. Your neighbour who once seemed like a lovely man now shows beastly behaviour as fear and panic take root in him. 

When society panics they trample on one another and love is lost. People fight to get the last roll of toilet paper, they are ready to hurt and kill to get what they need for their survival. But this will not help them to survive, it will result in a build up of hatred and a slow decent into insanity.

Resist fear as the biggest evil. As much as possible, confess it regularly and it will weaken, ask God with your might to help you fight it if you recognise that it has taken hold in you.

Today we hear that the Catholic Church has removed Holy water from their churches and they no longer want to have Holy Communion from the same chalice. Why? Fear. 

Is it no longer safe to have Holy Communion from the same chalice? Will it be safe when this virus goes, and then not safe again when another comes? Are we to ask people to bring results from their doctors to say they are healthy and can now take Holy Communion? Is this not insane?

Why is this happening? Because faith is lacking, because the Saints have been forgotten, because the miracles of the Church and her Saints are doubted. The faith of all will be tested, but if we are familiar with our Saints, with our Orthodox Church, we can draw strength and understanding and overcome our fears. Those outside the Church have nothing to draw from. I share one example for our mutual benefit.

St. John of Shanghai went to hospital and gave Holy Communion to a person suffering from a deadly and infections disease. When the person took Holy Communion they vomited it out shortly after. St. John had two options, both correct. He could have burnt it or eaten it. He ate it. Everyone was extremely worried. But nothing happened. He did not get sick, even though according to human logic he had to get sick because the person's vomit contained bacterial infection. 

Can we draw strength from this, or do we want to draw fear from the world and from those that lost the way long time ago? 

Do not let fear dominate your life. Let us ask God to help us and give us peace and courage together. Amin.
+Fr. Veselin (St Michael Homebush NSW)