Fr. Basil Zebrun

(This past year provided people ample time for prayer and reflection, as well as opportunities to get bored and irritated with the world’s “new norm.” Additionally, many have expressed anger and grief, losing loved ones to the Coronavirus, as well as jobs to extreme economic slowdowns.  My brother priests and I – like everyone else – have thought a great deal about this disease, its effect on people’s lives and thinking. One particular concern has naturally been COVID’s effect on believers – clergy and laymen – and their relationship to the Body of Christ. The following article reflects just a few of our common thoughts along these lines. It offers no ultimate answers to many questions posed by Church members, but is a personal exercise, enabling me to clear my head, and to sort through some of the confusion of the past nine or ten months. It provides me as well, the present opportunity to share the thinking of others whose advice and counsel I value. I encourage readers to review the recently posted Encyclical of Hope by the OCA’s Synod of Bishops (oca.org) which addresses the issue of COVID-19 and the faithful, in a much more comprehensive manner.)                     

2020 functioned as a stress test of sorts for the Orthodox Church and her members. Challenges related to COVID-19 revealed both strengths and weaknesses of faith amongst Orthodox Christians, as well as differing views on Church order. Confusion was experienced in light of varied responses by bishops to the pandemic.  Many believers during the past nine months found themselves asking, “Whose teachings do we accept about the possibility or impossibility of getting sick while in Church?  Which practices should we agree to follow, when it comes to masks or no masks in Church, multiple Communion spoons or one, social distancing during services, and sign-up lists for worship?” Exacerbating the situation all along, was the hyper-politicization of anything related to the Coronavirus.  

Discussions of the above issues proved enlightening and surprising, as well as tiring. There was however – based on my limited exposure to COVID conversations – one fundamental item of Church order mentioned, but not greatly emphasized: the role of one’s bishop as a father in Christ and the administrator of his diocese. He is after all, the person ultimately responsible for the welfare of communities entrusted to his care. Members of these communities are his spiritual children, who ordinarily are sensitive to his wishes. They follow his directives, knowing that they are not issued haphazardly, but only after much prayer, thought and deliberation with others. Each bishop is responsible for his own flock.  Members of that flock look to him as their shepherd, the sacramental presence of Christ, the Chief Shepherd. 

It seems that the advent of COVID-19 tested these basic principles of Church order in unique ways, at least in North America. In light of the pandemic, each bishop issued directives for parishes subject to his care. Directives differed, however, from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, from diocese to diocese. Variations led to confusion, and not a few Orthodox Christians, especially in large metropolitan areas, opted to follow directives from other hierarchs that matched their personal ways of thinking and comfort zones.  Accordingly, some believers chose to attend multiple Orthodox Churches from Sunday to Sunday, while others stayed at their home parishes following, ignoring and/or questioning local parish and diocesan guidelines.        

Such activity, however, threw light on an additional widespread issue: the contemporary understanding in North America of what it means to be a “member” of a particular parish and/or diocese?  For years, multiple overlapping jurisdictions in this country, along with the positive fruit of Pan-Orthodox cooperation, have helped to blur lines of community.  Thankfully, believers feel quite comfortable in whatever Church they attend liturgy. Consequently, people have sincerely wondered, “may we accept as a norm, Orthodox Christians at large who have little to no clear accountability to any one parish or to any one bishop?” Such a notion is outside of my personal experience or way of thinking.  It is certainly foreign to practices involving clergy ordinations and subsequent assignments: i.e., there are no priests or deacons possessing at large status. Each is attached to a specific altar. Overall, however, the idea of laity at large also seems inconsistent with Orthodoxy’s understanding of Church and community, the believer’s experience of belonging to a specific family, with a particular father in Christ. Yet, here and abroad, there do exist many Orthodox Christians who function on this level of membership. Jurisdictional irregularities in North America easily allow for such a practice to take place.      

On Tuesday, December 29, Archbishop Alexander met in Dallas with clergy of the Southcentral Deanery of the Diocese of the South.  At this gathering, His Eminence, along with Archimandrite Gerasim (Diocesan Administrator and Dean) highlighted the resiliency of our communities in the year 2020, their ability to adapt successfully, under trying circumstances.  He also touched briefly on matters related to the smooth functioning of any diocese. In the process he provided an informative article by Bishop Alexis of Bethesda concerning obedience in the priestly life. Quoting St. Silouan, His Grace began by asserting that, ‘the spirit of obedience is necessary not only in monks, but in everyone else too.”  The article was meant simply to reinforce to the clergy the notion of proper Church order, as they and their parishioners follow the directives of Archbishop Alexander and the OCA’s Synod of Bishops regarding the pandemic.       

The deanery meeting, however, brought to mind certain vows from the Orthodox Chrismation Service.  When a catechumen is received into the Church, he affirms his wholehearted acceptance of basic Orthodox teachings and practices: “I believe and confess it,” he says aloud after each question from the priest.  Included in his confession, is faith in Christ as the Chief Shepherd, and in the Holy Spirit as the Guide and Pilot of the Church. He declares openly his acceptance of Conciliar decrees, the traditional interpretation of Scripture, seven major sacraments, veneration of saints and icons, and prayers for the departed.  He also acknowledges bishops and other leaders as being appointed by Christ to rule the Church.  

At the very end of this list, the catechumen makes a specific pledge: “true obedience, unto (his) life’s end, in guidance which is salutary unto the soul, to the Holy Synod (of Bishops) … and to the Bishop of this Diocese, as the true Pastors appointed by the Holy Spirit; and to the Priests ordained by them” (Hapgood Service Book, pp. 460-461). 

The wording of that particular vow may be open to interpretation. Its necessity may even be questioned since the place of bishops in the Church is already acknowledged by the catechumen, and because some service books do not include it.  Jurisdictional anomalies also call into question the current meaning and purpose of this vow on a practical level. Logically, however, if one makes such a pledge publicly, in the context of a particular, local community, the only reasons to disregard it would be for matters of heresy or immoral teachings espoused by one’s bishop. It is certain that current ecclesiastical disciplines related to the Coronavirus do not fall into these two categories, although some people may have different thoughts.                 

My opinion, and that of others, is that relative to Church life across the country, the challenges of COVID-19 in 2020 simply placed a bright spotlight on – among other things – issues that existed before the pandemic. These are slowly being addressed, however, by hierarchs and theologians: i.e., how Orthodox Christians today relate to their respective bishops, parishes, dioceses, and to Church order overall. Our present situation also calls into question how the faithful might respond to future hardships more difficult than what is now experienced: a stress test of sorts. We have been living in unique times for the present generation of Orthodox Christians in North America. The past nine months provided strong opportunities to exercise Christian charity, and to discuss Orthodox fundamentals. They offered the chance to grow spiritually, to learn from our mistakes, as well as from wisdom shared by others.