Orthodox Reflections
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Reflections on contemporary issues in Orthodox Christianity
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For a thousand years, the Orthodox Church has used a single spoon that has safeguarded the Eucharist, the faithful, and the clergy. According to the Archbishop in Canada, we are now supposed to bake wine into the bread so we can be safe from a virus.


https://orthodoxreflections.com/wine-bread-multiple-spoons-attack-on-the-faith-continues-in-canada/
Channel photo updated
Teenage daughter having issues because even though she is back in school in-person, the environment is awful. No one talks, everyone is afraid, the teachers spend all their time yelling at kids online. Where are our leaders?
https://orthodoxreflections.com/lockdowns-kill-why-do-orthodox-bishops-ignore-the-victims/
“Communism would have worked if we had just killed more of the right people.” The man who says things like that, entirely too frequently, is a relative of mine. A close one. A former high-ranking Eastern European police official, he ran a huge region at the height of the Cold War. Millions of people had been under his control. Given the chance, and some vodka, he will lecture you for hours about how he could have built an actual workers’ paradise if he had been allowed to really deal with those no-good dissenters and trade unionists. His commitment to Marxism is just as great today as it was in 1963 when he first got his party card. The collapse of the system has dimmed none of his enthusiasm. Neither did the 20 years he spent running a bank for a notorious oligarch. Somehow, Marxism and Capitalism seem to blend together quite harmoniously at a certain level.
COVID, Climate Change, income redistribution, anti-populism, the need to “build back better,” the need to “reimagine” the economy, the need to erase borders and national sovereignty (particularly American), the need to manage things globally – the same “coded words” permeate our political, social, and even religious discourse now. As we have noted in multiple articles, Orthodox bishops associated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate (though most of the others have not done much better) have been particularly reluctant to push back against COVID closings of churches and other restrictions. The Greek Orthodox organizations have also, among all the Orthodox, made the most prodigious use of the “coded words” of The Great Reset.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/does-greek-orthodoxy-support-the-great-reset/
Meanwhile in Orthodox parishes, the Faithful are arguing, sometimes viciously, over masks, social distancing and lock downs. Some parishioners are turning into Orthodox Karens, trying to police other people’s mask and social distance compliance. Others are leaving masked-up parishes for ones that do not have such requirements. Some people are skipping church altogether. Potential catechumens are confused, wondering is this really the Church of Christ who conquered death by death? All the while, pro-mask parishioners accuse others of not loving people or understanding the Orthodox Faith, while anti-maskers accuse the other side of giving in to hysteria and falling for a hoax.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/orthodox-bishops-join-politicians-in-covid-hypocrisy/
Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen! is our Paschal greeting. It is the message your flocks need to hear immediately, to counter the months of fear whispered in their ears by politicians and the mass media. It is the message the world needs to hear. The Christian message has been muzzled by months of fear, sanctions, and a state-imposed chaos on par with a world war.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/why-are-the-orthodox-fiddling-while-earth-burns-an-open-letter-to-bishops-and-priests/
If you are concerned about taking a vaccine, and are facing some kind of mandate that requires vaccination, here are two suggestions for getting an exemption – medical and religious. As an Orthodox Christian, you qualify for a religious exemption to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. (Assuming the law / regulations where you are recognize freedom of religion. If not, a medical exemption is a good back-up plan.)
https://orthodoxreflections.com/exemptions-to-covid-vaccines-for-orthodox-christians/
A bishop must NEVER, under any circumstances, convey fear. He should stride into our churches with the manly majesty of an Apostle, gather God’s People into his arms, press them to his pastoral breast, and protect them from the social and political demons that are currently destroying the Church.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/faith-over-fear-apostolic-boldness-in-the-age-of-covid/