In a recent interview,
French theologian Jean-Claude Larchet, well-known to Romanians through
his numerous books on illness and suffering, places the Covid-19
pandemic in historical context and discusses the challenges to religious
practice which stemmed from it and spurred controversy among the
Orthodox faithful.
The extensive interview approaches hotly debated topics such as the
issue the Holy Communion, the ban on religious service participation,
the theological meaning of disease in general and the sense of the
current pandemic. He recommends prayer for the whole world and mentions
that he reads many times a day the special prayer conceived by the
Romanian Patriarch Daniel on this purpose.
The Holy Communion and the pandemic: “Became I as weak, that I might gain the weak”
About administering the Holy Communion at this time, Jean-Claude
Larchet says that “two things must be distinguished: the practices
accompanying communion and communion itself”.
Regarding the former, churches have adopted temporary exceptions in
the way they offer the Holy Communion to the faithful, but received
criticism based on the idea that the Body and Blood of Christ have
disinfectant properties for the Holy Spoon and that the priests who
consume the rest of the Holy Gifts at the end of the Liturgy never
contract any illness as a result.
“With regard to this last point, I do not have reliable information
from historical documents. On the other hand, the commentary that St.
Nicodemus the Hagiorite (who lived in the second half of the 18th
century) makes in his Pedalion (a collection and commentary on
the canons of the Orthodox Church) on canon 28 of the Sixth Ecumenical
Council, admits that ‘priests make some change in times of plague’,”
affirms the theologian.
Nevertheless, he mentions: “I believe that whoever has sufficient
faith to commune with confidence via the Spoon runs no risk, and that
churches that have made special arrangements have done so, at best, with
a view to the faithful with weaker faith and doubts”.
“The Churches have in some way followed the precept of St. Paul, who
says: ‘To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak’ (1
Corinthians 9:22). It must be remembered that communion does not have a
magical effect: as with all the sacraments, grace is given in fullness,
but the reception of grace is proportional to the faith of the
receiver”.
“I believe that no Church has assumed that the very Body and Blood of
Christ, which all the prayers before and after communion remind us is
given ‘for the health of soul and body’, is itself a vector of
contamination”, emphasizes the theologian.
On banning the laymen from participating in religious services
Larchet reminds us that, except for Greece, there was no real
cessation of religious services, as the Divine Liturgy itself continues
to be officiated only with the priests, cantors, deacons and sometimes a
server. The theories about obscure forces wanting to destroy
Christianity, he says, are „obviously excessive, and the parallel with
the period of persecutions abusive. Christians are not being asked to
renounce their faith and worship another god”.
A church building “is not a magical place, totally sheltered from the
surrounding world, where one cannot contract any disease”, he affirms,
while the Church as an institution “has a duty to protect the health and
life of its faithful, but also to protect those whom they might
contaminate outside, as well as a duty not to complicate the work of the
healthcare staff”.
This helps us avoid hospital crowding, which could determine
abandonment of the elderly in favour of younger patients. It also
prevents the tragic situation in which funeral services could not be
held anymore due to the high number of deaths in a short interval of
time.
The value of the Liturgy resides in our Saviour’s Sacrifice
St. Ephrem of Katounakia, referring to St. John Chrysostom, urged
laymen who cannot go to church to “make their souls an altar by saying
the Prayer.” The faithful can pray at home with the Jesus Prayer or
using the small Book of Prayers (Euchologion), which Romanians can also
find online. In addition, Orthodox countries have the consolation of watching the Divine Liturgy live on TV and online.
“The value of the Liturgy does not depend on the number of
participants present, nor does the value and scope of the Holy Sacrifice
depend on the number of Liturgies celebrated”, he adds. (…) If there
were only one Liturgy being celebrated, by only one of the local
Churches, this one Sacrifice would be celebrated equally, with the same
scope, since it extends to the whole universe”, Jean-Claude Larchet
says.
What caused the pandemic
“It is not surprising, in religious discourse, to see the theme of
Revelation, the end of the world, or the idea of divine punishment for
the sins of men”, says the theologian, but, he adds, this view of a
punishing God was common in the Old Testament and changed by the New
Testament.
“People who suffer from illness do not need accusations of guilt
added to their suffering,” says Larchet, “but need support, consolation,
compassionate care, and also help to take spiritual responsibility for
their illness and suffering so that they can spiritually turn it to
their advantage”.
“God is for us a Father, we are his children. What father among us
would have the idea of inoculating his children with a virus for a
supposedly pedagogical purpose?” he wonders. “The Fathers are unanimous
in affirming that God did not create death, and that death is a
consequence of sin, as well as sickness and suffering,” he points out.
Some diseases can be explained through mistakes or personal passions,
while other affect the innocent (children) and even saints and
monastics. This refers us to the divine rationale of suffering: “Neither
hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should
be made manifest in him” (John 9, 3).
Jean-Claude Larchet has a PhD in Philosophy and one
in Theology and is among the world’s leading experts in St Maximus the
Confessor’s theology. He is well-known in Romania as the author of the
books “Mental Disorders and Spiritual Healing”, “The Theology of
Illness”, “God Does Not Want Human Suffering”
Jivko Panev, the author of the interview, is a
Lecturer in Canon Law and The History of Local Churches at the “St
Serge” Institute of Orthodox Theology of Paris, Protopresbyter of the
Russian Orthodox parish Notre-Dame Souveraine à Chaville near Paris and
coordinator of the website Orthodoxie.com.