Consequences of CÖVÌD -
Bankruptcy, Unemployment, ναccιnєs,
Closed Churches
Fr. Andrew(Orthodox England) 14 hours ago | 530 words 70 Comments
MORE:Opinion Trends
Originally appeared at: Orthodox England

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Now that the CÖVÌD epidemic, with perhaps finally three million victims worldwide, is beginning to come to an end, we can see certain consequences. For example, we have seen a huge acceleration in the inevitable growth of online sales and the use of plastic money. What perhaps would have happened over the next ten years in any case, will have happened in only one year.
However, there have been other consequences. These include the bankruptcy and unemployment caused by government deprivation of liberty (so-called ‘lσcкdσωns’, in fact lock-ups). And then there have been the psychological damage and distress caused by these lock-ups. Their extremity has given rise to countless paranoid cօռspιʀαcʏ theories, which confuse cause and effect and attribute to panicky and hysterical governments and mєdια an intelligence and competence which they clearly lack. These theories have been fatal to the mental health of those who have no faith and believe that sinister men successfully rule the world, and not the Divinity, as is the true case.

Another phenomenon has been ναccιnє nationalism. The ultra-nationalistic EU has tried to deride and deny the Oxford Astra-Zeneca ναccιnє, with dire consequences for its peoples. And Western countries have derided the Russian and Chinese ναccιnєs, which, if anything, seem to be superior to and have been produced faster than Western ναccιnєs and will save the Third World from CÖVÌD. Certainly, they must be superior to the only Western ναccιnє that has been associated with the cells of aborted babies, that of Johnson and Johnson in the USA. That ναccιnє is to be avoided at all costs.
However, another consequence of CÖVÌD has been the accelerated and permanent closure of churches. For instance, the Church of England is preparing to close 20% of its churches, some 3,000 altogether. Having closed its churches and deprived its people of services during CÖVÌD, many there have now become accustomed to ‘zoom services’. After the lock-ups are over, many will not bother to go back to real services. Why bother? It is much more comfortable to sit in your armchair and watch others. And having seen the clergy, especially the episcopate, so frightened of possible death, many, very many, have concluded that their clergy are mainly atheists anyway. And they are probably right. We fear God, not death. If, that is, we actually believe.
These scandalous deviations have also affected fringe Orthodox dioceses. Priests in one group in the USA have attacked their bishops who forbade them from giving the faithful communion. One bishop in Great Britain actually banned his priests from giving confession! And, again in the USA, one church in Chicago is up for sale, as the local bishop so upset his flock with his CÖVÌD hysteria that they stopped going. After all, if a church is merely an ethnic club or an empty ritual, it may as well close down and cease existing. Its closure is no loss.
As for zoom services and zoom confessions, I have told everyone that there is no such thing. Physical contact is necessary for sacraments to take place. We are not Protestants. Zoom services are fit only for a consumer society, not for an Orthodox Christian society. The Church is not virtual, but real.

https://russian-faith.com/opinion-trends/consequences-CÖVÌD-n4647