The statement to this effect was released by the press service of the Ministry after an on-line meeting with representatives of the all-Ukraine council for churches and religious organizations.
It was decided that public liturgies would be held at churches and cathedrals on Easter Sunday but with the attendance of no more than ten people.
“The rest of the congregations will be able to watch divine services online. Only a limited number of people will be allowed to conduct a religious ceremony within church buildings, namely: a minister, an acolyte, a deacon and a team of persons who will carry out a live transmission”, reads the statement. Everyone present at a liturgy, with the exception of a minister, must wear a surgical face mask or a respirator. Believers can visit a church but only at the time when a liturgy is over. “However, in such a case no more than two persons besides clergymen can be present at a church at the same time. All who are present at a service inside the church must wear masks and no crowds should be allowed outside the church”, the Interior Ministry’s regulations say.
As for the ceremony of blessing the Easter bread and Easter baskets, the ritual which is usually performed at the church yard, officials of the Interior Ministry offer several ways of how to perform it that could minimize contacts among believers. For instance, “in cities and towns, clergymen can be invited to bakeries and shops to bless the Easter bread there. This measure will make it possible for customers to buy the already consecrated bread”. If believers do try to go to church on Easter Sunday, policemen on patrol will explain “patiently and clearly” why it is important to obey quarantine rules.
In the meantime, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, one of Ukraine’s major monasteries, has become the place of COVID-19 outbreak in the capital city. On April 9, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klychko reported about 26 new cases of the infection. “In the past 24 hours, 26 coronavirus cases have been registered at the Lavra. It is hard to predict what will be a possible chain of infection transmission. That’s why I am waiting with great concern the approaching Easter holidays. I feel very worried that the situation might worsen after the holidays and we might have hundreds of new cases”, said the Mayor.
The news about the coronavirus infection at the Lavra appeared a few days ago. When it was confirmed that four ministers and monks got infected, the monastery was closed for quarantine. The official website of the Lavra informed that during quarantine religious services would be performed “in the online mode without the presence of parishioners and pilgrims”.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has made no statement so far as to the condition of His Eminence Pavel, the Father Superior of the Kyiv-Perchersk Lavra, whether he is among those clergymen who have contracted the infection. Allegedly, he feels well. For the time being, the Father Superior himself has made no contact. The last time when he was heard and seen, it was his video address in which he said, “Our brethren and I are under the supervision of medical doctors. We are not angels. We also can fall ill”.
However, at the end of March, things were quite different. The Moscow Patriarchate announced then that all their parsons were “doctors” and therefore refused to close its churches for quarantine. And regardless of all precautionary measures, Metropolitan Pavel called upon his congregations “to come to church, bring their children and worship icons”. As for the COVID-19 pandemic, he called it “the payment for sins”.
In the photo: the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
The newspaper Holos Ukrainy
