Communion unchanged in Greek Orthodox Church despite virus

  • 📰 AP
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 68 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Qulity Score:
  • News: 31%
  • Publisher: 51%

Greek Orthodox communion is taken from a shared spoon; church authorities and the faithful insist it can't spread coronavirus because it's not bread and wine but the body and blood of Christ. Scientists disagree.

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

In this Sunday, May 24, 2020, photo, a Greek Orthodox priest distributes Holy Communion during Sunday Mass in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, using the traditional method of a shared spoon. Contrary to science, the Greek Orthodox Church and its followers insist it is impossible for any disease, including the coronavirus, to be transmitted through Holy Communion.

A communal spoon presents “fairly significant dangers,” said Dr. Nathalie MacDermott, an academic clinical lecturer for Britain’s National Institute for Health Research at King’s College London. “Regarding the issue that is unjustifiably raised from time to time about the supposed dangers, which in these blasphemous views are said to lurk in the life-giving Mystery of Holy Communion, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece expresses its bitterness, deep sorrow and diametrical opposition,” it said in a May 13 circular on social distancing measures in churches.

In Ethiopia, which has the largest Orthodox Christian flock outside Europe, the ritual is unchanged, as it is in the Georgian Orthodox Church. In Greece, a firebrand priest, former Metropolitan Ambrosios, said he had excommunicated the education minister, prime minister and the civil protection deputy minister — the first for suggesting the coronavirus could be transmitted through saliva during Holy Communion, and the other two for closing churches during the lockdown. The Holy Synod, however, said only it had the authority to excommunicate.

After ordering churches closed, the government has been more circumspect and has avoided the sensitive issue of Communion. The limited spread of the virus also has reduced the risk of a renewed outbreak, at least for now.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 728. in US
 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

JFC! These folks need to read my book before they exterminate themselves.

👍

Barbaric Christians profited from the atrocities of slavery and colonialism What are they doing in response to damage to our planet's atmosphere due to human produced CO2, CH4? Are they committing ecocide Gladly not are barbaric EcocideLaw

How can they be so confident in giving these bat shit very theories? I could never tell a cop who pulled me over for speeding don't worry about my speeding officer, Jesus would never allow me to hit anyone

The Body and Blood of Christ will not transmit dieases. Beyond heathens.

You can't compare science and OrthodoxChurch beliefs. Its like comparing apple and oranges. I agree that its not wise to share spoon while taking the communion during this time, but if you have complete faith in it, who knows. Never judge religion with the lens of science.

Scientists *correct* the mistake that it will not spread Coronavirus.

Now that is some next level stupid. I hope granny enjoys her last hours of life alone on a ventilator.

Oh no! Scientists disagree! My faith is shaken 🙄

Germs don’t care about your belief system.

LabyrinthWeaver I’m going to cry.

Ignorant article subject. Please think before you offend! And please don’t judge others, especially if you’re unwilling to learn & appreciate those that are different than yourself.

God, I dislike the religious.

This really needs an Erik the Viking-High Brazil-this is NOT happening-gif...who will provide?

Get rekt nerds, the Eucharist is here to stay

Καλέ μαζέψτε τη γιαγιά. Θα κολλήσει COVID-19.

There are several scientific surveys around the globe,that prooves the opposite of what you write and these surveys have taken place in hospitals with real patients.All epidemiologists in Greece and in other places around the earth are fully informed about these facts.

So why are we only worried about Covid? If diseases were transmitted through the Eucharist. Everybody every year would get mono, the flu, herpes, and every disease that can be transmitted orally. Why doesn't that happen?

As I recall when Jesus dipped the bread in wine He didn’t take a bite first before passing it on. I’m pretty sure God will be okay with those who are uncomfortable sharing the spoon 🙄

Secularists are proven wrong every day. Why were there no new cases of cringerona in Georgia despite Church violations of lockdown?

lol atheist cucks mad

freemonotheist Gloria Tibi, Domine

scientists are pedophiles

How about I do what I want. Idiots.

There have been cases where bacteria was transmitted through use of blessed holy water. Virus certainly could be present on or in the consecrated Eucharist.

This assumes that Jesus can’t get coronavirus and I haven’t seen any data on that.

Females are made of sugar & spice. Males are made of snips, snails & puppy-dog tails BUT everyone can still spread & be infected with COVID19

I have a question for any Greek Orthodox folk reading this. The western Church, following Aquinas, says that the substance of the bread and wine is changed but not its accidents— so by any human test it will still appear to be bread and wine; therefore it will transmit the virus.

For some reason I am reminded of people in Iran licking a shrine.

The substance is changed. The matter isn’t.

Greece is known to be full of Christian idiots.. (Greek dude here). Doctors and scientists refuse to say anything about the matter because they are afraid of the backslash it may cause.. (Greece is 90% Christian)

Koduğumun malları . Bol bol sokun ağzınıza...

We’ve been receiving the mysteries this way for centuries. If the body and blood could transmit disease, priests and bishops would drop like flies since they just consume the gifts after each liturgy. Yet they don’t. Scientism is a religion.

amaenad I just can't

amaenad Oh, for heaven's sake.

Sounds like magic

Uneducated AP writer. No clue on transubstantiation

I think the AP is running with what I have heard a few Orthodox say, but I am not sure it is their official teaching.

So cannibalism?

Well this should settle the debate between religion and science

I'm pretty sure God mentions idolatry and that probably includes spoons

Here is the country of saint Paisios and his holy chestnut! Go back you filthy scientists. Paisios's sayonara is our Excalibur!

The media need to sort themselves out. How badly worded is that article.. Scientists disagree? Well they would wouldnt the sering as it is absolute bullshit.. Idiotic media.

Scientists.. aka 'experts' 😡 sick of 'em

Scientists are wrong though.

confirming, my Greek Orthodox friends here in Poland told me the same thing. The reasoning is the same: it can't spread disease. There has been no measures taken whatsoever to stop this.

EastMedMonitor Y'all needed scientists to figure this out? What's next a report on...shared kiddush cups, prayer rugs...I mean it's religion, did you expect that when it comes to science that it will mesh well with tradition?

Thanks, stenographer.

The AP should either study religion or stop writing about it. The article is a hodgepodge of misunderstanding and falsehoods.

Literal insanity

Who ever heard of disease being spread through bodily fluids, I mean really

Morons🙄

I’m Greek Orthodox, our services are streamed. Churches aren’t open yet. There are discussions on how to receive communion when we reopen...including use of individual wooden spoons

Actually it's even worse. The Greek CDC sided up with the faithful.

that's getting past religion into pure superstition.

ah, the transubstantiation argument. There is disagreement about at which exact point it occurs but all agree it isn't before ingestion, meaning the unchanging spoon is contaminated even if the contents subsequently aren't...

These cults hold an annual ritual the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. They believe the spirit of a two millennia dead philosopher speaks to them. They cannibalize his blood and flesh, then chant incantations before devouring animal sacrifices.

Greece is the Christian-Taliban state of European Union.We are in 2020 and still the state and the church are not separated. The priests are still getting paid by the state. Imagine the influence they have on the politicians and of course the (stupid) people.

These are mostly extremists and nutjobs that believe this. Meanwhile the Archbishop of America is working on converting to single-use spoons.

The magical thinking that is religion. Unbelievable. Educated people who understand science willing to ignore it. The power of religion to control the human mind is truly incredible.

Religion at the forefront of reality once again

Why is twitter giving a platform to AP to give recognition to this bullshit. They are not eating 2,000 year old blood. Twitter needs to stop spreading this. If AP continues to “balance” complete rubbish like this it needs to be deplatformed.

The last time I was in a liturgy was in March. There were about twenty people, half of whom refrained from receiving. The young held back so the old could receive first. Both the priests and laity are trying to be conscientious about minimising risk without compromising liturgy.

Unfortunately, Greek 'scientists' agree.

I did always have trouble with the concept of transsubstantiation... Catholics are supposed to believe in it too and yet they closed their churches.

ο Ιησούς έκλαψε

dark_tyler Let the people practice cannibalism in peace.

They say that wine in the spoon has enough alcohol to kill the germs and the virua. Really... that's what they re saying. And greek top medical professors remain silent to these alternative facts. What a waste of earth's resources!

mboorstein Common sense disagrees

Great balanced tweet suggesting a 50-50 probability of who is right. We need journalism school reform because y'all are so obsessed with coming across as neutral you're legitimizing the illegitimate, which is inherently anything but neutral.

If you write your title as “scientists disagree” it makes it sound like there are two sides of the story... which aren’t since it is a freaking contagious source

Magical thinking gets people killed.

Don't worry they will be with God pretty soon 😂😒

Oh for fuck’s sake

Sheep spend thier lives afraid of the wolf, only to be eaten by the shepherd

Idiots.

deray “Scientists disagree.”

Its not only Greek idiots..

Stupidity is real

deray “truth sandwich” rewrite of your terrible post: “Shared spoons can pass viruses along, as science has known for over 100 years. The Greek Orthodox Church believes otherwise, but has not counter-evidence to back their claim.'

deray God told me not to go there..

deray 😑

deray 'it's not bread and wine but the body and blood of Christ' ruh roh

There are few more insidiously and thoroughly stupid as the very religious.

“Scientists disagree”

The man is dead, there'll be no more exsanguination and cannibalism for you. Take care of your health and stop sharing bodily fluids with your congregation. Go into your coffin to rest. Symbols do not equal the real thing.

Scientists demonstrating their vast ignorance, astronomical arrogance, and unlimited hate.

Quit framing religious declarations like this around the possibility of being right, and instead report them just being wrong when they are. I hate how y’all portray both sides possibly being right. You know this type of reporting lead to climate change denial in the US, right?

Pretty sure eating body parts is an even worse vector for a whole host of diseases, like

Do they not understand that it's symbolic and not literally the body and blood of Christ?

fidelioscabinet 'And you know what? When it got to his stomach, it was still cyanide.' -V FOR VENDETTA

If there was just some way to test if it were actual blood.

Both sideing science

I know The Church is responsible for killing people throughout time, but it’s typically people outside their sect - except when we call them a cult.

We will see how that works out.

The Devil Likes this

I’m with the church.

This tells you how delusional these people are

Nobody cares about the rioters spreading the virus ? 😆

Not the blood of Christ. It's Koolaid.

The insanity of religion.

JFC

Leave us alone you heathens

Maybe the anchor of faith is what wiped out 75 till 200 millions during the black plague. ignoranceisavirus

Please note not all Greeks are complete morons.

FFS it’s 2020 people surely it’s obvious by now God/Gods aren’t real and all these beliefs are taken from stories by people who didn’t have a clue about how the world worked. There isn’t one single person on this planet who’s god stopped them from getting coronavirus

Church authorities are ignorant! Why so many across the pond so ignorant?

Ewwww

hawkwing_lb Our priest is giving it from individual wooden spoons (I ordered him a box of 1000) and burning them afterwards.

_silversmith Even if transubstantiation was completely and quantifiably real, the SPOON is not the blood of christ, only the liquid ON the spoon is.

We'll just have to wait for a randomized double blind clinical trial to be sure.

those nameless scientists and experts are golden with the mass media.

Seems like God decided to save the Agnostics

I was thinking at that

Greek Orthodox Church influences many voters

And according to China u can't catch the virus from eating bats and snakes, and how did that workout for the entire world.

Heresy & ThomasAquinas got it. Dictate of reason. 'Truth needs No majority' Pope BenedictXVI. Stop that heretic evil killing Christians.

Oh lord

I wonder if Jews are still practicing metzitzah b'peh?

Will be interesting to hear what he will say if he ends up in the hospital..

A spoon is a spoon. If it has the coronavirus on it, and someone puts it in their mouth, it will spread coronavirus. Simple logic.

Bloody hell. Would just like to say the Orthodox Church has been superb in Australia, urging people to stay home, stream services and helping people understand to take communion themselves. Think harder, if you believe Jesus would not want you to get sick or make other people so?

how dare you pigs question someone's religious beliefs---worthless pigs in the media---you're scare tactics no longer work---you might want to start hiding

See “Atheism: The Case Against God” by George H. Smith

Hopefully the new spoon every time Papa!❤️

WTF are they thinking. Just adding to the reasons I’m not religious anymore, but do believe in God.

Religion is a bigger threat to humanity than a virus! These rituals are plain stupidity!

Protecting human life should be paramount in any religion.

🤦‍♂️

There is only one God, although we have given him many names, too many. God would be happy if people get sick or die from their temples?

'Scientists disagree.' Truly bizarre way to put it. If a reporter is not free to observe the truth that communion can spread disease, the reporter is just a mouthpiece for whatever falsehood is supplied.

Obv scientists disagree. Every reasonable person disagrees, you don’t have to be a scientist to know how stupid this is. On the other hand, only old people who still believe God will save them are doing this so maybe we should let them be saved🤷🏻‍♀️

Νο infection from Greek Orthodox holy communion has ever been reported, not even at times of previous pandemics. There are some scientists in Greece who agree. Non-religious Greeks attribute it to the spoon being pure gold, as gold does not spread viruses.

Scientists gave us cancer in polio vaccines along with toxic mercury & aluminum in vaccines, millions of babies murdered in the name of eugenics, put toxic fluoride in our water supply, genetically modified foods, & Covid-19 made in a Chinese Lab. We reject your Satanic science!

they even try to get some answers from greek scientists but they refused to have a clear opinion due to religious reasons

This headline is......something. Death Cult.

It has already proven safe. Churches opened 17 May 2020 and still the numbers of new cases of COVID19 are extremely low. Don't worry about Greece. Look at your people. The Body and the Blood of Jesus does not spead viruses.

That should work out well

Of course scientists disagree. It’s bullshit

We have to stop allowing religion to excuse the delusional.

What belief can do to you... prafullaketkar DChaurasia2312 KanchanGupta Republic_Bharat republic

Many greek scientists remain silent because of government 's and Church's reactions

Bu kasadan dünyanın her yerinde var galiba.

🤦🏾‍♀️

Transubstantiation is cannibalism

For just a moment, let’s pretend Covid-19 doesn’t exhist. That is still horrifying disgusting. 🤢🦠

😱🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Jesus fucking Christ, people are going to do what they did before. Just because Greece didn't get behind the eight ball on the spread of COVID-19 and the US did, you're going to shit all over someone else.

It certainly isn't the brain of Christ...

They will die

Unbelievable

😬😬😬

Christianity is all about ritual cannibalism which is prohibited. It's always been a dangerous cult.

Why is it that religion equals stupidity?

God has given us free will, and sadly, Stupidity is included

Darwin will win.

Virus is effective population management

If you needed further proof that Christianity is actively leading us to end games...

Pandemic or not, no thanks 🤢🤮

Gods will, amiright?

Transubstantiation is a hell of a drug.

Ridiculous. They will all get sick from exchanging spit with strangers. Great job priests...if you don’t ruin the children with perversion...you will kill them with the virus! I’m sure God will love you for all for that sickness!

You don't f-ing say!

Fine, let’s say it’s the body and blood of Christ. The spoon isn’t either of those things. Are you really so selfish as to demand your God perform TWO miracles every time you go to Church just because you won’t listen to the people he created warning you it’s a bad idea?!

its a joke ....right!

Silly Shit

Thought that was Richard Lewis for a second

Been doing this my whole life. 🇺🇸🇬🇷

अंधभक्त

eh..why even bother? these are exactly the kind of people who SHOULD catch the virus and be wiped off the face of the earth.🤷‍♀️

Smh They ought to stop

Bruh

Turns out people are morons. Surprised?

These people are insane Even putting aside their beliefs about the physics of bread and wine...the spoon and the cup go in people’s mouths There is no transformation of those objects in their belief systems

Oh dear.. this seems like it won’t end well.

America is burning and you’re crying about Greek Orthodox religious BS. Powerful journalism.

Ain't superstition & the belief in magic great?

You are eating the body of Christ in bread form? Of course you are.

Pandemic is over. America called it off.

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Communion unchanged in Greek Orthodox Church despite virusOne by one, the children and adults line up for the centuries-old ritual of Holy Communion, trying to keep a proper social distance. The priest dips a spoon into the chalice of bread and wine, which the faithful believe is the body and blood of Christ, and puts it into the mouth of the first person
Source: YahooNews - 🏆 380. / 59 Read more »

Do You Know The Names Of These 13 Major Greek Gods And Goddesses?You're going to need some mytho-logic to beat this quiz! I think you've put a wrong narrative on Apollo. Guess those random Latin classes I took in high school somehow paid off! Might want to check question eight again!
Source: BuzzFeed - 🏆 730. / 51 Read more »

Communion unchanged in Greek Orthodox Church despite virusOne by one, the children and adults line up for the centuries-old ritual of Holy Communion, trying to keep a proper social distance. The priest dips a spoon into the chalice of bread and wine, which the faithful believe is the body and blood of Christ, and puts it into the mouth of the first person
Source: YahooNews - 🏆 380. / 59 Read more »

Communion shared-spoon ritual unchanged in Orthodox Church despite virusThe Greek Orthodox Church insists no disease, including the coronavirus, can be transmitted through Holy Communion, and keeps using a communal spoon. I hope people are sensible and most individuals decide to avoid this specific practice for the time being. I don't want to see this spread more and reverse the progress we made in reopening ...sick But the big question is really, how much animal is in animal crackers?
Source: latimes - 🏆 11. / 82 Read more »

Coronavirus quietly started spreading as early as January, CDC saysBy early February, there was "cryptic circulation" of the virus. We know
Source: YahooNews - 🏆 380. / 59 Read more »

Could a fifth of America’s colleges really face the chop?Eight American colleges were already closing each year before the pandemic hit Should be fine. No one will be able to afford it soon anyway. Thank God Let’s hope so! Greed does not beget wisdom or knowledge. The pursuit of truth does.
Source: TheEconomist - 🏆 6. / 92 Read more »