Orthodoxy and vaccinations: the attitude of the church and the opinion of priests, subtleties and nuances, answers to frequently asked questions, whether it can be done or not

Modern medicine today is full of new possibilities. With its help, you can not only fight diseases that previously claimed thousands of lives, but also significantly change the body and destiny of a person. An Orthodox person should be attentive to innovations and fashion for certain things, for example, regardless of popularity, he should not tattoo himself or change his body in any other way, since it was given by the Creator.

Many parents want to receive an answer from the Society of Orthodox Doctors: “Is it possible to vaccinate a child?” and whether this is a contradiction or violation of biblical and church principles. This issue needs to be looked into.

Orthodox view of illness

There are questions in the doctrine of the Orthodox Church about which theologians are still debating and do not have a clear answer. People often try to interpret passages from Scripture to please themselves, saying that illnesses and everything else are from the demon, but this calls into question the omnipotence and omniscience of the Lord.

The Orthodox Church believes that illness and health come from the Lord and a person should accept everything with gratitude . (“Give thanks in everything,” writes Apostle Paul). Faith in God is, first of all, accepting everything from Him, regardless of whether it is good or bad.

The Orthodox Church advises thanking God for both illness and health

The disease can be sent to a person for many reasons:

as a physical and spiritual test;
as a temptation;
for instruction;
for a person to retire from work and take a break from stress;
to convert the soul to salvation.

The Lord, first of all, wants to save the human soul, and for this sometimes it is necessary to expose the physical body to illness. This does not mean that treatment should be rejected, because God created doctors for treatment (it is worth remembering at least the Apostle Luke, who was a doctor by training). Today is the age of effective medicines, and representatives of traditional medicine are ready to provide a lot of methods of treatment with herbs and plants, so it is simply stupid not to use all this for the prevention of diseases or treatment.

Vladimir Nikolaevich Vishnev, an employee of the Department for Combating Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, says:

“Prayer is a great thing in the treatment of any illness! ... Even before illness, the Lord gives such wonderful remedies for a variety of ailments!”

After which the Orthodox doctor lists various preventive and traditional methods of combating the flu.

About diseases in Orthodoxy:

Orthodox Church about autism
What diseases are given for what sins
About ectopic pregnancy

You should understand and accept God’s hand in everything, give thanks for illness and health, but do everything in your power to recover. It is only important not to overstep biblical principles. Disease prevention also includes vaccination, so why are there opponents of this action? Members of the Society of Orthodox Doctors help Orthodox Christians understand this issue.

Anti-vaxxers

Vaccination is the introduction of antigenic material (virus cells) into the human body, which causes a reaction and forces the formation of immune defense against the disease.

Vaccinating children helps protect them from dangerous diseases.

In simple words. A small dose of virus cells is injected into the body so that the body can develop an antigen to it and resist the full-blown disease in time. Children are usually vaccinated so that they get sick at a young age and have lasting immunity to certain pathogens.

History says that people began to be vaccinated back in the 10th century. n. e. in Ancient India and China, which allowed these countries to avoid terrible epidemics of smallpox and plague. In the CIS countries, this practice appeared only in the 1800s.

Opponents of vaccination appeared on September 15, 1988, when virologist G. P. Chervonskaya criticized the system in the form of a publication in Komsomolskaya Pravda, where she described in detail the side effects of vaccinations and their ineffectiveness. Since then, the “Anti-vaccination” movement arose and parents began to be afraid to vaccinate their children.

Their main points are:

the effectiveness of vaccination has not been proven;
the substances used contain toxic components, and they negatively affect the immune system;
vaccinations cause gene mutations, complications and incurable diseases;
Vaccine prevention is just a business, and the media and doctors spread false information about it to enrich themselves.

Attention!
Traditional medicine has long been trying to convince supporters of this movement, but both sides are releasing various scientific publications that refute each other and there is no end in sight to this dispute. What should Orthodox parents do? Does the vaccine contradict the dogmas of the church?

Church Passions on Vaccine and Vaccination: Pros and Cons

Is refusing vaccination a sin?
Does the vaccine contain a chip or abortifacient material? Should priests be punished for speaking against the vaccine? Let's look at all these questions. Vaccination against COVID-19 has long grown from a medical problem into a political one, and now threatens to develop into a religious one. Will we soon hear anathemas against those who have not been vaccinated from those who have been vaccinated and vice versa? Is the Church in danger of a split on this issue, and what position does the Ukrainian Orthodox Church take now? Let's try to figure it all out.

What are the vaccines?

The principle of operation of all vaccines is the same: at the cellular level, something is introduced into the human body and causes an immune response without causing the disease itself. But depending on what this “something” is, vaccines are divided into classical, vector and m-RNA vaccines.

Classic vaccines are also divided into several types, but we will not delve into this; we will analyze the principle of operation. The body's immune response to these vaccines is caused by the pathogenic virus they contain, which has been inactivated or weakened using various technologies. Such vaccines include, for example, the Chinese CoronaVac, the most common in Ukraine, and the Russian EpiVacCorona and CoviVac. The traditional technology for producing vaccines has existed for about 200 years, it has been sufficiently studied, but at the same time, its effectiveness against coronavirus is the lowest. According to some data, the effectiveness of CoronaVac is only 50%.

A vector vaccine is when some foreign virus is taken, completely safe for humans (this is a “vector”), into which the gene of a pathogenic virus is inserted, causing the desired immune response. These include vaccines: British-Swedish AstraZeneca, American Johnson & Johnson, Russian Sputnik V and others. The effectiveness of such vaccines is 80-90% or more.

M-RNA vaccines. This is a completely new vaccination technology, which before the current coronavirus pandemic was only in clinical trials. Before COVID-19, none of the vaccines created using this technology had been approved for use in humans. With the advent of the coronavirus, they decided to turn a blind eye to the lack of objective data and hastened to launch such vaccines into wide circulation as soon as possible.

M-RNA vaccines do not contain the virus itself (weakened or inactivated) or even a piece of the virus embedded in another virus, but only some “instructions” in the form of a messenger RNA molecule that contains information about the protein of the SARS-CoV virus -2. When this instruction enters a cell of the human body, it forces it to synthesize this very protein, to which our body gives the required immune response. M-RNA vaccines include the American-German Pfizer/BioNTech and the American Moderna. Their declared effectiveness is 95%.

This type of vaccine is the most controversial, since there is a completely logical concern: does this m-RNA molecule, in addition to instructions for the production of S-proteins, also contain other instructions that neither we nor, perhaps, even the developers themselves know about? How will this instruction introduced into the human body operate in a few years or decades? What other body systems besides the immune system can it affect? Let us repeat, the answer to this question has not yet been obtained not only in relation to coronavirus vaccines, but also in relation to mRNA vaccines in general.

How will this instruction introduced into the human body operate in a few years or decades? What other body systems besides the immune system can it affect?

Vaccine claims

The arguments of opponents of vaccination against COVID-19 can be divided into several groups.

1. Chipping. Some believe that, under the guise of vaccination, a certain miniature electronic device (chip) is introduced into the human body, performing a controlling function. Such people believe that the chip introduced under the guise of a vaccine is the very seal of the Antichrist that is spoken of in the Holy Scriptures.

These arguments have absolutely no basis, except for the imagination of those who broadcast these arguments to society. Sometimes very famous and respected people succumb to the temptation to gain popularity among people who are greedy for various conspiracy theories. For example, the Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov, who very convincingly said that when a person is vaccinated, a chip is injected, after a fairly short time he himself was vaccinated and announced it publicly.

Currently, “hiding” a chip in a vaccine is technically extremely problematic, just as it is problematic to organize a unified system management of “chips” in vaccines from different manufacturers.

2. Changing the genetic code. It is believed that coronavirus vaccines can change a person’s genetic code and influence certain body functions. These claims are made mainly to m-RNA vaccines, which carry specific instructions that the human body must carry out. And although vaccine developers argue that the mRNA molecule cannot integrate into our DNA and RNA molecules and change our genetic code, some scientists are more cautious. They say that the possibility of integrating m-RNA molecules into human DNA and RNA has not been proven. In other words, science still has too little data to definitively say one way or the other.

The most common claims made by opponents of vaccines are that they negatively affect reproduction and that vaccination is a conspiracy to reduce the world's population. It will be possible to prove or disprove this only in a few decades. Again, such concerns may only make sense in relation to mRNA vaccines. Blaming other types of vaccines for affecting human DNA and RNA is the same as arguing that our genetic code can be influenced by certain types of food.

3. Side effects. We are not talking about the fact that someone may briefly and slightly have a fever or itch the vaccination site, but rather serious consequences. For example, some media outlets, citing a study by the American National Center for Biotechnology Information, claim that over 80% (!!!) of pregnant women in the United States who were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the early stages experienced miscarriages or spontaneous abortions. And some European countries, including Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, Spain and others, stopped using the AstraZeneca vaccine due to frequent cases of thrombosis, including death.

4. Low efficiency. Clinical studies have shown that a number of vaccines have very low effectiveness. Basically, Chinese vaccines produced by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. are subject to criticism. - at the level of 50.4% or Sinopharm - about 72-79%. But European vaccines also turn out to be low-effective, for example, the vaccine from the German company Curevac is only 47% effective.

However, the low effectiveness of individual vaccines is not so bad, because the same Pfizer/BioNTech or Sputnik V have an effectiveness of more than 90%, and in relation to severe cases of coronavirus - 100%. The trouble is that COVID-19 is constantly mutating, and vaccines are completely powerless against certain mutations.

As recently as July 5, 2022, WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the so-called “Indian strain” or “delta strain” was sweeping the world, regardless of any vaccines. “It is spreading in countries with both low and high immunization rates. This requires careful monitoring of the situation and adjustment of the strategy to combat it. The victorious march of the Indian strain shows that vaccine developers do not yet have an answer to such a challenge as the emergence of new mutations,” Ghebreyesus said.

A natural question arises: why get vaccinated and expose yourself to the risk of side effects if tomorrow your vaccination turns out to be completely useless against the new strain of coronavirus?

Why get vaccinated and expose yourself to the risk of side effects if tomorrow your vaccination turns out to be completely useless against the new strain of coronavirus?

It cannot yet be said that the incidence rate by country directly correlates with the level of vaccination of the population. Thus, in Ukraine, where vaccination is proceeding very slowly and is accompanied by a number of scandals related to missed deadlines and short deliveries of vaccines, on July 6, 2022, only 610 new cases of infection and 33 deaths were detected. And this despite the fact that according to official statistics, the number of Ukrainians is about 40 million people. At the same time, in Russia, where vaccination is proceeding at an accelerated pace and almost 18% of the population has already been vaccinated, 23,378 new cases of coronavirus and 737 deaths were recorded over the same day.

5. The main claim is religious or moral and ethical. For believers, what matters is not only and not so much the above claims about vaccines, but how flawless they are from a moral and ethical point of view. Previously, this issue had not been raised at such a broad level, but with the advent of COVID-19, some rather unsavory aspects of the vaccine industry began to emerge. It turned out that many of them (not only from coronavirus, but also from other diseases) are based on biomaterial obtained during an abortion. It turned out that many laboratories around the world have been using cell lines obtained from aborted babies to create vaccines for decades.

Thus, when creating the Sputnik V vaccine, one of the most famous cell lines in the world, HEK 293 (Human Embryonic Kidney), was used, created in 1973 from the cells of a child’s embryonic kidneys obtained through abortion. The WI-38 line was obtained in 1964 from diploid lung tissue cells of a girl aborted in Sweden at 12 weeks. The MRC-5 line was obtained in 1966 from the lung cells of a 14-week-old boy. These three lines underlie the creation of many, if not most, vaccines in the world, in particular against rubella, hepatitis A, chickenpox, rabies and others. Most Western coronavirus vaccines, including Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and others, are also based on these lines. Of course, in the vaccines themselves there are neither the aborted cells themselves, nor even their traces, and the abortions themselves were not carried out for the purpose of taking biomaterial, but the fact remains: the sin of abortion is the basis of many vaccines.

According to statements by the manufacturers of the Russian vaccines CoviVac and EpiVacCorona, no cell lines derived from abortive material were used in their creation.

Position of the Church and other religious organizations

Today we can say that none of the main religious denominations in the world has a clear and unified position on vaccination against coronavirus. In every religion there are adherents of radical views who consider vaccines to be a way of chipping or suppressing reproductive function. There are religious leaders who call for differentiating between vaccines: approving some and prohibiting others. For example, in some Muslim countries, vaccines are divided into halal (permitted) and haram (prohibited). The latter include not only those created using abortive cell lines, but also those created using pork gelatin. In Judaism, there are groups that distinguish between kosher and non-kosher vaccines. In Christianity, there is also a division of vaccines into “ethically impeccable” and “flawed”, depending on the use or non-use of abortive cells.

And in every denomination there are leaders who do not pay any attention to kosher/non-kosher and call for vaccination with any available vaccine. The reasoning of these people is simple and clear - the potential ability of vaccines to save human lives outweighs any considerations about their acceptability or unacceptability. Many believe that in a situation where thousands of people die every day from COVID-19, there is no room for discussion about the sin of an abortion committed half a century ago.

Interesting in this regard is the position of the Vatican, which was formulated by the Congregation of the Faith and approved by Pope Francis in December 2022: “In the event that there is no alternative access to “ethically impeccable” vaccines, it is morally acceptable to use vaccines against COVID-19 in development and the production of which used cells originating from an aborted fetus.” That is, sin ceases to be sin if there is no alternative. Very Catholic.

In Orthodoxy there is also no single point of view on vaccination. We will not consider the statements of such controversial personalities as the former schema-abbot of the Sredneuralsky convent Sergius Romanov. Among the opponents of vaccination there are very authoritative individuals who put forward serious arguments to substantiate their position.

For example, a very authoritative hierarch of the Church of Cyprus, Metropolitan Neophyte of Morf, believes that vaccination is one of the elements of planting a certain “new world order”, whose champions “are paving the way for a new era of high technology without morality, without virtue, without the God-man Jesus Christ.” The bishop believes that “vaccination is one of the ways to reduce the population by causing death, incurable diseases and sterilization of the younger generation.”

The main argument of opponents of Metropolitan Neophytos’s position is very simple and logical: at a time when the immediate harm to health from vaccines is minimal, and their long-term effect has not been studied, about 10 thousand people die from COVID-19 per day. This is the reduction in population that Metropolitan Neophytos opposes.

A few days ago, two very authoritative hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church made a call to get vaccinated, and they did it in very strict language. The head of the DECR, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) stated on July 5, 2022 that those who refuse to be vaccinated are potential murderers: “I am now constantly faced with such situations when people come to the priest in order to repent of what they did not vaccinate themselves or their loved ones, and that they became an unwitting cause of death. They come and say: “How can I live with this now?” And it’s even difficult for me to say how to live with this now. Throughout your life you have to atone for the sin you have committed.”

Despite all the logic of such reasoning, one cannot help but see at least two of their weak points.

1. Similar logic applies to all infectious diseases in general, and not just to coronavirus. According to WHO, up to 650 thousand people die every year from diseases associated with the common flu. It turns out that the one who infected them is a murderer? Can Metropolitan Hilarion himself be sure that he has not infected anyone in his life?

2. Vaccine manufacturers do not claim that those “injected” are completely guaranteed against infection. It is assumed that the vaccine can only provide protection against severe disease. Therefore, even a vaccinated person cannot be 100% sure that he is not the source of infection.

Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Pskov went even further. On July 2, 2021, he stated that priests who oppose vaccinations could be subject to canonical reprimand.

“If, God forbid, one of those who did not get vaccinated thanks to the fact that you dissuaded them from doing so, God forbid, they become seriously ill or die <...> if this, God forbid, happens, then such priests or monks will have to bear full canonical responsibility for such actions,” the bishop said.

Again, everything is logical. But what if a particular believer, at the call of Bishop Tikhon, goes, gets vaccinated, and as a result of complications dies or becomes disabled? What responsibility, including canonical, will the Pskov Metropolitan himself have to bear?

Of course, one can say that thousands of lives are more valuable than tens, but from a theological point of view, this is a so-so argument, frankly.

An illustrative story in the context of the confrontation between supporters and opponents of vaccination occurred in the Valaam Monastery. The abbot of the monastery, Bishop Pankratiy (Zhedyaev), ordered not only the brethren, but also everyone in the monastery to be vaccinated. Otherwise, he promised to expel the brethren and clergy, as well as workers and hired workers, from the monastery without any maintenance.

Such harshness of the ruler is quite understandable from a psychological point of view. He recently became very seriously ill with the Indian strain of coronavirus. This is how he himself described his condition: “For a week from 38 to 39, the temperature was 38 to 39, it didn’t go down, there was a hellish headache, anxiety, blood pressure 160, pulse 120. You wouldn’t wish it on your enemy.” In addition to his own feelings, he also saw the terrible suffering of other people. Therefore, it is not surprising that, having returned to the monastery, he wrote: “All brothers should prepare for full vaccination. The first batch will be vaccinated on Saturday and Sunday. If you refuse vaccination, any culprit will be removed from the monastery without the issuance of funds.” At the same time, Bishop Pankrati himself was vaccinated back in September 2022 with the Sputnik V vaccine.

And here the question arises. Considering that he had recently been seriously ill, was vaccination useless, or, on the contrary, did it protect him from death? Any answer to this question will be purely subjective.

Be that as it may, the order of Bishop Pankratiy contradicts the statement about the voluntary nature of vaccination, which has been repeatedly stated by both the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church and the secular authorities of Russia. Accusations of despotism and violation of human rights rained down on the governor of the Valaam monastery. This story ended with the fact that on June 30, 2022, a Circular letter signed by the first vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' for Moscow, Metropolitan Dionysius (Porubai) of the Resurrection, was sent out throughout the Moscow diocese and stauropegial monasteries, in which, in addition to the call for vaccination, it was said : “Ordinary documents on vaccination of employees of religious organizations, issued at the initiative of their leaders, are advisory in nature.” Also, the Deputy Administrator of the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Savva (Tutunov) of Zelenograd, wrote in his telegram channel: “As for Valaam. To date, the topic of coercion has been removed here. Bishop Pankratiy tries to exhort the brethren in a fatherly way. There can be no talk of any “eviction” due to non-vaccination.”

On May 20, 2022, a round table “Vaccination: ethical problems in the light of Orthodox teaching” was held in Moscow, in which bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, clergy, laity, scientists, and doctors took part. The meaning of the final document adopted at the Round Table was as follows:

Orthodox faith does not require refusing vaccination;
the coronavirus pandemic must be fought, including through vaccination;
a person must make his own decision about vaccination;
there should be no distinction in the rights of vaccinated and unvaccinated;
side effects of vaccination, including severe ones, exist, and therefore it is necessary to ensure the quality of vaccines and the vaccination process itself;
the opinion about microchipping or affixing the seal of the Antichrist using vaccines is false, and its distribution is sinful;
Whenever possible, vaccines made without the use of abortive cell lines should be selected.

Regarding the last point, the Round Table resolution almost completely repeats the Vatican’s wording. Quote: “Currently, in the absence of an available alternative, bearing in mind the threat to the health and life of people from the coronavirus infection COVID-19, an Orthodox person using a vaccine against this disease, created or tested using embryonic human cell culture, is not involved the sin of abortion, as a result of which this cell culture was created.”

In the absence of a conciliar document of the Russian Orthodox Church on the issue of vaccination, the resolution of this Round Table can very conditionally be considered the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on this issue.

Threat of split

It is obvious that to such issues dividing the Church as recognition of the OCU and the Phanar’s claims to supremacy in the Church, another one has been added – the attitude towards vaccination.

It is obvious that to such issues dividing the Church as recognition of the OCU and the Phanar’s claims to supremacy in the Church, another one has been added – the attitude towards vaccination. Mentioned above was the rather sharp negative position of Metropolitan Neophyte of Morph regarding vaccination. In response to this, the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church addressed a letter to the synod of the Cypriot Orthodox Church with a demand to “limit” Metropolitan Neophytos’ sermons against vaccination. Moreover, the letter directly stated that the sermons of Metropolitan Neophytos pose a danger of “destruction of relations between the Church of Cyprus and the Church of Greece.”

In the Greek Church itself there are also opponents of vaccination. The situation in the Russian Orthodox Church has already been described above. Similar processes are taking place in many other Local Churches. Proponents of vaccination cite terrifying statistics on morbidity and mortality, and also threaten “anti-vaxxers” with canonical punishment. Opponents of vaccination ask quite reasonable questions about the effectiveness of vaccines, side effects and the moral and ethical aspects of using vaccines based on biomaterial obtained from abortions. There is a group of supporters of the theory of chipping or printing with the Antichrist seal, who look at all those vaccinated as apostates from the faith.

Will the confrontation between these groups reach the point of breaking church communion? Today this option is unlikely, but the point is different. There are already gloomy forecasts coming from both virologists and the powers that be. For example, Bill Gates, whom many call the “author” of the coronavirus pandemic, in an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung in January 2022 announced the next pandemic, which could be “tens of times worse” than COVID-19. He also names the possible time frame for the appearance of the next deadly virus: two to three years.

Of course, we will say “God forbid” and cross ourselves. But if this really happens, one can only imagine how much the degree of confrontation between supporters and opponents of vaccinations and other anti-epidemiological measures in the church environment will increase. And then the Church may face a real schism.

Position of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Against the background of how the leaders of the Uniates or the OCU are being vaccinated live, the position of the UOC, at first glance, looks rather amorphous. No official statements, round tables, calls for vaccination or refusals of it. We do not divide people into vaccinated and not vaccinated, we do not condemn supporters or opponents of vaccination, and we do not organize public discussions that could further alienate us from each other.

In the current situation, this position seems to be the only correct one. After all, everything related to coronavirus leaves more questions than answers:

Why doesn't vaccination correlate with disease incidence?
Why do vaccinated people get sick, including seriously?
Why do some people have a mild form of the disease, while others have a severe one, regardless of age and often the presence of chronic diseases?
Why do some people develop immunity and others do not?
What could be the long-term consequences of using vaccines?
Do vaccines undermine the human immune system itself?

While there is no clear answer to all these (and many other) questions, the Church cannot take one point of view or another. And by and large, vaccination is a medical issue, not a church issue, with the exception, perhaps, of the moment associated with the use of abortive cells in the creation of vaccines.

However, the UOC must still outline its position both on the issue of vaccination itself and its legal aspects. It seems appropriate that such a position would include two main points: the voluntary nature of vaccination and equal rights regardless of vaccination.

And most importantly, it is necessary to remember that no matter how valuable a person’s life on earth is, his fate in eternity is incomparably more important. The Lord said: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; but fear Him more who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). The Lord requires us to love our neighbors, and if we hate them because of different positions on the issue of vaccination, then what answer will we give to God?

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Published: 07/10/2021 10:30

“If you need to, inject yourself; if you don’t, don’t inject.” Priests of the Leningrad region told how they are campaigning for a vaccine

Holy fathers from different parts described the formula for conversations with their flocks about vaccination against COVID-19. In short, the church is no help in propaganda.

The Russian Orthodox Church has joined the campaign to promote vaccination of the Russian population against coronavirus. The head of the department for external church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, recently promised that “anti-vaxxers will repent throughout their lives.”

In this regard, 47news called clergy in different parts of the Leningrad region. We expected that they would at least have a circular by which they explain to the flock the importance of adding Sputnik to the blood and the like. It turned out that the majority of local church representatives interviewed by 47news are skeptical about the idea of the church influencing the minds of citizens from the outside.

Thus, the rector of the Priozersk metochion of the Valaam Monastery, Father Photius, in a conversation with a 47news journalist, spoke categorically: “Let each believer decide for himself. There is no circular and there never will be.”

The same idea was repeated in different variations by other speakers. The rector of the Holy Dormition Church of Baryshevo, in the Vyborg region, Vyacheslav Litvinov commented: “The task of the Church is to lead people to Christ. Let everyone draw their own conclusion.”

“If a parishioner approaches me, I will say this: it is better that he listen to knowledgeable specialists.” Not clerks, not administrative figures who have nothing to do with medicine because they have no education,” he added.

Apparently, if the trend continues, churches may soon become a place where people can hide, if not from the coronavirus itself, then from the endless conversations about the disease. For example, the priest of the church in Novolisino in the Tosnensky district, Sergei Prisyazhnyuk, promised that under him in his parish they would never separate believers into those who were vaccinated and those who were not.

“I don’t force or dissuade anyone from getting vaccinated. My position is to think for yourself. If you need to, inject yourself; if you don’t, don’t inject. Even if a debate starts in the refectory over tea, I immediately stop it. And in general, before no one asked each other whether they had been vaccinated against measles or flu, but suddenly everyone began to be interested in the same thing,” he snapped.

After talking with each of the interlocutors, the 47news journalist realized that, despite the equidistant position, priests still often have to communicate a lot with parishioners on the topic of vaccination. They are turning to them because “people are scared and cannot get a clear answer “in the world.”

“Themselves (secular authorities – ed.) say one thing and do another. First, “there are no Covid passports and there won’t be,” they immediately demand that their officials get vaccinated without fail,” Father Photius cited as an example.

The abbot from Baryshevo admitted that he himself did not get vaccinated due to his health condition, and the priest in Novolisino said that he had recently been ill. Father Photius also did not undergo vaccination.

In terms of advice on how to protect yourself from infection, interlocutors from the Russian Orthodox Church could not help but urge people to pray.

“Confession and communion are the path of an Orthodox person, no matter what happens,” Father Photius called the formula for spiritual success.

Vyacheslav Litvinov remembered the Soviet slogan:

“Sun, air and water are our best friends. And reasonable hygiene. It’s not crazy when a person is manic about protecting himself from all possible germs. We must remember that any illness in a person’s life may be the last, but any illness is from God.”

Protecting yourself from infection, according to Sergei Prisyazhnyuk, is not difficult: wander around less, wash your hands.

Let's note that calling a dozen priests in different areas of the Leningrad region showed that many are not ready to talk about this topic at all without going through procedures in the form of official correspondence. However, even Father Dionysius, secretary of the Vyborg Diocese, hung up when trying to ask a question, although the press service stated that only he was competent to give comments as a representative.

The only one who allowed himself to express an active position was the Archpriest of the St. Petersburg Diocese, Chairman of the Board of the Circle of Good Foundation Alexander Tkachenko . He told 47news that the clergy, as during the first wave, is at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic and constantly communicates with people.

“People came, they were confused, they didn’t feel supported. The priests have become those with whom you can simply talk. Many priests got sick and even died. Therefore, we must show by example the need for vaccination, because this is the only way we will remain accessible. Believers can be confident that communication remains safe.

— Do you explain the technology of the vaccination to prove its effectiveness?

- Doctors should do this. We, as people without medical education, cannot seriously discuss this topic. Priests are engaged in the salvation of souls. At the same time, we understand that we need to achieve herd immunity. We must live, not die. This is the thesis we use.

— Do you carry out, so to speak, preventive propaganda work?

— Father preaches Christ, not vaccination, there is no need to attribute political technologies to the church. But people come up and ask about what worries them, so all the conversations are after the service.

Yulia Gilmshina, 47news

“Do not force and do not condemn”: The Russian Church for the voluntariness of vaccination

The head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) of Volokolamsk, issued a statement in which, in essence, he called for tightening anti-Covid restrictions. The Bishop is confident: Russia will sooner or later come to the widespread introduction of QR codes following the example of Europe and fines for their absence. Such a categorical personal opinion of the hierarch has already been called “the position of the Russian Church” and almost accused its hierarchy of social Darwinism. But is it? And what is the actual position of the Church? The first Russian TV channel Tsargrad answers these questions.

To begin with – the words of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. What exactly did the Bishop say in his sensational interview in the “Church and World” program, aired on November 6, 2022? After all, these words are already being actively used in the information war against the Russian Church - setting them out in the context that representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate are much stronger than secular officials in insisting on discrimination against unvaccinated people.

Metropolitan Hilarion: “If you don’t want to get vaccinated, stay at home”

So, to the question of the presenter, who spoke about truly draconian punitive measures in the West and asked Metropolitan Hilarion, “what should be the punishment for non-compliance with quarantine measures,” the bishop answered:

Sooner or later we will come to this (a universally mandatory system of QR codes and fines for their absence - editor of First Russian), and the sooner we come to this, the better it will be, because every day we are now losing more than a thousand people . It’s the same as if in a war we lose a regiment every day. At this rate of mortality, I think we are talking about a national catastrophe. Now, as of early November, Russia ranks first in the number of deaths per day from coronavirus. This is a very scary statistic, and I think that in many ways, of course, we ourselves are to blame for what is happening now... The vaccination campaign is not active enough.

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev). Photo: Oleg Varov/Press Office Of The Patriarch Of Moscow And All Russia/Globallookpress

Metropolitan Hilarion also cited personal experience with foreign practices in the fight against COVID-19, in particular, “very strict restrictions for those who do not want to be vaccinated; in fact, these people are not allowed into public places, and it is impossible to go anywhere without a QR code.” “I really hope that we will come to the same situation as soon as possible,” emphasized the head of the Department for External Church Relations. He added that he does not call for mandatory vaccination, but believes that:

Those people who, for some reason, do not want to be vaccinated, they either must stay at home in order not to become a potential source of infection for other people, or a special regime should be introduced for such people, where they can appear, where they do not may appear.

That is, again, we are talking about a strict QR mode, installed in many countries and already tested in Russia. And this is precisely what caused bewilderment, including many believers, for whom the words of Metropolitan Hilarion sounded like dissonance to the previously repeatedly voiced position of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Position of the Russian Church: “Freedom of choice regarding vaccination”

As you know, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' was vaccinated back in March 2022, but never called on all believers to follow his example. A little later, in May, participants in the church round table “Vaccination: ethical problems in the light of Orthodox teaching,” held at the Sretensky Theological Academy, headed by the Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Dionysius of the Resurrection, a number of hierarchs and representatives of science prepared and distributed a very important document. And it is precisely his words, after publication on the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church, that can be considered a church opinion (although it has not yet been adopted by the council):

The Russian Orthodox Church consistently adheres to the principles of protecting a person’s freedom of choice in the use or non-use of new and rapidly developing technologies, including in the field of medicine... Recognizing the importance of supporting initiatives to overcome the pandemic, including through widespread vaccination coverage, the round table participants believe it is necessary to ensure the freedom of choice of people regarding vaccination against the coronavirus infection COVID-19 and to exclude any forms of open or hidden segregation of people who refuse such vaccination for any reason.

At the same time, the text of the adopted document specifically stipulates that “revealed cases of manipulative coercion for vaccination and other actions directed against the above-mentioned freedom of choice cause a negative reaction in society and only intensify rumors and alarming sentiments regarding measures taken in the field of health care.”

Little information - many rumors

Indeed, in recent months, these rumors and alarming sentiments have begun to grow. The reason for this is the increase in mortality from the consequences of coronavirus infection announced by statistical departments, and the chaotic restrictive measures associated with the operation of the same QR codes, and the same “manipulative coercion” with a practical disregard for medical exemptions, which is obviously not effective enough, and sometimes simply ridiculous informing of the population about the measures being taken.

At the beginning of July, rumors appeared that in the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery the same Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk allegedly refused to give communion to unvaccinated Christians. The fake was immediately refuted, but, as they say, “a sediment remained.” And this “sediment” continues to be used against the Church. And now Vladyka Hilarion has personally provided an additional reason for those looking for a reason. Moreover, neither His Holiness Patriarch Kirill nor anyone from the highest hierarchy has ever spoken out so categorically.

Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. Photo: Borisb17 / shutterstock.com

At the same time, one must understand: of course, Metropolitan Hilarion, like any citizen of Russia, has the right to a personal opinion. This is exactly what he expressed in the program “Church and the World”. In the same way, supporters and opponents of the ruler have the right to a personal opinion. The main thing is that both support for his words and opposition to them be correct and do not slide into criticism of the Russian Church itself, whose conciliar opinion on this issue has not yet been expressed.

So what?

“First Russian” in many of its broadcasts, in articles and investigations, consistently spoke about the importance of the voluntary nature of vaccination and the inadmissibility of discrimination against those who, due to medical exemptions or ideological positions, refused vaccination. The position of Constantinople was formed precisely on the basis of the Christian understanding of this difficult issue: “let those who have not been vaccinated do not condemn those who have been vaccinated, and those who have been vaccinated do not infringe upon those who have not been vaccinated.” In short: “don’t force and don’t judge.”

This is how and only this way, treating each other with care and respect, prayerfully trusting in God’s help and trusting medical help, we will be able to overcome the main infectious scourge of recent years.

How the Orthodox Church views vaccination and anti-vaxxers, Bishop Kaskelensky said

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM - What is the position of the Russian Orthodox Church in relation to vaccination against COVID-19, as well as the conspiracy theories of its opponents? Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, manager of the affairs of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, spoke about this, reports MIA Kazinform.