The whole society at different levels - Churches, state authorities and simple citizens - are living with concern about the situation created by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Recommendations and exhortations were made in different ways and measures were taken to ensure that the life and health of the members of the society could be safely kept away from possible sources of contamination.

The Orthodox Church through its millenary teaching and practice proposes and works to maintain the human person in his identity and vocation as designed by God destined for life in communion with the Mighty God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and with his neighbor. Through the daily liturgical prayer service, through the Holy Sacraments but especially through the Divine Liturgy, the Church is constituted as Body of Christ in which the grace of the Holy Spirit actively works. In the Divine Liturgy the bread and the wine are transformed in the Body and the Blood of the Savior Jesus Christ, which is a remedy against disease and death and food for the bodily and soul health in view of the eternal life.

In recent weeks, due to the concern expressed by the state authorities and in general by the whole society, related to the spread of Coronavirus contamination (COVID-19) which endangers the human person’s life, particularly the young, the elderly and those who already have different health problems, several recommendations and guidelines have been issued by the Romanian Patriarchate, by other Orthodox jurisdictions as well as by the local state authorities, including those in Canada.

I invite you all - clergy and faithful - to take these recommendations and guidelines very seriously without panic because of this special situation. It is God who knows everything and cares for everyone both here on earth and in the eternal life. The Christian is brave, faithful, and full of hope because he/she knows that God is the Creator and Caretaker of all, but he/she is also realistic in understanding the need to make personally too any effort to remove any possibility that could produce a degradation of personal health or within the community/society in which he/she lives.

The command to love our neighbor as ourselves is a divine one. It implies a responsible attitude towards any gesture that could affect the one next to us regardless of faith, race or gender.

That is why I urge you to pray that God grants His help over all human persons. Also, we must carefully follow the recommendations of the competent local and state authorities in each region that meet those made by those who know technically better this disease.

Here are some of the guidelines we need to pay attention to:

• To make faithful aware of the recommendations of the Government of Canada Health Service for the detection of symptoms and the prevention of coronavirus contamination (COVID-19);
• To be aware of the guidelines to parishes and monasteries for taking measures to prevent contamination with the new Coronavirus (Covid-19): [Romanian // English: Please see below];
• To be aware of the recommendations and guidelines in view of strengthening the faith and the Eucharistic communion issued by the Romanian Patriarchate, by other guidelines and recommendations of the different Orthodox jurisdictions that make a sustained effort to care for the spiritual welfare of the communities they are in charge but also to sensitize their members to have a responsible Christian and civic attitude required by the special context of the pandemic caused by coronavirus (COVID-19);
• Where possible, at the level of each church/monastery, consult the competent medical staff, who can guide in order to take measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus (example: identification of suspected contamination among those who come to the church and direct them to medical units);
• Ensuring a hand hygiene area, with products needed for this (water, soap, disinfectants, etc.), near churches/monasteries;
• On the occasion of the Church prayer services, a prayer specially prepared for the end of the current epidemic, for the healing of the sick and for the spiritual strengthening of the medical staff and of those who contribute to the prevention and combating of the epidemic;
• The priests should be prepared to provide spiritual assistance at home to the sick faithful who ask prayers, but especially Holy Confession and Holy Communion;
• The priests and other volunteers are invited to get involved in the solidarity actions that each parish/monastery can organize (e.g. telephone calls to single and isolated persons, first-aid purchases, etc.) in accordance with the recommendations of local and state authorities in order to avoid any possibility of new contamination, but also taking into account the commandment of sacrificial love for the neighbor that God calls us to fulfill;
• The priests and the faithful are invited to comply with the recommendations and measures of local and state authorities and to cooperate with them, while at the same time ensuring the right of faithful to participate in the liturgical life of the Church.

May Christ the Lord, the Doctor of our souls and bodies, give us peace, health, help and protection in everything!

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GUIDELINES to the parishes and monasteries

for taking measures to prevent illness

with the new Coronavirus (Covid-19)

1. Display, at the entrance of the Church, the recommendations of the Ministry of Health for the prevention of illness with the new Coronavirus (Covid-19);
2. Consulting, at the level of each Parish/Monastery, with some competent medical staff, to take certain measures to prevent the spread of the new Coronavirus (example: identification of suspected contaminated persons among those who come to the church and directing them to medical units);
3. Ensuring a hand hygiene area, with products necessary for it (water, soap, disinfectants, etc.), in the proximity of Churches/Monasteries;
4. On the occasion of the Church prayer services, a special prayer for stopping the current epidemic, for the healing of the sick and for the spiritual strengthening of the medical staff and of those who contribute to the prevention and combating of the epidemic will be read;
5. The priests will visit the home of the sick faithful who ask for special prayer services and spiritual help;
6. In order to avoid the crowding of the faithful in the Churches, loudspeakers will also be used outside them;
7. Respecting the measures ordered by the public authorities and cooperating with them, while also ensuring the right of the faithful to participate in the liturgical life of the Church.