Patriarch Kirill urges to refrain from going to temples
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church said that one could be saved without visiting the church and cited the example of the Monk Mary of Egypt as proof.
On March 29, 2020, during a sermon in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus urged believers to refrain from visiting churches because of the coronavirus, RIA Novosti reported.
“Refrain from visiting temples. I would never say this, if it were not for the amazing, holy example of the Monk Mary of Egypt,” said the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church and noted that “the example of Mary of Egypt testifies that one can be saved even without going to the temple.”
He emphasized that there is “a very big threat of an epidemic and even a pandemic of a terrible virus,” the danger of which is not yet fully realized.
“The Church calls on everyone to undertake a commitment to strictly comply with all the requirements being proposed by the sanitary authorities of Russia today. Let us assume the feat to stay at home as illustrated by the feat of Mary of Egypt who chose not to leave the desert but was thirsty at the same time,” said Patriarch Kirill.
Recall, the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, said that temples in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be open for believers. “The temples during this epidemic are a place where a person is pacified, where a person finds solace for himself. Therefore, churches remain open,” His Beatitude Onuphry said in his address to believers in connection with the coronavirus.
