The Coronavirus Crisis: A Letter from the Holy Mountain

Fast.  Pray.  Give alms.  But we should also stand and fight?  

More and more of us have come to see the monasteries as the backbone of Orthodoxy and have wondered what the monasteries were going to do with respect to the coronavirus, as there is no history of the Church closing its doors.

March 19, 2020, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew issued the following directive:  “Monasteries are allowed to keep holding services for monks but religious visitors won’t be permitted entry.”      https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/03/19/818392907/eastern-orthodox-church-to-halt-services-until-end-of-march

But this didn’t turn out to be the case.  Not in the United States.  One of our correspondents told us that he is currently staying at St. Anthony’s in AZ, with many other pilgrims, to celebrate Holy Week and Pascha with the monks as has been done in years past.   

A few days ago, we published a column on the Megalinarion for Pascha.  Near the end, we quoted at length a paragraph from Fr Lawrence Farley entitled “What Can the Righteous Do?”  I would like to quote from its penultimate paragraph:

“I could murmur like Frodo in The Lord of the Ring, ‘I wish all this need not have happened in my time’.  But that would provoke the obvious reply, ‘So do all who live to see such times.  But that is not for them to decide.  All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.’  And for good or ill, divine providence has placed us where we are in these times.”

And so it is with us.  We have been laid low.  In retrospect, given the ready capitulation of our hierarchy to the civil authorities, I think we probably deserved it.  Like Christ today, we are in the tomb.  He was innocent however, we are not.  He didn’t merely go to the tomb, He went to Hades itself and despoiled it.  We don’t have that power but we can repent and resolve to never bend the knee to Caesar so willingly again.  

A blessed Pascha to each of us.  

P.S.  In the video above, Fr Peter Heers quotes at length from a letter written by an elder on Mt Athos named Fr Efthymios.  I encourage you all to watch it (thanks to Ioannis for posting it as a comment).  I also encourage you to read this interesting piece by Marina Medvin, which is entitled “Israeli Professor Shows Virus Follows Fixed Pattern”  I fear we may have been misled.

https://townhall.com/columnists/marinamedvin/2020/04-15/israeli-professor-shows-virus-follows-fixed-patters-n2566915

 

Comments

  1. Good on Saint Anthony’s. Glad they are still welcoming visitors. I know of one monastery that had been doing the same, but had cops come and threaten to shut them down.
     
    The differing responses of each state to this crisis, as well as the grinding against POTUS by some governors, and not to mention the forthcoming economic collapse, makes me wonder if the Union will make it through this.

    • George Michalopulos says

      Perhaps not. But the broader point is that perhaps we should go ahead and make the red state/blue state divide official.
      Seriously, what do I have in common with people who don’t believe in liberty?  The fact that those of us who believe in two sexes have to explain that which is a scientific truth means that the battle is already lost.

      • Yes, hopefully we can decouple without a civil war. People who are red should move to a red state blue to a blue state and we should peacefully part ways.

        • Tim R. Mortiss says

          So who gets the oceanfront? I’m in Washington State, in a city on Puget Sound. The whole Pacific coast is blue. The Atlantic coast is blue from Virginia north.

          I’m not leaving the saltwater under any circumstances!

      • Michael Bauman says

        George, shoot then we would have to face our own sins without the handy distraction of “worse” sinners.

        We are in for a bumpy ride.

  2. Jacob Lee says

    Thank you George for that video. My wife and I needed it. So did my kids who are completely distraught that the Church has kept them out.  

  3. https://youtu.be/JNS_SUmCJm4
    The closest that rock has come to Hristos Anesti.

  4. Michael Bauman says

    CHRIST IS RISEN!

    • Tim R. Mortiss says

      Indeed he is risen!
      A small handful of us independently and spontaneously came to the church at midnight, and followed the procession around the church.
      There were no more than 10 total in the procession, it was of course outdoors, and all were well-spaced, so no guidelines or ukases were violated. But I’m glad we were there.

    • Sage-Girl says

      HE IS RISEN INDEED! ⭐️?⚡️?⚡️⭐️?

  5. Ronda Wintheiser says
  6. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for posting this. Father Peter Heers brings us treasures.

    I have also thanked God for all the Holy Mysteries ongoing at this time. I have continuously streamed the services from Holy Cross men’s monastery in West Virginia and the women’s monastery in Ellwood City, PA. My state of Maryland has one of the most vocal governors, and my parish (Holy Cross) has not ceased to celebrate the Holy Mysteries, nor will we. My priest has also distributed holy water. As Father Peter said, we are taking precautions — most of us stream the services. Last night I streamed the service and sang at the top of my voice in front of our family icons till the middle of the night. I think of our mother St. Mary of Egypt, and I know that we will make it out of this desert and approach the chalice together once more.

    My brothers, on this day of all days — when we call brothers even those who hate us and forgive all by the Resurrection! — why this talk of splitting our nation into red and blue states? I tell you one thing — there are more politically homeless people now than in my entire lifetime. Many of us are neither red nor blue. I have a unique perspective on this, because I lead a group for parents who have kids with rapid onset gender dysphoria. Most of the parents in the group are liberal and are horrified by gender identity ideology, to the point of leaving the Democratic Party over it! I am a traditionalist conservative and am far away from red or blue. Like most people, my family and friends and colleagues encompass a wide variety of folks, including atheists and ultra-liberals. Does this stop me from loving them? No, of course not. We, as Orthodox Christians, are countercultural and will continue to be so, regardless of which state we live in. Christos anesti!

  7. Hieromonk Philip (Vreeland) says

    Indeed, He is Risen!

  8. Christ is Risen! Blessed Pascha to you George & Gail
     
     
    Separate and unrelated question, have y’all ever thought about an Instagram page for Monomakhos? If not, it would be an awesome way to reach people 

    • Gail Sheppard says

      Truly He Is Risen! Thank you, Petros. We’re going to be updating the blog soon. I think your idea is a good one. Email George on the contact page if you’d like to give us some input on what you think people would like to see. We’d love to hear your ideas.

      • Will do Gail, thanks! 
         
        I actually think the website is good, no complaints from me. The Orthodox Church and individual Orthodox users actually have a surpassingly big presence on Instagram. I was more so just thinking it might be a good way for people in my age range (Millennial/Gen Z) to access Monomakhos. I know there are quite a few who are equally as worried where GOARCH/EP is headed 

        • Gail Sheppard says

          Which is why we’d like your help. You’re one of them (Millennial/Gen Z). Seriously, when we do the redesign, we’d like to be able to call on you.

      • George Michalopulos says

        Petros, please give us your ideas.  This goes for all y’all as well!
        Indeed He is risen!

        • George,
          ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!
          Purely a practical problem:
          It happens to me sometimes and I assume to others as well:
          I am two busy say for two (or more days) and when I come back to the blog I must struggle to find all the comments I have missed in the interval I was away.
          Could you please give us some instructions what is the fastest/easiest way of doing that?
          Alternatively, could you include a new functionality whereby one can see a list of comments between two dates?
          Thanks.

        • George, also a minor point which might make life a little easier:
          It seems to me time is clearer as 00:00 to 24:00
          and fits/works better if one is sorting things by time. 

  9. “Ever since the Lord performed the Mystical Supper and handed down the most holy mystery of the Divine Eucharist, the world-saving Divine Liturgy has not ceased to be celebrated to this day.

    Neither Diocletian, nor the Turks, nor the communists in Russia, nor the Germans during the years of the occupation managed to stop the Divine Liturgy and the faithful from approaching Holy Communion.

    And now, with the fear of the virus, the churches have closed down and the faithful are deprived of the saving grace of the mysteries, of which they have so great a need.”

    Christ is Risen!
    Indeed He is Risen!

    • He is Risen Indeed!
       
      Father Peter also has a Holy Week in the Catacombs podcast and video outlining the beautiful text resources to know our Orthodox Faith, most of which were and  are stocked in the St Seraphim bookstore per the diligence and comprehensive Patristic perspective Of Vladika Dmitri and Olga Zebrun.   I have yearned for a book club overseen by a priest on these volumes. And during this week of deprivation from the Holy services and Communion I have been beautifully supported by the words of the Holy Fathers and the Holy Services “without a priest” outlined by Fr John Whiteford on his blog. alone, so most pointedly have realized the power of Patristic Orthodox words. What a treasure. See what you think! https://youtu.be/STaEYHLcNcI

  10. Sage-Girl says

    I heard Met. Athanasios does a nightly address in Cyprus re: pandemic… 
    WHAT THE PANDEMIC TEACHES US
    From Conversations With Parishioners

    Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

        
    The Church has its own way of overcoming challenges
    We will do what humanly depends on us, and we thank those responsible parties, scientists, politicians, and the government—those who elucidate for us how to behave in this difficult situation. Without ignoring the objectively difficult reality and being people of the Church, we certainly have our own way of helping us judge, evaluate, and use for good those trials that we meet along life’s path. Therefore, let us relate to this trial prudently, observing all measures—societal, scientific, and others—but first of all with trust in God, the Mother of God, and the saints of our Church. The Church always teaches us and calls upon us to pray in difficult times.
    Only prayer can change the course of events!
    This critical situation can be overcome. It can be overcome through prayer. We need to pray a lot. We need people who by the strength of their prayer can reverse the world situation, because in the end, only prayer can change the course of events. All other measures are the work of human hands. They are good and useful, but prayer can truly, in a moment of time, change everything and dissipate this trial, which, by the way, has a positive side, because it teaches us many things.
    What does the pandemic teach us?
    It teaches us our weakness. It teaches us the vanity of human things. It teaches us that everything we see around us is transitory. We should understand that our main aspiration should be the Kingdom of God. As the Lord says in the Holy Gospel: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. Everything else will be given to you by the Lord of glory, Christ. The Kingdom of God—this is what we’re truly in need of. Therefore, the Church calls us to the podvig of prayer—prayer coming from repentance and humility.
    So let us repent of our sins, of the sins of the whole world! Let us offer God the power of prayer, living in a humble and repentant heart. Then the Lord will have mercy and change the course of history.
    If we pray, then everything changes. If we don’t pray, then we walk a human path, where it’s unknown how it will be and where it will lead us.
    Churches are open. Whoever wants to, come!
    The churches [in Cyprus.—Ed.] remain open. The Divine services in them will not stop. Our priests and we are all in the position the Lord has placed us in. As pastors of the Church, we offer prayers, services, and the Divine Eucharist for the entire world. Whoever wants to, come! Those who feel a difficulty, a lack of strength, or something else, let them act in accordance with their understanding of the situation. We don’t have the right to judge anyone. We pray for the entire world, for the whole “Adam,” for the whole of mankind.
    Someone may ask: But won’t we, those who come to church, get sick? We will get sick and we will die. Who told you that we will be immortal in this world? Did you really need the coronavirus to find out that we will die? Did you really need the coronavirus to find out that we will get sick?
    Do you remember what the holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste said? Let us do good with zeal! Since we’re going to die anyway, it’s better to die honest with ourselves and pleasing to God.
    Let us have the remembrance of death, of which our compatriot St. Neophytos the Recluse said that the fear of God unto the remembrance of death is a good higher than all other goods, for it reminds us that we will depart from this vain world and stand before the Lord.
    We’re all heading for Pascha
    What does the Church give us? Fearlessness: victory over the fear of death. Biological death awaits us all, without exception, but not spiritual death: It does not threaten a man who believes in God. “He who believes in Me shall never see death,” says the Lord (cf. Jn. 8:51). That is, he who believes in God will never see death; biological—yes, spiritual—no. But this is what scares us—spiritual death, our eternal separation from Christ. It terrifies us. We hope this will not happen to us, because biological death is temporary, but this is an eternal parting!
    Whatever we are, saints or sinners, we will all enter through the gates of biological death. Whatever we are, we are all moving towards Pascha, to the Resurrection of Christ, Who trampled down death, which we hear about on Pascha night. Let none fear death. The Lord delivered us from the fear of it by His death. There is no more death; there is eternal life, Christ, and the Kingdom of God unto the ages.
    It is with such faith that we will pass through the trial that has been sent to us—without panic, without fear, without human thoughts. We will go, calling upon the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for help.
    The love of God triumphs over fear
    We know that our life in this world has an “expiration date.” But we also know that death is a transition from vain things to eternal things, to the eternal Kingdom of God. Today’s crisis is a judgment of our faith, our life, our thoughts, and the quality of our connection with God the Father.
    The Church remains a prayerful servant of the living God, regardless of any human calculations and covetousness. It gives hope that God is over all—not so that we would neglect human efforts, but so that we would overcome the fear of death. It is overcome by love. Perfect love casts out fear. He who loves God fears nothing. He is not darkened by any trial in this world, because the love of God conquers fear and gives a sense of eternal life.
    Without the light of Christ, the darkness is unbearable
    In our Metropolis, in the cathedral, and in other churches, Unction will be served every Thursday either before or after Great Compline for the healing of soul and body. The Church gives us medicine unto eternal life. Together with biological and chemical man-made medicines, the Church gives us the holy Sacrament of Unction, to give strength to our souls and bodies to pass through whatever happens to us—both life and death—maintaining our inner peace.
    Death was put to death by the death of Christ, as the Holy Fathers of the Church say. Let us hope in Christ. Let us call upon the Most Holy Theotokos and the Holy Fathers, and move forward with faith and peace of mind. Thus we will comfort our brothers. Think of what hopelessness, what fear, what insecurity, what fear lives in the hearts of people who are not enlightened by the light of Christ! This is a true tragedy—life without God! This is a tragedy—life without the holy Church! Man cannot live without Christ. Without the light of Christ, the darkness is unbearable!
    Therefore, all of us who believe in Christ and call upon His holy name will bring hope, joy, peace, calmness, tranquility, and courage to the hearts of our brothers, calling upon the presence and love of our Lord Jesus Christ for help.

    Metropolitan Athanasios of LimassolTranslated by Jesse Dominick
    Pravoslavie.ru
    3/31/2020

     
     

    See also
    Message From the Archbishop of Sinai on the Terrible PandemicAbp. Damianos of SinaiAgainst Spiritual Infection Fr. Nemanja Mrdjenovic

    • Fr. Deacon John says

      Bravo Pater, bravo.  Well said.  As one who had to sit out Holy Week because I am “close enough” to the age (64) and health (Type 2 diabetes) of the “most susceptible”, (although I can outwork and run circles around men half my age) I could not agree with him more.  Enough is enough.

      • George Michalopulos says

        Fr Deacon, as someone who fits your profile, and at the risk of tooting my own horn, I agree with you in this regard as well: I too, run circles around men half my age. It got to the point that at a previous job, whenever the muckety-mucks needed someone to drive to Bugtussle to cover a shift, it was me they called, even if I had already put in an 8 hr day in Hicksville, which was 50 miles away.

        This COVID nonsense is execrable and the numbers they are relying on are nothing less than an atrocity. I hope these bastards can sleep at night knowing they’ve destroyed the lives of tens of millions of people.

  11. Greek Priest lashes out against clergy and politicians on Good Friday sermon.
    Happened in a church in Athens, Greece on the Good Friday of April 17, 2020.A priest had enough with the government’s draconian social distancing measures that had him performing the Good Friday service in an empty church.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=aIbQGD2rQpM

    • Sage-Girl says

      Ioannis :
      thanks muchly for sending this video of unknown Greek priest + his courage to speak up – 
      Christ Is Risen!⭐️?⚡️
       

    • That was amazing. Hopefully he does not get rebuked by his bishop or the Archbishop of Athens 
       
       
      I imagine there are a large number of priests and bishops who feel the same way but have not spoken up, may God give them, and us, the courage to do so
       
       
      ”May God have Mercy on us for what we have done, and what we have FAILED to do”

  12. Jesus Is Risen Flash Mob, Beirut Lebanon
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvgWscw5Gbs&feature=youtu.be

  13. Monk James Silver says
  14. It is shameful that the Churches locked the faithful out in their greatest time of need. Here is another wonderful witness.
    https://spzh.news/en/news/70655-afonskij-starec–vlastyam-otkrojte-cerkvi-nas-spaset-tolyko-gospody

  15. Monk James Silver,

    Christ is Risen, Truly Risen!
    “Apparently, it was not such a good idea for people to attend services in church together”.
    In the interests of the beloved Accuracy:
    “Apparently, it was not such a good idea for people to attend services in church together while neglecting the necessary precautions e.g. like masks and distancing, as taken in food stores .
     

    • Gail Sheppard says

      Actually, no one knows that it had anything to do with the services. It certainly didn’t have to do with the Holy Week or Pascha services, as a month before they had closed the services to the public. When the first cases began to surface, the monastery followed the guidelines of the authorities which included segregating the monks who were ill and closing the services to the public. It’s a tragedy that 3 died, although one of the cases appears to have been pneumonia unrelated to the virus.

      To equate going to Church with getting sick is a fallacy of logic. It’s called post hoc ergo proto hoc. It occurs when someone concludes that because one event (people getting sick) followed another (church services), the previous event (church services) caused the subsequent event (people getting sick).

      • Sorry, Gail: ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc
        [after this, therefore because of this]
        However, you are on the right lines in calling out logical fallacies.
        The chief one operating at the moment is ‘cum hoc ergo propter hoc
        [with this, therefore because of this].
         
        Deaths attributed to COVID 19 are soaring in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board area because General Practitioners (local doctors) are instructed to record anyone who dies after being identified as having COVID 19  as having died of COVID 19. Worse, anyone who dies of an unknown (ie: no tests made) cause of death but who had a cough and/or a fever is to be recorded as a COVID 19 death. In other words, anyone who dies of influenza ( who will have both a cough and a fever) is to be recorded as a COVID 19 death.
         
        This does not just happen in Scotland. Minnesota State Senator and practising physician (for 35 years) Scott Jensen stated that he received a 7 page document from the Department of Health instructing him to use the same nonsensical guidelines for recording deaths.
        https://video.foxnews.com/v/6148398329001#sp=show-clips
         
        What does this tell me? The figures are false.
        This is not (or not only) a public health issue.
        This is about a coup d’etat, a takeover of the world,
        to be accomplished through vaccination certificates
        and tattooed numbers on  (or under) the skins of everyone;
        just like the Jews in Auschwitz or Bergen-Belsen.

        • Gail Sheppard says

          That’s what I said!  Since event Y (people getting sick) followed event X (Church services), event Y (people getting sick) must have been caused by event X (Church services).   After this, therefore because of this.  –  “This” =  Church services  I took 4 years of logic in college.   

          • Err… proto non propter est…

            • Gail Sheppard says

              Well, I’ll defer to you. My education was a very long time ago.

              • Ahh… I thought you had just mixed the terms up.
                The Lord knows, I have done similar myself on occasion.
                 
                Ok:  post hoc ergo proto hoc translates best as:
                after this, therefore first this. This is not a fallacy.
                It is an ordering in time with no causality included.

                • Michael Bauman says

                  Of course the real fallacy is linear materialist thinking in the first place.

                • George Michalopulos says

                  Brendan, the implication however is that causality was involved.

                  I had a dear friend/mentor some thirty years ago who was a joker. He once told me “George, you were named after me”. Since I had only met him a couple of years earlier, and because my parents didn’t know him, I assured him that that was definitely not the case.

                  He replied: “Well, you were born in 1959, I was born in 1948, therefore you were named ‘after’ me”.

                  He did not imply causality but I had understood his earlier assertion to be causal.

                  • I don’t think so, George.
                    Consider: Trump was elected after Roosevelt,
                    therefore Roosevelt was elected before Trump.
                    Is causality logically implied?

  16. Greatly Saddened says

    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Times website.
     
    Home > Orthodoxy > Ecumenical Patriarchate > Mount Athos
     
    Suspension of entry to Mount Athos is extended until April 30
    Apr 21, 2020 | 17:02
     
    https://orthodoxtimes.com/suspension-of-entry-to-mount-athos-is-extended-until-april-30/

  17. For anyone telling themselves the COVID-19 situation ISN’T about global control, please consider China and India – and now here in America: 
    Anyone testing positive (symptomatic or not, false positive or not) will have to wear something like digital handcuffs
     
    “The wristband will let health workers know if people they encounter have been to high-risk areas or have been in contact with an infected person, while aiding those delivering essential services such as groceries or medicines.
    It will capture all the places an infected person has visited, the routes they took, determine if they had any foreign travel and identify those who were in their vicinity. It will also tell people if a sick person is nearby.
    It will also help in creating a geofence, or a virtual perimeter, around areas being monitored, such as common meeting places, public transit or places for religious gatherings. A person leaving or entering the virtual perimeter could be alerted through the wristband.”
     
    See: https://apnews.com/ba5e1c07590fbd06b38efa8caa0f19a4
     
    And faithful – still – remain banned from attending services, receiving the sacraments, and churches remain bolted and locked. Everyone is being turned away. Seriously, folks? Totally demonic.

  18. Michael Bauman says

    Not to mention the drones…..

  19. Michael Bauman says

    Still, we can learn too from Frank Herbert, the creator of Dune.

    The Litany Against Fear
    I must not fear. Fear is the soul killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear; I will permit it to pass over and through me. When it has gone past, I will turn my inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

    Not to mention the hundreds of times we are directed not to fear in the Bible. Of course the best litany against fear is Psalm 103(104) that begins Vespers.

    I must also share once again the story of a friend of my brother. A Romanian Orthodox woman who lived there under Communist rule. She had one icon that she used for her prayers morning and evening. She did not display it. She kept it in a drawer and brought it out for her prayers. It was clear to her that the secret policy had been in her apartment and had opened the drawer many times. Often when she was walking on the street, two burly men would approach her and walk with her, one on each side, pressing up against her. They would walk that way for a few minutes, then one of the men would lean over and whisper in her ear: “You know we can kill you any time we want.” She would nod her head in ascent, they would depart and she would go on about her business.

  20. George Michalopulos says
    • During the Scottish Reformation the Wedderburn brothers produced
      a volume of verse entitled “The Gude and Godly Ballatis”.
      One of the more memorable ballads had this opening quatrain:

      “The Paip, that pagane full of pryde,
      he hes us blindit lang;
      for where the blind the blind does lead
      na wonder baith gae wrang.”

    • Anonymous says

      Why is anyone Catholic? Honestly. The seminaries are gay discos. 

  21. Michael B said something wonderful about the banality of evil last year; how it’s not necessarily planned in advance.  It swoops in to fill the gaps.
    I spent Lent listening to the Orthodox Survival Course by Fr Seraphim Rose, re-narrated by this clear young man:
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoLizi-JGA6F1rhVCLUqbCw
    Fr Seraphim Rose looks evil square in the eye.  He does not try to hide from the information.  He maintains his composure.  He says that we must watch for two things: globalism and the falling away from the church.  Today we see both of these things.
    Is it the end of the world?  I do not think so.  But I also will not judge myself too harshly for observing the signs and gauging the times.  This Lent we saw developments we never could have imagined.  As for the future, only God knows.
     
    1. US developed synthetic coronaviruses at UNC Chapel Hill in 2015, with different strains for young healthy mice and for older mice:
    https://www.nature.com/articles/nm.3985.pdf
    French virologist Luc Antoine Montagnier was the joint recipient of a 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his discovery of the HIV virus.  Watch him explain that the novel coronavirus was made in a lab, with HIV added:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziJfa8h46tg
    CRISPR Gene Editing, tested on mice first, then performed on humans.  Publicly announced that edited twins were born.  Rumors that hundreds of additional children edited in the same experiment:
    https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article/chinas-crispr-twins-might-have-had-their-brains-inadvertently-enhanced
    Also, Transgenderism / transhumanism.  CRISPR technology can be used on adult humans via vaccine (not that I think that anyone is planning this), fyi.  Medical experimentation in general all fall into the category for my concern #1.
    2.  Nanochips to hold all of our information, hosted on Microsoft cloud systems, ID 2020, “immunity passports” required for reintegration to society.  Bill Gates’ obsession with population control and his pushing for a vaccine (e.g., chip). Now apparently Bill Gates unveils that his chips have drugs in them that he can turn on or off remotely, with[out?] your consent!
    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wireless-birth-control_n_5568336?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAOVdI-5dg2Xz3x_tH4tPTGxA405ZNFUabufyMR36CjKGVX3YyFq6Q9DjyoKOkOLNFAfGbAQlKKcNjExOnj0CS-zJSxvsV5Ny_oGPBkgeNzl5-YJH192n4WytY64jg-EsLUR72E6MEqAoQfiWaMn1ZKTKjkmRHusEysO_yvrdktS
    Physical technology integrating with medical technology, physical technology that may harm our bodies (5G), technology that compels us to act a certain way (social credit systems), surveillance technology.  “The mark of the beast.”  These comprise my concern #2.
    3.  Private individuals (NGOs, the WHO) who control vast sums of wealth now running the entire globe, on an unprecedented scale as of mid-March this year.  Everything Fr Seraphim Rose warned us about.  Economic devastation as a means to erect a new world government and/or world religion.  Everything Basil usually talks about.  
    Look at this, but don’t look too long:
    http://stateofthenation.co/?p=11727
    Go on Facebook.  Look up the Sanhedrin and the 70 Nations.  They have plans for taking over the UN.  It sounds nuts, I know.  But why would a group of old rich rabbis publish their detailed plans if they did not fully intend to follow through, with time?  
    That Marina woman, that’s my biggest fear.
     
    Good news:
    https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
     
    Apologies for all of that.  It’s a lot, most of it is probably nothing, and the way that I’ve presented it creates an additional layer of chaos that no one needs.  
    My daughter and I are well.  Shelter in place has been a blessing for us.  We all know who wins in the end.
     
    Oh sweetest Jesus, save us!

    • Why does the State wish to shut down the Church?
      Because the existence of the Church proves that
      there is always an authority higher than the State.
      To paraphrase Lord Justice Denning:
      “Be you ever so high, the Lord is above you!”

      • May God bless you, [Editor Note: Revised] Brendan, and everyone else here! Please pray for me. 

    • You can call me The Seer 🙂

  22. Michael Bauman says

    Michelle, “The Banality of Evil” was coined by historian/ philosopher Hannah Arendt in reference to the rise of the Fascists in Germany and the propagation of that ideology.

    Evil is uncreative, unoriginal without life on its own. It would die out but for us giving it life and substance.

    We look for it everywhere except the one place it truly lives-our own hearts. God forgive me, a sinner. Awaken, oh Lord, your life in us all–raising us from the thrall of death. Bring us forth from the tomb. “Arise, O Lord and judge the earth…”

  23. Greatly Saddened says

    Below please find an article from yesterday on the Orthodox Times website.
     
    Home > Orthodoxy > Ecumenical Patriarchate > Mount Athos
     
    The suspension of visits to Mount Athos is extended until May 17
    Apr 30, 2020 | 19:28
     
    https://orthodoxtimes.com/the-suspension-of-visits-to-mount-athos-is-extended-until-may-17/

  24. Greatly Saddened says

    Below please find an article from yesterday on the Orthodox Times website.
     
    Home > Society > Culture
     
    A documentary about the ascetic Elder Joseph the Athonite has been awarded
    Apr 30, 2020 | 20:27
     
    https://orthodoxtimes.com/a-documentary-about-the-ascetic-elder-joseph-the-athonite-has-been-awarded/

  25. Greatly Saddened says

    Below please find an article from yesterday on the Orthodox Times website.
     
    Home > Orthodoxy > Ecumenical Patriarchate
     
    Mount Athos: Concerns about whether to receive pilgrims during  coronavirus pandemic
    May 02, 2020 | 17:47
     
    https://orthodoxtimes.com/mount-athos-concerns-about-whether-to-receive-pilgrims-during-coronavirus-pandemic/

  26. Greatly Saddened says

    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Times website.
     
    Home > Orthodoxy > Ecumenical Patriarchate
     
    Virtual tour of monasteries on Mount Athos available online
    May 03, 2020 | 15:09
     
    https://orthodoxtimes.com/virtual-tour-of-monasteries-on-mount-athos-available-online/

  27. Greatly Saddened says

    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Times website.
     
    Home > Orthodoxy > Ecumenical Patriarchate > Mount Athos
     
    Gradual lifting of the measures on Mount Athos is expected
    May 07, 2020 | 17:27
     
    https://orthodoxtimes.com/gradual-lifting-of-the-measures-on-mount-athos-is-expected/

  28. Greatly Saddened says

    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Times website.
     
    Home > Orthodoxy > Ecumenical Patriarchate > Mount Athos
     
    Restoration of damages on Mount Athos with assistance of Greek Armed Forces
    May 16, 2020 | 19:08
     
    https://orthodoxtimes.com/restoration-of-damages-on-mount-athos-with-assistance-of-greek-armed-forces/