Dear brothers and sisters!
Passion Week and the feast of Pascha are approaching, and in this connection many questions will arise about services at St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York during these days and the possibility of attending them. Not having time to answer each person individually, we would like to answer these questions as clearly as possible through this announcement.
First. All services listed in the previously approved schedule for April will be celebrated by the clergy residing permanently at the church, with the help of the limited circle of church servers who assist in the service and ensure its broadcast on the Internet.
Second. With the blessing of the Primate of our Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, and in accordance with the directives of the authorities of New York State and City, the clergy of St. Nicholas Cathedral call on their parishioners not to endanger themselves and their loved ones, to consciously submit to these temporary circumstances, and not to visit the church, but to keep their prayer rule at home.
Third. Among a certain segment of Orthodox Christians, conspiracy theories with apocalyptic overtones regarding the pandemic, along with criticism of quarantine measures, are beginning to multiply faster than COVID-19 itself spreads. We venture to suggest that these misconceptions are most likely based on a lack of reliable information about the rate of spread of the epidemic and the number of its victims, among which New York has taken one of the leading positions in the world. We doubt that such people know something that His Holiness the Patriarch and the authorities do not know, who in this situation found it necessary to call on everyone to strictly observe self-isolation. We remind everyone of the words of the Apostle Paul: “Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3).
Fourth. Our cathedral is now located between two hospitals: Mount Sinai and the field hospital in Central Park. Every day we see doctors and medical workers exhausted from working almost around the clock, overwhelmed by the number of sick people who need emergency care. Tell us, how would they and our neighbors perceive a demonstrative violation of the ban on public gatherings if we opened the church doors to everyone? Pandemics begin and end. But the reputation of the cathedral, damaged by our reckless behavior — by which the entire Russian Orthodox Church in the USA will be judged — would seriously complicate in the future our good relations with the authorities, with society and with our neighbors, who have never in any way hindered our parish from carrying out its mission.
Fifth. What distinguishes Christians from other people? According to the testimony of the Evangelist Luke, “the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common” (Acts 4:32). Therefore the trial that has befallen us is common to us. Common to all of us should be our understanding of what is happening. Common to all will be the prohibition on visiting the church during Passion Week and Bright Week. But common to us all will also be the joy of the parish celebration of the Bright Resurrection of Christ on one of the days in a favorable time, for whose approach we pray to the Lord daily. Together with us, all our Orthodox brothers and sisters in the USA and Canada — children of the Antiochian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian and American Churches — are subject to the same requirements.
In conclusion, we would like to say: priests may have friends, but they have no favorites. The clergy have developed good relationships with many of you, which may lead some to seek a special exception from the general rule in order to attend services at the cathedral during Passion Week and Pascha. So, anticipating such requests, we warn: there can be no exceptions for anyone in this situation. Only the limited circle of clergy and church servers needed to organize the service and its online broadcast will be in the cathedral, and only if by that time they are healthy and have no symptoms of the dangerous illness.
We hope that the reasons given are sufficiently convincing and clear, and that you will not trouble the clergy, who, believe us, grieve in their hearts over what is happening even more than you do.
You may be offended with the clergy, but we will not allow anyone to offend the good name of our Church or damage the reputation of St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral. You will stay at home. If not out of fear of the epidemic, then out of obedience to the Church and a sense of fraternal solidarity.
As for the blessing of Paschal foods, after prayer on Paschal night you can yourselves sprinkle what you have prepared with holy water and partake of it with thanksgiving to God.
Dear friends! Following the example of the first Christians, let us go through trials together, so that we may also have common joy, praise God and have favor with all the people, that the Lord may add to the Church daily such as should be saved (cf. Acts 2:47). Amen.
The Clergy of St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral, New York
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Prayer in Time of Pestilence and Deadly Plague
O Lord our God, look down from the height of Thy holiness upon the prayer of us, sinful and unworthy servants, who by our iniquities have angered Thy goodness and provoked Thy mercy. Enter not into judgment with Thy servants, but turn away Thy terrible wrath justly moved against us; quench the deadly chastisement; stay Thy dread sword that invisibly and untimely smites us; spare Thy poor and wretched servants, and do not shut up in death our souls, which fall down before Thee, our merciful, compassionate and forgiving God, in repentance, with contrite heart and with tears. For Thine it is to have mercy and to save us, O our God, and unto Thee we send up glory, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.