OCU "priest" blesses parishioners "to receive communion online"

"Priest" of the OCU Igor Savva. A photo: facebook.com/cerkov.zp.ua

In the conditions of coronavirus quarantine, the rector of the Church of Vera (Faith), Nadezhda (Hope), Lyubov (Love) and their Mother Sophia (OCU) in Zaporizhzhia, "priest" Igor Savva, blessed the parishioners to continue "receiving communion online". He said this during one of his "online services" on the temple's YouTube channel.

“Our city is entering the “red zone”, the work of transport will be very difficult,” Savva addressed the audience. “I will need to bring something home <...> and we will continue in the same order as before <..> to communicate more virtually. But "virtually" is a conventional word, because, in fact, our communication is quite real, just through virtual channels."

For those “who stayed until the end of the service”, the OCU cleric recalled that in their community there is a regulation “to receive communion by oneself, in front of their screens, with bread and wine”.

“You and I tried to do it in different ways <...> and agreed on this form, the simplest one: we participate in the liturgy, here I read a prayer and ask God to bless the Holy Sacraments – ordinary human food. The Holy Sacraments are not some specially sanctified things, they are ordinary human food: bread and wine, a piece of bread and a little wine. Therefore, in my prayers, I turn to the Holy Spirit on our behalf with you, so that He will let us experience the eating of this bread and this wine as the Body and Blood of Christ," Igor Savva explained.

According to him, "in principle, nothing is impossible for God, and He can let us experience it even without materially eating bread and wine".

“The Catholics call this ‘spiritual communion’,” he said. “It is quite possible because the sacrament is not partaking, it is participation. But you and I are accustomed to bodily eating, too. <...> Nothing prevents us from sanctifying with our prayer, or rather, asking for the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, being separated by a camera and a screen – we have already seen this from our own experience. We will not introduce any special rites or forms. Anyone who has such a desire, participating in our liturgy at a distance – prepare yourself a piece of bread and a glass of wine. Let them stand there during the entire service in front of you."

The "priest" of the OCU in Zaporizhzhia announced the closure of his already empty church for quarantine. He called on people to participate in the Liturgy online and take communion near their monitors. I wonder how the hierarchs of world Orthodoxy who have recognized the OCU look at this?" the Chancellor of the Zaporizhzhia Eparchy of the UOC, Archpriest Gennady Yelin, commented on the situation on his Telegram channel.

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