Seraphim of Kythira: Letter to the Holy Synod regarding healthcare workers, rapid testing in churches, and mandatory vaccination

A letter to the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece was sent on 10 December 2021 by the Metropolitan of Kythera and Antikythera, Mr Seraphim. The Metropolitan begs the Archbishop to intercede with the Prime Minister so that the thousands of suspended health workers return to their posts, that the faithful entering the Holy Church are not screened with rapid tests and that the Church does not consent to the compulsory vaccination of the clergy. Read the entire letter here:

HELLENIC REPUBLIC
THE HOLY METROPOLIS OF KYTHERA & ANTI-CYTHERA 

In Kytheri on the 10th of December 2021

To the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece Ioannou Gennadios 14 115 21 Athens

Your Beatitude, Holy President, Your Eminence, Holy Synod, 

You bless: 

In view of the Extraordinary Convocation of the Permanent Holy Synod, in the presence of the Prime Minister of our country, Mr.Kyriakos Mitsotakis, I piously propose to report to you the following:

1. Our Hellenic People, in addition to the existing other divisions (religious, political, party, ideological and sporting), is currently suffering the most serious, obviously, of all divisions, which is heard in the names of the two factions, inoculated and vaccinated. It is indeed an achievement of the arch devil and evil spirits and an unprecedented dismemberment of each society, with all the consequences and aftermath. And the most painful thing is that the rapid test is made a condition for the entry of the unvaccinated into the Holy Temples, on the part of the political leadership, despite the decision of our Holy Synod to simply recommend and not to impose this test.

Great confusion and disturbance is caused by the State's unacceptable and impermissible measure for entry into the Holy Temples. The political leadership, without distinguishing the consecrated and established Holy Churches of our Orthodox Catholic Church from the common public and private buildings, wants to convince our Christians that, by entering our Holy Churches without vaccine or test, they risk infecting or being infected, which is inappropriate for ecclesiastical ethics. In all other places there is a risk of transmission and infection, but not in the Holy Churches.

1. The President of the Government is coming, while the Holy Synod (D.I.S.) is in extraordinary session, to impose the Government measures on our Hellenic Church, concerning the Divine Worship in view of the great feasts of Christianity (Christmas and the other Holy Twelve Days). Lately, the novel phenomenon of political rulers (Prime Minister and Ministers) attending the sessions of the Holy Synod and intervening in the well-known issues of the epidemic has been observed. It is my humble opinion that the «new order» must not be allowed to penetrate

in the bosom of our Church, which must remain unchanged in the long Tradition of 20 centuries. It is imperative, however, that he knows and it was pointed out to him that during the past one and a half years of the Covid-19 epidemic, it far exceeded what was «dug» (especially during the two months of March - April 2020), in violation of the Constitutional principle of coexistence, of the Constitution of our country (especially Article 13, a’ and b’ paragraph) and the Charter of the Church of Greece (590/1977), which is a law of the Constitution.

1. I do not intend to interfere with Your Synodal duties, but I consider it my duty to inform You of the extent to which our Christians (and many other believers, who call or communicate by letter or e-mail from almost all parts of Greece and abroad) are oppressed by the repeated measures of the K.Y.A, while they observe how Orthodox Christians in other European countries are treated and how religious freedom is applied there, even though there, as here, the problems of the epidemic exist.

The Prime Minister, toadying and boasting, declared before representatives of the opposition that he had «emptied the Churches». A similar thing was said by a demon possessed fellow human being during the reading of the Exorcisms by a priest, a year and a half ago (after Easter 2020, which was celebrated without believers, behind closed doors): «I closed the Churches!!!».

I do not intend to criticize the Prime Minister of our country (our Lord Justice will judge him, if he and the People do not repent). I have mentioned this to draw the attention of all of us, so that we do not have to resort to the Justice (CCA), as we did last year, after the Holy Twelve Days.

Your Beatitude, Holy President,

Your Eminence, Holy Synods, As the Mother Church, as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, the feast of Love, of Divine Love, let us ensure that, by the grace of our Incarnate Lord and God, the widening gap between the vaccinated and the vaccinated is bridged in a climate of love and spiritual freedom.

Please intervene with the Governor of our country so that the thousands of suspended health workers (twenty-three of them are from the General Hospital of Kythera) can return to their posts, that the faithful, entering the Holy Temple, are not checked for rapid tests and that the Church does not consent to the compulsory vaccination of our Holy Clergy and the Monastic Fraternities, because - God forbid!- it will cause a great uproar within the Christian community.

And in conclusion, may I be permitted to propose that in the event that the State imposes stricter measures, restricting Divine Worship and imposing compulsory worship, as aforesaid, that the Body of our Most Holy Hierarchy be convened in an extraordinary manner within the coming week, in order to avoid the harsh measures of the recent past.

And yet, being duly noted, I hold,

With deep respect,

Minimum in Bishops
Seraphim of Kythera and Antikythera