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<\/a><\/h1>\nClarification of Our Sharing of the \u201cStatement of the Executive Committee of the ACOB-USA Concerning Holy Week & Pascha\u201d<\/h1>\n
April 10, 2020<\/p>\n
To the Clergy and Faithful of the Romanian Episcopate of the Orthodox Church in America:<\/p>\n
Our Chancery, for general information, shared the statement via email on April 4, made by the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops (ACOB) Executive Committee, dated April 03, 2020. It states: \u201cT<\/em>ogether, we discuss both pastoral and practical matters concerning the operational situation of our churches.\u201d <\/em> We are not a member of this Executive Committee but we are a member of the Assembly.<\/u><\/p>\n The first paragraph refers to the fact that, \u201c<\/em>During this period of crisis, we, <\/em>[the Executive Committee]\u2026are meeting in conference call sessions every Friday to continually monitor the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, we discuss both pastoral and practical matters concerning the operational situation of our churches.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The second paragraph refers to the actions taken by various bishops of the numerous (ACOB) jurisdictions in the USA. \u201cMany guidelines from various jurisdictions, following State and Federal regulations as well as CDC recommendations, have been successfully implemented in parishes around the country, helping to slow the spread of COVID-19.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The Executive Committee then states: \u201c\u2026we have reached a consensus concerning Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Pascha (Easter) and strongly encourage all Bishops of the Assembly to implement the following recommendations.\u201d<\/em> It then gives its recommendations.<\/strong><\/p>\n The statement continues: \u201cWhereas some Bishops might implement more stringent practices out of love and concern for their flock and broader society, less stringent approaches will put the Faithful and their Clergy at high risk <\/strong>and should be avoided by all Bishops;\u201d <\/em>and \u201cThese measures mitigate the risk of transmission due to proximity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The reason for which we issued the ACOB Executive Committee Statement was to share with our clergy and faithful that our \u201cmore stringent practices\u201d<\/u> are, even according to the Executive Committee of the ACOB, in the best interest of our flock. That, even according to the ACOB Statement, it is our obligation to decide on what Directive to issue to our flock, the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of the Orthodox Church in America.<\/p>\n Therefore, our Directive, as issued on April 2, 2020, stands<\/strong>. The \u201crecommendations\u201d of the Executive Committee of ACOB did not and do not apply to our parishes.<\/strong><\/p>\n We sadly share with you that some of our own faithful and even clergy have been affected by the COVID-19 virus. We call on everyone to remember them in their supplications with the Lord. It has been reported that in another jurisdiction, a priest, the singers and servers who held services in a parish church were affected by the virus and are hospitalized. We repeat that our Directive stands, and we perceive it as necessary and good.<\/strong><\/p>\n In closing, we re-quote from that ACOB document: \u201cAs the Church tells us when to fast, and when not to fast, we listen and do our best to obey these instructions. In like manner, when we suffer together in our isolation and are unable even to receive the Eucharist because of mandated distancing, we are in reality, due to circumstance, also in full communion as the Body of Christ.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n We each know in our heart and memory the joy of celebrating the Pascha of the Lord. We fasted and waited for that announcement that \u201cThe Light of Christ illumines all.\u201d Let us then, in the intimacy of our homes and monasteries, read the services and sing the hymns.<\/p>\n Many of the services can be found on various websites of monasteries, seminaries and parishes. Let our joy not be diminished by this temporary blockade. \u201cWheresoever God wills, nature\u2019s order is surpassed.\u201d<\/p>\n With anticipated joy in the risen Christ,<\/p>\n +NATHANIEL<\/em>, Archbishop<\/p>\n Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America<\/p>\n A Diocese of the Orthodox Church in America<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Clarification of Our Sharing of the \u201cStatement of the Executive Committee of the ACOB-USA Concerning Holy Week & Pascha\u201d April 10, 2020 To the Clergy and Faithful of the Romanian Episcopate of the Orthodox Church in America: Our Chancery, for general information, shared the statement via email on April 4, made by the Assembly of … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-stefan","4":"post-15509","6":"format-image","7":"category-biblioteca","8":"post_format-post-format-image","9":"has-format"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15512,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15509\/revisions\/15512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}