The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops commissioned a census on the effects of the Coronavirus on Pascha 2020 in USA Orthodox Christian Parishes.  It examines the sweeping changes in American Orthodox parish life that were triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic.

The report is based on a survey of parish clergy representing eight (8) Orthodox jurisdictions who completed questionnaires during April 6-13, 2020.  Among the questions addressed in this report are:
•        How have parishes adjusted their liturgical services and small group
          ministries to the new circumstances?
•        What help is most needed by parish clergy?
•        What is the financial impact of the pandemic on Orthodox parishes?
•        Which parishes handle the new circumstances better than others?

Some observations presented in this 14-page report are troubling (e.g., the “death” of religious education and small group activities, and the sharp decrease in giving in the majority of parishes), while others offer considerable hope (e.g., high percentage of parishes switching promptly to online services, the availability of sufficient financial resources in most churches to last securely through the summer if the pandemic continues).

And, of course, we welcome your feedback and suggestions, because it is likely that we will launch an follow-up study to address this urgent subject. It is a very unusual and challenging Holy Week for all our parishes and faithful. But St. Paul reminds us not to lose heart, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

The report can be found here.

A joyous Resurrection to you and your parish communities.

Alexei D. Krindatch,

Coordinator

National Census of Orthodox Christian Churches
2020 US Religion Census (www.usreligioncensus.org)

The report, in PDF can be found .

ARCHDIOCESE OF PITTSBURGH AND WESTERN PA
ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
Hierarchical Instructions: Holy Week/Pascha 2020

From: His Eminence, Archbishop MELCHISEDEK

3 April 2020

Protocol: 20-4-3-1

Mindful of the directives given by the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, given on Wednesday, 1 April 2020 -
https://www.oca.org/cdn/PDFs/synod/2020-0330-synod-directives.pdf
parishes, missions, and chapels of the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, when serving the Divine Services for Holy Week and Pascha are to only serve with the essential members needed to make the service function well and yet be as beautiful as possible. This is defined as the priest, deacon (if the parish has one, but no more than two, if multiple deacons), (2) altar servers maximum (if necessary), the choir director/cantor, and a minimum number of choir members (if necessary). The total number of people in the church for the service is not to exceed ten (10) people at any time, provided the local authorities do not require a lower number. This assumes that every person present is compliant with the required health regulations in effect for that locality. Parishes are directed to post a notice on their door, stating that people coming into the church come in at their own risk, and the parish is not liable for anyone entering in and becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2, or passing it onto anyone else.

It is recommended that any of the parishes holding services live-stream these services (or record for later showing), and direct their parishioners to these live-streams/recordings in order for them to maintain their connection to their parish.

Section 1: Schedule of Services

Parishes, missions, and chapels of the Archdiocese may serve the following Divine Services, with a limited number of people as outlined above:
• Festal Divine Liturgy of Palm Sunday.
• The Matins of Holy Friday with the 12 Passion Gospels (on Thursday Evening).
• EITHER the Holy Friday Vespers (Burial) OR the Matins of Holy Saturday (on Friday Evening).
• EITHER Holy Thursday Divine Liturgy OR Holy Saturday Divine Liturgy.
• Paschal Nocturnes / Paschal Matins
• Paschal Hours / Paschal Divine Liturgy (at the regular service time(s))

NOTE: No parish, mission, or chapel is obliged to serve all of the services outlined here, especially considering the energy required for the small number of people involved. It is expected that parish clergy will use their discretion in determining which services would be of the most benefit to the community, especially when services will be live-streamed or recorded.

Section 2: Procedures for Liturgical Worship and the reception of Holy Communion.

For Palm Sunday, rectors, at their discretion, are directed to:

1. Bless palms and willows privately on Lazarus Saturday

2. Schedule a 2 - 3 hour prayer time for people to come and pray privately on Lazarus Saturday (as many parishes have been doing for the past two Saturdays).

1. At this time, the faithful will be handed their palms or willows by one designated greeter, whose hands were sanitized prior to the distribution (or will be wearing gloves).

2. For those faithful who do not wish to enter the church building, a designated and properly sanitized greeter (or wearing gloves) may be assigned to distribute palms/willows at an appropriate spot external to the church interior.
3. On Palm Sunday, the Festal Divine Liturgy may be celebrated with a limited number of people, as outlined above.

For Holy Pascha, rectors, at their discretion, are directed to:
1. Schedule a 2 - 3 hour prayer time for people to come and pray privately on Holy Saturday. The priest may also, at his discretion, at this time bless baskets in a manner he deems fit, which allows no more than the maximum number of people in the church at any one time. (If possible and so desired, the rector may find it useful to do this externally outside of the church itself while congregating as few people simultaneously as possible.)

2. Hold Paschal Hours and Divine Liturgy in the morning at a regular Sunday Liturgy time. This service should be live streamed or recorded if possible.

3. It is suggested that each communicant would come forward and would receive the Eucharist in either of the following ways:

A. New metal spoons (one for each person) will be sterilized, blessed, and placed in a clean basket/container covered in a communion cloth before use. The priest will take one of the spoons from the basket - that spoon is used to commune that person. The spoon is then placed in the used basket. (Care must be taken not to place it back in the chalice.) These spoons would be cleaned with spirits after the Divine Liturgy and the spirits burned or buried. The spoons would be bundled, wrapped, and set aside only to be used during pandemics or times of similar crisis.

B. Appropriate wooden or bamboo spoons would be procured, blessed, and placed in a clean basket/container. The priest will take one of the spoons from the basket - that spoon is used to commune the person. The spoon is then placed in the used basket. (Care must be taken not to place it back in the chalice.) These spoons would be destroyed by fire after the Divine Liturgy, and the ashes buried in a suitable place.

4. After Communion, the communicants would receive the zapivka (wine in a small paper or plastic cup / Prosphora in a cup or individual bag), or, perhaps better, the parish may choose to dispense with the practice at this time.

5. The priest may then, at his discretion, bless the Paschal baskets for those present.

IMPORTANT! It should be noted by the clergy and laity alike that the measures outlined here about the method of administering Holy Communion are not to be understood as a declaration about the possibility of the Body and Blood of Christ spreading disease. The Holy Mysteries are life-giving, and are “for the healing of soul and body.” The reason for such measures is two-fold:

1. To avoid unwanted attention from those outside the church who do not understand our sacramental theology and to not give them cause to accuse us of failing to abide by governmental and medical recommendations about sanitary measures.

2. To ease the conscience of those in the church who might be caused to stumble in their faith by receiving Communion from a common spoon during a time of great temptation in this pandemic.

Section 3: The Leavetaking (Apodosis) of Pascha

As is prescribed by the Typikon, the Leavetaking of the Great Feast of Pascha is celebrated just as on the day of Pascha itself. While this date is usually on a Wednesday, due to the nature of our present-day emergency situation, parishes are to move their celebration of the Leavetaking to the Sunday before (the Sunday of the Blind Man), 24 May 2020. Parishes are permitted to celebrate the services in the full manner they normally would for Pascha. (NOTE: if you normally celebrate the Midnight Paschal Liturgy, you may do so on this date).
This is, in fact, a wonderful opportunity to celebrate this Leavetaking in a manner that is normally very appropriate, but is not commonly done in our busy modern lives. This one-time “dispensation” is given to allow the Church to abide by the current health directives and yet raise the possibility of a full and joyous Paschal celebration later in 2020 during this festive Paschal period.

********************************
Finally, clearly, these directives are “not perfect” since no perfect solution exists under the current conditions we find ourselves laboring under as believers. May the Lord, never-the-less, bless our unworthy efforts to glorify His Name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with love and devotion!

/ Signed /

MELCHISEDEK
Archbishop of Pittsburgh and Western PA
Orthodox Church in America

IMPORTANT! Please distribute immediately
TO: ARCHDIOCESE OF PGH AND W PA (OCA) CLERGY / LAITY
FROM: ARCHPRIEST WILLIAM J. EVANSKY, CHANCELLOR
SUBJECT: CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE UPDATE
_______________________________________________________________________________
Glory to Jesus Christ!

This COVID-19 update is a follow-up to the last email I sent on March 13th concerning this developing national health emergency. MUCH has changed since that email that has required re-assessment of our situation. First, please note the attached March 17, 2020, letter from the Holy Synod - including our own ruling hierarch. Also, please note the critical points below issued to all clergy/ members/ parishes of the Archdiocese of PGH and W PA (OCA) by His Eminence, Archbishop MELCHISEDEK.

1. Effective with this official email dated 3/17/2020, ALL parishes of this Archdiocese are to immediately cease all services, activities, social gatherings, etc. with the exception of two items noted below. This closure is to continue until the end of March 2020 at which time further directives will be issued by the Chancellor on behalf of the ruling hierarch. (This is a directive of the bishop, NOT an option for the parishes.)

2. There are two exceptions to this total closure to note:

A. Special services (i.e. funerals, baptisms, etc.) may be held IF this is discussed with the Chancellor before they are scheduled - attendance is limited only to immediate family members.

B. Each parish priest may open his church on the coming two Saturday afternoons (March 21 / March 28) for two to three hours of his choosing for the faithful to come and offer a private prayer and light candles. While we are not encouraging people to do this in light of the governmental guidelines, it is realized some people will gain much strength from this visit. It is imperative that people in high-risk categories (i.e. - senior citizens / individuals with on-going health problems / people not feeling well currently) not consider this act. Individuals are reminded to maintain “social distancing” during this visit and avoid interacting with large numbers of people. Any priest NOT comfortable doing this should contact the Chancellor.

3. Also attached to this email is a Prayer Service that can be prayed by the faithful of the Archdiocese regularly in front of their prayer corners concerning this virus - we hope they do so!
(Our thanks to Archbishop MICHAEL for providing us this service.) Please look forward for additional services from me in future emails which we will provide for the faithful to use this weekend and the following weekend to come.)

4. Except for so-called “death-bed confessions,” confessions are suspended until this period of time has concluded. (This, of course, does not preclude informal spiritual discussions between our priests and our parish penitents via the phone and emails. Parish priests are asked to contact the Chancellor if you have questions about this.)

5. Our clergy, following proper personal safety protocols, should remain available to the faithful to respond to emergency situations requiring immediate pastoral attention. Parish priests, however, are not expected to make routine pastoral visitation calls to shut-ins during this health emergency period.

6. All parish facilities should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected during this period of parish closure.

7. His Eminence’s March Sunday Archpastoral visitations are cancelled now - the Chancellor will contact those parishes concerning make-up dates in the future. April visitations will be decided upon at the end of this month based on the situation at that point in time.

8. The Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Ellwood City, while closed to visitors during this period as per Holy Synod directives concerning all OCA monasteries, will probably continue to live-stream the monastery’s services; their web address for more info is: www.orthodoxmonasteryellwoodcity.org.

9. Parishes are urged to reach out to their parish members who may need assistance in obtaining the basic “staples of life” during this period since they cannot visit the grocery stores - please stay alert at the parish level to assist each other.

10. Any parish priest diagnosed with COVID-19 (or self-quarantined as a precaution) is asked to confidentially inform the Chancellor so that proper personal assistance can be rendered and coverage for the parish arranged with the local dean. Our deacons are encouraged to do likewise.

11. These are difficult economic times for everyone - - including the church! The faithful of the Archdiocese who are able to do so are reminded to continue their stewardship efforts during this closure period - the expenses of our parishes continue even though we cannot gather as God’s people.
Much care was used in issuing this email. Despite that effort, I am sure this complicated situation will still cause questions to arise due to my inadequate efforts - as well intended as they are. As I always say, as Chancellor I welcome your inquiries via this email address or at my Ambridge parish office - 724-266-5009 - as we together work through these stress-filled days. Let us persevere through prayer!
Finally - - please know that these “radical” decisions were only decided upon by His Eminence after much prayer, dialogue with the other members of the Holy Synod, consultation with medical professionals, and conversations at length with his Chancellor. These were NOT decided upon “lightly,” but in the end seemed absolutely necessary. We must work together as a people to stop the rapid transmission of this unprecedented health threat; we must eliminate the spread NOW to avoid a massive - and deadly -spread later. His Eminence also stated that out of “something bad, perhaps something good can come about” - - this period of limited interaction “opens the window of opportunity” to individually “plunge” into the quiet depths of Holy Lent by increased personal prayer, Bible study, and time with the myriad of “good” Orthodox materials available through the internet and our Orthodox bookstores. Let us use self-discipline to make this occur throughout the Archdiocese!

A wonderful verse from 2 Timothy 1:7 reads: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

“Amen” - - “Let it be so!”

Thank you.

With love and concern in Christ,

Fr. Bill

Archpriest William J. Evansky
Chancellor
Archdiocese of PGH and W PA (OCA)