Slovakian faithful can return to church with negative COVID test

Bratislava, April 20, 2021

Photo: eparchiapo.sk Photo: eparchiapo.sk     

The Slovakian faithful can finally return to Church after about three months of complete closure by the government.

However, only those who have a negative COVID test no older than 7 days are allowed to enter a church building, according to new state guidelines.

Several measures were lifted as of yesterday as infection numbers have dropped recently, allowing all shops and services to reopen and public church services and travel between districts to resume, among other things, reports the Slovak Spectator.

It is possible that measures could be further lifted next Monday, April 26.

According to His Eminence Archbishop Juraj of Michalovce and Košice, everyone, including clergy, is also required to wear an FFP2 mask, and social distancing rules still apply, with one person per 15 square meters.

“If the church is small, the number is limited to six. But it’s something, thank God, after 3.5 months of suspension of public worship,” His Eminence commented to OrthoChristian.

Last month, Abp. Juraj, together with His Beatitude Metropolitan Rastislav of Prešov, the primate of the Orthodox Chuch of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, issued a statement protesting invasive COVID restrictions that make it “practically impossible not only to perform public worship, but also individual pastoral services.”

During the pandemic, 376,000 cases of coronavirus infection have been detected in Slovakia, about 11,100 of which were fatal.

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4/20/2021

See also
Slovak Church protests invasive COVID restrictions Slovak Church protests invasive COVID restrictions Slovak Church protests invasive COVID restrictions Slovak Church protests invasive COVID restrictions
COVID restrictions that are implemented without any communication with churches and religious groups but which significantly interfere with the liturgical and pastoral life of those groups are “inadequate and one-sided,” believe the hierarchs of the Orthodox Church in Slovakia and the leaders of many other religious communities. Building Community Post-Communism: On the Modern Life of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia Building Community Post-Communism: On the Modern Life of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
Abp. Juraj of Michalovce and Košice Building Community Post-Communism: On the Modern Life of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia Building Community Post-Communism: On the Modern Life of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
An Interview with Archbishop Juraj of Michalovce and Košice. Part 2
Archbishop Juraj of Michalovce and Košice
Families were crying and saying they miss the church, they miss the people, they miss the community, they miss worshiping together. It was stunning, because I think this is what Church should be. The Oldest Slavonic-Speaking Church: On the History of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia The Oldest Slavonic-Speaking Church: On the History of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
Abp. Juraj of Michalovce and Košice The Oldest Slavonic-Speaking Church: On the History of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia The Oldest Slavonic-Speaking Church: On the History of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
An Interview with Archbishop Juraj of Michalovce and Košice. Part 1
Archbishop Juraj of Michalovce and Košice
It doesn’t look like it, but we are actually the oldest Slavonic-speaking Church. We tend to trace our origin back to the mission of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, but we can go even beyond that, because where what is nowadays the Czech Republic and Slovakia, there used to be the border of the Roman Empire, going along the Danube River.
Comments
Deborah4/23/2021 12:51 pm
John, where can I find the statement from the OCA (effective May 1) that you are referring to? Thank you
John4/22/2021 6:34 pm
Herman: The bishops of the Church are a mess, with very few exceptions. For example, the latest decree from the OCA (effective May 1), acknowledges that in America courts have banned the state from regulating places of worship. So the Synod tells parishes to obey the state authorities anyway, while acknowledging they are under no legal obligation to do so. The state, however grudgingly, gives the Church an opening to function normally, and the bishops refuse it. The guilt can only be laid at the feet of our "shepherds" in this case. The Greek Metropolitan of Denver had it right from the outset: If the laity are too afraid to come to church, then they should stay home until they have faith!
Herman4/21/2021 9:37 pm
Jesse: Please forgive me, but what in the world are you talking about? No, I am NOT "erroneously attributing the state's regulations to the bishops." It states this plainly in the article. I read the article - more than once, even. Why would you get the impression that I think that the bishops are the ones instituting this, when in the second line of this article it says "...according to new STATE GUIDELINES." What sentence in my comment led you to believe that I think that the BISHOPS are instituting this, and not the STATE? You also state that your article does not have "a quote from Metropolitan Rastislav" which was the entire point of my previous comment, and therefore, obvious, but you do have a quote from Metropolitan Juraj, who apparently spoke to someone at this website, which would have been a great opportunity to ask him a few questions, such as, "is the Church going to actually obey this restriction?" and then we would know "what will actually be happening on the ground in the churches." But it seems that no one thought to ask him about this. It sounds to me like the bishops are going to comply, after all, he does thank God that the almighty State will allow a whopping six (6) people (if the parish is small) to attend Church now! If his intent was to NOT comply, that statement wouldn't make any sense, would it, because the churches would NOT be opening, because the bishops would REFUSE to subject the faithful to such a gross violation. The State can invent whatever nonsensical and illogical persecutions they like for our Church - my interest is, at what point will our Bishops draw a line in the sand, and decide to not comply, or to simply not participate in the latest insane directive? Who is it that will be standing at the door of the temple to check the MEDICAL RECORDS of Christians as they come to Liturgy on Palm Sunday? A government worker? Is the parish supposed to appoint someone of their own to stand there and look at test result papers? Why weren't these questions asked to Met. Juraj, who someone from your site must have contacted? For me, it's not important whether or not Met. Rastislav is "all in" with this new directive or not. What is important is whether or not he chooses - makes the choice - to go along with it, or not.
John4/21/2021 1:10 pm
I hope enforcement will be lax and the faithful will bring fake test results.
Jesse4/21/2021 10:00 am
Herman and Utrecht, you're erroneously attributing the state's regulations to the bishops. We don't know what will actually be happening on the ground in the churches. And just because our article doesn't have a quote from Metropolitan Rastislav that isn't somehow proof that he's all in with these restrictions. We simply don't know his reaction.
UtrechtFrederick4/20/2021 11:24 pm
This means you are excommunicated if you test for this virus? That the worldly virus means you are refused the Holy Mysteries by God's Priest and Bishop? They Bishop and Priest will say to Christ "we turned them away because of this virus?" Will they do the same for these false-positive tests? If you are false-positive (which is many of these tests), you are refused Holy Communion in Christs Church by His shepherds? How much lunacy is this?
Stan Minor4/20/2021 9:05 pm
Those tests are worthless, by the way.
Herman4/20/2021 7:32 pm
As I sat down this morning to read the Orthodox News, with my cup of coffee, my eyes glanced across this article, and I, being a simple man and a creature of habit, clicked on it straightaway. I couldn't believe my eyes! I truly rejoiced as I read these inspiring and powerful words of Christian witness from Metropolitan Rastislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia - "The government wants us to require a COVID test before entering Church for services, but we will not be complying with this insane and satanic demand. All believers will be welcome without any need to show your medical papers at the entrance. The government has overstepped their bounds with this new restriction, and I repeat, we will not be enforcing it in our Church." But then I took my first sip of coffee, and the fog cleared, and those words of hope vanished before my very eyes, and I realized that Metropolitan Rastislav didn't say that at all, it was just my own desperate hope and wishful thinking. Oh well, back to another day of Submission to Big Brother. Maybe if we keep doing this for another year, or ten, we'll be able to get back to normal...
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