COVID-19 March 14 update

Dear Faithful of St. Innocent’s Parish,

Fr. John and I have been reviewing guidelines from other Orthodox jurisdictions and parishes in an attempt to put forth what we feel to be pastorally sensitive and reasonable considerations for our parish in functioning in the midst of the current novel corona virus (COVID-19) health crisis.
The following considerations are in conjunction with abiding by the recommendations of disease authorities and include not coming to Church if you are feeling ill and/or have a fever.

1.   Saturday evening Vespers, Wednesday Pre-sanctified liturgies, and contemplative prayer evenings are cancelled until further notice.

2.   The Divine Liturgy would be the last service to be cancelled.

3.   Coffee hour is cancelled until further notice.

4.   Due to the shortages of hand sanitizer please carry any small bottles you may have with you for your use.

5.   Greet one another with a bow.  Refrain from hugging and kissing as is our custom.

6.   When asking for a blessing from a priest we will bless you with the sign of the cross but ask that you refrain from kissing the priest’s hand.

7.   Reverence icons with a bow rather than a kiss.

8.   Individual plastic or paper cups will be used for zapifka.

9.   At the end of the Divine Liturgy the priest will bless you with the cross as you come by.  The cross will not be reverenced with a kiss.

10.  Regarding receiving Holy Communion:

       A.  Babies and children who are receiving should receive Holy Communion first.

       B.  When receiving Holy Communion PLEASE tilt your head way back and open your mouth wide so that the priest is able to turn the communion spoon inside your mouth to drop the Precious Body and Blood onto your tongue.  This cannot be done if your head is bent down or if your mouth is not open wide.  Do not close your mouth on the spoon.

From everything that I have researched there have been no known highly suspicious cases of the transmission of disease from a common Holy Communion Cup.

Thanks to everyone for helping us implement these measures which we hope will be very short term.  In the meantime let us fulfill our responsibility as citizens and look forward to returning to our usual parish life just as soon as it seems prudent.

With Love in Christ our God,

Fr. Jeremiah