Coronavirus - Society and Church - Time of responsibility

It is with regret that we are realizing day by day the impossibility of tackling the progression of the coronavirus pandemic. At a time when all of humanity is experiencing an admittedly unprecedented and dangerous threat, many of us insist on being indifferent, voluntarily blind and reacting to the coronavirus and its suppression. Among others, persons of the Church, who with dangers and laziness try to either underestimate the situation or to show a heroism and a disposition of martyrdom resistance.

The great spread of the virus is an indisputable fact. Hospitals and health services in general are suffocating and being severely tested. There is no longer any doubt that the biggest problem of the pandemic is not its mortality, but its large spread, resulting in congestion of patients in hospitals. Strict or excessive measures, unjust or not, there is essentially no other way to stop it. Without arguing that some measures do not need correction or better and more equal implementation, it is the only solution. Otherwise, we will find ourselves in the awkward position of letting people go out of their homes due to lack of medical care. And this will be our last downfall as a people and as a nation.

Unfortunately, what is observed is, instead of putting ourselves responsibly in the face of this threat, we are destructively indifferent and act criminally unconscious. It is as if we are under the influence of substances, as if we are in another era, in another work, spectators. Denial of masks, denial of distances, denial of measures in general. Until the virus, in person, knocks on our door. Like, bad time, it happened inside the Church, which in honor
took the decision unanimously, albeit with some disagreement, for the need of precaution and observance of the measures. Because, apart from the indisputable Mystery of Holy Communion, the function and life of the Church in general is not free from "germs" and "infections". Let us not reach the point of our long-suffering and tried Greece, where we mourned even the deaths of clergy and especially hierarchs.

It is time, then, to reorganize, even at the end. Realize that responsibility is one way. It is time to understand and comprehend the demands of society and life in general. To feel that our behavior affects everyone's life. That we are links in the same chain. That we are not mere spectators, but we determine the course of the project. It is a time of responsibility, maturity, prudence, empathy and compliance. Let us not consider the infamous vaccine as our only salvation and the end of the threat. Viruses and other threats will arise constantly. Our salvation is the change of mentality, the assumption of our personal responsibility towards our life and the life of those around us. Until it's time.

George Kyprianou

Theologian - Teacher - President of the Cultural Association ROMIOSYNI