Save Thy people, O Lord,
and bless Thine inheritance.
Grant victory to Thy Church over her enemies,
and protect Thy people by Thy Holy Cross!
AMEN!!!!
Our Priests are the most active people I know in urging us to get vaccinated. That is because they want to get us back to normal Church life, which we are rapidly doing!!!!
However, they do not REQUIRE us to get vaccinated—with one exception. My OCA Priest requires one to be vaccinated if one sings in the choir. They also urge unvaccinated people to continue to mask up.
The anticipated return of after-Liturgy lunches and the Serbian festival this fall in our Serbian parish may persuade the remaining holdouts to get vaccinated. I pray that the Delta variant doesn’t ruin our plans!!
As for the Communion spoon, that goes with the more normal administration of Communion which we already have as of the beginning of June. We all worship Christ in the Sacrament, not the spoon. I don’t know if ANY Orthodox worships the spoon—that’s just nonsense!!!!