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“The Holy Cup Cannot Carry Disease”: Greek Orthodox Churches Announce That Shared Drinking Of Wine Will Continue Despite Corona

We recently discussed videotaped of Iranians licking the doors and objects of Islamic shrines in the belief that such traditions are protected by God from Coronavirus. Now, Greek Orthodox churches in Australia have announced that they will allow congregations of hundreds of people to sip wine from the same spoon during mass because “the holy cup cannot carry disease.”

Greek Orthodox priests dip a spoon into a chalice of wine and place it into the mouths of parishioners as part of communion. That is obviously a practice that would guarantee the spread of Coronavirus, but Steven Scoutas, a spokesperson for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, Rev. Steven Scoutas, insisted that “once we decide to go to church, we believe there is absolutely no possibility of contracting disease from the holy cup.” The reason is simple: faith. He stated “[w]e believe that no disease or illness can exist in holy communion, which we believe is the body and blood of Christ.”

In Australia, there are 373,000 people identified as Greek Orthodox, which now is the exact number of those persons being added to the high-risk category for contracting Coronavirus.

These controversies magnify the conflict between secular health policies and the free exercise of religion. Such practices fuel the spread of the virus which is a danger to the country at large. In the United States, even with our robust protections of the free exercise of religion, the state could curtail such practices. There is a point where the “laying the hands of the faithful” is also a vehicle for the pandemic.

The logic of the church is obvious and potentially deadly. If the wine is truly transformed into the blood of Christ, how can it be tainted? Of course, one can also say that it is the spoon that is tainted, but no health official would sign off on the practice even with changing spoons due to the breathing around and handling of the common chalice.

It is an interesting twist on Justificatio sola fide (or justification by faith alone) as a doctrine in Christian faiths. It allows for faith alone (rather than good works) to forgive the transgressions of holy scripture. Yet, the state is not required to recognize the doctrine when faith alone may spread the disease or virus. There is also that precept that  “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.”

99 thoughts on ““The Holy Cup Cannot Carry Disease”: Greek Orthodox Churches Announce That Shared Drinking Of Wine Will Continue Despite Corona”

  1. Pingback: “The Holy Cup Cannot Carry Disease”... - Helleniscope

    2. Don’t forget about Ventilator Acquires Pneumonia(VAP), I didn’t even know you could get it that way, but learn something new, right.

  3. In any group there is one who will take the first sip. But who will be second. How much alcolhol is in that wine?

  4. The virus is a coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 and causes the disease named COVID -19.

    Got it?

    — David B Benson

      2. DBB can’t even complete the email/name slots correctly on the blog so that it populates with his name.

        https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/mcm-issues/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19

        Six coronavirus species are known to cause human disease. Four viruses — 229E, OC43, NL63, and HKU1 — are prevalent and typically cause common cold symptoms in immunocompetent individuals. The two other strains — severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) — are zoonotic in origin and have been linked to sometimes fatal illness

        Three bronchoalveolar-lavage samples were collected from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital on December 30, 2019. No specific pathogens (including HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-OC43, and HCoV-HKU1) were detected in clinical specimens from these patients by the RespiFinderSmart22kit. RNA extracted from bronchoalveolar-lavage fluid from the patients was used as a template to clone and sequence a genome using a combination of Illumina sequencing and nanopore sequencing. More than 20,000 viral reads from individual specimens were obtained, and most contigs matched to the genome from lineage B of the genus betacoronavirus — showing more than 85% identity with a bat SARS-like CoV (bat-SL-CoVZC45, MG772933.1) genome published previously. Positive results were also obtained with use of a real-time RT-PCR assay for RNA targeting to a consensus RdRp region of pan β-CoV (although the cycle threshold value was higher than 34 for detected samples). Virus isolation from the clinical specimens was performed with human airway epithelial cells and Vero E6 and Huh-7 cell lines. The isolated virus was named 2019-nCoV.

        The virus has been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”).

      1. Karen, I’m not the same Anonymous.
        But I’m beginning to understand the reasons for anonymity. With lunatics like Crazed Idiot stalking these threads, one hesitates to use any name at all. And that’s not good for the blog.

  5. I just noticed the title. No, it is not
    Corona
    but rather a specific strain of
    coronavirus.

    Tch, tch, Jonathan Turley.

    — David B Benson

  7. In Conference Call To Governors, Trump Tells States They’re On Their Own

    Trump had whacked a beehive of angst earlier Monday when he convened a conference call with the nation’s governors. He told them that the states should not rely on the federal government to provide respirators, ventilators and other equipment to aid the infected, and that states should work on obtaining their own.

    Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) compared the comment to being at war and “we just heard our leader say you all need to get your own weapons at the state level to defeat this. But that’s the way it’s been.”

    Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who chairs the National Governors Association, said in an interview that “some of my colleagues were pretty upset,” although he allowed for the possibility that the president may have misspoken.

    “There’s not enough supplies,” Hogan said, explaining that there has been a backlog getting items distributed from a federal stockpile. In addition, he said, “There’s the issue of testing, there’s sort of these all-day-long issues. But it’s not about who said what, or who’s feelings were hurt or what happened. It doesn’t do any good to be Monday-morning quarterbacking. We just have to get this stuff done. There’s a lot of tension and frustration [among] the governors.”

    Edited From:  “Americans Kept Wondering What The President Wanted Them To Do About The Coronavirus”

    Today’s Washington Post 

    1. “we just heard our leader say you all need to get your own weapons at the state level to defeat this. But that’s the way it’s been.”

      How did this asshat get elected governor? This coward isn’t being asked to find his own weapons and send his citizens to fight in a foreign war. If he wants to use the war analogy; his state has been invaded by a foreign force and he’s pressing his Life Alert button. Be an effing leader and act as though you have a state capable of independent resourcefulness.

  8. How can they go after these crazies when they allow all the bloody minded nonsense that goes on in mosques?

  10. The problem is with the current formatting. Using this mobile device and it’s Android operating system I cannot comment without being logged into my WordPress account. The reason is that bottom matter of the comment form is not rendered, being overlapped.

    However, being logged in men’s that I am “Anonymous” because the formatter used here is unable to check the WordPress account. This does not happen on two other WordPress powered sites, which use sensible formatting.

    So I have to try to remember to sign my posts:
    — David B Benson

  11. Will someone follow up on this “outrage” and do a comparison between infection rates in these churches and those of the general population? It is doubtful because the result would probably show no correlation between the cup and illness, debunking another exposé by the irreligious.

  12. Coronavirus Update – Tom Hanks and wife are doing fine five days after presenting symptoms of COVID-19.
    ____________________________________________________________________________________

    “Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have left a Queensland hospital and are now resting at a rented home in Australia five days after revealing they had both tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), PEOPLE confirms.”

    – Yahoo News
    ___________

    They went home, folks.

  13. I suppose that this will tend to reduce the number of people following such rituals.

    — David B Benson

    1. David, the fact that so many commentators have to use ‘Anonymous’ speaks volumes about this blog and the fringe characters it draws. Turley would be well-advised to find a real moderator.

      1. Fringe characters, hahaha, like me. 😎🤠

        I don’t know why, but the word Fringe is sticking nicely with me.

        1. WW33 – I do wish the Anonymous would take an actual name, nom de plume so to speak, so we can identify who we are responding to. Even David Benson has gone anonymous now.

          1. What’s up, Paul? Long day of cleaning over here. 8 hrs of cleaning and laundry was mixed it with that. Ugh, tired, trying to make sure my dry cough doesn’t get the roommates ill. Disinfecting everything.

            Makes me want to move out of LA again, I love Cali, but maybe Arizona is my next stop. Or Central Cali, lots of open space in middle of state. Everyone is so packed in like sardines in LA.

            Yeah, I noticed a lot more Anons on here. I did Anon for my health stuff, but IDing otherwise.

            Hope you and your loved ones are staying safe.

            1. WW33 – yesterday my new (as in never seen yet) personal doctor called to cancel my first appt. It has been moved to April. My wife cannot find any toilet paper and I have become a virtual hermit. Life is good. 🙂

              1. Hermit isn’t the bad life…for some time. Save time, money, etc. Watch out for Cabin Fever though…

                Hey, maybe when the Census 2020 people come to our door, they’ll bring a vaccine with them, count everyone up and then RFID/vaccine us….what do you think? 😉😉😉. But no TP, doubt they’ll supply the TP.

                Or maybe….just maybe….they’ll just take away all paper money, and say C-Ovid-19 spreads through paper cash, so everyone needs to go digital now. 😉😉😉

                You know what I need right now, a luxury underground bunker. Have you seen them? They’re really nice. Only for mega wealthy though.

                Makes me wonder if they have those electromagnetic fast trains/carts already….zoom underground across the U.S. within 1-2 hours. Would be pretty cool.

                I’m ranting and rambling into tangents, and for some tin foil hatting it a bit, can’t say I don’t have an imagination.

                Stay safe you and your wife while the looney tunes goes on…do not donate your blood, like ever. They don’t need it, they’re good. Nor your DNA, don’t don’t that either.

  14. China and Greek Orthodox churches may act freely but they may not reject and denounce when they are totally quarantined for crimes against humanity.

    China has deliberately, willfully and repeatedly acted to facilitate the “jump” of multiple viruses from animals to humans, and China has not acted to preclude or terminate the facilitation those “jumps.” The Greek Orthodox churches have deliberately and willfully increased and accelerated the propagation of viruses among humans and they have not acted to oppose that propagation.

  15. “[w]e believe that no disease or illness can exist in holy communion, which we believe is the body and blood of Christ.”

    Do this in remembrance of me.

    They would do well to remember the Son of the omnipotent God, made man, died the day following the last supper, despite the purity of His body and blood. Communion does not need to be done only within the walls of the Church and conducted only by clergy.

    42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

    1. “in their homes”? Are you crazy? Americans invite people into their homes?

      Pft! Way before Coronavirus, Americans wouldnt have been caught dead sharing meals to “ate together”. Can you see Mespo sharing…..his food?

      Bwahahaaha

      “with glad and sincere hearts”? Like TIA x LIX?

      bwahahaaha

      1. Touche. WSJ ran an op-ed a while back that Americans have been practicing social distancing for years

        1. It’s bc too many ppl want to imitate what they see on TV.

          At a restaurant? I got a gal next to me flipping out over a he/she said of a nothing burger.

          At the coffee shop? Someone wants to talk to me about their life drama, I don’t even know them.

          At a Costco? I have some random dude want to shake my hand and then not let go…my what lovely hands you have my pretty….cue the witch music.

          A lot of folks create drama out of nothing to make their lives more interesting, bc they’re comfortable financially, and bored, or whatever else…like smashing ppl’s windshields in for no reason, and then blaming it on the ghost of Richmond, VA, or claiming it must have been the wind. Nuh-uh. 😉.

          I’ve been trying to convince those in and around me that if your life is boring, that’s a good thing. If you have nothing going on, and nothing to worry about, you did something right in your life.

      2. “in their homes”? Are you crazy? Americans invite people into their homes?

        You completely missed the point. Communion can be taken at home as written in Scripture.

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