Dear members, parishioners and community at large,
The past few months and especially the last few weeks have been
challenging and confusing to all of us.
The Greek Community of Toronto (“GCT”) would like to clarify and explain
its stance to the most recent developments in terms of the re-opening of the Churches
and its practices.
Once the City of Toronto allowed places of worship to re-open, the GCT
with respect to the Greek Orthodox faith and at the same time its obligation to
adhere to the City of Toronto, opened its churches to the public while following
and implementing the guidelines provided.
Unfortunately, the City of Toronto Public Health guidelines dated
June 20, 2020 intervene with the practices of the Church and because of that
there seems to have been a lot of confusion.
In order to provide clarity,
below you will
find a series of
factual events as
they occurred and forced
the GCT to restrict some of the Greek Orthodox
practices in its churches.
On Friday July 3, 2020 a Toronto Public Health inspector visited St.
Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. This
was a result of a complaint received regarding a breach of the Covid-19
Guidance for Places of Worship that was amended as of June 20, 2020 (See
attached). According to the
inspector St. Demetrios
Church has been compliant with all
the requirements as
stated by Toronto Public Health
except the suspension of communion and kissing of the priest's hand.
The inspector was informed that the Archdiocese of Canada is responsible
for providing the rules and procedures to
all the priests.
This was done
through a letter
dated June 9,
2020 by the
Archdiocese of Canada and did not indicate the suspension of
communion.
The inspector made
it clear that
the GCT will
be held liable
if there is
a Covid-19 case
in its premises.
On the same
day, following the
inspection,
the GCT sent an email to
the Archbishop Sotirios
requesting to follow the guidelines as set by the amended June 20, 2020
Covid-19 Guidance for Places of Worship (see attached). Subsequently, the GCT also sent an email to
Dr. Vinita Dubey, Associate Medical Officer
of Health for
Toronto Public Health
asking for clarification
regarding the matter of communion in which the Archdiocese of Canada was
informed (see attached).
The GCT never received an official reply from Archdiocese of Canada to
date. A text message was received by
the Treasurer of the Greek
Community of Toronto
from a priest
representative of Archbishop
Sotirios stating that, "No Communion will be dispensed tomorrow in
our churches".
This text message was received on Saturday, July 4
at 8:47 pm (see attached).
All other opinions
and statements, as
they have appeared
in social media,
are misleading and incorrect.
On a side note, all the GCT board members, staff and volunteers are
feeling equally frustrated to all Greek Orthodox parishioners for not being
able to practice the Greek Orthodox religion as the
Church adheres. However, the GCT
belongs in the territory
of the City of Toronto and has no choice but to adhere to its rules and
regulations. On March 11, 2020, on the
Metropolis’ website, Archbishop Sotirios advised all Christians who belong to
the Archdiocese of Canada to follow the instructions of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate which stated the following: “the Church encourages all the
faithful to adhere to the official directives of both the World Health
Organization and the pertinent pronouncements and legal regulations issued by
the civil authorities of their respective countries.” As a result, as a Toronto based non-profit
organization, the GCT is following the rules established by the City of Toronto
and its Health officials.
We encourage all parishioners who disagree with the rules of the City of
Toronto and the Health officials to contact directly the City of Toronto Public
Health and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of
Canada in order
to express their
disapproval and complaints.
The GCT on
a daily basis questions the
City of Toronto
and tries to
stay informed in
order to provide
the best possible service to its members and parishioners.
We kindly ask for your cooperation and understanding during this
unprecedented time.
Αntonis Artemakhs
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