Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear community of Holy Ascension Parish! Due to the epidemic and announced quarantine, doctors and relevant health authorities are appealing to everyone in order to limit contacts and visiting public places. With all above said, there are a lot of questions appeared regarding attending the Church for praying there. This post is intended to give answers to the questions already appeared
- Will Sunday worshipping be cancelled?
The church is functioning and at the moment Sunday worshipping is not going to be canceled. At this difficult time, it is very important to strengthen our prayers. The main task for priests and all church attenders is to pray even more for their congregation.
- Does the priest insist for parishioners to attend Sunday worship?
The priest does not force anyone to visit the church and, moreover, does not condemn for precautions. But you should be wise and consistent at the same time – if you were afraid to go to the church because of your fear to get sick, then you also should not visit other public places without an urgent need.
- What should I do if there’s a desire to go to the church to pray, but feeling not well?
If you have any symptoms of a viral disease, it is better to stay at home and not tempt others to have different guesses and to complain.
- If I’m feeling well, the whole family is healthy, but there are family members who don’t support my desire to go to the church during the quarantine?
Quarrels and disputes are not something good, especially during the Lent. If your loved ones express their dissatisfaction or concern, try to understand, if its necessary stay at home and offer to pray together or watch worshipping online.
- Do I have to kiss the cross and icons when I come to the church?
Kissing the cross and the icons is optional, it is up to everyone to determine what is safe. You can honor them with a bow, a touch without a kiss, you can just pray in front of an icon or the cross. Of course, to ensure additional safety in our Cathedral, everything is processed by a sanitizer. God saves the ones who save themselves.
- What prayers are better to pray if I choose to stay at home and not to attend Sunday worshipping during this period?
First of all you should remember that a prayer it’s a conversation with God! Just reading prayers as it is, it’s just a text. But if a person puts his heart and mind into it – a sincere prayer is always effective. You can strengthen your morning and evening prayers from a prayer book by a longer prayer of your own, by reading Acathists or ecclesiastic books (such as Philokalia, the Ladder of Paradise, the Psalms, etc.), by watching ecclesiastic programs and movies.
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