The faithful in Russia are currently in quite a bad situation - each time they attend the Eucharist after service they risk getting infected not only with COVID-19, but also with any other infectious disease that someone brought along with them to the church, because they all eat and drink from the same containers.
The same goes for Russian Orthodox churches that have refused to use plastic or wooden utensils. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian priests continue feeding the faithful sheep using a single "sacred" gem-studded silver spoon.
Even the pro-Kremlin media are concerned about this. The leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church has justified its actions by arguing that it is impossible to precisely determine how many people will be invited to attend the Eucharist each day, therefore it would be wasteful to spend money on plastic spoons. The Church also stressed that the faithful would not be pleased to use plastic utensils - they all want to eat from the special spoon.
The funniest, or saddest, in all this is that the "rich and powerful" Russian Orthodox Church is simply too greedy to pay for disposable utensils.
Meanwhile, the Chinese plague continues to rip through the Russian faithful. It is reported that since April 2020 more than 100 Orthodox Church priests have died from COVID-19.
To those who eagerly wish to attend the Last Supper, I want to remind you that aside from COVID-19 there are also numerous hepatitis illnesses, AIDS, syphilis, chlamydiosis, TORCH, herpes, cytomegalovirus, tapeworms, etc. that can be caught while enjoying a candle-lit supper in the church together with an infected person.
The average churchgoer is an elderly person who is already ill because that's just what happens when you become old. It is very likely that these people would not instantly notice that they have contracted COVID-19 because they would probably assume it's a common cold and just drink some herbal tea to deal with it. And after a week or two, these people would again head to the church to pray and share a spoon with the other faithful. The result - the spread of COVID-19 in a geometric progression!
Therefore, if for some unknown reason you're at a church, please forget about the Last Supper. Churches are visited by different people - mothers with infants, children, homeless people, etc., and some of them know what hygiene is, but some of them don't. Some of us have better immune systems, some have worse, while others have already fallen ill.
Would you use a spoon knowing that just seconds ago it was used by someone infected with COVID-19?
