Three clergymen, afflicted by coronavirus, died in the last fourty-eight hours, according to the announcement of the Russian Orthodox Church, and as orthodoxtimes.com reported yesterday.
Metropolitan and Honorary Archpriest of the Temple of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Altufyevo, Iona (Karpukhin), passed away yesterday, according to the announcement of the Russian Orthodox Church.
As announced the day before yesterday by the Moscow Patriarchate’s working group that coordinates the activities of all ecclesiastical institutions during coronavirus pandemic, on the channel available on the social network Telegram, Deacon Andrey Molchanov, who served at a church in Moscow, and Archpriest Evgeny Korchukov passed away due to coronavirus-related complications.
In addition to the above comes the statement of Bishop Pitirim of Zvenigorod of the Moscow Patriarchate and Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, who recently suffered from Covid-19 virus and needed to be hospitalized.
The bishop himself announced this on his Telegram channel and on his personal Facebook account, in order to stop the spread of false information.
The bishop characteristically stated that he was infected inside the church while serving, despite the fact that health protection measures were strictly observed throughout the academy, the church and the adjacent areas. When he felt the first symptoms of the disease, he did the medical test, which turned out to be positive. And although the entire academy was already in quarantine, he was placed in solitary confinement in the hospital.
The infection was caused by airborne droplets and this, according to the bishop, “is the answer to all those who claim that they cannot be infected inside the church.” Bishop Pitirim urged the faithful to protect themselves and their fellow human beings and not to leave their homes.
The bishop said there was resentment among worshipers over the pandemic and the ban on access to temples, and acknowledged that, because of the demands of the protesters, on Holy Week and Easter Week they decided to open the gates of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius of Radonezh, which resulted in the priests of the monastery being afflicted by the coronavirus.