The Easter bread and other traditional food at the Orthodox Church “Saint Dumitru” of Chisinau will be blessed on May 1, not on the Resurrection night of May 2, so as to avoid crowdedness and to prevent the spread of COVID-19, said the bishops of the church Pavel Borshevschi.
The priest noted that both the religious ceremonies on Passion Week and those before Easter will be held in the open air and the teaspoon for taking communion will be disinfected after each parishioner, IPN reports.
He called on the faithful to come to the church, including for the Easter Vigil, but to make sure they obey all the measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including wear masks and maintain social distancing.
Pavel Borshevschi recommends the faithful on the Sunday of the Dead to remember the dead at the church, not at cemetery where many go to show what expensive clothes they have or what delicacies they prepared. In villages, the local public authorities and the police should allow the people to remember the dead in the cemetery during the Light Week, which is after Easter and until the Sunday of the Dead, so as to avoid crowdedness.
In connection with the campaign to prevent fires during the Easter holidays, the priest said their church has fire extinguishers and all the candles are placed in the yard of the church. An electrician recently checked the electrical equipment and assured that there are no faults. Three years ago on Easter, a fire broke out at “Saint Dumitru” Church after a TV channel set up a number of projectors there. The case is pending in court.
