Greek Orthodox Holy Week Returns to New York during COVID-19
Greek Orthodox Holy Week began on April 24th culminating with Easter on May 2nd, 2021. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic New York churches eased the rules and provided the option of both in-person and online services this year.
In 2020, Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations were held online, as in-person visitations were not allowed because of the pandemic. According to the CDC, “Based on death certificate data available on April 23, 2020, 18.6% of all deaths occurring during the week ending April 18, 2020 (week 16) were due to pneumonia, influenza or COVID-19 (PIC)”.
“Last year, obviously without having people there it was definitely unusual; it was very sad, it was very, very difficult for both the priests and the entire community, it was heartbreaking”, said Father Aristidis Garinis of Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church about Holy Week in 2020. “Everything was streamed online when it began, Facebook live, YouTube, that kind of thing, we had to try that to engage our people as much as possible being that we weren’t allowed to be in person, you could still participate virtually in the services”
Greek Orthodox Holy Week begins with Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, which then lead into Holy Week. On Holy Wednesday, during the Holy Unction the body is anointed with oil to heal the soul and body and for the forgiveness of sins, but during Unction this year, the people were not provided with cotton balls to dab the excess oil, as a protocol.
On Good Friday this year, Greek Orthodox churches in New York required the crowd to wait outside during the evening service liturgy leading up to the Epitaphio procession. During the Epitaphio procession this year hundreds gathered in masks to make the outdoor procession around the church’s neighborhood, as it is the typical commemoration.
On Holy Saturday the Greek Orthodox people returned to the church to receive the ‘Holy Fire’, which is given out at all Orthodox churches at midnight. The Holy Fire is a miracle that occurs annually at the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and distributed amongst all Orthodox Churches around the world.
This year, many people resumed their typical celebration of inviting friends and family to roast a lamb on a rotating spit at their homes on Easter Sunday.
Although this year’s maximum capacity was capped at 50%, churchgoers flocked to church during Holy Week, while still following the state-mandated protocols. New York churches required that proper guidelines were followed to ensure the safety of the attendees.
“We followed the guidelines given to us by New York State. We were allowed to be at half capacity. We taped off areas to ensure that there was proper spacing. We had about 130 Parishioners maximum, per service”, said priest assistant Nick Malamas of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.
Even though many showed up to this year’s Greek Holy Week church traditions, it was not exactly back to normal.
“Here, it definitely was not 100% what we’ve had in the past previously prior to COVID, people are still afraid and still have that fear of getting sick”, said Father Aristidis Garinis
Churchgoers are eagerly awaiting the post-pandemic days when everything will transition back to normal.
“Last year Holy Week was upsetting because it was the first time in my life that I couldn’t celebrate in person. I liked having the option to stream online services than not attend at all, but it was really comforting to reunite with my community this year”, said churchgoer Dimitri Varis.
The new May 13th CDC guidelines suggest that those who are fully vaccinated may return to indoor settings, such as a church, without being masked. Those who are unvaccinated or only received one shot are still required to be masked.
