How to celebrate one of their holiest of events, without the ability to gather and do so?
The answer is the same as it has been for other faiths and other events throughout the pandemic – quietly and by themselves, maintaining the current social distancing procedures.
“Everybody is basically staying home,” said Father John Bingham with the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church. “There are a number of websites and streaming sites that have services going on, either from other parishes in Canada or the United States. We're not doing any of that ourselves, we're just celebrating quietly.”
That even extends to the traditional ringing of the bells on Holy Saturday, with many churches even following the isolation guidelines to the points of cancelling that time-honoured tradition.
“It's a different time, normally we'd have over 13 services this week,” Bingham said. “It's all been really quiet this year.”
Unfortunately, that leaves few options for those without computers or the tech savvy to stay connected to their faith during the Orthodox celebrations.
“The things that worry us are people who don't have computers or TVs and can't watch, so when you can't get together it can be difficult,” Bingham said. “But this will pass, and we'll be able to hold services again [soon].”
The good news is the church does remain open at certain times for those who wish to personally worship and pray, and parishioners are asked to call Father John at 306-681-3393 for more information.
