Quarantine is one of the "commandments of God," and Christians can perform all the sacraments "anywhere", not necessarily in temples, said on Friday, RIA Novosti famous Church missionary, the author of many books and publications on sacred Scripture, FR Oleg Stenyaev, commenting on measures of self-isolation from the point of view of Church canons.
"We must remember that the Bible is the first book that tells about the quarantine. Quarantine is a commandment of God," said Stenyaev.
According to him, these measures are described in detail, for example, in the 13th Chapter of the book of the old Testament "Leviticus".
Responding to a question about whether it is possible in theory, the full cessation of all worship in the temples in case of serious deterioration of the epidemiological situation in the world, the interlocutor of the Agency reminded that Christianity existed in the first four centuries without any of the temples.
"unlike Judaism, where the divine service can only be performed in the temple, and only on mount Moriah (known as the Temple mount – ed.), Christians have no such ties on the premises. All the sacraments of the Church we can perform anywhere, in principle," said the priest.
He also recalled a famous phrase from the Apostle Paul speaking to the Corinthians that they – "the temple of the living God" and that their bodies are "Church living in the spirit", and that in Russia have always said, based on the Scriptures that "the temple is not in logs but in the ribs."
"In the ancient Church, a sick Christian did not attend Christian worship, but was invited to a priests house" – added Stenyaev, adding that this is stated in the message of the Apostle James.
According to the priest, and the Lord Jesus Christ recognized the law on the quarantine and performed it, as described in the gospel.
World health organization March 11 announced the outbreak of a new coronavirus infection COVID-19 pandemic. According to the latest who data, there have been recorded more than 3.6 million cases of infection, more than 254 thousand people died. In many countries, including in Russia, in connection with disease of the introduced measure of self-isolation. In particular, many temples are closed to parishioners.
