Coronavirus: Greeks return to church, after weeks of lockdown

After two months of lockdown experiences as a result of coronavirus pandemic, thousands of Greeeks returned to church on Sunday, where services were conducted after weeks of staying away as a ban on mass gatherings to curb the spread of the virus.

Penpushing reports that in the courtyard of Ayios Spiridonas Church in Piraeus, it was a special moment for the congregations who were part of the melodious chants of the Sunday liturgy as being broadcast on loudspeakers and heard down to the sea port.

The lockdown was introduced in mid-March, however, one of the worshippers at the Sunday service, 76 year old Stella Kasimati said, “I can’t describe my feelings. After two and a half months of quarantine, we are in our church again. We are allowed what we were deprived of for two and a half months, going to church and Holy Communion’.

Penpushing further reports that, at the service, chairs were set two metres apart with boundaries in the courtyard marked with red and white masking tape,as well as availability of  disposable gloves and antiseptic at the entrance.

The excited Greeks were seen kissing icons, as is customary in the Greek Orthodox religion, while a woman wiped the icon with an antiseptic before the next person approached, and the church warden, Petros Anagnostakis, 74, said preparations to reopen the church had been ongoing for about a week.

Penpushing also reports that, the 74 year old church warden stated, “today is a great celebration, we are overjoyed and touched; it’s a great celebration for us’, just as findings showed number of the worshippers reciting the Creed, a declaration of faith in God and Jesus.

Meanwhile, Greece has recorded a lower number of coronavirus cases and deaths than many other countries, and record has it that as at Saturday evening it had recorded 2,819 cases and 162 deaths.