‘How Serious is this Pandemic’ – by Fr Alexander Kurien

OCP News Service – Fr. Alexander Kurien – 2/4/2020

How serious is this Pandemic? If anyone who thinks this is “no big deal,” is very wrong. “Be Vigilant” – 1 Peter 5:8. We are about 2 years from normalcy! Our ONLY hope remains in the Lord! God, please SAVE YOUR people.

1. Very Sad! I have personally spent three Holy Week services inside the Holy Sepulchre! This is the first time in nearly 700 years the holy site has closed for an extended period due to this disease. The church building, which houses the Tomb of Christ and the site of the crucifixion, where God blessed me to visit 29 times (total of 406 times I have kissed the Tomb and Golgotha of my Jesus). The last time the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was closed for an extended period was 1349, during an outbreak of the Black Death in Jerusalem. See a picture of a faithful kneeling and praying outside the door. My heart pains to see this!

2. His Grace Bishop Multin of Valjevo of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who recently tested positive for the coronavirus, reposed in the Lord on March 29. Please see the picture from his funeral. A picture that says a thousand words … farewell to His Holiness on March 31. 2020, Valjevo, Serbia. On a normal day, there would have been thousands from across the globe attending his funeral. I was amazingly blessed to have spent a week with him in Belgrade in 2005. A beautifully innocent spiritual soul. Current day select church hierarchies have so much to learn from his life! My heart goes out to my friends from the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Lord Have Mercy on all of us!

Fr Alexander is serving as the Deputy Associate Administrator and Executive Director of the Federal Real Property Council of the US government. He was recently appointed an expert in Human Trafficking Task Force under the Trump administration.

Source:
OCP News Service