After weeks of lockdown, Greeks return to church
Thousands of Greeks returned to church on Sunday after weeks of staying away as a ban on mass gatherings to curb the spread of theIt was a special moment for those who gathered from early Sunday morning in the courtyard of Ayios Spiridonas Church in Piraeus, where the melodious chants of the Sunday liturgy were broadcast on loudspeakers and heard down to the sea port.“After two and a half months of quarantine, we are in our church again,’’ said Stella Kasimati, 76.
“We are allowed what we were deprived of for two and a half months, going to church and Holy Communion,’’ she told Reuters. Greeks were not only deprived of weekly congregations but had to spend the highlight of their religious calendar, Easter, which was on April 19, indoors.Normally adjoining pews were replaced with chairs inside the church and in its courtyard as social distancing rules applied.
Chairs were set two metres apart with boundaries in the courtyard marked with red and white masking tape.Some individuals kissed icons, as is customary in the Greek Orthodox religion.Church warden, Petros Anagnostakis, 74, said preparations to reopen the church had been ongoing for about a week. “Today is a great celebration, we are overjoyed and touched; it’s a great celebration for us,’’ he said, visibly moved.Greece has recorded a lower number of COVID-19 cases and deaths than many other countries.“I think it’s a miracle that Greece didn’t have that many deaths or people sick,’’ said Kasimati.
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