Putin’s Metropolitan Says Minimizing Coronavirus Danger ‘Dishonest and Wicked’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, March 31 – Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov, long identified as the Russian Orthodox hierarch closed to Vladimir Putin and tipped by some as the likely successor to Patriarch Kirill, says that those who minimize the extent of the coronavirus danger are “liars and wicked.”

            Patriarch Kirill has already called for the faithful to stay at home rather than attend church, but Mikhail Tyurenkov, a commentator for the conservative Tsargrad television network, says that Tikhon’s words were especially tough and important for three reasons (tsargrad.tv/articles/jeto-tretja-mirovaja-mitropolit-tihon-shevkunov-oblichil-legkomyslie-k-koronavirusu_245202).

            First, Tikhon’s mother was an epidemiologist and so he more than any of the other church hierarch’s knows whereof he speaks. Second, the population of Pskov is far older than the all-Russian average and thus particularly at risk. And third, most of the time there are numerous pilgrims to the monastery there, bringing with them the risk of infection.

            The metropolitan acknowledges that many Orthodox find it difficult to stay away from church, but he says they must at least at busy times. Priests will continue to conduct services, but the faithful should pray at home and come to the church to pray before icons only at off-times when they will be less likely to come into contact with others.

            Tyurenkov says that Tikhon’s “tough” words deserve particular respect because he cannot be suspected of liberalism or other departures from the faith. “His position has always been close to those who are called ‘Orthodox conservatives” and, at the same time, is accessible to all, including those who are just making their first steps toward the Church.”

            Indeed, the Tsargrad commentator continues, what makes Tikhon’s position in this case  so valuable is that he has declared the fight against the coronavirus analogous to the fight against the Germans in World War II and declared that just as Russians defeated that plague,  they can defeat this one, thereby enlisting patriotism in the fight against the pandemic.