Health Issues in the Guidelines of Christian Churches in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Traditions and Innovations

Abstract

The article examines the guidelines of Christian Churches on human health problems in the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Attention is focused on those Churches that operate in Ukraine and the countries of the Euro-Atlantic circle: the Roman Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Orthodox and Protestant Churches. The documents and practical actions of these Churches, as well as reasoning of their representatives related to this topic are analyzed, in particular: organizing of church life in the conditions of COVID-19, peculiarities of the sacraments, an attitude towards vaccination and more. Orthodox approaches and innovations, which some clergy of different Churches consider incompatible with church doctrine, have been revealed. The innovations discussed concern various forms of online participation in liturgies and other types of church life, administrating of the sacraments, determining whether vaccination against coronavirus is moral, and so on. It is noted that right now and in the near future all Churches will have to clarify and supplement their guidelines according to the challenges of today’s life. And the survival and authority of the Churches among contemporaries and future generations depend on the relevance of the corresponding evolution of church doctrines.