The “worship” of relics is, in fact, their kissing. Most people go to the relics not to make the sign of the cross and a prayer in mind, but to kiss the scraper and to give a handkerchief, panties or any object you have at hand and thus bring luck to your home. Basically, to be clear: X-ulescu stern the scraper, leave the balls there because otherwise you can’t kiss, then, in the second two, Y-ulescu comes, does the same, and after kissing, takes a handkerchief out of his pocket , delete the bales left to bring home the children, and the procedure is repeated. Of course, we do NOT generalize. But being a pandemic, it’s enough for a quarter of pilgrims to do so, and we went on … on Saturday’s Water, of course I meant.
To come and say that the rules are followed at a pilgrimage where the relics are kissed means to take the man who listens to you as a fool. Of course, the rules are strictly followed until you reach the relics. Until then, most people, indeed, sit nicely in line, keeping their physical distance, with a mask, etc., but when they get to the coffin, the magic happens: most take off their masks and start kissing.
Last year, when there were only about 5,000 cases a day of infections and 100 deaths, more than 33,000 people worshiped the relics of St. Demetrius the New. Now, at 20,000 cases a day and 500 deaths, the scenario is repeated. With the necessary excuses, to go in pandemic to PUPI relics is religious fanaticism.
And I don’t know how it works, but the anti-vaccinists I know are religious fanatics. There is no mask for them, no vaccine, because God protects you. That God stands to protect Gigel from coronavirus that Gigel is stupid and doesn’t wash his hands, doesn’t get vaccinated, doesn’t wear a mask, doesn’t physically distance himself and so on. This stupid Gigel is just an infected martyr … actually.
Kissing relics when there are 20,000 cases of infection a day seems out of place. And it really is. And I know that people who really believe in God will not be upset reading this text, and I really don’t care about religious fanatics. I know for a fact that people who have true faith are intelligent, and I know that the new coronavirus does not go away with the saddle and the sign of the cross. God is a doctor of souls, he does not cure you of Covid-19.
It’s good that we ask for vaccination certificates when we eat at the mall and sit at distant tables, but on pilgrimages when we kiss everything we catch and there are tens of thousands of people in line, it’s maximum freedom. Let’s end the hypocrisy and the religious fanatics … if we want to solve the problem of course. God does not want us to be fools! Romania seems to be the garden of the Mother of God, but it is a garden isolated from the rest of the world that has been vaccinated.
There is nothing wrong with kissing relics, but why do it in a pandemic?
I have another point about relics, if I just started. After all, there’s nothing wrong with kissing relics. Every puppet wants. But if you touch the scraper, and then you go home and swear at the neighbor for making the music too loud, you are jealous of your colleague, you beat your child and wife, you drink until the ambulance takes you out of the ditch, you drive fast until you put people directly in grave, lies, steals, eat only fast food and then you complain that he hit you I do not know what disease and the next day you crack ‘without having anything’, as if it is in vain that you kissed relics. It’s good with relics, but faith is not just about kissing. And an atheist doesn’t say that.
As with relics when it’s not a holiday. The example of the Mitprolitan Cathedral in Iași
There is another aspect, a paradox, if you will. I went to the Mitprolitan Cathedral in Iasi. You will like it if you are an atheist or not. The idea is that Saint Parascheva is there all year round. I was on a trivial day of the week a few years ago. It was nobody. No one. The world is crowded there on October 14th. Many probably believe that Saint Parascheva is busy for the rest of the year and only then does she have time to work miracles. In fact, this is how it is written on the Internet, that on October 14, its power triples. How many people pray there should be the richest country. Or not even the richest, but at least, looking only at what happens every year, millions of Romanians should be healthy, happy and have money.
And there are queues where people wait for hours to reach the coffin. Anyone who has stood in line in their life knows how many nerves cause waiting and how many curses some get between their lips. Not to mention people who, in poor health, need medical help. Why not go to St. Parascheva even when it is not October 14? When it’s quiet, the televisions don’t come to film you sitting on your knees, when you’re alone and when you don’t have to wait in line for hours.
People who go to the relics do not deserve, under any circumstances, to be put on the wall or ridiculed. It is the only hope they have left. But surely the saints would want more than to kiss their relics. For example, simply to be better, to pray – no matter what day in the calendar, when we feel and where we want, to do things that make us and others happy, to stop being mean and jealous, to go at church etc.
But yes, religious fanatics who go to kiss their relics and do not believe in coronavirus and do not get vaccinated because God protects them deserve to be put on the wall and pointed. That because of religious fanatics I got where I got.
A doctor, who was having a difficult operation, told me that nothing could be done without God. Was right. It’s just that it means a lot more, not just to kiss relics when it’s a big holiday. It simply means faith in God and work. A lot of work. Miracles happen every day because of people who work by faith. We do not heal overnight. We do not get rich overnight. And if at least half of the people who go to St. Parascheva on October 14 change their behavior and way of life when they return home, we will certainly get even better. If not, no.
And to conclude with religious fanatics, I resume my favorite joke about God:
The Bible, faith in God and the end of the world, as seen from a religious perspective, are one of the arguments against vaccination. But we all know that God works through people. Therefore, here is the joke for those who refuse vaccination and any restrictions to protect themselves from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, for religious reasons:
The streams are coming over the village. Ion climbs on the roof of the house and waits. Some people pass by his house in a lifeboat:
– John, jump in the boat, you’re going to drown!
– No, I’m staying here! God is great and powerful and will save me!
He is still standing and a boat is passing him:
– Come on, John, jump in the boat and save yourself!
– No no! God is great and will save me!
The second boat leaves. On the third boat, the story repeats itself. Then Ion drowns. Arriving at the gates of Heaven, he knocks hard and asks to be allowed to speak to God:
“Well, my God!” I pray to you so much … I give you all my confidence and you let me die?
– What’s your name? God asks.
– Ion.
Look for God in the register:
“Well, John, but here I am, I sent you three lifeboats …”
This text is an opinion
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