January 14, 2021
 
To the Clergy and faithful of the Metropolis of Atlanta:
 
My beloved Children in the Lord,
 
Continuing to dwell within the light of our Lord’s Holy Theophany and the Nativity season’s promise of sanctification and reconciliation, I greet you with love and joy having entered the New Year 2021!
 
As we prepare for this season of new beginnings, the purpose of this letter is to consider the Metropolis’s safety practices for continuing to serve you, the faithful clergy and laity, even amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. When we speak of serving the faithful, we are compelled to contemplate several scenarios: 1) There are those who are actively participating in parish life, liturgically, spiritually, through various ministries, and there are those: 2) who, by virtue of the pandemic are keeping physical distance from their parish home, despite their virtue of being baptized Orthodox Christians. As missionaries travel to distant lands, the Metropolis is here to seek all the faithful in the southeastern United States, to bring everyone back into the fold, just as Heaven rejoices over the salvation of one lost sheep among the hundred.
 
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed all our day-to-day faith practices. As your Hierarch, it is my hope that the following guidelines will help set your minds at ease, guiding you in the sacramental life and fellowship of our Church, as we continue to navigate these extraordinary circumstances to serve all the faithful, providing spiritual nourishment to all.

To read the rest of His Eminence's letter and review the Metropolis protocols, please click here.