Paphos People

Six nuns and three priests are among the 117 people being treated in hospitals for coronavirus, state health services (Okypy) spokesman Charalambos Charilaou said on Saturday.

“A surge is spreading in a specific convent,” Charilaou told Cybc, with six nuns being treated at Larnaca hospital. All are unvaccinated.

Charilaou added that there are also three priests, also unvaccinated, at Limassol hospital.

“The vast majority of hospitalised patients are unvaccinated. People who have not been vaccinated are much more likely than anyone to become seriously ill and to need to be treated in the ICU,” he said.

This news about the clergy outbreak comes days after the Holy Synod reaffirmed its support for inoculations as a means of fighting the pandemic following an appeal by President Nicos Anastasiades on Thursday.

Despite Archbishop Chrysostomos’ vocal support for the Covid vaccine, certain members of the clergy, particularly Morphou bishop Neophytos, who recently recovered from the virus, continue to stand firmly against.

Neophytos, who refused to speak to the media on Thursday, has said previously he would not get the jab, because he did not want to become like a genetically modified product.

He was also accused of breaking measures against the spread of coronavirus by encouraging his congregation to attend church services when they were banned and refused to pay a fine imposed on him for his actions.

In later statements following the meeting however, he said he and the other bishops “agreed with his Beatitude’s proposal that within the Holy Synod we will voice our dissent whenever we happen to disagree with a decision by the majority.

“But in public, we shall remain silent, provided that we are not provoked into responding, and we will publicly express our assent with the decisions of the majority of the Holy Synod, whenever we happen to agree.”

In a postscript, Neophytos said that speeches and sermons will continue without reference to vaccinations.

Despite this, the Union of Cyprus Communities revealed on Saturday that several priests in Morphou communities continue to preach against vaccinations in their sermons.

Union head Andreas Kitromilides told Cybc that after receiving complaints about an Archimandrite sermon in Platanistasa which tried to discourage people from getting jabbed, officials discovered that this was not an isolated incident, uncovering complaints from other nearby communities.

He finally said community leaders are concerned and will address the issue in their next meeting.
https://cyprus-mail.com/2021/09/11/coronavirus-six-nuns-three-priests-hospitalised-with-covid-all-unvaxxed/

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Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

More nuns have tested positive for coronavirus in a nunnery in the Larnaca district, with the chain of transmission estimated to have started from tourists who visited the premises.

Eleven out of the 12 nuns who live in the specific nunnery have so far tested positive, the head of the contact tracing team of the health ministry Valentinos Silvestros told the Cybc on Monday.

Initially, six nuns were said to have tested positive, it was reported on Saturday. All six, who are not vaccinated, had been hospitalised.

According to Silvestros, the chain of transmission has been linked to a guided tour of foreign tourists during the August holiday weekend celebrating the dormition of the Virgin Mary.

The tourists were said to have visited the nunnery several days prior to the first case.

Silvestros added the contact tracing team is continuously tracing cases of nuns and priests.

Recently three priests also tested positive from three separate churches in Limassol.

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Dave
Moira And Dave

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

I think it is really sad ...

that even now ...after many millions of doses have been given world wide of vaccines against the corona virus ...that their are still many ill informed people who believe this myth of the vaccines making you a genetically modified person!

May they all recover to full health soon

From a different perspective perhaps the fact that these people living in a closed community believe they are unlikely to come in contact with other people and so there is less or no need to have the vaccine?

I am sure there are still quite a few people, especially the elderly, who also don't see the necessity of being vaccinated because they don't go anywhere apart from perhaps the local kafenio and kiosk and do not socialise as such.

I also think that if people in a closed community are exposed to the virus then they are more likely to get it compared to people who do go out of the home because they are living in a protected environment.