Christians At Risk Of Spreading Virus Through Communion, Handshakes

oge okonkwo

September 19, 2014 5:14 PM

In a statement made by the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Alfred Adewale Martins, sometime in August, he said: "We have now deemed it necessary to permit in the interim the reception of Holy Communion in the hand as an extraordinary practice while the Ebola Virus alert is on. We maintain however, that in the Archdiocese of Lagos, the ordinary way of receiving Holy Communion remains Communion-on-the-tongue."

As the deadly Ebola virus continues to ravage some countries in West Africa, reports say Nigerian Christians are at risk of spreading deadly disease especially during communion service, Guardian reports.

As the Ebola virus, which is spread through body fluids, began infecting large parts of Nigeria, both Anglican and Catholic Church leaders were advised against the typical manner in which churches administered communion. Such practices included placing the Communion wafer directly into the parishioner's mouths, the entire congregation drinking from the same Communion cup, and priest breaking and dividing the bread with their bare hands.

However, he added that those who wished to continue to receive communion on the tongue, should be allowed to do so, saying: "Their personal devotion to the Eucharist must be respected."

The Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan also instructed congregations to avoid shaking hands in the sharing of the peace, and the Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria, the Most Rev Nicholas Okoh warned that Anglican churches should no longer drink from the same cup. He told churches to instead dip the bread into wine, or individual cups.

However, the Guardian reports that "most churches are yet to make any changes" to the way they administer the sacrament.

"Tradition is very precious in Nigerian churches, it's very spiritualized," explained Dr. Walter Smith, who works as a missionary in Nigeria.

"To suddenly change what they've done for hundreds of years is very counterintuitive, regardless of the cost."

According to Reuters, Ebola virus has killed an estimated 2,630 people in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia all together.

oge okonkwo