Holy germs
ROC: Conducting bacterial analysis of icons in Moscow churches was illegal and inappropriate
Bacterial analysis of icons in Moscow churches, which was previously carried out by a design student and a researcher at one of the laboratories, was illegal and inappropriate. This was stated to the Moscow City News Agency by Vakhtang Kipshidze, Deputy chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations between the Church and Society and the Media. During the study, various pathogenic microorganisms were found on the front side of the icons.
"If this is an expert activity, then, in my opinion, it is illegal. Because these experts, as far as I know, do not have the necessary permits or the rights to conduct medical or expert actions. If we consider this action as an act of creative self-expression, then such an act is completely inappropriate in the church. And in general, not only in the church, but in any space that is a private and sacred space for many people. It violates the right to privacy of religious organizations," V. Kipshidze said.
According to him, the researchers "mixed a scientific approach with ideas about creative freedom." The representative of the church also questioned the scientific value of the work carried out. At the same time, the church itself does not plan to conduct an appropriate analysis to confirm or refute the data obtained about bacteria, since the rectors of all parishes strive to comply with the hygienic requirements stipulated by Russian legislation, V. Kipshidze says.
"The absolute majority of the rectors of Moscow churches strive to observe all the necessary hygienic rules in their parishes. And I think it is inadequate to conclude that they are insufficient on the basis of an experiment that does not meet the criteria of scientific character, because it was conducted by people who do not have legally established competencies," concluded V. Kipshidze.
Earlier, The Village portal (with a bunch of beautiful pictures – VM) reported that a student of the British Higher School of Design and a researcher at one of the laboratories conducted a bacterial analysis of icons in churches in the center of Moscow in connection with the common Orthodox rite of applying to images. As a result of the study, staphylococci, including golden, streptococci, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli were found on the front side of the icons.
From the editors:
Microbes, including pathogenic ones, swarm everywhere: horror stories with the headlines "dirtier than a toilet bowl" list dozens of places where they nest. But in most cases, it is enough to observe elementary and well-known hygiene rules. But before you kiss the glass, to which thousands of co-religionists have attached themselves to you, at best symbolically wiping the traces of lips with the same cloth, you can use a pre-stocked disinfectant napkin.
Otherwise, a story even worse than that described by Gerald Durrell in the book "My Family and Other Animals" (1956) would not happen to you:
"Everyone, approaching the coffin, bent down, kissed his feet, whispered prayers, and from above, through the glass of the sarcophagus, the black, dried-up face of the saint looked at the crowd with an expression of strong disgust. It was quite clear that, whether we wanted it or not, we too would have to kiss the feet of Saint Spyridion. I looked around and saw that my mother was making desperate attempts to get through to me, but her Albanian bodyguards did not move an inch, and all her efforts were fruitless. <...> Finally, driven to despair, mom threw all caution to the wind and whispered loudly to me over people's heads:
– Tell Margot... no need to kiss... kiss the air... kiss the air.
I turned to give Margot my mother's instructions, but it was too late. Margot stood by the coffin and, bending down at the feet of the saint, kissed them fervently, to the delight and surprise of the crowd. When the turn came to me, following my mother's instructions, I loudly and respectfully kissed the air, about six inches above the mummy's left leg. <...>
"Never mind,– Margot said cheerfully. – All this can be endured, only if Saint Spyridion fulfilled my request.
"It's a very unhygienic event," Mom said. – It contributes much more to the spread of diseases than to healing from them. It's scary to think that only we could pick up if we really kissed those feet.
"But I kissed my feet,– said Margot, surprised.
– Margot! How could you?!
– They did it anyway. <...>
– So many people drooled over these slippers, and you still went to kiss them!
– I only did what others do.
"I just don't know why you would do that."
– I thought it would help me get rid of acne.
– Acne! Mom mimicked. – See that you don't catch something else along with acne.
The next day Margot collapsed from a severe flu, and the prestige of Saint Spyridion shattered..."
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