COVID-19 and allegedly Christian dualism

This article examines the theological reactions prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic within certain Orthodox Christian circles, particularly positions asserting the impossibility of any contamination during Eucharistic communion. Written in March 2020 in the form of a theological clarification, the text by Father Cyril Hovorun analyzes the doctrinal presuppositions underlying these claims. The central idea is that such positions reflect an implicit dualism incompatible with authentic Christian theology: by radically separating the spiritual from the material, they fail to recognize the realism of the Incarnation and the sacramental nature of matter. The contribution of the article is to show that defending a quasi-magical vision of the Holy Gifts, far from protecting orthodoxy, introduces a dualistic deviation that the Christian theological tradition has precisely sought to overcome.