Faith - Covid and Religion
Sarajevo’s churches, mosques and synagogues — often standing just meters apart — are quiet. Worshippers of all faiths have been instructed by their respective religious leaders to shelter, and pray, in their homes and to forgo the traditional communal celebrations of their religious holidays.
However, rather than locking the doors of the houses of prayer in Sarajevo, Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders are allowing small groups of worshippers, hand-picked from among healthy community members with lower risk levels, to pray inside.
They are livestreaming the weekly prayers and sermons to the homes of their followers from the spacious vastness of their places of worship, to convey a sense of community while following the dictates of social distancing.
There will be no gathering of Christians in churches and communal egg-cracking contests this Easter. Muslims will not meet in mosques to usher in Ramadan, nor will they share the fast-breaking meals during the holy Islamic month.
Last week, on the first night of Passover, for the first time since 1950, the estimated 500 members of Sarajevo’s small Jewish community did not gather to share the ritual Seder feast.
