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Archbishop of Crete: "Do Not Use Facebook For the Good of the Church"
April 21, 2010
Romfea.gr
Archbishop Irenaios of Crete in his 18th encyclical to the clergy of the Holy Archdiocese of Crete, addressed the dangers of the internet and technology.
The Archbishop said: "Progress and technology are galloping in our times. Technology is a gift of God, but also a liability and threat in how and how often to responsibly use it."
The Archbishop especially referred to "Facebook" saying: "I am especially referring to the issue of the internet and the so-called 'Facebook'".
Continuing he said: "I personally do not know about this issue but I do recognize its dangers - the evil and the scandals which could possibly come to the Church, the Archdiocese and to all who use it without discernment."
In closing, the Archbishop added: "I propose, ask and command, to not use this method for the reasons above, and those who have used it, I ask that you distance youselves and not use it anymore, for your own good and the good of the Church."
It should be noted that this encyclical is written by the Archbishop of Crete and is addressed only to the clergy of the Archdiocese of Crete.
A clergyman of the Archdiocese of Crete has commented: "Does the Archbishop understand that dozens of Metropolitans have an account on Facebook? Are they too at risk?"
Fear is the tool of Satan. Should I not speak for fear of what might happen to my words; should I not write for fear of facing risks and threats? Isn't the whole of my Lord's sacrifice about confronting fear with faith and fighting the "Good Fight?"
ReplyDeleteThis bishop needs to pull his head out of the sand or any place else it might be and join the real world. If we are not Evangelizing the internet who will? The kids are here so we need to be here we need to speak thier language.
ReplyDeleteTime to retire I would say.
I translated and posted this because I thought the Greek responses were unfair and extreme, but I didnt realize that the American responses would be as moronic as they were, more so than the Greeks, both in this forum and elsewhere. Personally I found nothing wrong with the encyclical. I dont see it as him telling anyone what to do, but just to be more cautious. He has even explained in statements afterwards that he is not trying to be a policeman, but a pastor protecting his flock from scandals. I personally hold the Archbishop to be a living Saint and the best of all the bishops in Greece at the moment as far as his holiness, humiliy and pastoral care are concerned. Even Elder Paisios, when Cretans would visit him and try to confess, they were the only people he would turn away saying: "You have the great spiritual teacher, Irenaio of Crete, and you come here? Go to him." When I first read the piece the first question that came to my mind was: "Wow, I wonder what is going on in Crete for the Archbishop to write such an encyclical." That is the logical and christian thought a person would have. Instead everyone has been quick to judge and not even care what the context of the encyclical is, let alone read the entire thing. Instead they take it personal because it hurts their inflated egos, not realizing the Archbishop is only talking to his clergy in Crete. From comments that I have read, there have been many complaints about clergy in Crete using Facebook and the root of scandals are reaching his ear. As a good pastor, he responded before the sheep were divided, whether or not they would be. That was his response, who probably more than any other bishop in Greece has a tremendous youth following. If you dont believe me, ask Fr Kosta Kalogridis in Jamaica, New York, who grew up with him and has him today as his spiritual father. And lets be honest, I really have not seen priests utilizing Facebook very responsibly. The responsible ones are rare.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, here is a video of the news story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdG_n7o3xZ4&feature=player_embedded
Here is how the Church of Corinth has responded to facebook, by basically building their own:
http://www.churchbook.eu/
Here is an interesting post, to show that I'm not personally against Facebook and I even use it myself:
http://panagiotisandriopoulos.blogspot.com/2009/10/facebook.html
And here is something Ive posted in the past:
http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/12/archbishop-eirinaios-encourages.html
Here is a news story that Bishop Savas Zebillas translated on this issue, which was a fairly moderate Greek response:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amen.gr/index.php?mod=news&op=article&aid=2207
Irenaeus Draws Attention to Clergy with Facebook Accounts
Nikos Papachristou / The KATHIMERINI
Archbishop Irenaeus of Crete has issued an encyclical recommending his clergy to exercise caution when using the Internet and especially on Facebook. He furthermore urged those who had already opened accounts on that site to distance themselves from it. The Archbishop of Crete's action is indicative of the concern that exists among many hierarchs and faithful caused by the involvement of hundreds of clergymen of all levels on the successful social networking. And this is a time when churches throughout Greece, in dozens of cities, hundreds of parishes have an online presence on the Internet, and bishops such as Ambrose of Kalavryta, and other clerics have blogs for the expression of their own views. ... See More
'Precautionary measure'
"This is a precautionary measure, to urge our priests to avoid engaging in matters with unforeseeable consequences," said Archbishop Irenaeus, explaining the reasons that led him to send this encyclical. "We are cautious. There is always the fear of the Church being lured to engage in compromising situations, "he added.
Like millions of lay people, for the clergy, and not only the Orthodox, Facebook is an online neighborhood where they meet old friends and make new acquaintances. Many network users, many of whom don't even attend church, use the opportunity of interacting with a priest to talk about matters of concern to them, or to discuss their metaphysical matters.
"Facebook tends to develop into an electronic pulpit. In a modern pastoral way, a place that brings together a dynamic young audience, "says Father Paul, who served in the Diocese of Thessaloniki. He counts more than 1,500 electronic friends on Facebook, which he uses to inform others about his daily activities. "Many times I'm asked to hear a person's confession of sins. You see, it helps minimize the distance and makes young people especially feel more comfortable about expressing themselves," he says. Fr Paul characterizes Facebook as a means of communication. "Every thing can be used for good or bad. It's not Facebook's fault if some of us use it for purposes of self promotion or with immoral intent."
Excellent post, John! I can agree with everything the Archbishop says.
ReplyDeleteIt's standard practice now for aspiring politicians to erase anything personal from the internet that might cause a scandal during a campaign. Our governing party in Canada puts extremely strict limits on such things as text messaging, twitter and facebook on their Members of Parliament. I would be completely supportive if Bishops told their priests not to have facebook accounts.
It's true any medium need not be either "good" or "bad" but as Marshall McLuhan said "The medium IS the message". And facebook lends itself to time-wasting and narcissism. Not very attractive things.
Fr. Peter, as a medium, I'm guessing facebook is a far less focused tool for evangelism on the internet than blogs or plain old text websites. I'm not saying it couldn't be useful, but on balance I think it is more bad than good.
-J
Point #1: Privacy on the internet is dead according to Mark Zuckerberg creator of Facebook. This sends shivers down my spine...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebooks_zuckerberg_says_the_age_of_privacy_is_ov.php
Point #2: The average person has very little understanding computers and the internet. When people fail to understand something then there is a greater chance they will misuse it. When the person using it is a representative of an organisation such as a government or church, it makes things far more complicated...
The archbishop did the right thing.
I do not have a Facebook account myself, but know several priests and bishops who use them. I do agree about the need for caution. Priests may accept a number of people as "friends" perhaps because such people are parishioners, old aquaintances, or just interested in learning more about the Faith. While a person is in control of who they accept as "friends," they are not in control of the content that these people post to their sites or pictures that such people use in their profile. I admit that in visiting one priest's Facebook site I was shocked that in his list of friends there were pictures of women that were not at all modestly dressed. I have no idea what the women's relationship to the priest is in real life, but it certainly does make one uncomfortable to see this. Facebook also facilitiates a great deal of impersonal communication and "idle talk," which all Christians must guard themselves against with great vigilance.
ReplyDeleteHello John,
ReplyDeleteI read the encyclical of Archbishop Eirineos, and speaking to a friend priest in Crete, he said that he wrote it based on his own research on the issue and some negative feedback he encounterd with certain people about the effects Facebook can have. I heard that he received criticism about this, even from other clergy. I will try to speak to him directly and ask him when I call him about the situation. When I find more info, I will let you know.
Fr. Konstantinos (a spiritual child of Archbishop Eirineos)
The new internet applications, such as facebook and skype, can be used for good and bad intentions. The new technology in itself is not bad, it depends on the users how and in what manner they use it. Archimandrite Gabriela Vučkovića from the Monastery Lepavina is giving an example how the facebook and skype can be spiritualy useful and shows that they can be used for the salvation of souls. His skype account has over thousand contacts and his facebook account has approximatelly ten thousand contacts registered on his profile. Through the spiritual conversations over the skype many people were helped spiritualy, including myself, and a book named Spiritual Conversations of Archimandrite Gabriel Vučkovića, with over four hundred pages, over the Skype program has been published with the blessing of Metropolitan Jovan of Zagreb and Ljubljana. The great number of young people, in average fifteen to thirty five years old, that have contacted father Gabriel over the skype and facebook shows the need for greater Church involvement over the internet, skype, and facebook. I was among those young people who were searching for the spiritual sight as well and today I came from the New York to the Monastery Lepavina in Croatia to venerate the Miracleworking Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God from Lepavina and to meet father Gabriel in person. Father Gabriel uses the internet, skype, and facebook without fear and his Monastery's website is visited by approximately two thousand people from almost all the countries of the world, every day. In addition, he uses the internet to broadcast Radio Blagovesti for misionar purpose. The Radio Blagovesti program, which is broadcasted every day, includes the prayers, akatist, spiritual music and the Byzantium spiritual music, spiritual advices, and his blessing. There are approximattely five hundred people listening the Radio Blagovesti from ten to eleven every night. Father Gabriel has spent around 13 years on the Holy Mountain and now is the Abbot of the Monastery Lepavina in Croatia. Since the appearance of the first book he has made more spiritual conversations over the skype and facebook and the second book is being published with approximattely the same number of pages as the first one. The first book was well accepted as spiritualy beneficial by all the people that have read it. Therefore, his good example, which has yielded a great spiritual fruit, should serve as an initiator for other spiritual pastors of our Church to use the language of the young and to use the internet, skype, and facebook to spread the Word of God throughout the world for the salvation of many.
ReplyDeleteMonastery Lepavina website link: http://manastir-lepavina.org
Vladimir Srbljak
Thanks Vladimir for sharing. This sounds like a positive way social networking can be used by our clergy.
ReplyDeletePART I
ReplyDeleteThe encyclic of Archbishop Irinei could be interpreted in a such a way that the internet and all forms of its use in the religious terms we should access with the precaution and as it is said in the text: “with prudency“.
What does it mean?
In conection with that it is worth to mention father Gabriel's (Vučković) years of experiance in the virtual network misionary work. Father Gabril is the Abbot of the Monastery Lepavina, who performs his work with the blessing of Metropolitan John of Zagreb and Ljubljana. This experince seems to be quite valuable and it gives to the Orthodox world certain ideological impulses that would enable us to understand and use new forms of communication in the 21st century, without losing the continuity with the original spiritual heritage of the Church and secular content, positioning them in the Orthodox context. After the historical events, which have happened to the Orthodox Serbs in the 20th century and in the frame of global transformations at the begining of the 21st century at all the levels of life, which have tragically occured over the body of the Serbian Orthodox Church for a long time, a question remains on the autenthic Orthodox answer on the new chalanges. It is known that Orthodox Serbs, like most other Orthdox nations were attacked by many other religious teachings and spiritual concepts, that there were many victims and that new young Serb generations, as well as others, spend a lot of time in the virtual network; maybe their entire life. Therefore, they become exposed to the storms of the ocean of information and concepts of the net. That situation will not change in the future.
By taking into consideration the weight of the challenges that are facing the Orthodox believer and generally a men of our time and feeling full responsibility for the believeres as a spiritual person, Father Gabriel have approached his work cautiosly and learned the basic of computing technology, its benefits and disadventages.
The basis of the overal father Gabriel's spiritual work and plan was the Atonite spirituality, which he transmited via internet to the faitful, showing the receptivity of the modern men to the depths of Orthodoxy, which is the active life in the Church and the Holy Mysteries, within his or hers parish. This is the basis of the father Gabriel's life, which he transfers to his spiritual children and the faitful as the foundation. The Liturgy is never interrupted. That means after worship in the Church, the Jesus prayer continues. In this context, the internet, facebook, skype, spiritual chat, texts posted on the website, Internet-radio program, printed publications (magazine „The Way, the Truth, and the Life“), direct personal conversations in the Monastery become useful instruments of the mision and continuation and expantion of uninterrupted Liturgical flow. It is important to highlight that in each aforementioned forms of communication, father Gabriel highlights and emphasize what is related to the Orthodox spiritual tradition. He would not be able to do that without the high level of orthodox spiritual experience. Therefore, it is important to highlight that caution and prudence as well as extensive experience and focus are needed in order to succesfuly perfrom the pastoral and missionary work over the internet. ...
PART II....
ReplyDeleteFather Gabriel uses facebook for posting visual material for transfering the teaching of the Church about the icons and image representations through which the Gospel message spreads. The conversation over Skype program, in other words, the dialogue of believers and cleargyman, in this case father Gabriel, represents the continuation of the prayer and the prayerful dialog which prepares the faitful to the higher level of spiritual life. The spiritual chat, in other words the spiritual forum, was the place where people studied and discussed the texts with Orthodox content, texts about the importance of obedience, the liturgy of the Sacraments in conection with Agape and social motive where faithful gether together. The Orthodox chat of father Gabriel is attended by the faitful from abroad and from within Serbia, they chat only about the topics that are given by father Gabriel, at the same time they meet each other virtualy and later in person. Writing only about the given topic is the first test of obedience says father Gabriel, but the choice is liberal if we want to participate or not.
During his mission on the net, Father Gabriel has gathered a network of collaborators among his spiritual children across the world. They all have different educational backgrounds, which helps him in the creation and realization of his spiritual mission.
All of the mentioned and unmentioned communication forms, which are used in the mission purpose, are Orthodox in essence in inovative and pedagogical manner, but father Gabriel always highlights the need for practical applications in our daily lives of what we have learned. The religious teaching and spiritual experience over the internet should have a creative confirmation in our lives. Those who visit the Monastery Lepavina, venerate the Miracleworking Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, meet the brotherhood of the Monastery and the strict ritam of the monastery life, will see that father Gabriel transfers one part of the atmosphere of the Monastery life and the monastic perspective of the world into our virtual lives with the goal to transfer that knowledge in our daily lives and use it as beneficial for ourself and our surroundings.
Thus, the entire space where the Orthodox Serbs live is taken into consideration, for example the Serbia and the countries where the Orthodox live around the world. This is indeed a precious experience for the entire Orthodox world. I can witness this with my own experience because while I was searching for new spaces of the spiritual life and while I was in many dilemas for a long time, living in a foreign country surrounded by people with different religions, I contacted father Gabriel for the first time. Since then years have passed, they seem like centuries for me because discovery process in my religious life has started at that time. Through many different obediences, internet conversations via the Skype and Facebook with father Gabriel, reading of the literature suggested by father Gabriel, and by meeting his other spiritual children intensively was refleceted on my daily life and its quality.
If we return again on the interpretation of the Archbishop message about the cautionary usage of the Internet and knowing the Father Gabriel's experience and work, we can say that for those who do not know the Orthodox civilization code and the internet, then a simple cross over the intersection could be dangerous, otherwise internet could mean the only chance to refresh ourselves and others in a creative way and to spread the clear message of the Gospel.
Radomir Vučić
We are living in the world of information. In a sea of information. One Croatian scientist said that the evolution worked too much longer on the process of food digestion than on informational digestion. Before consuming food we can see it firstly with our eyes, then smell it, put in in our month and chew it for a while and than spit it out if we don't like it. Unlike that, the information can't be tasted and smelled firstly and like some informational parasite it may penetrate our system sometimes with potentially devastating consequences for the owner of the brain and his enviroment. Now what to do in the era of accessibility of all kinds of contents that may intoxicate our minds? The only answer is to strenghten spiritually and take it as a life challenge to stay alert being constantly immerged in that sea but always above it. To live unprotected, exposed and having our hands and minds free to choose, and stay on the righteous side, that is a hard job.
ReplyDeleteOne is there where his attention is directed to, or in other words people who are naturally attracted by wisdom they will always search for it everywhere and find it and others will always find their mind's occupation too. As it has been said: The bee always finds the flower to sit on and the fly...we know what.
The libraries are mostly empty, churches also...we are living in different time when, unfortunatelly, we need a quick consumation and accessibility of information. So if internet and other mass media don't offer anything but instupidating contents, it really may be very dangerous and may lead to procrastination, moral and intellectual deterioration and different unwanted forms of social behavior deviations already commonly known. People are mostly lazy by their nature and they just consume what is served.
I appreciate a lot a father Gabril's (monastery Lepavina in Croatia) hard work who is offering us the daily fresh and selected finest spiritual food from the kitchen of the Holy Mount Athos where he dwelled for more than a decade. He sensed a possiblity of channel through which he could operate and approach young people and he gathered a great number of spiritually starved people who navigated through abysses of internet and found that little but yet powerful oasis of Krist's love and service. Many have been fed in this virtual parish, encouraged and inspirated on their cristian path. Many have also met and befriended in person afterwards in monastery of Lepavina or elsewhere (and that is always such a joy!). So in this case we can't say the alienation, commonly attributed to new tech means of comunication, is taking place, but on the contrary i would say the „familiarisation“. Daily issues to discuss, possibility to interact with father Gabril and getting aquainted with the other parochial children, listening the „Radio Blagovesti“- evening's direct broadcasting of father's Gabril's reading of the Akatist to the Holy Mother of God, ortodox music and reading of carefully selected ortodox literature, all that is continiously building a huge, strong bridge over our spiritual ignorance bringing directly to our homes the most beautiful pearls of ancient ortodox wisdom dressed in a new contemporary suit.
Jasna Perić
When Father Gabriel finishes the broadcast of his evening programme on the Internet-based Annunciation Radio, he gives the blessings to his listeners. After the warm blessings, the listeners turn off their computers and go to sleep. But, the radio programme continues to travel through the digital worlds. The programme is archived and posted on the website of Lepavina monastery from where it becomes available on all continents. In that way, one spiritual line comes to a young man from India, Amol,who lives in one bigger city in India. He takes over from the internet the archived programme and takes it with himself, headphones on, and goes to work. This is one of the examples known to us, of how a programme from Annunciation Internet Radio finishes his path, from his source in Lepavina monastery to his confluence – a non-orthodox listener.In the company of the programme and the headphones, Amol breaks the jam in the city transport and does not feel the agitation of the crowd buzzing around him and instead coming to work exhausted and full of stress, he comes to his workplace calm and all pleasing. His colleagues notice the changes. They say he has somehow changed in a positive way. But, nobody exactly knows where the changes come from. Even Amol himself doesn`t know the reason. Amol doesn`t understand Serbian, doesn`t understand a word of Father Gavrilo when he reads from the orthodox literature during the programme. Amol doesn`t understand the orthodox spiritual music, he understands nothing. But still, Lepavina sanctuary reached him over the Internet. The spirituality of Lepavina travels the Internet to all continents and stops at everybody`s home. It takes one press of a keyboard and the blessing and all pleasing of the Lepavina radio will, in this way, stop at everybody`s Internet address. Internet proves here, that it, through the wires and satellites, menages to transfer the spirituality of Lepavina sanctuary.
ReplyDeleteAmol didn`t understand anything, he just listened and absorbed the sanctuary which travels from continent to continent via Internet and amazes with its presence everywhere and at anyplace. Amol listens to spiritual sparks that enter his mind and heart with the help of the internet communication and he becomes more satisfied at work on that working day without even understanding what he was listening, but he feels very well the presence of the blessing and the spiritual calmness.
Nenad Badovinac