Caught in the net

MAY 14, 2008 SVETLANA SOLODOVNIK

A round table held before the holidays at the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church caused an interested discussion in religious circles. In fact, the meeting was devoted to the topic of intra-church conflicts, but in connection with it others arose - in particular, the planned creation of a church court and the participation of priests in Internet discussions, mainly in LiveJournal. Often discussions take forms that are not at all ecclesiastical. Speaking at the round table, the head of the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate, priest Vladimir Vigilyansky, admitted that he sees in blogs and LJ “a certain soil, a fertilizer that gives rise to conflicts.”

According to him, “anger is simply poured out in this blogosphere, where at least 500 clergy are present in different forms, both hidden and open... There are no off-limits topics if there is love for the Church and concern for its good. What I saw in this blogosphere is love for oneself, for individual authors, but there is no love for the Church,” says Father Vladimir. “The main thing is not to indulge this.”

Words about. Vladimir was put on guard by many: are the church authorities planning to take control of the Internet? “Priests who indulge in excess on the Internet will be punished,” Mikhail Pozdnyaev, a columnist for Novye Izvestia, titled his article . However, it is unlikely that there is anything in the blogosphere that is not in the life of the church. So bans cannot solve this problem.