Patriarch of Bulgaria: AI must not create the illusion of replacing prayer

Patriarch Daniel delivering his address. Photo: UOJ

On September 27, 2025, Bulgarian Patriarch Daniel spoke at the 2nd International Academic Conference of the journal Theology, held at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, the Orthodoxia News Agency reported.

The Primate of the Bulgarian Church warned that artificial intelligence must not give people the false impression that it can replace prayer and spiritual labor. “We must not allow artificial intelligence to create the illusion that it can substitute or eliminate prayer and ascetic struggle,” Patriarch Daniel emphasized.

He noted that no technical achievement can bring a person closer to the true spiritual experience of the Church. “However much artificial intelligence develops or perfects itself, it will never attain what the Fathers call the mind of Christ. The intellect receives the gift of grace in prayerful, Eucharistic, and sacramental communion with Christ,” he said.

The Patriarch also drew attention to the spiritual dangers of technological life: “The danger lies in the fact that technology is displacing the sacred from every sphere of human existence. The sense of the sacred is vanishing from our daily life, and this forgetfulness of the sacred is our modern tragedy.”

In conclusion, he stressed that believers are not called to run from technology, but to safeguard prayer and a proper hierarchy of values: “When we truly live the life of the Church, participate in Holy Communion, and use technology as a means rather than an end, then we can set the right boundaries for it.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that in Thessaloniki, Patriarchs Daniel and Bartholomew discussed inter-Orthodox issues.

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