Greek hierarch: Clergy should use social media to bring people to Church
The Church of Greece hierarch stressed that while the internet and YouTube can be useful, they cannot replace in-person participation in church life.
Metropolitan Ieronymos of Larissa and Tyrnavos said that the primary purpose of clergy engaging on social media and video platforms should be to bring people into churches to worship together, the UOJ-Greece edition reports.
“The internet is good, influencers are good, YouTube is good – all of that is fine. But the Church is about participation. If you don't come to church to take part in worship and experience it firsthand, everything else is secondary.”
The hierarch explained that the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece is preparing special guidelines for clergy who maintain blogs to prevent confusion between individual opinions and official Church teaching.
According to the Metropolitan, the problem is particularly acute among younger clergy, who sometimes share poorly considered views publicly because of their lack of experience. “We do not want personal opinions to be passed off as Church teaching,” he stated.
The Metropolitan also urged believers to exercise caution when watching videos featuring people dressed in clerical attire. He warned that those presenting themselves online as Orthodox priests are often defrocked clergy, representatives of other jurisdictions, or outright impostors.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry had described church-related disputes on social media as inappropriate.
