It’s almost time for Lent in the Russian Orthodox church, and this year, the faithful are being asked to give up a little something extra. The Guardian reports that spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin is now urging followers to forgo social media for the next few weeks, as a way of cleansing the soul.
You mean keeping up with Kim Kardashian’s Instagram isn’t conducive to quiet contemplation?
The Guardian says:
“I don’t mean just people who use depraved, entertaining, stupid and empty information,” Chaplin said. “Even useful information, that relates to our work and well-meaning interests, clogs the brain and soul too much.”
But don’t think the church is wholly anti-Internet. Just recently the head of the church himself, Patriarch Kirill, told a bunch of bishops they need to step up their online game:
“When a person makes a query on church life in an Internet search engine, he finds a lot of lies, hypocrisy and hatred,” the patriarch said, the news agency RIA-Novosti reported. “Blogs, social networks – all offer new opportunities for Christian testimony.”
We eagerly await those Snapchats.
