Our believers have never communicated with their priests so actively. Apart from using smartphones they switched to Zoom, Viber, Facebook, Instagram, all those means which have recently become popular. An idea shared by His Beatitude Sviatoslav in his comment to an April number of program “An Open Church” how Church is going to fight for young generations. Head of the UGCC outlined a necessity of communion means, however warned before its constant usage.
Orest Sokhar, editor-in-chief of “Obozrevatel” asked His Beatitude Sviatoslav how is he going to engage youth, who spends most of their time in social networks and, consequently, they don’t need to come to church to see and speak to people, what is a question to any Church. In response, His Beatitude Sviatoslav mentioned that hierarchs carefully react to changes brought by a new culture.
Head of the Church mentioned that people’s belonging to this or that community or group, parish, society of likeminded people has also changed. Thus, a person who is engaged in a virtual communication loses a potential to social relationships.
Speaking about activity of believers and priests online, His Beatitude confirmed that communication is truly converged on spiritual themes. “Staying in different premises, even in different countries, they pray together anyway”.
Church also experienced how a level of communication influenced a pastoral care.
“Youth reacts very positively to it. We feel that these means of communication work as a wakeup call for our faithful, who are thirsty for this personal meeting. And, I have good news to those who are afraid that Church will be completely absorbed by this virtual space without turning back: in a virtual world, when we continue to be under a lockdown, this thirst for a meeting is a progressing phenomenon”.
The UGCC Department for Information