Church and secular media. Fundamentals of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church
On December 9, at the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate, a seminar was held on the topic "External service to the Russian Orthodox Church in the First Decade of the 21st Century: Tasks and Priorities", in which, in addition to the DECR staff, representatives of some synodal institutions, clergymen, public figures, and scientists took part. As a representative of secular religious journalism, he participated in the seminar Chief Editor Portal "Religion and Mass Media" Alexander Shchipkov.
According to Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, who led the seminar, the DECR, of which he is chairman, plans to hold such meetings regularly. "I am a supporter of an open church policy... We [DECR] need to hear testimonies and voices from outside," the metropolitan said. He proposed for discussion several main topics directly related to the "external service" of the ROC. However, during the work of the seminar, which took the form of a free exchange of opinions, it was mainly about the second topic: "The participation of the Church in the public life of the country: goals, methods, forms. The information policy of the Church." Other topics are expected to be discussed at subsequent meetings.
One of the main directions of the external activity of the ROC is building relations with the authorities, which is especially important in view of the start of work of the new composition State Duma. Metropolitan Kirill spoke in favor of an open dialogue with the authorities, stressing that the DECR is primarily engaged in contacts with executive branch; interaction with the Duma, according to him, does not allow solving many issues related to the church. In general, according to the chairman of the DECR MP, the social activities of the church in the new conditions should be calm and constructive.
Proposing to build an "honest system of relations between the church and the authorities," Metropolitan Kirill once again opposed the creation of a special government agency"on religious affairs", because, in his opinion, such a body will necessarily interfere in the internal affairs of the church, in particular, in its personnel policy, as it was in the Soviet past, and ultimately - "like a cancerous tumor corrodes the church body" .
"The Russian Orthodox Church plays a big role in overcoming extremes in liberal thinking," the metropolitan said, drawing attention to the conciliatory role of the church and the need to help establish a "civilizational balance." Voices were heard at the seminar insisting that it is necessary to seriously consider the civilizational role of Orthodoxy in the face of today's global challenges. Many see the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church, adopted by the Council of Bishops in 2000, as the basis for such an understanding. The opinion was expressed that it could serve as a foundation for the development of "the idea of national modernization based on traditional values."
It turned out, however, that such proposals are quite consistent with the plans of the DECR. Metropolitan Kirill said that the next World Russian People's Council, which will be held in February 2004 and of which he is co-chairman, will be devoted to the topic "Orthodox world" and, in particular, to the consideration of Orthodoxy as a civilizational phenomenon.
As for the social doctrine of the Russian Orthodox Church, it should be recognized as more than logical the proposals of some participants in the seminar on the further development of the conceptual issues identified in it. Actually, the document itself is called "Basics social concept", which implies more in-depth work on its individual topics. Among the latter, it is obvious that secularization and globalization are more than relevant today, to which only a few pages are devoted to the Fundamentals (see the last section of the document). In this respect, however, , while nothing has been done at the official church level, although more than three years have passed since the adoption of the socialist doctrine.
The gathering of intellectual forces (it was, in particular, the possibility of creating a special center for forming the positions of the ROC on all topical issues), the development of the provisions of social doctrine, the implementation of an open dialogue between the church and the authorities and the public - all this is good and correct, but it is unlikely to give visible results without a thoughtful and effective information policy of the church. In modern conditions, especially if we take into account the specifics of the work of the media, no good deed will "work" for the good of the church on a national scale, if it has not manifested itself in the information space, has not been in the sphere of attention of mass media consumers. Today it is clear to everyone. To all appearances, representatives of church institutions are becoming more and more aware of this. Metropolitan Kirill agreed that at present the ROC lacks an effective information policy, and also that a special discussion of this problem is needed.
Church officials have had many problems with journalists for a long time. This and mutual misunderstanding (the conversation often goes on different languages), and the lack of appropriate qualifications among the writing and speaking brethren (journalists who professionally deal with religious topics can still be practically counted on the fingers), and, on the other hand, the well-known closeness church institutions, the lack of specially trained workers to communicate with the press. Of course, the church not only needs to develop its own media, perhaps primarily on the Internet (this is a special topic), but the church is interested in penetrating into the secular media space. During the discussion of this topic at the seminar, Alexander Shchipkov called on church representatives to be more courageous and open in their relations with the media, especially since the journalists themselves, who tend to make mistakes, need such communication. In turn, Metropolitan Kirill noted the importance of discussing with the journalists themselves the issues of the information activities of the church in order to hear their opinion on this matter.
The topic "The Church and the Media" is a complex one, and the problems associated with it, of course, cannot be reduced to those listed above. In our opinion, the main difficulty lies in the fact that any information about the church, as well as the Word that the church is called upon to convey to the general public (as a potential flock), in the modern secular media space, of necessity, must be "served" in this style and on in a language that the church itself, in its inner life, are not characteristic. Otherwise, both informing and preaching, at least in the form of moral assessments, will be, so to speak, in vain. In other words, the main thing is the problem of translation.
Actually, the mass media, as this term itself indicates, perform the function of an intermediary, a mediator. They carry out mass communication, broadcasting information, that is, transferring it from the source to the consumer. And, of course, in the process of transmission, the interpretation of the content of information occurs. This is inevitable because, as we have known for a long time, there are no pure facts, but there are interpretations. Therefore, any information in the process of translation undergoes a transformation. Who will transform it? The media themselves - in accordance both with the qualifications and competence of their employees, and with the editorial policy, which is influenced by a lot of factors, including ideological (ideological) and political ones.
In this case, we are talking about secular media. Confessionals can afford to speak the internal language of the church, because their addressee is actual or potential members of the church. Moreover, if confessional publications use "external" language, it is unlikely that their readers will understand it. But likewise, consumers of secular media are unlikely to understand what it is about if they are spoken to in church language. Therefore, the task of the church in the secular media space is to offer not just information about its inner life or a church sermon, but such materials that have already been “translated” into the secular language (in the broad sense), that is, in advance, independently invest in the proposed information the necessary church and interpretation corresponding to her self-understanding.
Probably, when they talk about the need to educate and train "church journalists", this task should be borne in mind first of all. But it's not just about training journalists; more precisely, the very process of such training presupposes the fulfillment of another, very complex, task, namely, the development of a special language of secular journalism that adequately covers religious life. A language that would be both adequate to the religious content and the form in which this content is acceptable to the media and intelligible to their consumers. Otherwise, not taking into account the specifics of modern mass communication, the church will not be able to use mass media channels for its own purposes and in its own interests.
Of course, there are more or less successful experiences in developing such a "special" language, but in general, in our opinion, it has not yet been formed. Moreover, such experiences are often perceived with hostility by some church zealots (including representatives of the clergy), who, behind the form of presentation of the material, see neither the content useful for the church, nor the true intentions of the authors, and therefore are ready to do anything that does not look like a direct sermon or affective "defence of the Church" should be perceived and qualified as "anti-church journalism".
To be honest, the "black and white" division of people - including journalists - into friends and foes, into "defenders" and "enemies" of the Church can hardly serve the real good of the Church; rather, it repels many of its potential members and simply those who treat it with respect and trust from the Church. As Metropolitan Kirill noted during the discussion at the seminar, a direct appeal to religious values does not work in the socio-political space. This is also true in relation to the mass media, since they are the "flesh of the flesh" of society and politics (both in the broad and narrow sense of the word politics).
The seminar held on December 9 is not the first experience of discussing the activities of the DECR with the participation of invited experts, members of the public and the media. At the beginning of last summer, a similar meeting dedicated to the interaction between the Russian Orthodox Church and the World Council of Churches already took place, which was attended by the Secretary General of the WCC, Konrad Reiser.
Summing up the results of the seminar, Metropolitan Kirill once again noted that an open discussion of topical topics and problems would help the church in its activities. One can only welcome such an attitude towards using the possibilities of the “conciliar mind” (speaking in the language of the Church), or (speaking in the language of the secular) towards collective understanding of what needs such reflection and discussion. Any action aimed at overcoming the closedness of the church institution, which is still making itself felt, is a step towards society, which is all the more important and relevant if we keep in mind that we are talking about a society that is striving to become a civil society.
The next seminar at the DECR MP is scheduled for the end of January.
CHURCH AND SECULAR MEDIA
XV.1. The media are playing modern world an ever-increasing role. The Church respects the work of journalists who are called upon to supply the general public with timely information about what is happening in the world, guiding people in the current complex reality. At the same time, it is important to remember that informing the viewer, listener and reader should be based not only on a firm commitment to the truth, but also on concern for the moral state of the individual and society, which includes the disclosure of positive ideals, as well as the fight against the spread of evil, sin and vice. Propaganda of violence, enmity and hatred, national, social and religious hatred, as well as the sinful exploitation of human instincts, including for commercial purposes, are unacceptable. The media, which has a huge impact on the audience, has the greatest responsibility for educating people, especially the younger generation. Journalists and media leaders must bear this responsibility in mind.
XV.2. The Church's enlightening, teaching and social peacekeeping mission encourages her to cooperate with the secular media capable of carrying its message to the most diverse segments of society. The Holy Apostle Peter calls on Christians: “Be always ready to give an answer to everyone who requires you to give an account of your hope with meekness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15). Any clergyman or layperson is called to pay due attention to contacts with secular media in order to carry out pastoral and educational work, as well as to awaken the interest of secular society in various aspects of church life and Christian culture. Wherein it is necessary to show wisdom, responsibility and prudence, bearing in mind the position of a particular media outlet in relation to faith and the Church, the moral orientation of the media, the state of relations between the church authorities and one or another information body. Orthodox laity can work directly in the secular media, and in their activities they are called to be preachers and implementers of Christian moral ideals. Journalists publishing materials leading to the corruption of human souls should be subject to canonical bans if they belong to the Orthodox Church.
Within the framework of each of the types of media (print, radio-electronic, computer), which have their own specifics, the Church - both through official institutions and through private initiatives of clergy and laity - has its own information media having the blessing of the Hierarchy. At the same time, the Church, through its institutions and authorized persons, interacts with the secular media. Such interaction is carried out both through the creation of special forms of church presence in the secular media (special supplements to newspapers and magazines, special pages, series of television and radio programs, headings), and outside of it (individual articles, radio and television reports, interviews, participation in various forms of public dialogues and discussions, advisory assistance to journalists, dissemination of specially prepared information among them, provision of reference materials and opportunities for obtaining audio and video materials [filming, recording, reproduction]).
The interaction of the Church and the secular media implies mutual responsibility. The information provided to the journalist and transmitted by him to the audience must be reliable. The opinions of the clergy or other representatives of the Church, disseminated through the media, must correspond to its teachings and position on public issues. In the case of expressing a purely private opinion, this must be stated unequivocally - both by the person speaking in the media and by the persons responsible for conveying such an opinion to the audience. The interaction of clergy and church institutions with secular media should take place under the leadership of the Church Hierarchy - when covering general church activities - and diocesan authorities - when interacting with the media at the regional level, which is primarily associated with coverage of the life of the diocese.
XV.3. In the course of relations between the Church and the secular media, complications and even serious conflicts can arise. Problems, in particular, are generated by inaccurate or distorted information about church life, placing it in an inappropriate context, mixing the personal position of the author or the quoted person with the general church position. The relationship between the Church and the secular media is sometimes also clouded by the fault of the clergy and laity themselves, for example, in cases of unjustified denial of access to information to journalists, a painful reaction to correct and correct criticism. Such issues should be resolved in the spirit of peaceful dialogue in order to eliminate misunderstandings and continue cooperation.
At the same time, deeper, fundamental conflicts arise between the Church and the secular media. This happens in the case of blasphemy against the name of God, other manifestations of blasphemy, systematic deliberate distortion of information about church life, deliberate slander against the Church and its servants. In the event of such conflicts, the highest church authority (in relation to the central media) or the diocesan Bishop (in relation to regional and local media) may, upon appropriate warning and after at least one attempt to enter into negotiations, take the following actions: terminate the relationship with the relevant media or journalist; urge believers to boycott this media outlet; contact the authorities state power to resolve the conflict; bring to canonical bans those guilty of sinful deeds, if they are Orthodox Christians. The above actions should be documented, they should be notified to the flock and society as a whole.
1. Introduction
With the blessing of His Holiness, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, for the first time in the history of our Church, this anniversary year we are holding an Orthodox Press Congress.
The founders of the Congress are the Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate, other Synodal Departments, the Ministry of Press of the Russian Federation, the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation, Moscow State University, the Orthodox Society "Radonezh" and a number of other organizations. As of today, about 450 people from ten countries and 71 dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church arrived at the congress, most of all from Russia (about 380 people from 52 dioceses), then from Ukraine (from 12 different dioceses), Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Latvia, Estonia and from the Berlin diocese. Among the participants are representatives of the diocesan media, secular media writing on church topics, Orthodox journalists from the Local Orthodox Churches.
The goals and objectives of the Congress are:
- consolidation of the efforts of Orthodox journalists in the matter of Orthodox education and familiarization of the general public with the position of the Church on the main issues of social and political life;
- work to improve the qualifications of Orthodox journalists;
- strengthening the cooperation of the Church with secular journalists writing on church topics;
- creation of the "Union of Orthodox Journalists of Russia" and the formation of its regional branches.
We propose to consider at the Congress such aspects of journalism as freedom of speech and information in the modern world, the independence and responsibility of the press, issues of journalistic ethics from an Orthodox point of view.
Our congress is taking place in the jubilee year, on the threshold of the third millennium from the birth of Christ, so we inevitably have to not only talk about current problems, but at the same time keep in mind a broader perspective, sum up the results of a wider period of time. The last 10 years in the life of the Church turned out to be very important for the revival of all aspects of church life, including Orthodox journalism.
A few words should be said to clarify the main topic of the Congress. Two thousand years ago, the greatest event in the history of mankind took place: the appearance in the flesh of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This event radically changed the world: as it became Christianized, people became more and more clearly aware that a person, being the image and likeness of God, is free: he has an inherent right to life, the right to freedom of opinion, and finally, freedom of speech in defending his convictions.
No matter what they say about the reforms of the last decade in our country, no one denies one thing: our society has gained freedom of speech. The only question is how we use this freedom.
The outgoing century was tragic for our long-suffering Fatherland. The world has witnessed confrontation, intolerance, anger in society, which led to civil war, bloodshed, the death of millions of people.
But even today, do we not feel that the spirit of division is beginning to take possession of our souls? After gaining the freedom to profess and preach any belief, a period of violent clashes immediately began. And again, people oppose "their own" to "alien", again "their" power, "their" ideas - they consider them more valuable than "foreign" ones, and not only ideas, but also lives! So, 1917 is not a random page in the history of Russia!
The power of the mass media is enormous, but, like any power, it can be both harmful to the people and beneficent.
AT recent times many archpastors, clergymen and believers of the Russian Orthodox Church are increasingly expressing concern that the state remains indifferent to the propaganda of violence, interethnic, interfaith, social and other enmity, moral licentiousness, debauchery, as well as other phenomena that contradict both Christian and natural, universal morality, through printed and audiovisual products, radio and television. As a rule, the press perceives such judgments as an encroachment on the freedom of the press. But after all, the activities of modern media can be seen as an attack on a person's freedom to live morally, since the imposition of a cult of immorality limits the freedom of human choice just as much as cruel censorship.
Therefore, realizing that we are citizens of a great country, heirs of a great Orthodox culture, we can and must resist the vulgarity, cynicism, lack of spirituality of modern life, no matter who we are, whatever we do, wherever we work: in a newspaper, in a magazine, on the radio. , on TV. Not to let the human soul get bogged down in everyday worries, to remind it of its primordial vocation to reach divine heights is an important part of journalistic service to society.
And first of all, it is the Orthodox press that must be moral and responsible, free and independent.
2. The state of Orthodox periodicals before the revolution
The question arises: is not what has been said a mere declaration, are free and independent Orthodox media possible in reality? I must say that on the eve of this congress, a series of publications took place in the secular media aimed at casting doubt on this possibility. The newspaper "NG-Religions" did its best here, devoting a whole selection of materials to the forthcoming Congress; except for an interview with a member of the Organizing Committee of the Congress, priest Vladimir Vigilyansky, apparently placed "for objectivity", everything else is sustained in a sharply critical tone, as the very titles of the articles indicate: "Strangulated word", "Closed nature of activity", "Deal with everyone" , "Is church journalism possible?" Of course, it is impossible if one understands the freedom of journalism in the way that is convenient for most secular journalists today. But today we have already heard the answer to such questions in the Word of His Holiness the Patriarch, who reminded us of the Orthodox understanding of freedom. Another answer to the same question is given by church life itself - both present (the existence of many Orthodox periodicals) and past, our church history, to which we must constantly refer, comparing our actions with church tradition. Therefore, I think it is appropriate to give a short historical reference on the state of Orthodox periodicals before the revolution.
Its beginning dates back to the first quarter of the 19th century, when the reforms of the Theological and Educational Institutions gave a new impetus to the development of our Theological Academies. In 1821, the St. Petersburg Theological Academy was the first to publish the magazine "Christian Reading". But it was a scientific, theological journal, and the first popular, public publication was the weekly "Sunday Reading", which began to appear in 1837. It contained articles of an instructive nature; it was published by the Kyiv Theological Academy. The first seminary periodical was the Riga journal School of Piety (1857). Thus, we see that the beginning of Orthodox periodicals is closely connected with our Theological School. It should be noted that before the revolution, our four academies published 19 periodicals, Theological Seminaries also published about a dozen journals, of which the most famous is the Kharkov theological and philosophical journal "Faith and Reason", founded in 1884 by Archbishop Ambrose (Klyucharev).
In the second half of the 19th century, in addition to academic journals, many other spiritual journals appeared, which can be called theological journalism. Along with theological articles, they published sermons, reviews of current events in the Orthodox Churches and the non-Orthodox world, criticism and bibliography of current book and magazine publications, essays on remarkable church figures, biographies of ascetics of piety, stories from church life and spiritual poetry. Of the most famous journals of this kind, we note the St. Petersburg "Wanderer" by Archpriest Vasily Grechulevich (in the appendix to it the "Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia" was published in 1900-1911), the Kyiv sharply polemical "Home Conversation for People's Reading" by Askochensky, the Moscow "Soulful Reading" and a lot others. All these theological and journalistic publications of the 1860s and 1870s were characterized by a bold discussion of ecclesiastical and ecclesiastical social issues.
Speaking about official publications, it should be noted that before the revolution, each diocese had its own printed organ - Diocesan Gazette. The initiative to found them belongs to the famous hierarch of the 19th century, the outstanding preacher, Archbishop Innokenty (Borisov) of Kherson, who developed their concept in 1853. Its main element was the division of the magazine into two parts: official and unofficial. The official part was intended for decrees and orders of the Holy Synod, news from the highest state authorities, especially for a given diocese, for orders from the diocesan authorities, for messages about movements and vacancies, for extracts from the annual reports of various diocesan institutions. In the unofficial part, excerpts from the works of the holy fathers, sermons, edifying articles, local historical, biographical, local history and bibliographic materials were printed.
However, only six years later this concept was presented to the Holy Synod for approval by Vladyka Innokenty's successor in the cathedra, Archbishop Dimitry (Muretov). The synod not only approved it in 1859, but also sent out the proposed publication program to all diocesan bishops. The following year, according to this program, diocesan bulletins began to appear in Yaroslavl and Kherson, and 10 years later they were already being published in most dioceses. It is interesting to note that the remote dioceses acquired their own magazines before the metropolitan ones.
Even later, central organs of the Russian Orthodox Church appeared, that is, published by the Synod or some Synodal department, - in 1875 the Church Bulletin began to appear, and in 1888 - Church Gazette.
Toward the beginning of the 20th century, the number of publications increased, in which the main place was occupied by publicly available religious and moral articles for edifying reading, such as "The Russian Pilgrim", "Sunday", "The Pilot", "Christian's Rest". Of the popular edifying pre-revolutionary journals, 30 were published by Orthodox monasteries. In particular, "Trinity Leaflets" published by the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra enjoyed great popularity. There were also special church magazines devoted to apologetics, public education, the fight against schisms and sects, naval clergy, bibliography of theological and church-historical literature. As for parish periodicals, before the revolution there were few of them, only about a dozen.
3. Church journalism in the Soviet era
However, all these Orthodox periodicals (about four hundred titles) ceased to exist already during the first five years of Soviet power - just like the publications, mainly renovationist, that arose after 1917. True, émigré Orthodox publications still remained, for example, Vestnik RSHD, Pravoslavnaya Mysl and others, but in the former USSR they were practically inaccessible to the average reader, being the property of special depositories.
For many decades, the only periodical publication of the Russian Orthodox Church was the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchy. We also had some other periodicals that were published abroad and were designed for a Western audience, for example, "Bulletin of the Western European Exarchate" in France (in Russian and French), "Voice of Orthodoxy" in German.
As for our oldest journal, ZhMP, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year (it began publication in 1931, was closed in 1935, and resumed again during the Great Patriotic War, in September 1943), then, despite the well-known restrictions of the era of totalitarianism, the magazine still played a very important role in the life of the Church. Of course, in terms of its level it was incomparable with pre-revolutionary publications - not in terms of volume (suffice it to recall that in the 30s it had 8-10 pages, in the 40s - 40-60, and only since 1954 - the current 80 ), neither in terms of circulation (it was almost impossible for an ordinary believer to get it), nor in terms of content. And yet it was that small flame that the hostile winds of the era could not extinguish. All the few theological, literary church forces at that time were drawn to him, around him gathered. Worked in the Journal at various times, outstanding Russian theologians, liturgists, church historians, and Slavic scholars collaborated with it. This tradition continues today. Its editors carefully preserve and promote church traditions, maintaining the high culture of Orthodox journalism.
During all these years, the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate has been the voice of the Russian Orthodox Church, carrying the word of the gospel to the believers of Russia, an invaluable source of information about the events of church life. He made a significant contribution to the training of future Orthodox pastors, to the Christian upbringing and enlightenment of church people, to the preservation of the purity of our faith.
During the entire period of its existence, the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, in fact, was a chronicle of the labors and days of the Russian Orthodox Church. Patriarchal messages, greetings, statements and decrees, definitions were regularly published on its pages. Holy Synod, Acts of Councils and Bishops' meetings, official reports on important events in church life. Materials were also published on the naming and consecrations of newly appointed bishops - from these publications one can trace the path of service to the Holy Church of each hierarch. Since the basis of the spiritual life of the Church is worship, the Journal has always contained messages about the services of the Primate of our Church. The Journal of Parish Life paid much attention to monasteries and theological schools, constantly told readers about the life of other Local Orthodox Churches, and paid great attention to the development of fraternal inter-Orthodox relations.
Over the past decades, the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate has published many hundreds of sermons on Orthodox holidays, doctrinal and moral topics; hundreds of articles devoted to the interpretation of Holy Scripture, Orthodox dogma, moral and pastoral theology, liturgy, canons, church history, patristics, hagiology, church art. Services, akathists, prayers to saints were published; some liturgical texts were printed for the first time from handwritten monuments.
Recently, the volume and proportion of articles devoted to understanding the historical past of our Church, the ways of reviving Orthodox Fatherland, other church and social problems from Orthodox positions. The journal began to regularly publish materials about the martyrs, confessors and ascetics of piety of the 20th century, to acquaint readers with the religious views of figures of Russian culture, with the theological heritage of the Russian emigration. The Journal reflects all spheres of modern church life, including the problems of spiritual education, pastoral care, social service of the Church, its interaction with the Armed Forces, and missionary work. On the pages of the Journal one can read both about the primatial trips of His Holiness the Patriarch and about the labors and concerns of a small church community. It publishes articles on all sections of theology, sermons, church history works, bibliographic reviews. Materials from the richest heritage of representatives of Russian theological and religious-philosophical thought of the XX century are devoted to the section of the Journal "Our Publications".
In the new conditions, when the resurgent Russia, not only with ever-increasing interest, but also with hope, turns its eyes towards the Church, when church life arouses ever greater interest in society, there is a growing desire to understand it, to understand its features, in order to then join it. , a periodical organ is especially needed, promptly and in full informing about everything that happens in the vast church organism. Such a body is the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate.
It should be noted that in the current conditions of the still unaccustomed lack of censorship and, as a result, the excessive "emancipation" of other authors, when a mass of various religious publications appeared, the role of a periodical publishing official documents of the Church, covering the activities of its Primate - His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, acquainting the reader with the official point of view of the Russian Orthodox Church, as never before, is great.
With the beginning of perestroika in 1989, one of the first church newspapers, the Moscow Church Bulletin, appeared in the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate. The history of its formation is replete with many twists and turns: it was also published on coated paper in a very small edition, it came in 2-3 copies per diocese, so some bishops hung it in the church as a wall newspaper. It came out for some time and as an appendix to "Evening Moscow" with a circulation of over 300 thousand copies. At present, it is published twice a month, and the newspaper publishes a quarterly supplement, "Overview of Orthodox Publications," which contains reviews and annotations of emerging church literature.
4. The current state of Orthodox periodicals
Describing the situation as a whole, it can be noted that over the past decade the Church has not only restored its periodical press in its traditional forms (magazine and newspaper), but is also actively mastering new forms of such activity. Their appearance is due to modern technological progress, the achievements of which are by no means always bad in themselves - it is only important to use them for good purposes. Thus, the Publishing Department of the Moscow Diocese has not only revived the Moscow Diocesan Gazette, but also publishes a video supplement to them (two issues have been published so far).
Nowadays, almost all dioceses have their own church media. Of course, they differ greatly in volume, frequency and, of course, quality, which, unfortunately, often remains low. There are many reasons for this, including economic ones: the lack of funds to attract bright and highly qualified journalists.
In Moscow alone, about 30 different Orthodox periodicals are published. Some newspapers, such as "Radonezh", are already well known not only in Moscow, but also far beyond its borders. This newspaper is characterized by high professionalism, competent construction of materials, the level of many articles in it is high, the newspaper is easy to read. Of the Moscow newspapers, one should also note the well-known parish newspaper Pravoslavnaya Moskva, whose publishing team is successfully working in the field of Orthodox journalism, sowing the reasonable, the good, the eternal. It can be said that such newspapers as Moskovsky Tserkovy Vestnik, Pravoslavnaya Moskva or Radonezh have their own identity, in some ways they have managed to advance further than others, some are more professional, some are more ecclesiastical.
The activity of Orthodox youth brings to life Orthodox youth publications - first of all, here we should mention the student newspaper of Moscow University "Tatyanin's Day", the magazine of students of the Moscow Theological Academy "Vstrecha", the magazine for doubters "Foma". Unfortunately, there is still a small number of Orthodox children's magazines for which there is a very great need; First of all, it is necessary to note the magazines "Pchelka", "Kupel", "God's World", "Sunday School".
A special kind of periodicals is the Orthodox church calendar, published once a year. As you know, now many organizations, both church and private, are striving to publish calendars, since they are invariably in demand among the population. And this is to be welcomed. But it is one thing when it comes to popular publications that contribute, so to speak, to the gradual “churching” of the ordinary secular calendar, and quite another thing is the publication of the Patriarchal Church Calendar. The latter has its own special tasks: intended mainly for the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, it serves to streamline worship, to achieve the liturgical unity of the Church. It is one thing to have a secular calendar (indicating holidays in it does not yet make it a church calendar), and quite another thing to have a calendar with liturgical instructions and readings: the problems that arise when compiling the latter are such that in a number of cases even experienced employees of the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate have to apply for clarification to the Liturgical Commission at the Holy Synod, and sometimes personally to His Holiness the Patriarch. It is unacceptable that in the calendars of different dioceses these problems were solved in different ways (as sometimes happened in pre-revolutionary Russia). It is all the more unacceptable for individuals to interfere in solving calendar problems.
The most common type of publishing activity in the dioceses is the publication of the diocesan newspaper. It can be multi-page or just a piece of paper, but one way or another it carries information about the life of the diocese. Moreover, in a number of cases, not one, but several newspapers are published in the diocese at the same time (and I do not mean the Moscow and St. Petersburg eparchies, where the situation with publishing and journalistic activities is special).
Much less number dioceses in which Orthodox magazines are published. This is understandable: publishing, say, a monthly magazine is much more labor-intensive than a monthly newspaper (which, by the way, is often published as a supplement to some secular newspaper and uses the appropriate resources). The practice of reviving Orthodox publications that appeared before the revolution under the new conditions deserves every support (for example, the oldest Orthodox magazine, Christian Reading, was revived at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, etc.).
It is important to note that in a number of dioceses church periodicals are published not only in Russian, but also in the language of the peoples living there (for example, in the Komi language in the Syktyvkar diocese, in the Altai language in the Barnaul diocese, etc.).
As an example of a diocesan newspaper, we can cite the weekly "Word of Life", which has been published in the Tashkent diocese for many years. This publication worthily fulfills the important task of spiritual nourishment of the Orthodox Central Asian flock, and one of the reasons for its success lies in the great attention paid to publishing by Archbishop Vladimir of Tashkent and Central Asia. For all his busyness, he by no means limited himself to the archpastoral parting words to the new periodical, but, in fact, he became its most active author: almost every issue of the newspaper contains his word, sermon, message. An important place in the newspaper is given to Christian pedagogy, the thoughts of the holy fathers on the upbringing of children, excerpts from the works of Ushinsky and Aksakov, essays on the Tashkent theological school, and Sunday schools in various parishes are printed. From the very first issue, the newspaper covers the topic of the history of the diocese; Thus, an essay on the history of the creation of the monthly journal "Turkestan Diocesan Gazette" was printed - in fact, the predecessor of the current newspaper: a number of publications were devoted to the initial preaching of the Apostle Thomas in Central Asia, articles were published about prominent Central Asian hierarchs, as well as materials related to the name of the student and a follower of the last Optina elder Nectarius, confessor of the Central Asian diocese in the 50s-60s of our century, Archimandrite Boris (Kholcheva; †1971). The specificity of the Central Asian diocese is in its location among the Muslim world; therefore, a number of the newspaper's materials are aimed at improving mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims, dispelling the atmosphere of omissions and suspicion. The publication of this newspaper, which can be considered an exemplary diocesan publication, has been going on for nine years.
5. New types of media
a) radio, television
Both in the capital and in the regions, the Church is actively mastering radio broadcasting. In Moscow, the many years of activity of the radio channel "Radonezh", the program "Logos" of the Department of Religious Education and Catechism, the program "I Believe" on radio "Rossiya" and others should be noted. There are certain achievements in the development of cinema (it should be emphasized the great importance of the annual film festival "Golden Knight" held by the Union of Cinematographers) and television, where the annual festival-seminar of Orthodox television, the founders of which are the Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Orthodox Society "Radonezh" plays the same role. "and the Institute for Advanced Studies of Television and Radio Broadcasting Workers. Over the past years, many interesting programs have been created on television, such as "Orthodox Monthly Book", "Orthodox", "Canon" and, of course, the author's program of the Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad "The Word of the Shepherd". Unfortunately, not all of them survived to this day. Of great importance in the development of the Orthodox presence on television is the activity of the News Agency of the Russian Orthodox Church, which covers the most important events of church life (previously this was done by the PITA agency), as well as such television programs as "Russian House" and some others.
The main wish for these forms of media is greater interaction with the Hierarchy. Cases are inadmissible when speakers at radio stations or on television sometimes put their opinions above canonical norms - this causes temptation among believers.
b) Internet
Two words should also be said about the beginning of the development of a new type of publications by church organizations - electronic media. I mean the worldwide computer network Internet, which has already become a familiar means of obtaining information in Western countries and is now becoming widespread in Russia as well. With the help of this network, each of its users can receive information from anywhere. the globe. A number of church structures, both in the center and in the dioceses, are now making efforts to install computer equipment to provide Internet access. This will allow the Church to use another channel of influence on the minds of our contemporaries, through which the most enlightened part of the youth audience, as well as the Russian-speaking population abroad, where, due to the high cost of shipping, our periodicals practically do not reach, will be able to access the treasury of Orthodoxy.
Currently, there are already dozens of Orthodox servers in Russian. Both Synodal institutions and individual dioceses, churches and monasteries go online, educational establishments. One of the largest is the "Orthodoxy in Russia" server, created with the assistance of the "Russian Cultural Initiative" foundation; on its pages are placed, in particular, such newspapers as Radonezh and Pravoslavnaya Moskva. The Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate has also created such a server; it hosts all the official publications we publish, including the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, the newspaper Moscow Church Bulletin, the Orthodox Church Calendar, the Chronicle of the Patriarchal Service, and much more.
6. Orthodox themes in secular media
In connection with the increasing social significance of the Russian Orthodox Church in our country in last years and in the secular media, the direction of journalism is intensively developing, connected with the coverage of church life. At first, such information passed through the mass media through the departments of culture, now many secular magazines and newspapers have special columnists writing on church topics, and in some media there are special headings, sections, pages, tabs and appendices entirely devoted to church life.
Examples include the "Lampada" column in the "Trud" newspaper, the "Blagovest" column in the "Rabotnitsa" magazine, and many others.
But there are also publications that have long since exposed themselves as open enemies of Orthodoxy. Their goal is clear: to inflict maximum damage on the Church, to tear the Orthodox people away from it. Even the global celebration - the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ - some of these publications used to publish blasphemous articles on their pages.
What are the reasons for the unfriendly attitude of many secular media towards the Church, to put it mildly? There are, of course, conscious enemies who, as before, imitating Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, look at the Church as a hotbed of alien ideas. Such people are extremely worried about the great and ever-increasing authority of the Church in society. However, most often, I think, this is a reaction to the ideological dictates of the recent past, a kind of complex. They see in the Church not an opportunity for the renewal of life, but a threat of the spread of a new ideology associated with certain self-limitations, while they would like to live without any ideology, absolutely "free". But it is not for nothing that they say: a holy place is never empty, and, rejecting the good yoke of Christ, they doom themselves to a much worse slavery to various idols. For freedom without the restraining principles of Christianity is self-will and arbitrariness. And the fruits of such freedom are disastrous for man, dooming our civilization to extinction.
7. So-Called Independent Orthodox Media
Recently there have appeared such supposedly "Orthodox" publications that proudly call themselves "independent". Let us ask ourselves: from whom are they independent? When such headlines or subheadings appear in the secular media, this must be understood, of course, not as an indication of true independence, since we know that the periodical press is very dependent on its economic masters, sponsors, etc., but as an indication to the absence of censorship by the authorities, as opposed to all kinds of official print media published on budgetary funds. When a publication that calls itself Orthodox, at the same time calls itself "independent", it either uncritically uses a cliche suitable only for secular media, or it really wants to be independent of the authorities - from church authorities, from the Hierarchy. But is it possible?
The Church is built on a hierarchical principle and there are not and cannot be any structures and associations independent of the Hierarchy. There has already been a period in our church history when, after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1917, meetings were held in many dioceses to remove objectionable bishops and elect new ones. We all remember what a wave of renovationism, betrayal, break with Orthodox Tradition ended this period. "Without a bishop there is no Church" - this fundamental principle, first clearly formulated by the Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons, is true in all its force today. Therefore, in my opinion, a newspaper cannot be considered Orthodox if its publication has not been given the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch or the ruling bishop.
In this matter, the current situation to some extent resembles that which took place in relation to the Orthodox brotherhoods, which were created in dozens at the beginning of perestroika. Some of them engaged in political and other activities that not only did not benefit the Church, but also directly harmed her. Council of Bishops In 1994, even a special decision had to be made to re-register the Statutes of Orthodox brotherhoods, supplementing them with a clause stating that they are created only with the consent of the rector of the parish and with the blessing of the diocesan bishop, so that they are under the responsible guardianship of the rectors.
It is obvious that we will have to return to the same topic more than once, since such "independent" media are openly fighting the Mother Church. The reasons for this are varied. Allegedly worrying about church problems that cannot be resolved, in fact, such newspapers only introduce new discords into the church organism, work to weaken the Church. Behind the articles published in them, it is impossible not to see far-reaching plans aimed at splitting the Church and, above all, at belittling its role in the cause of the national-state revival of Russia. In this, such "zealots of Orthodoxy" merge with the most rabid enemies of the Church.
In their publications, they sling mud at prominent church figures of the past and current hierarchs. Meanwhile, not only ordinary believers, but also priests and even bishops continue to take part in such newspapers - whether indirectly (by subscribing, reading) or directly (by articles, giving interviews, etc.). The question is: is this allowed canonically? Of course, this is a rhetorical question - for a truly Orthodox consciousness it should be clear: such publications destroy church unity.
Speaking about the Orthodox media, it should be noted that only those publications that are established by the official structures of the Russian Orthodox Church - directly by the Patriarchate, Synodal institutions, monasteries, parishes - can be called ecclesiastical in the full sense. Of course, there are many publications that are not in the strict sense of the church, but appeal to the Hierarchy for the blessing of their activities. Most of these media are run by church-going laity, and we support them. At the same time, one cannot ignore the fact that legally they are private enterprises that are not responsible to the Church for the content of their publications. This is fraught with a number of dangers, since under certain circumstances the editorial policy of such structures can be and is influenced by factors and forces alien to the Church. Therefore, it seems especially important that the founders of religious media include official structures of the Church, which would have the opportunity not only to formally bless, but also to actually direct the line pursued by this or that publication into the church channel.
I note that from the point of view of the non-church consciousness, what I am talking about now looks simply like a struggle between the Church and independent church media and secular journalists covering church issues. We are not afraid of such an interpretation, since the Church is by no means a parliament, where pluralism of opinions and factional struggle reign. But when such judgments are accompanied by fictitious reports, such as the one that recently appeared on the pages of Russian Thought, that the Publishing Council allegedly sent out to all Diocesan administrations a "black list" of mass media, from whose meetings with journalists the clergy are advised to refrain, we must directly state that this is slander.
In essence, this should not be surprising: you know very well that the world has been in a state of war with it since the emergence of Christianity; but in war, as in war, they do not disdain any means. But this general consideration at the present moment in relation to Orthodoxy in Russia also has a purely political component: Orthodoxy is the last bond of Russia, and therefore for many in the West it is the main target. At the same time, attacks on the Church of Christ are carried out both from outside and from within. And the enemy within the Church, who puts on the mask of a zealot for the purity of Orthodoxy, is more dangerous than an external enemy, for it is more difficult to recognize him. His favorite trick is slandering the Hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, using unclean methods of lies, distortion of facts, their biased interpretation. In the name of what are these people zealous? The answer is simple: the authors and leaders of such newspapers either themselves want a split in the Church, or simply fulfill someone else's order.
8. General problems of Orthodox journalism
a) Addressee, language, subject
The first question that arises in relation to Orthodox periodicals is their addressee. Are they internal church publications, designed for already churched readers, or should the main tasks that they set themselves be missionary, that is, should they be addressed primarily to those who are only on the threshold of the temple? The choice of language, the choice of topics, and the volume of the necessary commentary depend on the solution of this main issue.
In my opinion, both are necessary: there should be publications designed for a prepared reader who is well acquainted with church life, theology, and history; and there should be editions for beginners. But given that the ministry of the Church is now taking place in the conditions of a significant de-churching of a society that has departed far from its spiritual foundations and, so to speak, does not remember its kinship, I believe that the missionary bias in the Orthodox media should be predominant. In accordance with this, the language of newspapers and magazines should be understandable to most people. But there is also a danger here that I would like to point out. Whatever missionary goals journalists set for themselves, yet not every language is suitable for articles and notes that deal with lofty, holy things. The laudable desire to expand the readership, to get in touch with this or that social group in order to conduct Christian preaching in it, should also have its limits. It is unthinkable, for example, when carrying the Good News to those in bondage, to express it, "applying" to the mentality of criminals, in their language; it is clear that such a journalist will lose himself and will not find readers. The same can be said about the use - in an effort to capture young hearts - the jargon of youth parties.
Now about the subject. There is such a type of publication as a newsletter. The intensity of church life is very high now, and filling newspaper pages with news (with the Internet, this is very easy to do) is the easiest thing an editor can do. But for most newspapers and magazines, information about the events of church life is too little for the publication to be truly interesting to readers. It is also not enough to simply reprint passages from patristic writings. The good news of the Lord Jesus Christ is addressed to every person, but each generation of people perceives it in its own way, because it is in a new historical situation. And the main thing that may interest the reader is how the eternal truths of Christianity are refracted in the minds of his contemporary. Therefore, I believe that the main place in the Orthodox media should be occupied by the speeches of modern clergymen, believing scientists and cultural figures, Orthodox publicists.
Today, many preachers speak the language drawn from the books of the last century, do not seek to revive their knowledge, to convey it to modern man. Such preaching is not effective, and the deepest truths of the gospel and the life of the church must be spoken of in clear, modern language.
I would like to note one more point related to the language of the press. It is very characteristic of modern ideologized consciousness that the understanding of this or that publication in the old sense, i.e. following the author's arguments and similar work of thought are often replaced by the identification of "one's own" or "alien" by a few conventional signs that can be found in the material with the most cursory glance at it. At the same time, reading texts and listening to speeches turn into a search for a few key words like "patriot", "democrat", "nationalist", "ecumenist". I urge Orthodox journalists to make less use of such clichés, which inevitably vulgarize thought and do not contribute to unity in society.
Another example is provided by people who talk a lot about the need to translate the liturgy into Russian for its better understanding (I will note in parentheses - an extremely delicate matter that requires many years of work), but in fact they limit themselves to the fact that instead of "packs and packs" they say "again and again", instead of "let's listen" - "listen" and instead of "stomach" - "life", which adds absolutely nothing to the understanding of the liturgical text. Here, these modified words, an example of bad taste, also have the functional meaning of a password, an identification mark, supposed to demonstrate progressiveness to all surrounding conservatives.
The most important topic for the Orthodox media is the fight against the dominance of information that corrupts our society in the secular media. The church press should participate in the development of mechanisms to protect against the corrupting influence on the media of freedom, which is not restrained by either Christian morality or a sense of responsibility.
I would also like to wish Orthodox journalists that the opinions of the older generation of clergy who endured the heavy cross of standing in the faith during the years of the theomachy regime are better reflected in the church press. There are not so many such people now, and we must hurry to talk with them, interview them, learn from their spiritual experience. Comparing their views and thoughts on key church issues with the opinion of younger people, Orthodox journalists, would, I think, be extremely useful.
b) Controversy in the Orthodox media
Another question is whether it is necessary to cover in the Orthodox media the disorganizations and conflicts that take place in the church environment, or, speaking in a professional language, what should be the ratio between positive and negative in general? You know that not all is well in our church life. The Church is a living organism, and it would be strange if some of its members did not get sick from time to time, especially in the conditions of such rapid changes that we have been experiencing in recent years. Yes, we now live in an open society, and the Church has no secrets from both its members and society as a whole. But in covering these conflicts, wise judgment must be exercised. There are no forbidden topics for Orthodox publicists. It is only important to remember the words of the Apostle Paul: "Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful ... not everything edifies" (1 Cor. 10, 23). The task of church journalists is creation, not destruction. Therefore, criticism in the church press should be sharp, but not murderous, but benevolent.
It is important not to give in to emotions, to show spiritual sobriety. It is far from always useful to criticize publicly noticed shortcomings, knowing that this will first of all cause the cries of newspaper scoffers in the secular press. Sometimes it is more useful to apply directly to the Hierarchy with a request for action. The point is not so much to denounce this or that sin, shortcoming; it is important to correct it, and in such situations, the church press should, without succumbing to provocations, help not to inflate, but to heal such conflicts, their final disappearance from our church life.
We live in a difficult time, we still do not have the strength and means for many things, and we must keep this in mind and try to understand the actions of the Hierarchy, instead of ardently blaming him for certain sins.
Being carried away by criticism is also spiritually unsafe. It's not just about the danger of violating the Lord's commandment "do not judge." The polemical attitude gives rise in the publicist to a special lightness, the habit of solving sometimes difficult, dogmatically difficult problems - off the shoulder, with extraordinary speed. The consequence of all this is the loss of a sense of reverence for the saint, the loss of piety, that is, the traditional Orthodox frame of mind.
Particularly unattractive is the desire of some publicists writing on ecclesiastical topics to appeal to secular public opinion in their polemics with the Hierarchy. Of course, there are no direct provisions in the holy canons prohibiting such an appeal, but I think that it can be considered in exactly the same way as an appeal to civil authority in church matters, which is expressly prohibited by the canons. I also note that in the same canons it is said that before considering a complaint from a clergyman or a layman against a bishop or clergyman, one should study the question of the complainant himself: what is public opinion about him and whether his motives are pure.
Many problems are caused by insufficient contact between Orthodox journalists and the Hierarchy. It is clear that for technical reasons this contact is not always easy to make, but everyone must remember that we are doing a common thing and therefore we must strive to understand each other.
c) The ethics of an Orthodox journalist
An Orthodox journalist must take the issues of journalistic ethics very seriously. It is important that the Orthodox press does not adopt the unscrupulous methods of some secular publications, that it, without evading acute problems, at the same time does not engage in slander, does not sow discord between believers and pastors, between faith and culture, between Church and state. It should be remembered that the words of the Lord are applicable to journalism, as to no other sphere of human activity: "for every idle word that people say, they will give an answer on the day of judgment: for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:36-37).
An Orthodox journalist must constantly remember the commandment of love for one's neighbor, of responsibility for every word spoken, and show respect for the author or interlocutor. If he makes any changes to the words spoken or written by him (whether it be a literary adaptation or an abbreviation), then the author should definitely acquaint the author with them before publishing or broadcasting them. Before publishing, be sure to show the text to the person with whom you had a conversation.
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for editors of Orthodox newspapers to reprint materials from other Orthodox publications, not only without proper permission, but also without any references. The point here, of course, is not copyright, and many authors take this practice quite calmly, believing that if their publications benefit people, then thank God; but we are talking about a certain culture of relations, which Orthodox journalists should serve as an example of.
d) The problem of censorship
We live today in a society that is still experiencing the euphoria of freedom. And this prevailing mindset influences us in a certain way, and therefore it seems embarrassing for us to talk about the need to restore church censorship. Meanwhile, there is a need for it. The lack of even basic theological training among many authors writing on church topics leads to significant distortions. Orthodox dogma in their works.
As a result, "spiritual" literature appears, on the pages of which one can find blatant heresy, arguments about corruption and the evil eye, and a lot of unverified rumors are placed. But many truly wonderful events took place in the past century, but they are literally drowning in this sea of legends and myths. Therefore, I believe that the problem of church censorship is not removed from the agenda today.
At present, a certain replacement for the institution of spiritual censorship is the placement of vultures on the corresponding publications: "printed with the blessing" - of His Holiness the Patriarch, the ruling bishop - or "printed by decision of the Publishing Council." In my opinion, all spiritual literature sold in temples should be marked with a corresponding examination and the name of the censor should be indicated.
I must note that through the efforts of modern media, the idea of the unacceptability of censorship as such is being introduced into the church consciousness. But censorship for us is not an attack on freedom, but a way to preserve our church wealth, accumulated over thousands of years. Restrictions on the way authors express themselves can upset pluralists of all kinds; but in matters of salvation, that is, life and death, the Church has other priorities.
As for periodicals, in my opinion, only church media proper (diocesan, parish) can have the stamp "printed with blessing" on the first page. When we see a similar stamp on a secular Orthodox publication, this raises questions: does anyone authorized by the Hierarchy review these publications? Indeed, otherwise the publisher is given a blank form with a signature, a kind of carte blanche, and sooner or later problems may arise.
The practice of placing a "blessing" of the late Metropolitan John of St. Petersburg and Ladoga on the title page of an Orthodox "independent" newspaper testifies to the fact that in this case one can reach complete absurdity. Meanwhile, more and more new authors appear in it, whom the late Vladyka did not even know, and the tone of the newspaper has changed significantly in recent years.
The advent of the Internet has essentially made it possible for everyone to have their own media. At the same time, from the user's point of view, purely externally, personal sites are indistinguishable from those created by well-known press organs. Moreover, the publication of traditional media requires a license from the Ministry of Press of the Russian Federation, and no permission is required to create an electronic newspaper. It is clear that under these conditions the problem of the Church's blessing of such publications will become especially acute, and we will face this in the near future.
e) The need for state support for Orthodox media
Following its sacred duty - to promote the spiritual and moral improvement of society, the Russian Orthodox Church is making significant efforts to publish spiritual literature and Orthodox periodicals, which are in dire need of many of our compatriots who have lost their spiritual orientation. This task is very difficult in conditions when considerable resources are allocated for various anti-church campaigns. But even for those secular media that do not directly oppose the Church, a desire for "spiritual exoticism" is characteristic - theosophy, magic, occultism, Eastern religions and similar materials that are dubious from the point of view of the Church.
Unfortunately, the activity of the Orthodox media against this background is not sufficiently noticeable. The main reason for this is economic, arising from the general difficulties of our state. The Moscow Patriarchate invests all its main funds in the restoration of churches destroyed by the state - this is not only its sacred duty, but also the duty of the whole society; there are practically no funds for large-scale journalistic projects.
The Church especially lacks at present its central newspaper, in which it could, without directly interfering in politics in any way, evaluate certain phenomena in society from spiritual and moral positions, so to speak, "from the point of view of eternity." This line, strictly maintained in the newspaper, would help bring the various opposing forces closer together, soften the bitterness of the political struggle, and unite society as a whole. It seems to us that such a position and the general church newspaper that expresses it deserve state support, despite the fact that the Church in our country is separated from the state. Spirituality and morality are something without which a nation cannot be healthy.
It seems that the creation of a church-wide Orthodox newspaper is a truly state matter, and therefore we have the right to count on state support, which is provided to many secular "independent" media. A detailed plan for such a publication exists and will be submitted by us to the Press and Information Committee of the Russian Federation.
9. Management of Orthodox periodicals
Given the great importance of the media in the modern world, I would like to draw the attention of the Most Reverend Archpastors to the need to pay the most serious attention to those Orthodox media that are published in the dioceses they manage. Moreover, we are talking not only about the need to provide them with all possible support, including material, but also about the care of the relevant publications, about their spiritual guidance. Then the current conflicts between the press and church structures will not arise.
The Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate is called upon to carry out general management of Orthodox publishing activities, including church media. The hierarchy of our Church attaches great importance to its activities, as evidenced by the fact that in the fall of last year, by the Decision of the Holy Synod, it was given the status of a Synodal Department. But so far, the main activity of the Council is not connected with periodicals, but with book publishing - it reviews manuscripts voluntarily sent by publishers with a request to bless their publication. In most cases, submitted manuscripts are subject to benevolent criticism and, with corrections and comments, are recommended for publication, but there are still those for which the Council cannot give the requested blessing due to serious defects, or even the non-Orthodox nature of the work.
The Publishing Council is ready to extend the already accumulated experience of such reviewing to periodicals, but there is still no necessary conditions. I must note with regret that we still do not receive all the newspapers and magazines that are published in the dioceses. It may be necessary to organize an all-church competition of Orthodox media, within the framework of which it will be possible to compare various periodicals with each other and give them an Orthodox assessment.
10. The need to publish a church-wide newspaper and create a press center under His Holiness the Patriarch
Glancing over the activities of the Orthodox media, one cannot get rid of the feeling that forces are being dispersed. Many different periodicals are published, while one really large, solid, influential publication is clearly missing. In addition, most of our periodicals, in fact, are internal to the church, their subject matter and language are not always understood by a wide audience, therefore, they cannot fulfill a missionary function. In other words, there is clearly a need to create a mass all-Russian weekly Orthodox newspaper that would write not only about internal church life, but also about the world from the point of view of the Church and the Orthodox worldview.
When discussing the concept of a Russian Orthodox socio-political cultural and educational newspaper, first of all, we must determine several important positions: its addressee, principles for selecting information, sources of information, material base, and the like.
As for the addressee, in our opinion, such a newspaper is needed by the widest range of readers, all those people in Russia who profess to be Orthodox and sympathize with the Church, but are not churched (according to some estimates, such are 60% of the entire population of the country). Considering that people are tired of newspaper lies and slander, the political engagement of Russian publications, propaganda of debauchery, witchcraft and violence in them, admiration for material values and base "mass culture", then the presence of an Orthodox public newspaper covering all topics from the point of view of Christian values will attract great amount readers.
The main task of such a newspaper is to consider the urgent problems of modern life from the point of view of the Church in order to influence public opinion and political institutions. Of course, in addition to its utilitarian purpose - to be a source of information - an Orthodox newspaper must be a witness to the Truth: to carry this Truth, to affirm and defend it.
Of course, the reader has no right to expect impartiality from such a newspaper, the selection of information is already a certain bias. But if for the non-Christian consciousness the criterion of objectivity is quite earthly ideas about the truth, then for Christians such a criterion can only be the One Who Himself is "the Way and the Truth and the Life". St. John Chrysostom gave an important approach to the Christian idea of “objectivity” for us: “We pray or fast,” he wrote, “we accuse or forgive, we keep silent or talk or do something else: we will do everything for the glory of God.”
The question of the material base of the publication is very serious. Now control over information is power, so I am sure that many political forces will want to support it with finances. However, financing in the modern sense is always "ideological" control, so direct control by the Church is extremely important here. Perhaps such a newspaper could become an organ of the "Union of Orthodox Journalists", which we propose to create at this Congress. In any case, the activities of the sponsors of the newspaper should not be contrary to Christian precepts.
As for sources of information, the Church today has practically no information service of its own, except for the Information Agency of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is mainly focused on television. Such a service needs to be created, and the sooner the better. Its basis could be the "press service" under His Holiness the Patriarch. Of course, to some extent, church information passes through ITAR-TASS and other agencies, but one should use the existing secular agencies with caution - many of them are connected with political parties and certain ideological structures. The task of creating a church-wide Orthodox news agency is now quite real, because it is not so difficult to find believing correspondents at diocesan administrations and large city churches throughout Russia and abroad.
The newspaper in question should be made not just by Orthodox, but by all means church journalists. There are such journalists in Moscow. An Orthodox newspaper must necessarily become a center uniting the church intelligentsia.
Of course, it would be ideal if such a newspaper were daily, but at the moment this is hardly achievable. However, for the first two or three years, we are quite capable of publishing a weekly newspaper. This simplifies the work in terms of prompt response to events and facts, but also obliges to be analytical, excludes the "right to make a mistake" and any unreliability.
As for the distribution of such a newspaper, the Church has a unique communication system: Diocesan administrations, deanery districts, churches - on the one hand; and shops, kiosks, stalls selling church utensils and church literature - on the other. Only they, in addition to subscriptions, can ensure the distribution of at least one hundred thousand copies of the newspaper.
The newspaper should not only avoid "difficult" topics, but, on the contrary, seek them out, talk about them with the reader, presenting the Christian understanding of these problems. Of course, church life will be a priority topic for it: the newspaper should inform about the events and problems of the Russian Orthodox Church and give them a proper assessment, as well as resist anti-church actions and anti-Christian publications in the secular press. Priority topics also include social problems: disadvantaged people (refugees, the disabled, orphans, pensioners, the sick, etc.), people who are captured by passions and reject God (alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals, players, etc.) , the problems are not in general "human rights", but the rights of specific people. The newspaper should stand on the positions of principled non-partisanship, protection of national and state interests, openness to all who contribute (regardless of party membership and religious affiliation) to stability, who are looking for ways of understanding, unification and peace in society.
11. Issues of training journalistic personnel
In connection with the intensive development of Orthodox journalism in recent years, the issue of training journalistic personnel has become very topical. The publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchy pays great attention to this problem. Five years ago, the Institute of Church Journalism was created under him, two years ago it was transformed into the faculty of the Russian Orthodox University named after John the Theologian, for which the 3rd enrollment will be held this year. Now future church journalists receive more thorough training in theological disciplines, study ancient and new languages. Many students today are full-time employees of various church publishing houses. As an educational practice, they publish their student newspaper "University Bulletin", where everything - from writing articles to computer layout - is done by themselves. The second issue of this newspaper is currently being prepared.
There are many requests from dioceses to open a correspondence department at the faculty, this issue is currently being studied.
12. Creation of the "Union of Orthodox Journalists of Russia"
The facts cited in the report testify to the fact that in the field of mass media the Church and society have been taking ever new steps towards each other in recent years. Meanwhile, the activities of the Union of Journalists of Russia proceed as if this new phenomenon in the life of the country, the new direction of journalists' activity, simply does not exist. Church journalists are not invited to join the Union, we are not sent invitations to various events held under the auspices of the Union - "round tables", professional competitions, etc. Among the many negative consequences Such a situation can point to the extremely low level of publications on ecclesiastical issues in secular periodicals.
It seems that the conditions are ripe and the time has come to correct this situation. A year ago, the participants of the "round table": "Publishing Activities of the Russian Orthodox Church", held as part of the VII Christmas Educational Readings, discussing the state of church periodicals in our country, expressed the opinion that one of the significant shortcomings in this area is the disunity of figures of church funds mass media. As a measure to improve coordination and interaction between church journalists, a proposal was made to create a Union (or Brotherhood) of Orthodox Journalists. This proposal found unanimous support among the audience and it was decided to turn to the Hierarchy with a request to bless the creation of such an association. Having received such a blessing, we propose to discuss in our Congress the question of the establishment of such a Union.
In our opinion, the "Union of Orthodox Journalists of Russia" should be a creative public association established to assist the Russian Orthodox Church in educating society, promoting Orthodox spiritual, moral and cultural values, increasing professionalism, skill and mutual support of its members. In carrying out its activities, the Union will observe the canonical rules, doctrinal, theological and other traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church. Its members will be Orthodox professional creative workers of diocesan publishing houses, editorial offices of newspapers and magazines, editorial offices of radio, television and Internet channels, news agencies, as well as individual journalists and entire public associations who share the goals and objectives of the Union and promote its activities.
There is a certain fear among secular journalists that the creation of the "Union of Orthodox Journalists of Russia" will lead to the division of people who have a common profession of a journalist along religious lines. But we consider our future organization not in opposition to the existing All-Russian Union of Journalists, but as a division of it.
On the other hand, it is important not to repeat the mistakes that were made during the registration of the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods, the Charter of which did not correspond to church law and state legal provisions. This discrepancy consisted in the fact that the Union declared itself a public organization, but determined the directions of its activities at the general church, diocesan and parish levels, without providing for interaction with canonical church structures and responsibility to the hierarchy.
Concluding my speech, I would like to wish the participants of the Congress success in the forthcoming work and fruitful discussions on the issues briefly outlined by me in the presented report.
Archbishop Tikhon of Bronnitsa
editor-in-chief of the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchy
This document was developed by the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media in collaboration with Priest Svyatoslav Shevchenko, Priest Alexander Kukhta, Priest Pavel Ostrovsky, Hieromonk Makariy (Markish), Hieromonk Alexander (Mitrofanov), Archpriest Andrei Fedosov, and Archpriest Sergei Voronkin.
The Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media will continue to interact with the community of priests-video bloggers in order to develop a dialogue, further study the phenomenon of Orthodox video blogging, optimize these recommendations and, if necessary, develop new ones.
1. Basic provisions
1.1. Development modern technologies gave humanity the Internet - the latest means of communication, in which any information is distributed at high speed over long distances and in real time. This characteristic makes the worldwide network attractive for the preaching of the Good News, which Christ directly and imperatively commanded: “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). To a greater extent, this call is addressed to the modern successors of the apostles - the clergy. In this regard, the Russian Orthodox Church, represented by its hierarchs and higher authorities, has repeatedly pointed out the need for online evangelism, in particular, to representatives of the clergy.
1.2. The most actively developing segment of the Internet is the resources of the Web 2.0 format, which includes various social networks, blogging platforms, instant messengers, video hosting, etc. Distinctive feature of this format is that the content on these sites is generated by the users themselves. This parameter makes the dissemination of information on these resources the most effective. Against the backdrop of their growing popularity, information sources are decentralized, many local information dissemination centers appear, representing a serious alternative to centralized media.
Bloggers covering a variety of public spheres become opinion leaders in their environment, as they have a high degree of trust among the audience, unlike federal and regional media, which, for various reasons, lose their rating positions. In a highly competitive information environment, where the personality of the author and his subjective view of current events play an important role, blogs are building up huge audiences comparable in quantitative terms to large tabloids and TV channels.
1.3. Particularly noteworthy are video blogs, which give modern missionaries undeniable advantages in the form of audio-visual opportunities for testifying to the gospel truths, the way of conveying which gravitates towards the classic face-to-face mission. It is noteworthy that video bloggers are generally considered to be authors who directly address the audience from the site of their channel. This newest look modern priests, in most cases, take on apostolates voluntarily at the call of the soul, which, on the one hand, means a high degree of responsibility that they bear for the created content both before the Church and before God. On the other hand, not every priest takes on a mission through video blogging due to various circumstances and personal talents bestowed by God, as well as for the reason that the Savior mentioned: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matt. 9:37). In this regard, the good undertakings of video bloggers in holy orders deserve close attention and support from the Mother Church.
2. Issues of activity
2.1. At present, anti-clerical discourse is widely represented in the Russian-language segment of the blogosphere. Criticism of real and imaginary problems of the Church has become one of the easy ways to gain popularity among the audience, which is becoming a trend on video hosting sites. As a result, priests who oppose these trends in their vlogs often find themselves in an aggressive environment, which requires them to develop the virtues of love and patience. The Lord warned about such an attitude of outsiders to the preaching of Christianity: “I am sending you like sheep among wolves” (Matt. 10:16), advising to show wisdom coupled with simplicity.
2.2. Basically, Orthodox priests create and maintain video blogs at the expense of personal enthusiasm and their own funds, therefore, in most cases, they lose in terms of quality and professionalism to the general level of channels on a particular video hosting. This factor affects the growth of the audience and activity on the channel. In addition, representatives of the clergy do not always have access to competent expert advice, so they build a vlogging development strategy at their own discretion, which leads to serious mistakes and miscalculations.
2.3. It should also be noted that the priests systematically lack time for video blogging, since for the majority of the clergy this work is not the main one, but only an additional hobby after liturgical activities. In this regard, from work in personal hobby mode, which requires time-consuming production of videos, a high frequency of releases cannot be expected. This factor makes it difficult to increase the audience and activity on the channel, which affects the effectiveness of the online mission.
3. Goal setting and motivation
3.1. The main purpose of the presence of the clergy in the field of video blogging is Christian witness. Consequently, the sub-goals of video blogging of clergymen can be various educational lectures, catechesis, apologetics, etc. A creative approach is also important here, from which interesting non-classical formats can be born.
In this regard, video blogging can be seen as a direct continuation of the pastoral activity of a priest, given that, in this case, the boundaries of the parish community are significantly expanding. The pastor receives a certain credit of trust from his subscribers, who, to some extent, become his virtual parishioners.
3.2. It is worth noting the possibility of deformation of the motives of the clergy, leading channels on popular video hosting sites. To varying degrees, a video blogger in holy dignity receives a certain psychological power over subscribers, which can transform into egocentrism, the illusion of infallibility, and even guruism, which is called arrogance in the church tradition. This phenomenon, which in modern church usage has received the name “young eldership”, was condemned by the definition of the Holy Synod of December 28, 1998, which states that the task of a pastor is “to lead people to God, and not to group parishioners around themselves.”
Vanity can also form on this basis, which is expressed in the pursuit of ratings and drawing attention to oneself, which can push the author to manipulative practices that provoke a wide audience to emotions and display activity on the channel (hype, clickbait, trolling, etc.). ). In this series, one can also designate philanthropy, which for a video blogger consists in a passionate desire to please his subscribers, which means that it can force the author to fall into dishonesty and even cunning.
Monetization of a video blog is often a way for an enthusiastic priest to recoup the costs of channel development, the purchase of equipment and software, as well as the possibility of additional income, which is not a sinful phenomenon, since “the worker is worthy of his sustenance” (Matt. 10:10). But this should not turn into an end in itself, since the complete commercialization of the project will distort the original motivation of the author, which can turn a part of the audience away from the clergyman, and lead him to the passion of greed. With this and other negative phenomena described above, clergy-video bloggers are called upon to fight through efforts of will, sincere prayers and the systematic acceptance of church sacraments.
4. Methods and language
4.1. Each video blogger in holy orders independently creatively determines the methods and style of presenting the material, in accordance with his Christian conscience, Holy Scripture and Tradition. In this regard, he can be guided by the "Concept of missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church" adopted at the meeting of the Holy Synod on March 27, 2007. In particular, the document proposes, as a method, to use the principles of church reception of the culture of peoples, based on the words of the Apostle Paul: “I became everything to everyone in order to save at least some” (1 Cor. 9:22).
This method is appropriate to use in relation to various modern subcultures, including in relation to Internet culture. Here, the boundaries of the possible use of, for example, the so-called "memes" and trending topics are determined by the norms of pastoral ethics and aesthetics. On the other hand, with due diligence, all this can become a cultural bridge and lead to the formation of conditions for the transition of people from the virtual world to the real parish life. Although we should not forget the obvious fact that the non-church audience does not expect the priests to fully integrate into their conceptual matrix, since they are a priori aware of some original otherness of the clergy. In this regard, a reasonable question arises about the language of priests' video blogging.
4.2. As is known, the apologists of the first centuries and the holy fathers of the Church adopted the language of ancient philosophy, which was pagan in origin, and used this terminology to preach universal Christian truths. In the same way, missionaries of our time can use modern approaches in preaching the gospel. This will require the actualization of Christian ideas through capacious images of new realities. Therefore, Christ delivered sermons in the language of parables, using elements of folklore, rituals, agricultural traditions, etc. Such missionary tactics will be appropriate in our time of development of digital technologies. This means that the effectiveness of the mission in video blogs directly depends on the degree of immersion of the author of the channel in the cultural and linguistic environment of the target audience, that is, it is necessary to speak the same language with her.
In addition, in contrast to the temple sermon in video blogging, the expression of emotions, self-irony, kind jokes, moderate gestures and other non-verbal ways of communication are acceptable. For this reason, it is important for a priest leading a video blog to find a middle way between an overly subjective presentation of material that goes beyond church tradition and a formal clerical language that is unlikely to be understood by a modern audience. Operating with biblical quotations, especially in an environment where Holy Bible is not an authoritative source, will also not have the desired effect, so you need to learn to justify your opinion on the example of the subcultural characteristics of the audience.
4.3. Particular attention should be paid to the dangers that lie in wait for a video blogger in holy orders when looking for formats and language to address their audience. For example, such trends of non-church video blogging as profanity, obscene language, erotica, idle talk, hypocrisy, offensive behavior, humiliation of people's dignity, demonstration of scenes of violence, the spread of slander and other unverified information are alien to the church tradition.
A cleric leading a video blog also cannot allow the following methods in his activities: ridiculing the shortcomings of individuals or groups; the use of contradictions and tensions between people or groups, flaunting ideological clichés, the use of offensive nicknames and labels. All of this will have serious spiritual consequences, for "every idle word that men speak, they will answer in the day of judgment" (Matt. 12:36). It is worth recalling that in the church tradition it is customary to understand by this absolutely any words that impede the salvation of a person in eternity.
4.4. An important role in the positioning of the Church on popular video hosting sites is played by appearance clergyman, his manners, openness, which should also be attributed to the methods of presenting the material. It befits him to appear in the frame at least in a cassock or even in a cassock, preferably with a pectoral cross. In some cases, a cleric-video blogger (if he is not a monastic) may be in secular clothes, if the subject or circumstances in which the recording was made absolutely require it. Therefore, in such cases, there can be no question of any anonymity - subscribers and guests of the channel should know who is in front of them, what diocese he is from, etc. For the effectiveness of the mission, the neatness of the author of the channel and the possession of competent speech have an important role.
In this regard, an Orthodox video blogger in holy orders must remember the high degree of responsibility before God and people for his words, behavior and appearance. Therefore, the clergy need to keep Christian sobriety in order to prevent the viewers of their channel from being seduced, because, according to the Savior, “woe to that person through whom the temptation comes” (Matt. 18:7).
5. Themes of releases
5.1. Christian mission should not become an abstract agenda from the past. It is most accessible and effective to convey evangelical ideas by applying them to recognizable events and images. Thus, the current news agenda can serve as an occasion or starting point for preaching on a video channel. At the same time, church video blogging has the potential not only to respond to external informational occasions, but also, with the accumulation of certain experience and media recognition, to initiate its own Christian discourse.
5.2. When developing topics for new releases, a priest-video blogger should be guided by the principle of Christian expediency. The cleric, when choosing a subject, should avoid textures that he does not understand at all, as this will undermine the trust of the target audience. A priest should beware of those who are capable of dividing Orthodox believers along political, social or ethnic lines. Thematic issues that promote an unhealthy lifestyle, immorality, violence, etc. are not allowed for publication. Of particular danger are topics that can provoke church schism, whose sin, according to St. John Chrysostom, is not washed away even by martyr's blood.
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Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin's article on Phanar's new ecclesiology
XV. Church and secular
mass media
XV.1. The media play an ever-increasing role in the modern world. The Church respects the work of journalists who are called upon to supply the general public with timely information about what is happening in the world, guiding people in the current complex reality. At the same time, it is important to remember that informing the viewer, listener and reader should be based not only on a firm commitment to the truth, but also on concern for the moral state of the individual and society, which includes the disclosure of positive ideals, as well as the fight against the spread of evil, sin and vice. . Propaganda of violence, enmity and hatred, national, social and religious hatred, as well as the sinful exploitation of human instincts, including for commercial purposes, are unacceptable. The media, which has a huge impact on the audience, has the greatest responsibility for educating people, especially the younger generation. Journalists and media leaders must bear this responsibility in mind.
XV.2. The Church's educational, educational and social peacekeeping mission encourages her to cooperate with secular media, capable of carrying her message to the most diverse sectors of society. The Holy Apostle Peter calls on Christians: "Be always ready to give an answer to everyone who requires you to give an account of your hope with meekness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15). Any clergyman or layperson is called to pay due attention to contacts with secular media in order to carry out pastoral and educational work, as well as to awaken the interest of secular society in various aspects of church life and Christian culture. At the same time, it is necessary to show wisdom, responsibility and prudence, bearing in mind the position of a particular media outlet in relation to faith and the Church, the moral orientation of the media, the state of the relationship of the church authorities with one or another information body. Orthodox laity can work directly in the secular media, and in their activities they are called to be preachers and implementers of Christian moral ideals. Journalists publishing materials leading to the corruption of human souls should be subject to canonical bans if they belong to the Orthodox Church.
Within the framework of each type of media (print, radio-electronic, computer), which have their own specifics, the Church - both through official institutions and through private initiatives of clergy and laity - has its own information means that have the blessing of the Hierarchy. At the same time, the Church, through its institutions and authorized persons, interacts with the secular media. Such interaction is carried out both through the creation of special forms of church presence in the secular media (special supplements to newspapers and magazines, special pages, series of television and radio programs, headings), and outside of it (individual articles, radio and television reports, interviews, participation in various forms of public dialogues and discussions, advisory assistance to journalists, dissemination of specially prepared information among them, provision of reference materials and opportunities for obtaining audio and video materials [filming, recording, reproduction]).
The interaction of the Church and the secular media implies mutual responsibility. The information provided to the journalist and transmitted by him to the audience must be reliable. The opinions of the clergy or other representatives of the Church, disseminated through the media, must correspond to its teachings and position on public issues. In the case of expressing a purely private opinion, this must be stated unequivocally - both by the person speaking in the media and by the persons responsible for conveying such an opinion to the audience. The interaction of clergy and church institutions with secular media should take place under the leadership of the Church Hierarchy - when covering general church activities - and diocesan authorities - when interacting with the media at the regional level, which is primarily associated with coverage of the life of the diocese.
XV.3. In the course of relations between the Church and the secular media, complications and even serious conflicts can arise. Problems, in particular, are generated by inaccurate or distorted information about church life, placing it in an inappropriate context, mixing the personal position of the author or the quoted person with the general church position. The relationship between the Church and the secular media is sometimes also clouded by the fault of the clergy and laity themselves, for example, in cases of unjustified denial of access to information to journalists, a painful reaction to correct and correct criticism. Such issues should be resolved in the spirit of peaceful dialogue in order to eliminate misunderstandings and continue cooperation.
At the same time, deeper, fundamental conflicts arise between the Church and the secular media. This happens in the case of blasphemy against the name of God, other manifestations of blasphemy, systematic deliberate distortion of information about church life, deliberate slander against the Church and its servants. In the event of such conflicts, the highest church authority (in relation to the central media) or the diocesan Bishop (in relation to regional and local media) may, upon appropriate warning and after at least one attempt to enter into negotiations, take the following actions: terminate relations with the relevant media or journalist; urge believers to boycott this media outlet; apply to state authorities to resolve the conflict; bring to canonical bans those guilty of sinful deeds, if they are Orthodox Christians. The above actions should be documented, they should be notified to the flock and society as a whole.