Deacon Andrei Kuraev: do not burn virtual candles

Deacon Andrei Kuraev, a famous Orthodox missionary, does not welcome the virtual innovation - “put” candles on the Internet, reports Interfax .

“A virtual candle can, at best, be a reminder of a person’s religious vocation,” the deacon said in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta . “I'm afraid if this candle is lit in the virtual world, it will go out very quickly.”

He added, however, that in some situations through the Internet one can confess: “Confession at a distance as an exception is possible. It can be entrusted to another person, paper or, in the end, an Internet message - there is not much difference. ”
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The topic of blogs was also touched upon. According to the deacon, there is no ethical problem for the priest to lead, for example, LiveJournal: “Sometimes it is useful to take off my robe, entering the Internet. When you keep a diary, you need to warn that this is not a sermon from the pulpit. "

“Not every publication in the network diary (even if I had one) should be taken as my position,” the deacon clarified. - Today I will write like this, but tomorrow is completely different. If the words spoken in a personal diary are used by the media to inflate a sensation, this is already a matter of PR war. ”