ROC launched the first Orthodox messenger

The news, of course, as specifically for Friday, but nonetheless ...

The Russian Orthodox Church launched Russia's first Orthodox messenger, Pravzhizn Telegram . This was announced on Friday, February 3, in the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media, reports TASS.

The functionality of the application allows users to not only exchange instant messages, send files and send photos, videos and audios, but also subscribe to various channels to follow events from the life of a temple or monastery.
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With the help of "Pravzhizn Telegram", as noted, the clergy will be able to "accept requests for prayer assistance from the parishioners" and "promptly receive requests for demands." In addition, with the launch of the application, they can collect donations, organize volunteers, create channels and make distribution to subscribers.

According to the creators of the application, now Orthodox users will be able to get to know each other better, find new friends and acquaintances, discuss the news and provide prayer or other assistance to believers. “Thanks to the application“ Pravzhizn Telegram ”I was able to cure the disease that had tormented me long ago,” one of the parishioners notes.

Pravzhizn Telegram supports eight communication languages ​​and is available for PC and Android users.

In July 2016, the Russian Orthodox Church announced the development of its own messenger. Creating an application blessed Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. According to the authors of the program, it was supposed to become an “important link in the unified communication platform” of the Russian Orthodox Church and would satisfy the needs of believers in “interactive communication and uninterrupted communication of parishioners with the church.” Then, I recall, it was claimed that “the reason for the creation of the messenger was the requests of users of the social network“ Yelitsa ” , in which more than 100 thousand users, including about a thousand clergymen, are registered. 63 eparchies and 45 archiereans have official web pages. The foundation of the messenger will be the accumulated social network base of 18 thousand Orthodox churches and their communities. “According to our estimates, the potential audience of the social network and messenger can be from 7 to 10 million people,” said Ivan Suslin, director of network development for Yelitsa. In October 2016, the press service of the patriarch launched an information channel in Telegram.

Technically, apparently, "Pravzhizn Telegram" is a beautiful shell (more precisely, the client program) to Telegram, which, of course, will be able to offer its own services independent of Telegram. Interestingly, not so long ago, the State Duma offered to consider the possibility of restricting access to the Telegram to Russians.

I wonder if you can trust this client in terms of security and privacy?