“Theological Answers to Digital Dematerialization” were sought by the speakers at the final session of the 2nd Scientific Conference of the journal Theology.
Mr. Achilleas Dellopoulos, Postdoctoral Researcher at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, emphasized that the truth of the human being cannot exclude the body. The truth is completed with the Divine Eucharist, with the medicine of immortality. “Digital technology with social media can offer a multitude of functions, hymns of Holy Week, in general it can present the sacramental life of the Church to every person without requiring his presence. At first glance, this possibility seems attractive; however, the Church is not a theater for someone to watch the hymns with pleasure,” noted Mr. Dellopoulos.
He further added that church participation is related to the living experience of liturgical realities, not to their observation. “Without bodily presence in the Church there is no salvation. A disembodied existence in the Church is inconceivable. In the Church the goal is complete transformation, change. It is obvious that in the reality of embodied salvation, the disembodied human being of modern society cannot participate,” he stated emphatically.
Metropolitan Bartholomew of Kilkis wondered whether it is possible for a person to participate eucharistically through a screen. “A fundamental element is the fact that the Church is a relational event, not an organization with common beliefs. The Church is the body of Christ and the communion of the Holy Spirit, as we confess in the Creed,” said Metropolitan Bartholomew. He further added that the reference to the body expresses unity within diversity. The body presupposes parts that are different, but at the same time unifying.
“In other words, the Divine Liturgy is the heart of worship life. The Church is revealed during the liturgy, when the faithful gather to partake of the body and blood of Christ. Without this, the Church ceases to be the Church. A spectator is passive, whereas the believer participates. The absence of community undermines the very event itself,” explained the Metropolitan of Kilkis. He also stressed that no matter how useful the screen may be, it cannot transmit grace, it cannot communicate the sacrament, and that the Divine Liturgy is not a spectacle but an experience.
“The long-standing television broadcast of the Divine Liturgy is an occasional choice, whereas what happened during the pandemic was a transformation. The Divine Liturgy continues to not be a production of images; it is an eschatological act. The mystery cannot be replaced, but it can prepare a person for its experience.” Metropolitan Bartholomew further assessed that neither technophobia nor technolatry befits the Orthodox faith.
“The digital human certainly communicates faster but not necessarily more deeply. The first need is the assumption of the shepherd’s role. He must be trained both technologically and spiritually. The remote support of the child by the confessor should happen more frequently, but only as support.”
He also pointed out the need for the education of priests: “to know how we speak on social media, how we handle the internet. The Church must educate its members, not leave them to improvise. It must proclaim with boldness and love that Christ is present also in the digital world, provided we seek Him not as a presence, but as a Person. Young people today thirst for authenticity, and the Church can give it to them, as lived experience. All of us clergy must bring tradition into today’s world without altering it.”
