His Grace Bishop Sofronie of Oradea has urged families and community members to interact in real life and rely less on social media.
In his sermon delivered on the Sunday of Romanian Saints at the Hidișelu de Sus II Parish, Bishop Sofronie explained that human relationships suffer if they are limited to interactions in the virtual space.
Thus, people need to cultivate real, living relationships with those around them. Otherwise, the spiritual ties among community members will not endure.
Love Cannot Endure Through Phones and the Virtual World Alone
“The communion we speak of is not merely something declarative. You are not truly in communion with your own community, just as you cannot be in communion with your own family if you spend all your time on social media, in the virtual world!”
“Relationships between people are face-to-face. The love between husband and wife, between parents and children, or between brothers and sisters cannot endure if they only communicate through phones or in the virtual world, at a distance. Time must be spent together!” the Bishop of Oradea urged.
Furthermore, the hierarch emphasised that just as our relationship with Christ is founded solely on real communion, so must our relationships within the family and community be.
Life in Christ Must Be Lived in Reality
“In prayer, at the table of communion, in the same household, in love, understanding, mutual knowledge, and in spending free time together. The unity in the family, of course, extends to the entire community. Not through social media, not in the virtual world, but face to face.”
“For we do not commune with Christ on Facebook or Instagram, but we truly partake of Christ in the Holy Church. We are not baptized virtually, nor do we confess our sins by phone or messaging apps—we come and lay our burdens before the priest, who is a witness of God, thus receiving absolution and forgiveness from God,” concluded Bishop Sofronie.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, Bishop Sofronie ordained theologian Raul-George Gordan as deacon for the Diocesan Cathedral “Resurrection of the Lord” and “Saint Andrew, Metropolitan of Transylvania” in Oradea.
Bishop Ignatie of Huși also addressed the topic of technology in the life of human beings.
Photo: Diocese of Oradea
