The attitude of the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church towards the blogging activities of clergy in the context of the mediatization of religion

Abstract

Social media are an integral part of the communication space of the Rus-sian Orthodox Church (ROC). Video blogs, accounts, profiles and channels in social media are eagerly used by Orthodox clergy to conduct religious activities. Until recently, the ROC was wary of social media, where it was often perceived as a conservative institution presenting an anachronistic religious worldview. In order to change this image, ROC decided to revise its attitude towards social media and base it on positive media studies and theological premises. The subject of this article is the analysis of official ROC documents, which were developed and published by the ROC Synodal Department for Relations with Society and the Media, in terms of the mediatization of religion. The aim of the research is to identify the ROC's strategy contained in its official documents towards the phenomenon of bloggers operating on popular platforms and social networking sites in Russia in terms of the mediatization of religion. The importance of the research results from the fact that in the period of dynamic transformation of communication channels, there is a need to diagnose the attitude of ROC management circles, expressed in official documents, to the phenomenon of mediatization of religion.