Bishop Prompts All Orthodox to Stop Watching TV!

[尼古拉前执事]

BISHOP VENYAMIM PROMPTS ALL ORTHODOX BELIEVERS TO STOP WATCHING TV PROGRAMMES

(The Candle of Repentance≈ Vertograd-Inform, Saratov/Krasnodarsk Region)

His Grace Venyamin, Bishop of Chernomorye and Kuban, has addressed his clergy and parishioners on the matter of the damage done by television. The text of this document was published in the February issue of the newspaper "The Candle of Repentance" (Svecha Pokayania), a publication of the Volgograd Parish in honor of the Zar's Martyrs of the Truly-Orthodox Church (Jurisdiction of the Synod of Bishops of ROCOR).

The need to write an address against "one of the most dangerous instruments of Satan for the soul of the believers" was prompted in Bishop Venyamin by the decline in decency, piousness and devoutness among all believers and the desire to "protect his parishioners against the aggressive and soul destructive influence of the outside world."

"Television has a strong influence, causing debauchery and destruction in men and women, it exerts a negative influence on the willpower and weakness it, says Bishop Venyamin. People do not even notice how they become television's slaves (especially of the so-called "soap operas") a psychological dependence is created similar to that caused by alcohol or drugs. Thus television is a deadly venom for the soul."

The Bishop's address especially notices the most negative influence of television on children "who loose their childhood years through TV, and transforms them from children into old people almost immediately, they are no longer innocent children!" When they experience television, says the Bishop, children "will start considering Christianity as a system imposing bans or prohibitions. with a direct or silent protest against it. Switching on the TV freely we leave our own children in the power of antichrist.!"

Fighting against television is "the foremost task of the Orthodox priest", says Bishop Venyamin. The priests must prompt their parish members to "make a decision to throw out the TV or at least to get rid of it."

In closing his address, Bishop Venyamin recalls a true story: "A small girl, a Christian, was present when a TV set was blessed with Holy Water and saw that immediately demons flew out of it. A couple of minutes went by, and all demons returned to the TV without any opposition. They sat down in the form of musicians with their music instruments, balalaykas and started their concert, like in hell. The head of the Chernomor-Kuban Diocese entrusted his clergy with the task to "convince parishioners to reject television and not to allow them to take Communion if they do not promise to say goodbye to television."

[away]

I fully agree with this Bishop. Television sucks. And it is almost impossible to understand how bad it actually is, unless you try to stop watching it altogether. Then when you happen to see something on it, you will be amazed at how it works and how well it works on people. It is THE WORST DRUG IN THE WHOLE WORLD.

"Fighting against television is "the foremost task of the Orthodox priest", says Bishop Venyamin. "

This is so true. Sadly, it seems to snare even priests.

[Joe Zollars]

as the son of a librarian and a lit teacher, I don't watch much television. Reading is so much more edifying.

Joe Zollars

[Justin Kissel]

The priests must prompt their parish members to "make a decision to throw out the TV or at least to get rid of it."

There seemed to be a number of problems with the translation, but I'm curious if by this (the "throwing out," as differentiated from getting rid of it) it is meant that this bishop is instructing some to destroy their TV's? Just curious, if anyone knows.

I, also, agree with the Bishop's words. They're perhaps hard (especially here in America, where most households now have 2 or 3 (or more) TV's, but they are words that need to be heard.

The only problem is that while chucking the TV will help future generations of Orthodox Christians, we who have been brought up on TV since childhood will still struggle daily because of our past experiences. I remember about a year ago Mary and I decided that when we got our first place together we wouldn't get Cable (even though my Grand Mother offered to give us money for it as an additional wedding present). We did keep a tv, vcr, and dvd, however, as we thought that we might want to rent a tape from time to time. In a very short time period, though, we were spending more money on renting movies than we would have been on Cable! And certainly the morality of the videos were no better than cable (sometimes much worse). So, we decided to put the tv, vcr, and dvd in the closet. Problem solved? Nope. We then began playing computer games more, and spending more and more time online. The point being that it wasn't the TV (for us) that was the problem, but their was in us (which was, admittedly, partially created by the TV) a drive to be constantly entertained, to have our mind constantly watching and hearing something entertaining. Passive, mindless entertainment was our main problem, and the TV was only a major vehicle for getting that (though, again, it's also the major contributor in getting this problem to begin with). I guess I'm just saying this because I think I'm not atypical here. I think many of us need a lot of work to do, and it's going to be a very very hard struggle if we want to find salvation.

[rebecca]

And it is almost impossible to understand how bad it actually is, unless you try to stop watching it altogether. Then when you happen to see something on it, you will be amazed at how it works and how well it works on people.

Amen! I noticed that after Great Lent. I didn't only realize how evil television is, I realized how utterly STUPID it is. A viewer should be insulted that the media thinks he's that stupid, and horrified if the masses really are.

Do I still watch TV? Yeah, but I'm trying to cut down, especially on the inappropriate stuff. (which is almost everything. I mean, have y'all seen commercials lately? 2003 prime time commercials are probably like 1953 porn!)

[Natasha]

Reading that made me think of the Russian tv network programming. Ugh, spanish soap operas, Xena-warrior princess, and lots of miami vice re-runs....that alone should make you want to turn the tv off!

[away]

Fortunately for the members of this forum I cannot fully express my extreme hatred of television through this medium.

In my opinion, if the Devil was to create a temple for himself, full of objects for veneration, objects representing the various and multiform sins, passions, blasphemies, mindless anamalistic behaviors and blatent lies that he inspires unendingly through his hatred for us and our Creator, and if he were to animate these objects of veneration with multicolors and sweet sounding subtle words and layered meanings and symbolic insertions of diabolic seductions, employing in this animation and texturing of sensory unreality, the finest minds of its permanent victims, the industrial psychologists and P.R. self replicating robots who finely tune the mind of every worshiper to never miss a single rite held within this temple of filth and halucination, and to firmly hold and espouse its every teaching and if he could manage to not only get the majority of entire populations to consistently, day in, day out, worship the fantastic objects, and venerate them with total mindfullness and singular, passive focus, but to actually convince billions of people to erect a temple in the very house in which they live and breath and sleep and perhaps even dare to pray, then I think we could only call it television.