Yahoo – AFP,
26 October 2013
 |
| Macedonian Orthodox priests attend a midnight Easter service in the St. Dimitrija Church in Skopje on April 15, 2012. (AFP Photo/Robert Atanasovski) |
Skopje
(AFP) - Macedonia'a Orthodox Church on Friday ordered its priests and nuns not
to use Facebook or be ready to face unnamed sanctions, church officials said.
"Everyone
among the clergy will face sanctions if using Facebook," the church's
spokesman, Bishop Timotej, told reporters.
The bishop
did not reveal the reasons for the ban, but sources from the church said the
measure would be "imposed especially for those expressing personal
attitudes on Facebook."
Local media
reported that the decision was proposed by one of the senior bishops, Petar,
who defended the move saying it was meant to "protect (the faithful) from
misleading and manipulations."
The ban
seemed to show the rift between senior and junior priests, who have often used
social networks to attract younger generations to the church by offering them
religious education and advice.
However,
some of them also expressed their personal views on the political situation in
the country, sometimes criticising the government.
Although
they are officially separated, the church has gradually increased its influence
in state affairs since Macedonia proclaimed independence from the former
Yugoslavia in 1991.
The
Macedonian Orthodox Church split from the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1967 and
has not been recognised by other Orthodox churches.
Most of
Macedonia's Christians are Orthodox. They make up three-quarters of the
country's population of 2.2 million.
Ethnic
Albanians who make up around one quarter of its population are mostly Muslim.
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