Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has called on priests not to attend talk shows, the Moscow Patriarchate reported.
“I am calling on priests not to take part in talk shows. It is often unknown what people attend them for – to defend a person or an idea or to promote themselves, or to defeat someone,” the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said.
“This is not our style, not our word. We have laypeople who may take part in a talk show, if they wish, without subjecting the Church to censure but defending the Christian moral stand,” the patriarch said.
“Totally quitting televised public discussions would be wrong,” the Church leader said.
Patriarch Kirill delivered that speech to bishops and priests during a meal that followed a liturgy in the Christ the Savior Cathedral on Sunday. The Moscow Patriarchate published the transcript of the speech on Wednesday.
Earlier the patriarch already called on clergy to be cautious about what they say on social networking websites as “careless, or even sometimes shocking statements by certain clerics” cast a shadow on the entire Church.