Every evening, 30-year-old Nikolai Babkin, after putting the children to bed, begins to work on his pages on social networks.
His actions are no different from the work of any other blogger seriously engaged in promoting an account: you need to come up with topics for posts and live broadcasts, answer questions from subscribers, draw up a content plan, start new projects.
The peculiarity is that Nikolai is a priest.
He is far from the only Orthodox father - a blogger.
The first publications from the patriarchy on the Internet were made in 1997, and with the advent of Facebook, VKontakte and LiveJournal, ordinary priests began to maintain their own accounts.
Later, members of the clergy began registering on YouTube and Instagram.
Now priests are mastering Telegram and even TikTok, which is aimed primarily at a youth audience.
The Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate for Church Relations with Society and the Media has developed recommendations and advice for video blogs by priests of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In the document, in particular, it is recommended to speak with the flock in its language, and it is not forbidden to use memes.
Videos should be recorded in a cassock or cassock, preferably with a cross.
It is not forbidden to appear in the frame in secular clothes, however, the priest must inform the audience who he is and which diocese he represents.
Banned for priests-bloggers "profanity, eroticism, idle talk, hypocrisy, humiliation of people's dignity, abusive behavior, demonstration of scenes of violence, the spread of slander and unverified information."
The publications should not contain propaganda of unhealthy lifestyles, immorality and topics that can divide believers along social, ethnic or political grounds.
Some priests even look at translations of the English songs used to decorate the videos, so that there is nothing seditious there.
"I don't have a spiritual scanner"
In 2020, the activity of clerics on the Internet has increased dramatically, and in this regard, their popularity has also increased, says Vladimir Legoida, head of the Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate for Church Relations with Society and the Media, in an interview with RT: “Following the position of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill on expanding the church presence on social media, more and more priests are starting their own blogs.
With the understanding that the main thing for the priest should always be the real, not the virtual flock. "
The maximum influx of subscribers fell on the days of Great Lent and before Easter, since churches were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Priest Nikolai Babkin recalls.
He has been serving for eight years, at the moment - in the church of St. Nicholas of Mirlikisky in the north of Moscow.
A priest in social networks since 2012: he started with groups on VKontakte, in 2015 he became one of the first representatives of the clergy to conduct Instagram, where he has 305 thousand readers.
Two months ago, Father Nikolai signed up for TikTok.
He also has his own channel in Telegram, where there are more than 11 thousand subscribers.
There are mostly church news and analytical posts, not formatted for Instagram.
“It used to be much easier to get followers on Instagram.
The system did not limit the reach and impressions of posts, which is why my blog has grown so much.
Now I, among other things, mention other bloggers, provided that they do the same for the mutual growth of the audience, ”says the priest.
© Photo from personal archive
However, he has to select candidates for mutual PR very carefully.
“Secular bloggers are not ready to talk about religion, so they often refuse me.
Once, an astrologer-tarologist wrote to me.
It seems that he did not understand why his proposal did not arouse my enthusiasm, - laughs Father Nikolai.
- I can advertise bloggers with whom I do not absolutely agree on everything, I still do not have a spiritual scanner.
But these are definitely not courses and obviously not astrological: basically, material products of people I know personally, who, for example, have their own small business. "
Instagram stories have a section with "masks", including those made in religious themes, for example, icons spinning around the head or the inscription "God forbid".
Father Nikolai has an ambiguous attitude to the “masks” and “filters” of the social network.
“I myself have two“ masks ”: one for Christmas, where two angels sing a song to God, and the other for Easter, where a basket with painted eggs appears.
But using "masks" with church attributes - icons, crosses - is not good, I do not approve of that.
It cannot be said that this is a canonical crime, but the ridicule of images sacred to man, in my opinion, is already beyond the boundaries of the concept of humor and irony, "he says.
Nikolai's wife, Alina, is one of the famous "Instagram mothers", she is read by 156 thousand people.
By education, she is a psychologist and teacher, writes on her blog about family, children, pregnancy (now the fourth baby is expected in the family), relationship with her husband.
Each child from the Babkin family has an account on the social network, even two-year-old Melitina, whose page is kept by her mother.
“I created an account for each of our children, which will one day come under their control.
I also help them find worthy blogs by their interests: for the eldest daughter - ballet, choreography, pastry art.
For my son - painting, artist blogs.
I teach them to look at social media as a means of self-development.
And I will definitely talk about Internet safety, ”Alina explains.
For five years now, every week, Father Nikolai, together with his wife, has been organizing live prayers for the family.
Since the end of March 2020, as a temporary measure, prayers on other topics have been held in this format.
But, for example, you cannot confess on the Internet, the priest explains: “The sacrament presupposes the personal presence of a person and a priest in the church.
If a person is sick, then he is confessed at home.
Online sacrament is a serious violation.
There are electronic resources that offer such things, but the ROC has nothing to do with it. "
Like any popular blogger, Father Nikolai often encounters haters, he even received threatening letters.
“Many people are offended that I didn’t answer them in time, that I said something wrong, I didn’t joke so well,” he says.
- When I was just immersing myself in Instagram, I was tired of questions about donations: why is it pre-established in churches how much to donate for the funeral prayer, for baptism, and so on.
In his church, he established not conditional, but free donations, that is, at the request of the parishioners, to show that people are important to us, not money.
This was a mistake.
If a person has a negative attitude towards the church, then he will try not to notice something good either. "
"The Church is an Unknown World"
33-year-old Yevgeny Podvysotsky also faces criticism, but mainly from his confessors and hierarchs.
“Being on the Internet, it is easy to go to the wrong steppe and become more a blogger than a priest.
The confessors say in which videos I begin to behave like a layman and when I go beyond the spiritual framework.
Their words help me a lot, ”he explains.
Father Eugene became a priest ten years ago.
Before studying at the theological seminary, he worked in a fish shop, and now he lives on the shores of the Sea of Azov and serves at once in three rural churches in the Yeisk region, located 20-30 km from each other.
At the moment, Podvysotsky has a coronavirus, in the church he is being replaced by a priest from a neighboring village.
“During the time of isolation, I realized that it is very difficult for me without a church, I am so used to it.
Of course, the Internet will never replace the real church, ”says the priest.
© Photo from personal archive
In 2010, when Fr. Eugene was still a student at a theological seminary, he created one of the first Orthodox groups on VKontakte, which eventually gathered 30,000 subscribers.
Students were forbidden to use telephones with Internet access, and seminar computers were intended only for study, recalls Father Evgeny: my wife lived in another country, and it was very expensive to communicate by ordinary telephone.
The seminarians lived according to a strict schedule, so Father Eugene only had time for the group at night.
“I covered myself with a blanket and went online, responded to comments, wrote posts.
Everything took me a couple of hours a day.
It was very interesting for me, and in addition I gained practical experience as a future clergyman.
I received a huge number of questions, the answers to which I looked for in the books from the library, I myself asked the teachers and experienced priests, ”says the priest.
After graduation, Eugene got married, began to serve in the church and stopped leading the group due to lack of time: now volunteers are engaged in it.
However, he did not stop talking about the Orthodox faith on the Internet.
I signed up on Instagram in 2017, and recently decided to try making videos on TikTok.
In his accounts, the priest uploads a video showing how the temple is being built, how the preparations for the church holidays are going on and how they are celebrated in the village.
“The most important goal I pursue by posting videos or posting is to preach about Christ.
I would like to show people the temple and how a simple village priest lives.
For people, especially young people, the church is an unfamiliar world, says Podvysotsky.
- Now I just shoot my everyday life.
These videos do not get as many likes as videos about the mundane.
But I'd rather stay in spiritual balance and not lose Christ than get millions of views. "
"There is no purpose to promote yourself"
Priest Konstantin Maltsev, 36, is the rector of the Temple of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church in the village of Leningradskaya in the Kuban.
He has served for 13 years and is involved in charity work: helping orphanages, nursing homes, kindergartens and families with disabled children with food and clothing.
Like other priests, he changed several social networks: first he registered on VKontakte, then on Instagram, then on YouTube, and recently began filming videos on TikTok.
He has 252 thousand subscribers on this platform.
Basically, Father Konstantin shoots short videos where he explains the meaning of church terms, debunks myths about priests and answers questions from subscribers.
For example, he explains how to get rid of anger, what to do if you accidentally put a candle for a living person, as for a deceased person, and how to deal with a relative's drunkenness.
“For me, the Internet is just a platform that allows me to try to convey the word of God.
I have no goal of promoting myself.
I don't want to show how cool I am, it is important for me to tell how good the Lord is, ”says the priest.
© Photo from personal archive
The road to popularity on TikTok has been a bumpy one.
One of his first videos was a video where a child is poured with water on Epiphany, standing in the cold.
This video, according to the priest, was not his, he reposted the video from WhatsApp to raise the strength of the spirit.
As a result, the account of Father Konstantin was blocked for such content with the mark “Distribution of child pornography”.
The second time the priest registered at the request of parishioners and other priests, as they liked his previous account: “At first I just watched other accounts and did not post anything.
Then he began to duplicate answers to questions and "stories" from Instagram.
Several of my videos made it into recommendations, some were even watched by over a million people.
Now it is no longer just an entertainment social network where dances, pranks and challenges are filmed - TikTok has become much more serious, "says Father Konstantin.
Whatever the goals of the subscribers with whom they come to priests-bloggers, it is much more important that they, in principle, come to the page where they talk about religion.
“The Internet is one of the opportunities for communication with people, and any correct pastoral communication, no matter on what platform, is encouraged.
The church should be where the flock is.
If people are spending time there today, it means that there must be a church there too, ”concluded Vladimir Legoyda.