On-line Prayer: New Lines of Catechetic and Pastoral Research
For more than three decades, researchers have been looking for ways to harmonize the digital environment with religious life. Most of this research is done in the Protestant and Catholic community, while in the Orthodox community there is little concern, which is why we have no clear answer to many questions. One of the questions that we raise in this research and to which we have sought an answer is caused by the on-line prayer. Is it possible to pray while captive in the web? Can classical prayer be replaced by the on-line prayer mediated by the new means of communication, or should the problem be addressed in the light of complementarity? Does the Romanian Orthodox Church have a strategy, a plan to follow in the virtual environment when it comes to concrete prayer offer? How should the catechet approach, build the theme of prayer for its believers in the internet age? The analysis focuses on a set of prayers loaded on YouTube with the highest number of views. After a detailed presentation of the types of analysis of the online environment, of the current methodologies, we have presented and analyzed the relevant content from the point of view of the accuracy of the text and the reactions, so that we might attempt some catethetic pastoral answers in the conclusions.