“We should not allow artificial intelligence to create the illusion that it can replace or eliminate prayer and asceticism,” emphasized Metropolitan of Sofia and Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil during the Second International Scientific Conference. The event was attended by Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, along with officials, scholars, and students at the auditorium of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
The conference, “Orthodox Theology and the ‘Ontology’ of Technologies: Anthropological, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Consequences,” was organized by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding and publication of its official theological journal “Theology.”
“We must never forget that no matter how much artificial intelligence develops, it can never acquire what the Fathers call ‘the mind of Christ.’ The mind receives the gift of grace in prayer, Eucharistic and sacramental communion with Christ,” said His Holiness. He recalled St. Maximus the Confessor’s words: “we have the mind of Christ,” explaining that this means thinking, understanding, and living everything through Christ. In this grace-filled community, the human mind reaches a development deeper and more powerful than any artificial intelligence. Patriarch Daniel expressed concern about the real danger being the loss of the sacred due to the technologization of life, rather than a fantastic threat posed by artificial intelligence. “Today this fear sounds more like science fiction. But what we Orthodox Christians need to consider is another existential risk. It seems to me much more immediate and serious. I am referring to the danger of losing the sacred due to technology’s penetration into every sphere of life. This technologization leaves no place or need for the sacred—that is, for God and His grace.”
He warned that the constant flow of information turns the mind into “an aimless wanderer among images” and the heart into “a dark warehouse of repressed feelings,” leading to a breakdown of consciousness and an inability to concentrate in prayer.
“The fascination of the sacred is being lost from our daily lives. We are losing that sensitivity with which humanity has approached certain individuals, places, and events for millennia. This sensitivity seems to disappear and is being swallowed up in the black hole of oblivion. The oblivion of the sacred is our contemporary tragedy,” he said. “Today, the issue is not simply doubt in the existence of God, nor the classic unbelief associated with the ‘scientific’ atheism of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is the loss of living communion with the living God, even among believing Christians, members of the Church. But is the real presence of God possible without a life of prayer? It is this loss of prayer that I consider to be the greatest blow to human nature and life.”
“The real challenge is to live the future with a new identity in the Church, to use technology as a means, not as an end,” the patriarch said. He concluded on an optimistic note, noting that the text of his speech was translated into English before the speech with the help of artificial intelligence.
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