Facebook has banned the page of an Orthodox Christian monk based in the Pacific Northwest, cutting him off from his nearly 40,000 followers without prior warning.
In a blog post entitled, “Dark Forces,” Abbot Tryphon of All-Merciful Saviour Monastery on Vashon Island, Washington, explains his mission in life and on the internet, and his situation now that the trend of, as he said, the truth being blocked online by dark forces has affected him as well.
In addition to maintaining his Facebook page, called Abbot Tryphon, and publishing blog posts on the Ancient Faith Ministries (AFM), a pan-Orthodox media outlet located in North America, the abbot is also a podcaster on Ancient Faith Radio.
But now that Facebook has suddenly banned him for an undisclosed violation of the giant’s standards, Abbot Tryphon fears that his followers might think he had decided to abandon his online presence, and is pleading with readers of his blog, The Morning Offering, to inform others of what had really happened.
The abbot said that his purpose on the internet, which he refers to his online mission, is to spread the word of Christ, and in particular to better inform those in the West about Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which, although a major and ancient Christian denomination, remains a mystery to many in those parts of the world.
He also uses his online presence to allow Orthodox believers from across the world to connect and support each other, particularly in view of their religion focusing more on spiritual than worldly issues and therefore sometimes being at odds with its surroundings, while also suffering persecution in some countries.
As for Facebook, the abbot said his goal was to share encouragement and equip his followers on this social network with the tools to cope with what he describes as “the age of nihilism.”
Abbot Tryphon describes the internet as something that, while it does plenty of harm, also presents a very useful way for Christians, including Orthodox ones, to communicate and spread their message.
But he also shared his conviction that the internet is now “the major vehicle for the workings of the Evil One” as “our nation is at the crossroads, for we are witnessing the ‘reset’ of our Western way of life.”
“Please, dear ones, pray for me, and for other purveyors of our Christian faith who are finding ourselves blocked by powerful dark forces that would shield the truth from being passed on to the next generation,” writes Abbot Tryphon.
