ROC priest: Cross Procession - 2016 unites people and Pokemon Go divides

The game Pokemon Go, gaining popularity in the world, does not unite but divide people, said the deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Archpriest Nikolai Balashov on Tuesday, as reported by RIA Novosti.

The priest said that he was struck by the contrast of the events in New York and the video of the Cross Procession in Ukraine, showing "very different people who are going together and whose face expression is alike – they seek harmony and peace in their country."

Video clips about searching Pokemon in Central Park in New York, according to the priest's words, are "a terrifying image of a crowd of people who are absolutely separated, do not look at each other so that they faced foreheads." "They are united only by the fact that everyone holds a smartphone in their hands," said Balashov.

"For me, it was a bright picture of what separates, demonizes a man, and what creates a deep spiritual community of different people," said the representative of the ROC. He noted that in churches during the prayer "a sense of community, opposed to atomization, which takes place in the world" is born.

Recall, Pokemon Go is a free application based on "augmented reality" technology: the digital and real worlds merge, since the picture displayed on the smartphone screen is projected on real-world locations. One of the main objectives of the game is to catch a pokemon – to force a lot of people completely absorbed by this process go on to the streets, parks, beaches, etc.

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