Russian monasteries accepting prayer requests by email

MOSCOW, May 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Orthodox monasteries have begun exploiting modern technology and are now accepting requests for prayers for the living and the dead by email or through mobile phone text messages, a respected Russian daily said on Monday.

Izvestia wrote that one such monastery, northern Russia's Valaam Monastery, charges 150 rubles ($6.3) for a 'sorokoust', a prayer for the living or the dead by a priest in church each morning for forty days in a row. The paper specified that the monastery used the WebMoney payment system.

Another monastery in the Vladimir Region receives donations via text messages.

However, the Russian Orthodox Church did not rule out that believers could fall victim to fraud. "It seems to me it is better to personally visit a church or help those you know," said priest Mikhail Prokopenko, a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Church's governing body.

However, Alexei Osipov, a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy, said it would be "sad if people treat the Church as a common service center," noting however that there was nothing intrinsically wrong with monks using the Internet.