Corfu, Greece, May 22, 2025
Photo: romfea.gr
His Eminence Metropolitan Nektarios of Corfu of the Greek Orthodox Church has issued a strong warning about what he describes as a transition from “health dictatorship” during the pandemic to a form of “electronic totalitarianism” that threatens human personhood.
In a theological reflection published on Romfea, the hierarch frames the current societal challenges not merely as political or social issues, but as profound theological problems.
“Our era is characterized by a dramatic and rapid transition from the health dictatorship—as established during the pandemic—to a form of electronic totalitarianism, where the human person is threatened with complete depersonalization,” Met. Nektarios writes.
The Metropolitan argues that during the pandemic, a strict regime of control was imposed based on the “illusion that the state can guarantee human health and salvation through restrictions, prohibitions, and mass confinement.”
He points to unprecedented restrictions on Church life: “For the first time in modern history, the operation of churches was prohibited, as was the attendance of the faithful in the Mysteries and the normal life of the Church.” In fact, His Eminence was charged with violating COVID restrictions for celebrating Liturgy on Palm Sunday in 2020, though he was ultimately acquitted three years later.
Met. Nektarios sees this pattern continuing in what he terms the “digital dictatorship,” where the same logic of universal surveillance is now applied to every aspect of life.
“The so-called ‘digital state’ does not come to serve the citizen; it comes to define, analyze, monitor, and ultimately manipulate him,” he states. “The human is transformed into a number, into data, into statistics. He loses his personhood. And this is the most tragic of all.”
The hierarch draws on the Orthodox theological understanding of personhood, citing St. Gregory the Theologian: “Whatever is united with God, this is a person.” He emphasizes that personhood is realized through freedom and relationship with God.
“When the human loses the ability to choose, to confess, to live according to conscience, then not only is his political freedom threatened, but also his salvation,” the Metropolitan writes.
The Metropolitan expresses particular concern about comprehensive digital monitoring systems that unify personal data under a single numerical scheme.
“The Church cannot accept that state authorities simultaneously know the bank account, medical condition, taxation, and religious identity of every citizen—and can regulate their life accordingly,” he states. “This isn’t merely technological progress. It’s the abolition of personal autonomy, free will, and spiritual identity.”
Met. Nektarios calls on the Church to stand as an “ark of freedom” and a “place of resistance against the leveling of the person and, by extension, of society.”
“The Church can’t remain silent in the face of the transformation of the human into a number,” he concludes. “It has no right to compromise with a system that, invoking progress, abolishes freedom, records the person, and deconstructs his spiritual essence... It’s now time for vigilance. It’s time for confession.”
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