The following article takes the negative attitude of the Orthodox Church to the internet as a phenomenon, which derives from a complex development of theories of the icon-medium. I argue that the internet can be interpreted within the patterns of a false icon – or idol. That means a medium, which is diametrically different from an icon in substance, but appears with the icon’s phenomenological attributes, i.e. an imagined gaze, watching the human being. I continue with a discussion of the meaning of the notion of virtual reality in relation to patristic and modern versions of icon theology.

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