Egypt's Pope quits Facebook to save time

Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, has announced his intent to shut down his official Facebook page and make better use of his time, the state-run Mena news agency reports.

It quoted him as saying on Facebook:

Time is the most precious gift God gives us daily, and we must use it in a good way. The Christian must sanctify his time, and the monk leaves everything behind so that all of life becomes sanctified for God."

His Facebook page, which is still active at the moment, says he joined the social network in October 2009.

The Church was also giving monks a month to shut down all their social media accounts and give their time solely to the monastic order, Mena added.

It comes on the heels of several other decrees imposed by Coptic Orthodox Church after the mysterious death of a bishop at a monastery near Cairo on Sunday.

Some of the restrictions include:

No new monks to be accepted into monasteries for a year
The ordination of priests to be suspended for three years
Members of the monastic order banned from appearing in the media

They are also banned from living in monasteries unless they have been tasked by the Church to do so.

The circumstances surrounding Bishop Epiphanius' death remain unclear. He was found with head injuries in what is reportedly being investigated as a possible murder.