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ARCHBISHOP CHRISTODOULOS WATCHED MEL GIBSON'S "THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST"
Athens, 26 February 2004 (16:41 UTC+2)
Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All of Greece watched a private screening of Mel Gibson's picture “The Passion of the Christ” organized by the film distributor in an Athens cinema theater yesterday.
Archbishop Christodoulos stated afterwards that the picture is characterized by extreme and shocking realism, mainly the violent scenes, but it is in conflict with the controlled narration on the Holy Passion included in the gospels.
The goal of the Holy Passion is not to provoke the faithful or to excite their imagination and feelings, neither to cause feelings of hatred and indignation toward people who collaborated in the passion and crucifixion, given the fact that the passion of Christ was voluntary. The goal of the Holy Passion is for people to come face-to-face with their own selves and their own sins, stated the Archbishop.
Posted by Dienekes at March 3, 2004 01:28 AM | PermaLinkThis is an unusually enlightened comment from a Church official who has been accused of fanning antisemitism in Greece as recently as last summer ! See http://www.osce.org/documents/sg/2003/06/259_en.pdf
Posted by: Marsyas at March 4, 2004 10:21 AMWell, Christodoulos was correct that the Jews lobbied for the removal of religion from Greek identity cards, so I don't see why his comments should be thought of as anti-Semitic. As I've said elsewhere, statements of fact are neither anti- nor philo- they are just that: facts.
Posted by: Dienekes at March 4, 2004 04:04 PMI remember when this blog was about anthropology rather than trendy pop culture pseudo-spirituality.
Oh well, guess it's time to unsubscribe.
Posted by: Nina D. at March 4, 2004 05:00 PMRead the description on the right: "An investigation into biology, environment, culture and their interaction." Religion is part of culture.
Society for the Anthropology of Religion
Posted by: Dienekes at March 4, 2004 05:29 PMThe Passion of Christ film did not provoke anti-semitism but brought a realistic form of the sufferings of Christ for all humanity. Those who do not realize the Love of Christ will make such remarks as anti-semitism etc. The scourgings were real for the Gospels attest to this, and the behavior of those witnessing this was true to fact.This was not Jews alone but humanity such as we seeing today.
Posted by: +Very Rev.Fr.George Wm Arseniu at May 18, 2004 05:35 AM