"The Passion of the Christ"

[Joseph D]

Greetings all.

Now let's have a peaceful, smart discussion about the movie none of us have seen.

This movie, if it adheres to the Gospel text (presumably the synoptics), will not show any devout Christian anything at all new, so let's just get that out of the way first. We are SUPPOSED to contemplate the suffering of Christ, are we not? Secondly, some level of Christian religious film ought to be available to the masses. Or not? Be realistic here. It is very hard to project a message in a vacuum.

Of course there are considerations of canon law regarding what is a proper image and what is not, yet the greatest contingent of mankind which most needs the Gospel have little appreciation for medieval piety laws to begin with. And, let us not forget that the film has NOT been produced by anyone but a Catholic... from Hollywood. Brothers and sisters, do we ourselves not have handicaps and limitations?

Will this film make people more, or less zealous for Christ? The Holocaust manufacture was pretty shaken up -- if that indicates anything to a deductive mind.

May it be that some some, seeing that cave image, break their chains (this is from Plato folks, "The Republic") and come out into the light?

Finally, I declare that I intend so see it. And I may visit a museum again this month as well. Yes, I know the difference between a church and a theater, or a church and a museum. The whole of western history, art, literature, and politics is influenced and informed by the New Testament whether you like it for Orthodoxy or not.

I hope I have not stirred up a hornets' nest, so I am counting on everyone to stay calm. These Orthodox discussion groups can get out of hand pretty quickly so remember as you reply that you are an ambassador for Christ, even among your own ilk. He who does not struggle with this faith of ours has not earnestly considered it, so let's be nice.

Sincerely,
Joseph D

[尼古拉前执事]

Dear Joseph,

Welcome to the forum. I hope you like it here. Your warning of who out of hand things can get are very good. We like to think it happens less here, but we can always use the reminder.

You might want to look at the following thread where this is discussed here at http://www.euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/vi ... .php?t=627

Again, welcome aboard.

[Joseph D]

Thanks Nicholas.

Well apparently the conversation has been held and, as usual, I was absent. So sorry everyone. But after reading the other posts, I do have one thing to add with regard to the question of tradition and actors.

Art in churches was important to teach Christianity to the illiterate. Yet, in the western church, art was not of any great importance yet especially after the Cictercian reforms. In England, art was minimal to begin with, combine this with the general suspicion of non-cruciform images and the result would be some bare churches. The gothic movement did offer some artistic expression and two dimentional images were to be seen again in stained glass, which was very important to gothic. But still, few of the poeple were literate, fewer still understood Latin, and even fewer owned any written scripture. So to fill this void of media, the English came up with the "Passion Play." Yes, this is medieval in origin and has nothing to do with Protestant fundamentalism! Various towns and burroughs had a general speciality with regard to craft and this played a major role in determining which Bible story to portray. It was not just The Passion that was done, but other stories too. For example, a port city with a citizenry of shipwrites would do "Jonah and the Whale" and the shipwrites would build a whale. It was not organized by clergy but by lay people -- kind of like Hafli, Greek festival et cetera... (Critical note: At least one source posits the origin of Passion Play at the Cappenburg Monastery in Lunen, Germany in 1242.)

This seems to be the biginning of the English love affair with theatre. But that's another story altogether.

Most of the converts to Orthodoxy in America must claim some English cultural influence and though we are prone to blame the faith of our forefathers for its error, we must not blame them for the choices they made in the time they lived. With all this in mind, I find it difficult to assert that demonic inspiration has played the greatest role in this new "Passion Play" for a newly illiterate world produced by a non-Orthodox DRAMATIC ACTOR of English inheretance.

Peace,
Joseph

[Tessa]

I am talking to my priest, but I think we are going to see it too. My husband who grew up in communism will probably freak out, being that everything he ever saw was commie propaganda as a kid. I think it will be good for us, even during Lent, and if it has something "bad" I will "take only the honey". If it makes me sad and think more about Christ suffering for us, then it will be worth my 8 bucks.

In Christ
Tessa

[Apologist]

We can't even imagine how much our sweet Jesus suffered. More than the whole world alltogether! Not only the flagrum tore His flesh so that His bones could be seen, but the devil was given complete permission to torture Him...

[savva26]

We can't even imagine how much our sweet Jesus suffered. More than the whole world alltogether! Not only the flagrum tore His flesh so that His bones could be seen, but the devil was given complete permission to torture Him...

Not only that, he carried the unbearable weight of the sins of all mankind.