Gibson's Passion will bring Russians closer to God - Church
MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax) - The Russian Orthodox Church is hoping that Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ will bring many Russians closer to God.
"Those believers who come to churches in the Passion Week and participate in the passion of the Lord there during services do not need to see this film because they are partakers of a living church tradition. But for those who know little about Christ, but want to know more, for those who are not used to going to church on a regular basis, this film may really become a revelation and help them become closer to God," Bishop of Yegoryevsk Mark, deputy head of the external liaison department of the Moscow Patriarchate, told Interfax on Thursday.
The Passion of the Christ, a high-profile film based on a biblical account of the last days of Christ, was shown in Moscow for the first time on Thursday.
Bishop Mark believes the film is actually very naturalistic, for which its authors are often criticized. At the same time, one should remember that the film was made by representatives of the Catholic tradition, for which such naturalism is normal and natural. In this connection, he recalled the Catholic tradition of holding theatrical performances of Christ's suffering, in which the Savior's wounds are shown to the public to give people a better idea of what he went through.
"On the one hand, the naturalism of the film is a drawback, which should be taken into account," Bishop Mark said. He assumed that "if the film had been made by Orthodox people, they would have probably made it differently."
"On the other hand, in the modern world people are afraid of suffering and death and do everything to avoid these issues, for example, by sending their parents to old people's homes or living separately from their grandmothers and grandfathers. As a result, people often become thick-skinned and not responsive to other people's suffering. For this reason, the sharpness and naturalism of this film make people stronger. Its purpose is to break the atrophy of human insensitivity and to get through to people's hearts," he said. Bishop Mark said he did not find any manifestations of anti-Semitism in the film. "The film was made very well. All the biblical statements that could trigger accusations of anti-Semitism were simply removed," he said.
"If some people see anti-Semitism in the fact that the Jewish nation is allegedly portrayed in this film in not a very good light, I will say that representatives of the Roman authorities [portrayed in the film] seem to be real sadists," he said.
Bishop Mark called on the opponents of the film who believe it is anti-Semitic to change their point of view. "When we recall the passions of Christ, we do not accuse a specific nation, but we say that Christ was crucified for our sins," he said. According to the Orthodox teaching, "each one of us who do bad things and follow the devil in any of our actions are to blame for the crucifixion of Christ and his suffering," Bishop Mark said.