www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Met. Stefan Soroka comments on "Passion" film

"Hype or hope?: Ukrainian archbishop calls 'Passion' film 'shallow'
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By CNS

PHILADELPHIA (CNS)- Archbishop Stefan Soroka of the Ukrainian Archdiocese of Philadelphia, after attending an invitation-only screening of "The Passion" with director Mel Gibson in attendance, has called the film "a shallow presentation of the life of Jesus and the significance of the resurrection."

Asking whether the film was "hype or hope," Archbishop Soroka said, "Frankly, without the hype, this movie will not intersest many viewers because it fails to offer hope."

He added, "I would not recommend this movie to my friends, nor to the faithful - and particularly the young - because the film, while interestimg in the way some things are portrayed, particularly evil, lacks content to really engage my intersest"

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Some intetesting comments by Met.-Arch. Stefan. He clearly isn't afraid to speak his own mind on this subject matter.

Ung-Certez

Dear Ung-Certez,

If I may offer my humble opinion...

Perhaps the good Metropolitan's comments are from the Eastern cultural standpoint of emphasizing the Resurrection of Christ. (The MP for instance, only had one bit of advice for Billy Graham when he visited the Moscow Cathedral under the Soviets--speak more about the Resurrection!)

I do think that the crucifixion is very important, and from the cultural standpoint of the West, most relevant...

As Christians, East or West, both events are events which define our relationship with our Lord...human suffering, the ultimate sacrifice, offering one's life for others, the prophecies coming to pass, and then-- the hope and glory of the Resurrection and the promise of eternal life...

Obviously, Mel Gibson's movie focuses more, if not primarily, on one of these events, yet I don't think that it will ultimately detract from the salvific potential of the movie.

In Christ,
Alice

I'd actually be interested to know if any Eastern Rite Catholics or Orthodox have ever produced, at least a documentary or movie about the Life of Christ. Or is there any prohibition against human depictions of Christ ?

Billy Graham loved the movie and said that it brought him to tears many times.


David, the Byzantine Catholic

Dear Friends,

Well, perhaps the Metropolitan has a point.

Each person has a rite to their own view, even such a stodgy old-fogey as the Metropolitan.

Alex

I think the film will inspire young Catholics to live holy lifes. It can't hurt to have one more film about the passion of Jesus, especially one that focuses on the Catholic perspective traditionally found in the Latin Church. I am not sure how a Byzantine "Passion" movie would be much different. We focus on the Resurrection, but there is no Resurrection without Our Lord's death.

Dear Friends,

With all due respect for His Eminence, Archbishop Stefan, I take his dislike for the movie Passion with a grain of salt.

My experience reading books endorsed by hierarchs is that the books are lousy (unreadable) and are not written for the needs of the laity.

Paul

Dear Friends,

If I said I didn't like the movie, you would probably ask me if I saw it.

Now that you are saying you like the movie, without having seen it in its entirety . . .

Let's wait to see it and then we can judge for ourselves whether the Metropolitan had a point, even remotely, or not.

As for bishops endorsing boring books, well, all right you have a point, Paul . . .

Alex

Dear Friends:

Echoing Alice's observation, the movie is about the "Passion" of Christ and not on His glorious "Resurrection," which symbolizes "hope."

Now, who is "clueless?"

AmdG

A good article searching for a more balanced view of "The Passion"


http://www.beliefnet.com/story/135/story_13565_2.html

Dear All:

I too, had the same thought as Alice, i.e. that our Metropolitan watched the movie through the lens of Eastern theology.

I doubt that we would have gotten such an Eastern perspective from his predecessors.

Yours,

hal

The trailer alone brought me to tears TWICE.

I think the Met in question had a hard time relating to it--similar to those Latins who refer to Byzantine chant as "dissonant" and "distracting". It's just from a different spiritual tradition.

In the Latin West we have Passion plays, and this is the best one ever!


LatinTrad

Dear LT,

You raise an excellent point re: Passion plays.

The East has nothing similar and does not emphasize the Passion of Christ devotionally as does the West.

Stigmatists in the East are non-existent and those few that have appeared came from EC backgrounds (e.g. Stephan Navrotsky in Ukraine).

However, a colleague of my grandfather's who was a priest was appointed by Met. Andrew Sheptytsky to investigate cases of reported stigmata in Galicia prior to WWII.

He once related his investigation of a young Greek Catholic woman who, in prayerful ecstasy, not only bled from holes in her hands, feet and side - but what seemed to be a crown of thorns appeared on her brow from which dripped blood as well . . .

Personally, I think the Metropolitan was looking at the movie from his own perspective without necessarily applying a "Byzantine litmus test."

But I'll have to see it for myself.

Pax Vobiscum,

Alex

And if you ever have the chance to witness, or participate in (!), the "Passion" of Our Lord re-enacted by some Filipino Catholics (in Central Luzon, the Philippines), the "penitent," role-playing the Christ, after carrying his cross around town and flogged endlessly by "Roman soldiers" along the way, is literally nailed to his cross, both hands and feet.

Don't tell me you have not been forewarned!

This is the other extreme.


AmdG

Dear Amado,

I suppose those people really get "whipped up" during Easter . . .

Alex