RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Court-ordered analysis clears opera of alleged blasphemy

EXPERTS DID NOT FIND DESECRATION OF CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS IN NOVOSIBIRSK "TANNHAUSER"

Interfax-Religiia, 10 March 2015

 

Religious studies experts did not find desecration of Christian symbols in the opera "Tannhauser" in the production of Timofei Kuliabin.

 

"The production does not contain the gospel's image of Christ, because the gospel image of Christ is true, and the image of Christ in the production is a fantasy," the conclusion of religious studies scholar Vladimir Vikokurov (MGU) says, which was announced in court in Novosibirsk on Tuesday.

 

In his turn, a second expert, Boris Falikov, noted that the author should not be identified with a character, while in the production religious symbols and paraphernalia are presented in an artistic context, and therefore they are not sacred, "the more so since we are talking about fantasy within fantasy."

 

Earlier it was reported that the prosecutor's office of Novosibirsk opened a case on the basis of part 2 of article 5.26 of the Code of Administrative Violations of Law (intentional public desecration of religious or liturgical literature, objects of religious veneration, signs or emblems of worldview symbols and paraphernalia, or their damage or destruction) against T. Kuliabin, who produced "Tannhauser" in the Novosibirsk Theatre of Opera and Ballet, and also against the director of the theatre, Boris Mezdrich.

 

The analysis was conducted on the basis of a request from Metropolitan of Novosibirsk and Berdsk Tikhon, who viewed in the production the use of a church symbol not in accordance with its intended use. In particular, representatives of the church were upset with T. Kuliabin's version in which Christ is presented as the star of a pornographic film, "Grotto of Love," which Tannhauser makes during the course of the performance. (tr. by PDS, posted 10 March 2015)


Background article:
Moscow patriarchate contends with zeal of provincial clergy against classical art
March 5, 2015


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