RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


 

Controversy over church's objection to opera is not going away

NOVOSIBIRSK INTELLIGENTSIA ASKS GOVERNOR TO PROTECT ART FROM CHURCH

Novaia Gazeta.ru, 23 March 2015

 

The head director of the Novosibirsk Globus Theatre, Aleksei Kriklivy; director of the Novosibirsk State Museum of Regional Studies, Andrei Shapovalov; professor of the Novosibirsk State University, Yury Shatin; and another 19 representatives of the Novosibirsk intelligentsia have sent a letter to the governor of the region, Vladimir Gorodetsky, in which they demand protection of art from attack by the church.

 

"Bans upon concerts by musical groups, the outrage over the show 'Songs of the Motherland,' and the trial of 'Tannhauser' are links in a single chain, and there is no reason to think that it is ending with this trial,' Taiga.info gives excerpts from the appeal.

 

"The situation regarding 'Tannhauser,' however sad it is to recognize, put Novosibirsk into the most ridiculous light both in the professional sphere and in wider circles. Instead of criticism, disputes, and polemics—that is, the natural and inevitable accompaniments of the existence of artistic works—there arose a judicial investigation . . . . Two years ago jokes about Orthodox activists coming to NGATOiB (Novosibirsk State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, where 'Tannhauser' was staged—NG) seemed to be black humor, but now it has become reality."

 

The signatories also expressed disquiet about the growing thirst for denunciations. They noted that in their time "Evgeny Onegin," "Brothers Karamazov," "Cloud in Trousers," and many other classical works have come under the church's blow.

 

On 19 March, the Russian Ministry of Culture demanded the introduction of changes in the production of the opera "Tannhauser" on the stage of the Novosibirsk Theatre of Opera and Ballet. The agency also demanded making an apology to believers for the performance.

 

The staging of the opera "Tannhauser" based on Wagnerian themes provoked the outrage of the Orthodox community: Metropolitan of Novosibirsk and Berdsk Tikhon, after viewing the opera, sent to the Investigation Committee and the prosecutor's office a declaration about the production's hurting believers' feelings. An administrative case was opened, but a court found the conclusions of the indictment unsubstantiated. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 March 2015)


 

CHURCH ASKS FOR CHECKING "TANNHAUSER" PRODUCTION FOR PORNOGRAPHY AND GAY PROPAGANDA AMONG CHILDREN

Interfax-Religiia, 23 March 2015

 

The Novosibirsk staging of the opera "Tannhauser" should be checked for content of pornography and propaganda of homosexuality among minors, the Russian church thinks.

 

"If the administration of the theatre speaks about good will in a dialogue with believers, how can it ignore what believers are talking about, the image of Christ, but the director admits that it is Christ who is being pictured against a background of scantily dressed women who are kissing one another. This, of course, is an offense to a revered Christian symbol, the face of Christ, his image," the head of the synod's Department for Relations of Church and Society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, told Interfax-Religiia on Monday.

 

He said that believers have clearly stated that for them such a comparison "of what is associated with the terribly obscene is unacceptable in the public space that we have in common, and in which freedom of creativity is restricted by law and morality."

 

The priest is sure that "removal of the blasphemous poster is completely insufficient."

 

"It would be good to get an answer to the question whether this scene is pornographic and also whether it violates the standard of law about the prohibition of the propaganda of homosexuality among minors. Sure, the production has the sign '18+,' but the news media have said that it has been viewed by minors. Moreover, some viewers maintain that minors are involved even in the production itself. If that is so, then the question of the violation of law, of course, must not remain unanswered," he stressed.

 

The news agency's interlocutor declared that one must not misunderstand Orthodox people who are expressing a peaceful and legal protest regarding this production. He is surprised by the position of some public and creative leaders "who literally are calling for depriving believers of speech and the right to public action."

 

"In our country the religious worldview is not discriminated against in any way, and it cannot be discriminated with respect to the secular, and therefore believers may and must express their opinions, based on faith, including the assessment of works of art, of course in peaceful and legal forms," Father Vsevolod said.

 

He said they have the right to demand also an answer to the question: does this production violate the law and "what we see in the videos of the performance must be evaluated not only from the point of view of morality but also from the point of view of law."

 

The priest recalled that the law forbids not only hurting believers' feelings but also intentional public desecration of religious and liturgical literature, objects of religious veneration, signs and emblems of worldview symbols and paraphernalia. Thus, the law protects not only the individual but also objects of religious veneration, symbols, and paraphernalia that are venerated by believers, or nonbelievers, or anybody else.

 

"I understand why some people who are used to monopolizing the budgetary funds allocated for culture are now actively opposing a return into this sphere of strict morals, that is, using this tactical public outcry and prohibition on the civil action of believing people as well as a tactical denunciation and pressure on organs of government. It does not want to lose its monopoly and does not want, in the end, to understand that our people in their majority do not accept immorality, licentiousness, cynicism, dirty exploitation of the sexual instinct, and the diktat of 'innovative' art over the traditional, which was brutally imposed on society in the 1990s," he declared.

 

After expressing the hope that this trend is coming to an end, the representative of the church pointed out that people need "pure art that uplifts them and they need strict morality in the public space."

 

"It is no accident that during work on the Foundations of State Cultural Policy, advocates of 'cultural' limitlessness of the 1990s suffered a crushing defeat. And the current discussion is a case where it is necessary to take into account not only the voice of a narrow professional community, who are accustomed to decide questions within their own midst, but also any citizen of Russia and the majority of our fellow citizens have a clear and untroubled moral sense enabling them to say what is good and what is bad from the point of view of a moral dimension in art, where there is purity and where there is dirt," he concluded. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 March 2015)

 


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