INSTEAD OF COMPLAINT, CHURCH COULD PRONOUNCE ANATHEMA ON DIRECTOR OF "TANNHAUSER"—HEAD OF COUNCIL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Interfax-Religiia, 25 March 2015
The head of the presidential Council for Human Rights, Mikhail Fedotov, denied Orthodox believers the right to complain to the prosecutor's office against the Novosibirsk production of "Tannhauser."
"What do the prosecutor's office, court, and investigation have to do here?" M.Fedotov said to Interfax. He thinks that representatives of the Russian church should not turn to law enforcement agencies but resolve a problem by means of dialogue.
"In the conflict between the diocese and the opera theatre, the diocese did not use methods that are proper to religious organizations and inherent to them in accordance with their nature. Instead of turning to the prosecutor's office, the diocese could use its own instruments, for example, appealing to the feelings of their parishioners," the head of the Council for Human Rights said.
"The church could address parishioners with a recommendation not to attend this production. They could resolve the question about excommunication of the director from the church; they could issue an anathema against him," M. Fedotov said.
He suggests that art has its own laws, and religion has its own, and "it is unacceptable for directors to indicate to hierarchs of the church how they should conduct religious services. Just as the other way round is unacceptable."
He said that the incident over the performance of "Tannhauser" will be among things that the Council for Human Rights will discuss in a special session on 30 March. (tr. by PDS, posted 26 March 2015)
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