NEWS

Christodoulos finds fault with Christ film

The head of the Church of Greece has taken issue with a controversial new film on the final hours of Christ’s life which opens in Greek cinemas today, noting that its «excessive» violence contrasts with Christian holy writings. In statements late on Wednesday, after a special advance screening of Australian actor and director Mel Gibson’s film «The Passion of the Christ,» Archbishop Christodoulos also implied that it might provoke anti-Jewish feeling, as many Jewish groups worldwide have complained. «The film has an excessive, deeply stirring realism, at least in the scenes of violence, which contrasts with the descriptions of the Holy Passion in the scriptures,» he said. «The purpose of the Holy Passion is not to provoke Christians… or to prompt feelings of hatred and indignation toward the people who showed complicity in the Passion and the Crucifixion, as the Passion was voluntary.»

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