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| Romanian, right, and Serbian Orthodox Church priests perform, marking the Orthodox Epiphany on the river Nera, between the two countries of Serbia, left bank, and Romania, near the village of Vracev Gaj, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. AP / Darko Vojinovic |
Friday, January 20, 2012
Not a wizards' duel despite all signs to the contrary
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ReplyDeleteWhat religious idler sees bishops and only thinks of wizards and light sabres? Perhaps someone whose general frame of reference is the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.
ReplyDeleteDo you think of Bishops and Saints when you see pictures wizards with long beards. Now if it was in reverse wouldn't it indicate a mind anchored to good things?
This is disrespectful.
More or less disrespectful than having a name of the murderer of Jesus as a nick?
DeleteI guess that this would be a good time to mention that His Eminence Savas (Zembillas) participated in a geek convention called Doxacon in 2013. So, you are somewhat over-reacting.
DeleteI have meet American priests who have been asked by non-Orthodox why they are dressed like wizards. These priest have actually used these opportunities to speak to strangers about Orthodoxy. We live in a culture saturated by entertainment and to not make this superficial connection would be rare.
ReplyDeleteProtestant Christianity and the growing amount of Christians not belonging to any Church are very much stripped of the sense of the supernatural aspects to Christianity so that the rites and practices of the ancient Churches (Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, etc) seem like something out of a fantasy novel for them.
ReplyDeleteI put on facebook that I had my house blessed and someone asked me if I had thought it was haunted.
Someone on Reddit had some fun with this photo: http://i.imgur.com/WIl0Z.jpg
ReplyDeleteNice. I knew it would go viral.
Delete@pontus'palate, I reposted this onto a religious discussion board, and practically every response was a variation on "Why do the Orthodox make everything look so awesome? They're so epic!" Comparing vested clergy to wizards is this generations' best way to say they look awe-inspiring, powerful, majestic, and a little intimidating.
ReplyDeleteOur culture has nothing like this in reality, so to describe a scene like this we have to resort to literary references and call them either Jedi or wizards.
(I think the wizard comparison is more appropriate than my own first thought many years ago when I first visited an Orthodox Liturgy and thought it looked like a Biker convention with all the big grey Jerry Garcia beards.)
I can understand that for people who aren't used to it (although those terms, however positive and complimentary, aren't really descriptive or appropriate). Of course I wouldn't fault them for it.
ReplyDeleteBut among our own people I think it should be different. It kind of makes me sad to see Orthodox Christians portraying bishops as jedis, GGWB, wizards or bikers because it seems to indicate a loss of faith. There seems to be too much of this among our people.
Our priest in particular has had a hard time instilling respect for the priesthood in people who want to treat the priest like a buddy or a friend to joke around with. It become difficult for a priest to minister to people and give them help when they have this attitude.
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ReplyDeleteI always think of priests and monks when I see (good) depictions of wizards.
ReplyDeleteMore to the point I have always thought of Gandalf as being the best spiritual father in literature :)
The caption (about this not being wizards) reminded me of what Abbot Tryphon at All-Merciful Saviour Orthodox Christian Monastery said -- that he used to get asked by children if he was Santa Claus, but since the Harry Potter movies now children ask him if he is "a wizard".
ReplyDeleteHe went on to say that there has been some historical discussion that the so-called "wizards" of medieval British folklore may well have actually been the last of the Orthodox monks in Britain after the RC split with Orthodoxy. Now that's an interesting thought!