Observance of Easter Passion church services reminded me of the haunting music in the Greek Orthodox Church into which I was baptized.
A chance encounter in Eugene a decade ago with the man responsible for translations in the Greek church reminded me that lyrics for some of the week’s music are haunting in another way: the tragic prejudice they foster toward Jews.
A priest of high rank in the Greek Archdiocese, the late Rev. Leonidas Contos, was chief translator of text from the original Greek into English. While a visiting celebrant at St. George Orthodox Church, he told me his main concern was revising translations of Holy Week services that demonize Jews as killers of Jesus. He said they lead to “hatred of Jews among impressionable Christians, a behavior contrary to the teachings of Christ.”
A recent public discussion in Eugene of the Mel Gibson film “The Passion of Christ” convinces me that we Christians still don’t get it. Of five panelists, two directly addressed the issue of the film building bigotry. They said they believe it does.
There was waffling uncertainty in the views of three others: a Roman Catholic priest; a Baptist minister, and the head of the Islamic Cultural Center.
The Baptist minister said he does not think the film “in any way is anti-Judaic.” For me, he cast doubt on his credibility about the film when he said, “In all my years in the ministry, I’ve not been aware of anyone with anti-Jewish feeling.” From the audience, a Greek Orthodox priest pointed out that “Christians, like Jews, were killed because of Christ in the early centuries.”
The evasiveness of three of the panelists and the cleric in the audience left unaddressed the fundamental question: Does the movie feed prejudice toward Jews?
The Christian Church minister placed the issue squarely on the table at the outset when he said, “The Holocaust of World War II could not have happened,” had it not been for the way the church through the centuries has taught the passion story and the role in it of the Jewish people. He said impact of the movie, “while probably not intended, encourages anti-Judaism.”
Prof. Jonathan Seidel was explicit: “This film is sado-masochistic. It is a reflection of the bloody, pre-Vatican II passion play. Its violence is pornographic. If one says this is based on the Gospel, then there has to be something wrong with the Gospel. The movie reverses 40 years of progress since Vatican II.”
Seidel remembered having to fight back as a child when “kids called me Christ-killer.”
Nikos Kazantzakis, who wrote, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” wrote about his childhood on the island of Crete: “Every year during Holy Week that leads into Easter, Jewish children had to be on their guard. They were my friends. But I think they understood that other Cretan boys and I would have to hit them because of what Jews did to Christ.”
Panelists were asked: “Could heads of Christian sects meet today to agree on how to expurgate scripture of bigotry?” Apparently, no way. Scripture, they agreed, is sacrosanct — too sensitive for church leaders to ever risk consider revising. As the discussion ended, I wondered: What set of values results in our being concerned over hate crimes that harm Jews, while we protect 1,900-year old writings that persist in encouraging those crimes?