A group of Orthodox Christians considered the production of “The Golden Cockerel” at the Bolshoi Theater blasphemous

On May 10, 2012, it became known that a group of Orthodox believers demanded a ban on the production of The Golden Cockerel at the Bolshoi Theater. In their opinion, the version of Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera staged by Kirill Serebrennikov is “blasphemous against the Orthodox faith” and is aimed “at humiliating the dignity of Orthodox Christians.”

“The action takes place publicly, using the media. In the first act, the director brings on stage actors portraying Cossacks with caricatures of Orthodox icons. "Tsar" depicts the patriarch waving a censer. We can observe a mockery of shrines, the priesthood and the Russian Orthodox Church,” the group of Orthodox Christians said in a statement.

“All these theaters in quotes are on state subsidies. It turns out that for our money they are poisoning us with cult slop, corrupting first of all the state-forming Russian people, which is now not even in the Constitution of Russia,” Yuri Ageshchev, coordinator of the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods, commented on the situation.

The theater's press secretary, Katerina Novikova, in response to the believers' appeal, stated that the Bolshoi Theater has the right to determine its artistic development independently.

“If we do not call for violence, national hatred and do not promote pornography, then it is impossible to ban anything, some people like one thing, others another,” she said.

On May 12, the chairman of the Synodal Information Department, Vladimir Legoyda, commented on the situation. “I don’t consider it necessary to prohibit anything if it does not violate the law, but another thing is that this does not mean that aesthetic and ethical forms need to be isolated from criticism,” he said.

Let us remember that in 2006 the Syktyvkar diocese tried to ban the production of “Balda”.

Sources

• Orthodox Christians ask to ban the production of “The Golden Cockerel” at the Bolshoi Theater // Interfax-Religion. 2012. May 10.
• The production of The Golden Cockerel, which believers considered blasphemous, cannot be banned - press service of the Bolshoi Theater // Ibid.
• An official representative of the Russian Orthodox Church clarified the Church’s position regarding prohibitions in art // NEWSRU.com. 2012. May 12.