Romanian Church denounces controversial use of Cross in national theater play

Bucharest, April 3, 2025

Photo: romania-insider.com

The Romanian Patriarchate decries the scandalous usage of Christian symbols in the play Prophet Elijah that recently premiered at the I. L. Caragiale National Theatre in Bucharest.

The play, which features a group of devotees in 1940s Poland crucifying their leader (who proclaimed himself the Prophet Elijah) in order to bring about the apocalypse, “sparked a wave of intense reactions immediately after the premiere,” reports Romania-Insider.com.

Given the wave of negative reactions, and even calls for a boycott, the theater issued a statement saying the play isn’t blasphemous and isn’t meant to offend the Christian faith. Rather, it is meant, according to director Botond Nagy, make the audience “examine their own beliefs in a new light and understand the true value of this miraculous human connection that is faith.”

According to the theater’s website, the play isn’t recommended for people under 18 because of emotionally disturbing scenes, licentious language, and scenes with sexual connotations.

Footage from the play has circulated online, showing a woman riding on top a cross that is being held up by several men on a rotating platform while another woman dance and writhes in a bra.

The Romanian Church weighed in on the controversy, with a statement from its press service on March 27, denouncing the distortion of the sacred:

Any cultural manifestation is beneficial and educational to the extent that it respects, without distorting, the sense of the sacred. Using religious symbols inappropriately, without valuing their liturgical meaning and spiritual heritage for universal history and culture, cannot represent a Christian valorization of them.

Respecting Christian symbols constitutes both a spiritual and cultural act that is important and necessary in an increasingly secularized world inclined toward an interpretation lacking discernment of spiritual life.

Therefore, we note with sadness the defamatory use of Christian religious symbols during the interpretation of the play Prophet Elijah and hope that in the future, cultural manifestations will continue to respect their sacred dimension, without in any way prejudicing their spiritual value.

Similarly, there have been two scandals at the Greek National Theater during Lent involving the blasphemous use of sacred Christian elements that have drawn criticism from Greek MP destroys blasphemous art display in AthensA Greek Member of Parliament was detained on Monday morning after he destroyed a blasphemous art display at the National Gallery in Athens.

“>politicians, Orthodox protests against blasphemous display in Greek National GalleryThe National Gallery in Athens, Greece, is currently hosting an exhibition entitled The Allure of the Bizarre, which features several blasphemous works.”>bishops, and even Mt. Athos condemns blasphemous art at Greek National GalleryThe holy monasteries of Mt. Athos have joined the chorus of those condemning the blasphemous display at the Greek National Gallery in Athens.”>Mt. Athos.