ТЕАТР

We have a difficult feat ahead of us, a struggle with invisible Forces, a battle with the spirits of evil, a war with the Principalities, with the Authorities; and it would be good if, with all our diligence, sobriety and vigilance, we could resist this ferocious horde. If we laugh, play and always indulge in laziness, then even before the battle we will fall from our own carelessness. It is not our business to constantly laugh, have fun and live cheerfully; this is the business of actors, shameful women and people destined for this, parasites, flatterers; This is not characteristic of those who are called to heaven, who are not written in the city on high, who have not received spiritual weapons, but of those who have doomed themselves to the devil. It was he, he himself, who invented such an art to attract the soldiers of Christ to himself and weaken the strength of their spirit. That’s why he built theaters in the cities and, having trained laughers, this plague infects the whole city. What Paul commanded to run away (see Eph. 5:4) - I mean idle talk and jokes - the devil convinces to love; and what is worst in this is a reason for laughter. When those presenting funny things in the theater say something blasphemous and shameful, then many, being even crazier than them, laugh and are amused by it; for which they should be stoned, they applaud him, and for such pleasure they prepare a fiery furnace for themselves. After all, those who praise those who speak such speeches thereby encourage them to do so; and therefore the punishment that is prescribed for laugh-makers is more fair to fall on those who laugh, because if there were not a single spectator, then there would be no actor. And when they see that you are leaving your workshop, and your work, and what you could have worked, in a word - everything, just to spend time in the theater, then they become more diligent, with greater diligence in their work. However, I am not saying this to apologize to them, but to make you understand that the beginning and root of this lawlessness actually comes from you, from you, who spend the whole day on this, you expose an honest marriage to ridicule, you disgrace the great Sacrament. Truly, it is not so much the one who represents in the theater who sins as in comparison with him you, who force him to do it; and you not only force, but also take care of it, rejoice and laugh, praise the performance, and assist the demonic work in every possible way. Tell me, with what eyes will you look at your wife at home after seeing her disgraced in the theater? How can you imagine your wife without blushing when you saw her entire sex dishonored? Don't tell me that what is presented in the theater is just acting. This hypocrisy made many adulterers and upset many homes. This is what I especially grieve about is that they don’t even suspect the worst in this, but such depraved performances are accepted with applause, exclamations and loud laughter. So, are you saying that this is all a sham? But for this very thing the actors would have cost thousands of deaths, because they learned to imitate what is prohibited by all laws. If a thing is bad, then imitation of it is bad. I’m not even talking about how many people who present these adulterous spectacles make fornicators, and what impudence and shamelessness they teach the spectators to. After all, only the voluptuous and insolent eye can bear to look at these spectacles. You wouldn’t look at a naked woman in the square, much less at home—you’d be offended by such a sight; but you go to the theater to insult the honor of both the male and female sex and disgrace your eyes. Do not say that the harlot is naked, because both the harlot and the noble woman have one sex and one body. If there is nothing obscene in this, then why, when you see the same thing in the square, do you run away and drive away the shameless woman? Or when we are apart, then it is obscene, but when we get together and sit together, then it is no longer shameful? This is ridiculous and shameful and signifies extreme madness. It is better to smear your whole face with mud or dung than to look at such lawlessness, because dirt is not as harmful to the eye as the lustful gaze and sight of a naked woman. Remember what was the cause of nakedness in the beginning, and fear what was the cause of this shame. What produced the nakedness? Disobedience and malice of the devil. This is his long-standing and first effort. But the first parents, at least, were ashamed of their nakedness, and you like it, according to the apostolic word: “Their glory is in their shame” (Phil. 3:19). How will your wife look at you when you return from such a lawless spectacle? How will he receive you? How will he speak to you after you have so dishonestly disgraced the entire female sex, been captivated by such a sight and become the slave of a harlot? However, if my word upsets you, then I am very grateful to you for that: “Who will make me happy if not the one who is upset by me?” (2 Cor. 2:2). Never stop crying and tormenting yourself about this; such sorrow will be the beginning of correction for us (6). People who are harmful to society are precisely those who act in theaters. They cause disturbances and rebellions. People who are brought up by these dancers and sell their voices to please their bellies, whose occupation is to shout and do everything indecent, they are the ones who most outrage the people, they are the ones who cause riots in the cities - because youth devoted to idleness and brought up in such vices becomes more ferocious than any beast (6). Sometimes you say: okay, I’ll give up the theater and won’t even go up the steps: I can have fun and feast [at home]. But even here you have repeated indecent theatrical scenes. What good does it do you to give up the theater? It's not the stones that we feel disgusted with, is it? After all, it is not the stones of the theaters that are condemned, but the ugliness of what is happening there, the worthlessness of indecent spectacles, which introduces the thief through the organs of sight and hearing, as through some windows. So, when you abandoned the theater and allowed chaos of performances at your table, you yourself do not notice that you have turned your house into a theater. After all, it is not the place of the theater that I hate, but I fear for the morals of those who gather there (9). You might be interested in: