A post on social media by author and former MP Petros Tatsopoulos mocking a TV series based on the life of Saint Paisios the Athonite has caused an uproar in Greece. Tatsopoulos explained why he chose to post the ironic comment on Facebook about the religious series on ‘Mega channel’ called “Agios Paisios – From Farasa to the heavens”.
The miracles of Paisios is a fairy tale, he said causing a stir and strong reactions, including top bishops in the Greek Orthodox Church like Metropolitan of Piraeus Seraphim who commented on the former MP’s phrase about “stupefaction”, saying that Tatsopoulos with this comment did not respect the faith of his fellow human beings, does not honour otherness, despises religious freedom and human rights and promotes fundamentalism and religious racism because it offends the ontological foundation of millions of orthodox Christians..
The former MP was also faced with a lawsuit worth 200 thousand euros from a church site.
In an interview with the radio station of Thessaloniki Status 107.7, Tatsopoulos stated, among other things, that the problem he has with this series is that it is presented to the public as a historical series, which he believes is unacceptable.
“This is not my first post on this subject. It is the first that has caused so much noise. The production of the TV series is by the Vatopedi monastery, although it does not say so, in contrast to the ‘Man of God’. “There is nothing wrong about this,” he said initially.
He then described the miracles of Paisios as a “fairy tale” and underlined that “The Middle Ages will not pass. The Middle Ages will not return in 2022 because the Vatopedi Monastery wants it. The problem is that this series for the first time after 1974 is presented as history and this is where the root of the word stupefaction begins. Let us accept it as a fairy tale, not as a historical series. The historians will be turning in their graves, to present the life of a man and to talk about his miracles as if they are acceptable to historical research. That is why the Vatopedi Monastery conceals its involvement in the production. And Jesus of Nazareth at Easter, we see him as a historical tale. In the second episode, you will see Paisios seeing Jesus Christ. Historians, even the Gospels, do not even know the characteristics of Christ.”
“It simply came to our notice then. To me it is unacceptable. I made a 30-word post, which was answered with a lawsuit of 200,000 euros, a site that has the unspeakable audacity to publish that Holy Communion, even if mixed with poison, does not cause anything to the believer who will commune. If tomorrow morning we go out and told the children that Snow White is not a fairy tale, but a real story … Do you understand how we lead the world to stupefaction? Common sense offends those charlatans who present these tales as historical reality. The Metropolitan of Messinia wrote to me to be silent. I will not do it in 2022 because a priest asked me to do so”, continued Tatsopoulos.
