The Greek Church's Holy Synod on Wednesday joined a handful of other top ecclesiastical bodies around the world in criticizing the upcoming release of the eagerly awaited Hollywood version of the global best-seller "The Da Vinci Code".

In unveiling a special pamphlet entitled "Towards the people: The truth about the novel 'The Da Vinci Code' ", the Church's leadership stressed that "from a historical and Christian viewpoint, the book's content is far and away fictitious . Religious consciences are insulted and undermined, slyly and without historical basis, by the fictional plot."

However, the Holy Synod underlined that it will not issue any recommendation on whether the faithful should or should not see the movie or read the novel, "as the proponents of suppression would expect..."

"Instead, it (Holy Synod) is certain that anyone who wishes to (view or read) it can ascertain the falsehoods and reject its absurd subject matter," the pamphlet, whose publication was announced last week, read. 

In attacking the novel's premise, namely, that Jesus Christ was not crucified but lived on to marry Mary Magdalene and rear children, the Holy Synod of Greece's Orthodox Church also charged that best-selling author Dan Brown is attempting to "strike" at Christianity's "salvation-based tenet of faith ... that Christ was a perfect God and perfect Man. The author also strikes at Christ's humanness, as he (Brown) considers Him (Christ) as an imperfect man with weaknesses..."

Source: Athens News Agency

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