LITURGICAL DRAMA AND THEATRICAL ARTS

Abstract

At the first stage of Christianity spreading the Church has banned theatre show. That’s about writes Aurelius Augustine in his work “Confessions”, where on the background of continued dialogue with God, before us is opened solilokvium (lat.: soliloquium – solo – himself, alone, loqui – to speak), which uses Augustine. It should be noted that such form was assumed in the Literature or theatre performances of that time. This represents the analogy of ancient theatre form, which was used by playwrights to make familiarize with audience, certain development event. Blissful Augustine believes that what is developed on the stage and the experiences of audience – the despair on the stage, the grief appeared in the spectator and tears on the composed, this is some kind of sin and God’s banishment from you. The main postulate of early medieval thinkers, mainly ecclesiastics was ignorance of theatre shows and announcement of theatre actors and creators as sinners. Later, the church itself, for attracting crowds of people, with aim
of domination on the parish, used and created not only theatre shows, but its “sketch” – liturgical (liturgy – Greek. liturgy – the main Christian religious rite: liturgy times) drama, which is based on the Biblical stories. As Maximus the Confessor writes: “The liturgy is Christian drama. It is the transition of spirit from potential state to action and is directed towards eidos, as the ultimate goal, to full implementation of telos – the whole, visible and invisible world to Christ’s coming out of the body. And the mythos, we can say, the scenario of Christ, is the St. Letter”. The liturgical drama for Maximus is: a) ritual, the reality “trimmed” with divine character, which is connecting really existing – God in the Christ’s divine personality the man – the church – the world; b) Drama, which plot is the St. letter, as Christ’s body and that it exactly in this drama the St. letter as a potential – body, is becoming Christ’s eschatological body; c) also theurgy activity, aimed at human transferring to God.