The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC) considers the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in France to be an "insult to Christians".
"A few days ago, the entire Christian world was confused, seduced and insulted by the opening ceremony of the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games in France. The presented artistic images, regardless of the motives stated by the organizers, contradict and are completely incompatible not only with Christian morality, Christian spiritual life, but also with common sense, natural human rights, centuries-old European aesthetic criteria, as well as with the classical ideals of beauty - a healthy mind in a healthy body - embedded in the idea of the Olympic Games", - it is said in a statement published on the website of the Bulgarian Patriarchate.
The hierarchs of the BOC note that "vulgarity and ideological tastelessness are only part of the problem." "Much more important is the issue of an attitude that is defiant, discriminatory and insulting to the religious feelings of Christian believers, which cannot be accepted and which cannot be ignored," the document emphasizes.
The Synod of the BOC pointed out that attempts to "de-Christianize and dehumanize Europe" would not succeed, and "history has proved that all attempts to fight against Christ and his holy Church ended in failure."
"The path of our people is the European path, but we stand for a Christian Europe. For a Europe that respects and honors its history, its roots. We are convinced that without real, living faith in Christ and Christian values, Europe has no future," the statement of the BOC emphasizes.
The Archbishop of the Patriarchate of Constantinople of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Sahak Mashalyan, called for a boycott of the Olympic Games in connection with the "ridicule of Christians."
"When your Jesus is being bullied, joked about, whose side are you on? Personally, I will not watch the Olympics and should not be happy, even if Armenian athletes win gold medals. The Olympic Games are no longer a symbol of peace. <...> They are doing everything against Christianity and Christians. And Christians are silent. In the name of God, don't be silent. I will send my protest to the executive committee of the Games. There are thousands of religions in the world, why are only Christians ridiculed and ridiculed?"  Mashalyan said during the liturgy, the video of which is posted on the patriarchate's Facebook page (banned in the Russian Federation; it belongs to the Meta Corporation, which is recognized as extremist in Russia).
The head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Hieronymus of Athens and all Greece, called the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris worthy of contempt, the archdiocese reported.
"All this is worthy of absolute contempt," Jerome replied to a question about the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris.
During the opening ceremony of the Games in Paris on July 26, a provocative parody of Leonardo da Vinci's work "The Last Supper" was demonstrated. Individual fragments of the presentation were widely distributed on social networks, and their content caused discussion both in Russia and abroad. In particular, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris showed the West's lack of ideas about culture and public morality.