the evil eye...

It's been in the news that, in honour of the final Hobbit film having its Russian premier, an art group, Svechenie, had wanted to place a holographic Eye of Sauron on a Moscow skyscraper to mark the occasion.

The proposed design.

However...


it would appear the Russian Orthodox church took offense at this, viewing it as a "demonic symbol" and a portent of disaster for the city. So, city official have said they would take it down (the holographic eye, not the skyscraper) as it was just an advert for the film.

I can understand their concerns: in the Lord of the Rings, Sauron's evil eye was distracted by the Men of the West while a pair of big-footed hobbits sneaked in and destroyed Mt. Doom. A warning for Moscow from Tolkien if ever there was one.

While I'm not religious, I can see that The Church of England leadership has social concerns in the way that it criticises the government over failing to act to reduce poverty or social inequality. In contrast, the Russian Orthodox church seems to have social concerns as the voice of moral outrage... apocalyptic, secular Europe, Conchita Wurst, feminism, brightly-coloured football boots as a "homosexual abomination". Strange that there's still no criticism of god for painting the sky with rainbows, the symbol of LGBT movement...

Gandalf the Grey. Source

Russian Orthodox patriarch. Source

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Elsewhere on this blog:

Disapproval of Halloween