ARMENIAN CLERGY CRITICAL OF US MOVIE ON JESUS CHRIST

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
19 May 06

[Presenter] The “Da Vinci Code” move directed by Ron Howard today
started its triumphal march in Russia, Armenia and a number of Asian
countries despite discussions, criticism and protests.

Before the premiere of the movie, the Vatican called on religious
people of the world to boycott it, because it offends the holy book.

The movie was made on the basis of the book “The Da Vinci Code” by
American novelist Dan Brown. The central plot of the movie is that
Jesus Christ allegedly married Mary Magdalene and they had a child.

Meanwhile, an opinion poll carried out in the UK testifies that 60
per cent of respondents agree with this allegation.

The “Da Vinci Code” is also being demonstrated in Yerevan and Dan
Brown’s book has already been on sale in Yerevan shops for several
months.

The Armenian Apostolic Church has harshly criticized Dan Brown’s
book. The Apostolic Church regards Dan Brown’s ideas as entirely
unacceptable and considers his scandalous book to be an insult against
the Christian religion.

[Yegishe Sarksyan, senior priest of the Gevorkyan seminary] Of course,
it has nothing to do with Christianity. This is only a way to insult
Christianity. It is clear that sensible people will never adopt these
inhuman ideas.