An Unholy Parody

By now we should all be aware of the mocking of the Last Supper that occurred during the Paris Olympic opening ceremony, as well as the insincere ‘apology’ that followed. Many will also be aware of the social media conversation and gaslighting that ensued questioning whether it really was the Last Supper, or a Greco-Roman bacchanal.

One thing I would like to point out from the start of this article is that it is already very difficult (somewhat suspiciously so) to find the original videos or transcripts online from this part of the event. Therefore, a lot of this article relies upon second-hand captures of the ceremony through media outlets.

The response of the Catholic and Orthodox communities has overall been one of peaceful but firm indignation at the mockery of the institution of the Holy Eucharist. For example, Bishop Baron’s video responses rightly went viral, and he offered an excellent insight.

Protestant responses, aside from some posts saying ‘God cannot be mocked’ (alluding to the idea that Christ became a mockery on our behalf to win our salvation), have generally been reasonable too.

However, many people (and sadly some Christians included) seem to have accepted the gaslighting that, because of the naked blue Dionysus, it was not the Last Supper, but a bacchanal.

Well, was it a Greco-Roman bacchanal or was it the Last Supper? I think by now this question has been firmly answered; both by the deleted tweets of one of the ‘performers’ named Barbara Butch, and the play on words given to the scene – La Cène sur la Scène sur la Siene (the scene of the supper on the Siene).

Setting aside this aside, along with the unnecessary use of drag, having a child present within this drag show, and then the sudden emergence of a man’s testical on live TV, let’s work with the bacchanal claim.

It is true that later in the performance the Last Supper scene shifted as more performers joined and a naked blue man appeared on a platter. The blue man, playing the Greek God Dionysus, began singing about how much better the world would be if we were all naked.

The lyrics included lines such as “Would there be wars if we had stayed entirely naked? Where to hide a revolver when you’re entirely naked?” and “No more wealthy, no more poor when we go back to all being naked”. Again, all with a child present.

However, what makes a child’s involvement all the creepier is that it is not a mere feast but, as regularly pointed out online, a bacchanal.

The word ‘bacchanal’ comes from ‘Bacchus’, another name for Dionysus.

Dionysus/Bacchus was the Greek God of wine, fertility, festivities and ritual madness. He was later embraced by the Romans who equated him to their ‘Liber Pater’ or ‘Free Father’, a God dedicated to unrestrained freedom. In Roman culture, Dionysian festivals were known as bacchanalia, and involved, among other things, drunkenness, orgies, and all sorts of degrading practices.

Speaking of the bacchanalia in his History of Rome, the Roman historian Livy wrote:

“When wine had inflamed their minds, and night and the mingling of males with females and young with old, had destroyed all sense of modesty, every variety of debauchery began to be practiced, since each one had to hand the form of pleasure to which his nature was most inclined.”

Bacchanals eventually became so problematically degenerate that the Romans banned them in 183BC.

Even if we granted (which we don’t) that the scene at the Paris Olympics was ‘simply a bacchanal’, why was a child present for this orgic celebration? And, why was it broadcast for the whole world? What’s the message here?

The goal of Western liberalism is now on display for all. ‘Liberalism’ or freedom, is not truly free unless all things – and they do mean all – are permissible.People’s acceptance of it just being a bacchanal (which in part it was) admits it was presenting a licentious drunken orgy! Is this what we as the West want to show the world? Are these the core values of our civilisation? I am increasingly concerned the answer might be yes.

But the question remains, what does Dionysus have to do with the Last Supper? Why link the two? And it is here that the real problem occurs.

Bacchanals were not just feasts, they were the worship of Dionysus.

During bacchanals omophagia was practiced, which involved ripping apart live animals and eating their raw flesh. This practice was done to represent Orpheus’ myth of in which Dionysus is ripped apart by the Titans and later resurrected. This has led to Dionysus sometimes being called a ‘dying and rising god’.

Another part of the bacchanal rituals was a practice known as ‘drinking the god’. Through consuming wine, the spirit of Dionysus (the God of wine) was being consumed by the drinker. The drinking of the wine also allowed the drinker to be in communion with Dionysus and transcend their mortal form to achieve an ecstatic state. The parallels to the Eucharist are clear.

On the altar, the Host is broken by the Priest, and we consume it. We then drink Christ by His blood. Through these acts we receive the grace of God and come into closer communion with Him.

Is this coincidence? Maybe, but it seems unlikely that someone reading about bacchanalia for more than a few minutes, as Thomas Jolly (the producer) must have done to design the scene, could miss it. Not least that Jolly chose to present Dionysus on a platter – a clear nod to eating him.

Some online have said ‘of course it sounds like a Christian mockery, Christians stole the Greco-Roman myths.’ Such a claim nonsense and but a separate discussion (see Trent Horn’s excellent video addressing classical myths and Christianity).

Dionysus’ presence in the Last Supper scene represents the crux of the mockery, not an escape from it. It is not just that Christians are being gaslit and mocked; it’s that the scene represented a truly satanic replacement – an unholy parody:

The Blessed Sacrament, the Body of our Lord which we consume in the Holy Eucharist, was replaced with the body of a licentious Dionysus.

The Body of the self-sacrificial saviour was replaced with one which represents self-interested love above all else.

The Body of the one who offers true freedom was replaced with a god that appears to offer freedom, but actually represents slavery to sin.

The one true God was replaced with a false god.

This is the real mockery of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. It’s out in the open, and it’s not going away any time soon.

Christians must voice their just anger in love and without violence. Unless Christians expose the liberal establishment’s gaslighting for what it is, this will continue.

But most of all, we must pray for France.

Not that long-ago Parisians wept as their great cathedral burned – how sadly symbolic. Nonetheless, we must ask Our Lady, Notre Dame de Paris herself, to continue to pray for France, our nation, and for us.

Catholic Herald version - https://thecatholicherald.com/that-unholy-parody-why-the-its-just-jolly-dionysus-claim-makes-things-even-worse/

Photo: Scenes from the opening ceremony of the Olympics' Last Support parody, screenshot from The Olympic Games @Olympics.