The Light of Christianity by Panayoti Karousos
Panayoti Karousos Oratorio “The Light of Christianity,” continues the flame allegory of the human spirit.
In this opera, the flame of knowledge of Prometheus becomes Fire of Catharsis. Christianity is penetrated by the ancient Greek philosophy of Platon and Aristotle. The four Evangelic gospels of the New Testament were written in Greek and the new religion was spread out through the principal language of the era.
Hellenism and Christianity are developed together in a mixture to become Orthodoxy.
At the opposite site from Alexander the Great, but with many similarities, Jesus changes the occidental world and brought a new era to the history of humankind. Alexander had the plan to united all nations under a state of law and virtue; Jesus teaches to be united all nations under love. Despite their young age they changed history. Alexander raised this life on earth through humanism, while Jesus refused this life and raised the preparation of the soul for a new life after death. Opposite of Alexander the Great’s glories, Jesus taught suffering and lived humility, self-sacrifice, and compassion. But Jesus gets a final victory as a redemptor in the Alexandrine language of Hellenic splendor. The imperial power of Alexander the Great approaches Hellenism with Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrism and other ancient pagan religions in order after his death humankind to look for a new leader savior, Jesus Christ.
The opera starts in Alexander the Great temple of Alexandria, Egypt, followed by the confrontations of John the Baptist with Herodias and his beheading. The opera continues with Jesus reciting the Sermon on the Mount, his ministry, the arrest, the trial, the passion and the crucifixion. Grief of Joseph of Aremathea with the disciples and lementation of his mother Mary folows by the resurrection and ascention of Christ.
The music texture of the opera is a modern romanticism brought to us in deeply sad elements. Hope comes through melodic elevations from the tragic atmosphere.
The harmonic language goes from the incongruity alongside passages of extreme atonality and diatonic chromaticism to the most expressive classical forms.