It never fails. It seems that each year around the time of Pascha, the media attempts to drop some sort of spiritual bombshell upon Christians of every size, shape and background—something designed to shake us up, raise skepticism and instill doubt in the nation’s Christians. Last year, it was the barrage of excitement surrounding The Passion and its director, Mel Gibson. Whatever the merits of the movie, the media jumped on every possibly controversial topic—from the "brand" of Mel Gibson’s Catholocism, to accusations of anti-semitism, to the issue of scriptural authority. At times, it seemed it was open season on Christianity, and that everything but reason prevailed in many articles, interviews and discussions.

And this year, we had a double-header of absurdity—the so-called "Gospel of Judas" and the "Da Vinci Code." The media, especially National Geographic, portrayed the "Judas" document as some sort of fantastic and authoritative new find and revelation about the true story of Jesus’ life. Though the piece is a non-canonical work (this means it is not included in any translation of The Bible and was not seen as divinely-inspired by the early Church) and composed by a heretical group that was more pagan than Christian, we were all led to believe that somehow this was the ultimate revelation of our Lord. If you’ve peeked at excerpts online or elsewhere, you’ll quickly see that this "Gospel," created by a denomination of the "Gnostic" heresy, is more babble than scripture: it simply has nothing to do with the clear, simple and saving story of Jesus’ life. There are only disturbing, mystical and strange ideas—we seen none of the straight-forward love and warmth of the Lord. We see nothing of the Spirit. Apparently, National Geographic was seeing nothing but "green" when they launched this media blitz.

The spiritual confusion created by the author, actors and marketers pushing "Da Vinci" was even more perplexing—this was a complete work of fiction, very loosely based on (you guessed it) non-canonical scripture and grounded in a false and incoherent view of world history and art. The false and historically unacceptable "Gospel of Philip" and "Gospel of Mary Magdalene" are proclaimed ultimate truth, even though "Philip," for example, was written a full 200 years after the canonical Gospel of St. John and, like the "Gospel of Judas," simply has nothing to do with the divinely-inspired books that make up our sacred Scripture. The Fathers and Mothers of our Church—led by the Spirit as proclaimed through our 7 Ecumenical Councils—found no holy beauty in these books. Yet somehow, this troop of marketing experts has well-meaning, but confused, people of all backgrounds asking questions to one another such as "Did you know Jesus was really married to Mary Magdalene?"

Do you remember a few summers ago when the horror/suspense movie "The Blair Witch Project" was released? For about 6 months before this film hit the screens, marketers spread rumors, posted websites and published seemingly legitimate articles that led the public to believe that this movie was actually a true documentary, tracing the supernatural disappearance of three unsuspecting college students. The truth? This was a brilliant marketing plan, designed to hype the movie and build tremendous expectation. And you know what? It worked. The movie was a blockbuster; everyone bought it. It is working now as well in the case of "Judas" and "Da Vinci." Everyone’s buying it and the dupe is complete.

However, the stakes are higher now. The stakes are your very faith and commitment to our most vital traditions and sacramental life. This summer, as you are looking for a good book for the beach, seeking some air-conditioned time in the theatre, or engaging in earnest conversation with family, friends, and colleagues, take the time to educate yourself. Don’t be pulled in; realize you have something very special as an Orthodox Christian. Read The Bible, talk to your priest, share questions and concerns with Orthodox friends, and take the time to distinguish fact from fiction. And check out the links below: they’ll help you discern the truth and put your heart, mind and energy to good, holy use.