Definition: Parody—A poor or weak imitation (Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary).
Originality is difficult to come by. For instance, take the problem that the Communists had when they sought to replace the Russian Orthodox Church with atheism. They realized that the people were so imbued with the essentials of their faith that if they were to replace Christianity, they could not just do it with nothing at all. So they substituted for Christian doctrine, icons and mosaics what they considered to be new truths. It was a religion without God, the Kingdom of heaven realized on earth, and salvation brought about by ending individual ownership. Faith in God was turned into belief in the Party, and hope in the afterlife into a paradise on earth.
An iconic triumvirate soon appeared on billboards. In place of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, there was Karl Marx, father of socialism with his full beard and unkempt gray head of hair, along with the vocal instrument of Communism, Vladimir Lenin, who preached the gospel of the new age through collectivism and technology, and Joseph Stalin, the demonic spirit carrying out the program by intimidation, suppression of individual rights, and a series of five year plans intended to usher in the future bliss.
Even when Lenin died, he was entombed in the center of Moscow’s Red Square as if in a sacred sepulcher, where devotees would stand in line for hours just to have a glimpse of his decomposing corpse. The idea came from the veneration of Orthodox Christians for the relics of the glorified saints. The Communists forced that macabre parody on their people, ignoring or missing the irony of it all.
In a nation such as ours, torn from sacred history, bereft of the veneration Orthodox Christians hold for saints, without the respect shown to royalty as some nations of the world yet preserve, we too have a secular substitute for the honor shown to the holy ones. Devotees of rock and roll music with the eager support of the media have elevated Elvis Presley from stardom to demiurge. No, he’s not yet “King of Kings;” however, he is called America’s king. In a caricature of the way our Lord Jesus Christ was rejected by the religious leaders of His day, Elvis was reprimanded on the Ed Sullivan show for gyrating his hips in a sensual, suggestive manner. That notoriety led to fame. He was more than reinstated to society—he soon became the idol of the land long before the end of his life on earth. [Some would insist that he lives. Indeed, how could the King be dead?]
Besides being a cult figure, he has become one whom several generations could identify with: The middle aged and overweight who struggle with diet and exercise can identify with his obesity. The younger generation addicted to drugs and who yearn for a change in the stringent laws forbidding hallucinogens have a role model in the one whose life was cut short by drug addiction. When we cease worship of the God-man, society makes man a god.
Now in these times when Christmas in our materialist nation is a holiday not for worship, except one another, and honor not to the King of Kings, but is reduced to an exchange of presents, and when Pascha has become Easter, a time to show off our styles and revert to pagan fertility rites of eggs and bunnies, devotees of Elvis will stand vigil all night at his last residence holding candles, the way Orthodox Christians carry candles around their churches to wend their way to the tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ Who indeed is risen. And He ascends not to Graceland, but to the Kingdom of the heavenly Father, in order that God’s grace may come upon His disciples, apostles, saints and true believers.