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Few rituals are as ancient or as evocativeas the washing of feet. If the gesture is finished off with the loving flourishof a kiss, the action is elevated beyond mere humility into somethingpoignantly intimate. Yet it was more than just intense tenderness that vibratedfrom images captured this week of Pope Francis cleansing and blessing the solesof Christians and non-Christians at a refugee centre on the outskirts of Rome.The photos pose a challenge to cultural prejudices – prejudices that arebrought into powerful relief when the images are seen alongside an intriguingand little-known painting created in Palestine in 1925.
很少有儀式像洗腳禮這樣古老或者引發感情的共鳴。如果這一舉動以一記充滿愛意而令人難忘的親吻結束，那么這個舉動本身就將超越謙遜而升華到某種動人的親密。這些攝于本周的圖像不單表達了呼之欲出的強烈感情，它記錄了教皇方濟各在羅馬郊區的一個難民中心為基督徒和非基督徒清潔雙腳并為之祈福。這些圖像也對文化偏見提出了挑戰，當這些照片與1925年創作于巴勒斯坦的一幅不知名的迷人畫作并列而觀時，這些偏見變得異常顯眼。
The custom of the washing of the feet isundertaken by the Pope each year on Holy Thursday (three days before Easter) inemulation of the actions of Christ, who performed the rite on his 12 apostlesat the Last Supper. Though observed annually, the ritual this year wasparticularly profound. Not only did the occasion mark the official inclusionfor the first time of women in the Papal ceremony, it occurred just 48 hoursafter so-called Islamic State took credit for a deadly terror attack inBrussels. In light of the horrific carnage, the Pope’s invitation to 12migrants, including three Muslims from Mali, Pakistan, and Syria, to receivethe rite, was an act of loving defiance aimed equally at those who perpetrateterror and those who fear the influx of refugees into Europe.
教皇每年在神圣星期四（復活節前三天）舉行洗腳禮儀式的習俗是對基督的效仿，基督曾在最后的晚餐中為他的十二門徒舉行這個儀式。雖然儀式每年都會舉行，但是今年的儀式尤為意義深遠。不單由于首次正式將女性納入教皇儀式的范圍，而且這場儀式就發生在所謂的伊斯蘭國承認對布魯塞爾發動了致命恐怖襲擊之后僅僅48小時。考慮到這場駭人的屠殺事件，教皇邀請十二位移民——包括三位來自馬里、巴基斯坦和敘利亞的穆斯林移民——參加這一儀式的舉動，是一種出于愛的挑戰，這一挑戰既針對實施恐怖者，也針對那些懼怕難民涌至歐洲的人。
By capturing the exalted leader of one ofthe world’s largest religions crumpled prostrate before homeless strangers,this week’s photo defies our assumptions of social hierarchy. It also calls tomind countless portrayals in the history of art of Mary Magdalene anointingChrist's feet with perfume and tears and Christ himself washing the feet of hisapostles. Indeed nearly everyone from Giotto to Tintoretto, Fra Angelico toFord Maddox Brown, Rembrandt to Blake has tackled these subjects. But howeverbeautiful traditional depictions of the New Testament scenes may be (Blake’s is especiallylyrical), after centuries of staring and being stared at, their repetition ofan overly familiar religious story has worn our eyes down like wave-washedstones.
通過捕捉全世界最大宗教之一的至高領導者在無家可歸的陌生人之前蜷曲著俯身的這一幕，這些圖片挑戰了我們對社會等級的假想。這也讓我們回想起藝術史上無數描繪抹大拉的瑪麗亞（Mary Magdalene）用淚水與香膏涂抹在基督的腳還有基督自己給門徒洗腳場景的畫作。確實，從喬托（Giotto）到丁托萊托（Tintoretto）、從弗拉·安吉利科（Fra Angelico）到福特·馬多克斯·布朗（Ford Maddox Brown）、從倫勃朗（Rembrandt）到布雷克（Blake）幾乎每個藝術家都曾為這些主題繪畫。然而這些描繪新約場景的傳統優美畫作（布雷克則是通過他的詩句），經歷了幾個世紀的不斷凝視之后，過分熟悉的宗教故事早已讓我們熟視無睹，好像被浪花沖刷的石頭。
By contrast, a less well-known treatment ofthe subject by the British artist David Bomberg, Washing of the Feet (1925),jolts our gaze into fresh perspective. Bomberg’s depiction relies for itsunnerving effect on the unknowability of the two masked figures involved in theceremony. Blurred by prejudice and fear, our eyes could easily, if shamefully,mistake the hooded figures for present-day terror suspects. In fact, Bomberg’spainting captures an actual scene the artist witnessed first-hand in a12th-Century church in the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem in 1925: the Bishopanointing the feet of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The only figure behavingsuspiciously was the artist, who had sneaked uninvited into the church. Seenside-by-side, this week’s photo of Pope Francis and Bomberg’s paintingcall us to cleanse our souls of corrosive bias.
相反，英國藝術家大衛·本勃格（David Bomberg）在1925年就此題材創作的一幅不那么知名的作品“洗腳”，卻將我們猛地帶入一個全新的視角。本勃格的畫作，將緊張感依托于置身這一儀式的兩個蒙面人身份的無法確知。被偏見與恐懼所蒙蔽，我們的眼睛非常輕易地，如果是可恥地，將這兩個戴兜帽的人誤以為今天的恐怖襲擊犯。事實上，本勃格的畫作描繪的乃是1925年在耶路撒冷亞美尼亞人區一座12世紀教堂里藝術家親身經歷的場景：主教將香膏涂抹在耶路撒冷宗主教（Patriarch of Jerusalem）的腳上。唯一舉止可疑的就是藝術家本人，他在沒被邀請的情況下偷偷潛入教堂。將畫作與照片并列而觀，教皇方濟各的照片與本勃格的畫作都呼喚我們潔凈自己受偏見毒害的靈魂。
