Ruben Enage is a simple Filipino carpenter and house painter of forty-seven years. He resides in the city of San Fernando. His daily life is not much different from the lives of thousands of exactly the same Filipinos. Everything changes with the advent of Good Friday. Imitating Jesus Christ, Enage drags a wooden cross through the streets of the city, followed by fellow believers filled with love and compassion... they nail his hands and feet to the cross with six-inch nails.

The nails are decontaminated, of course. After all, the Ministry of Health of the Philippines warns every year: "crucifixion is bad for health," nails need to be disinfected, and besides, voluntary martyrs and sufferers for the faith should first be vaccinated against tetanus. Ruben Enage has been following these guidelines for 25 years and is still "in good shape". "As long as my body can handle the pain of nails, I'll do it," he says.

For tourists who happened to visit the Philippines right on Holy Week, all this is just an attraction and an unforgettable show. There are a lot of people like Enage in the Philippines today, and in different provinces. Some "imitators of Christ" go in procession, bending under the weight of the cross, some whip themselves, and the most determined ask for their own crucifixion! If only we could imitate Jesus in some way! Here it is, the same Catholic mysticism-imitatio Christi, Orthodox or Protestant such a thing will not occur...

Thousands of onlookers gather to watch it - the language does not pronounce the word "spectacle". Photos from the Philippines fly around the world. Local authorities do not fight this phenomenon, they only monitor the order. On the eve of Good Friday, "Golgotha" is being checked by the police. The audience is warned to bring sandwiches with them (it's a long show) and not to buy food with their hands. The "show" in San Fernando this year even received sponsorship from Coca-Cola and Smart Telecommunications.

It is commonly assumed that Christianity has always introduced "barbaric" pagan peoples to the values of progressive Western civilization. The savage allegedly stopped hammering his "neighbor" with a club, walked around naked, became docile and learned to read and write. In fact, Christianity never completely transformed the local culture anywhere, but rather mixed with the folk and pagan faith in the most bizarre way. The local culture, with its relics of paganism, swallowed Christianity and read its ideas as it pleased. Popular Christianity in various countries took on the most grotesque forms, if not completely macabre - as in the Philippines.

"We are not going to fight this tradition," says Philippine Health Minister Francisco Duque, " Because for many of us it is a way of atonement." What about the Catholic Church? On March 20, the Archbishop of San Fernando Paciano Anizeto, in an interview with the Catholic radio Veritas, said that he understands the emotional fuse of "imitators of Christ", but urges not to turn the atonement of sins into a show. "I would like to understand why people do this. Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, Secretary of the Catholic Bishops ' Conference of the Philippines, echoes him. "Are they turning to God or trying to attract tourists?" And then he answers his own question, telling about a visit to one of the Philippine "calvary": "I can't blame these people. Of course, there are organized groups for which this is a business. But I have also met people for whom the crucifixion is an expression of sincere faith."

The position of the Philippine authorities is clear: let them crucify each other, so long as they are healthy and do not kill each other. How such extreme practices affect the country's image in the twenty-first century does not concern them very much. The Church, on the other hand, is behaving rather strangely. What's bothering her more? That public self-torture turns into a show? Or the very practice of "Great Friday" crucifixes, which, in essence, devalue the redemptive sufferings of Christ? Doesn't it show that purely "ecclesiastical" means of atonement for sins don't work and people want "extreme sports"? That when they leave the confessional and say "Pater noster" ten times and "Ave Maria" ten more times, they feel neither cleaner nor better?

If the Church had wanted to fight public crucifixes, the Philippine episcopate wouldn't have encouraged its congregation to go to the movies and watch Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ"four years ago. Because this film is made in such a way that for enthusiasts of self-flagellation and self-torture, it turns into a visual aid. Is it any wonder that Calvary doesn't get any smaller on Good Friday in the Philippines?

However, has the Church ever managed to overcome any vivid manifestation of popular Christianity? In Brazil, the statues of Our Lady cry. In Italy, women scold a statue of St. Anthony if he doesn't help them enough with their daily chores. In some Orthodox countries, it is a popular custom to crawl under the icon during the procession to receive healing. It happens that the icons are also punished by turning their face to the wall... In our country, not only icons of saints, but also photos of the Patriarch are now streaming myrrh. Whatever country, then wonders and curiosities. And you say the age of nanotechnology!

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