Orthodox Christian cinema

Ars Christiana No. I (XIX) / 2025 The phenomenon of the TV series ‘Saint Paisios - From Farasa to Heaven’ is more than just a cinematic experience! [Part I] Elena Dulgheru

The Greek television series Saint Paisios - From Farasa to Heaven, broadcast in February 2022 on Mega TV and Alpha TV Cyprus, is analysed as a pan-Orthodox social and cultural phenomenon, within the context of Balkan and international hagiographic cinema. The study examines the literary and documentary popularisation of the life of the Venerable Paisios of Mount Athos, the challenges of adapting a hagiographic biography for the general public, and the artistic limitations of the series in relation to both the religious and the wider audience.

Ars Christiana No. II (XVIII) / 2024 “Quo Vadis”: a festival to transform Romania Elena Dulgheru

The first edition of the Quo Vadis International Film Festival, held in Iași from 7 to 10 November 2024 under the auspices of the Doxologia Missionary Cultural Centre, brought recent Christian Orthodox films from Serbia, Greece, the USA and Romania, bringing together directors, actors and film enthusiasts on a platform for cultural and spiritual dialogue centred on the theme of freedom.

Ars Christiana No. II (XVI) / 2023 ‘The Monk and the Demon’: a philosophical take on ‘Stan Pățitul’ Elena Dulgheru

The Monk and the Demon (2016), the final film by Russian director Nikolai Dostal, based on a screenplay by Yuri Arabov, is a dramatic comedy blending folk parable, hagiographic fable and theological inquiry into the relationship between man and the devil, set in a nineteenth-century monastery. Following monk Ivan and the demon Legion through a series of fantastical adventures culminating in Jerusalem, the film raises the provocative question of whether fallen angels can be humanised through love and repentance.

Ars Christiana No. I (XV) / 2023 ‘The Miracle’ - a film about a miracle performed by Saint Nicholas that shook the Soviet Union Elena Dulgheru

The film Ciudo/The Miracle (2009), directed by Aleksandr Proșkin from a screenplay by Yuri Arabov, recreates the miracle known as ‘Zoya’s Stiffening’, which took place in 1956 in Kuibyshev, at the height of Khrushchev’s anti-religious campaign. This historical epic traces the reactions of various social groups (a journalist, a party propagandist, a priest, Khrushchev himself) to a miracle that defies state-sanctioned scientific atheism, offering a reflection on faith, lies and collective repentance.

Theatrum No. II (XII) / 2021 Ostrovul - madness for Christ, the crucifixion of the old man and a defiance of the lukewarm spirit Elena Dulgheru

The film Ostrovul (Pavel Lunghin, 2006) is analysed from the perspective of the director’s biographical paradox, the essential contribution of debut screenwriter Dmitri Sobolev, and its appeal to the Christian Orthodox audience. Its success paved the way for a whole wave of Russian religious cinema, and the story of the monk Anatoly, structured around the triad of betrayal, atonement and forgiveness, is examined scene by scene.

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