Movie: "The Horde" (2012)

The Horde is a 2012 historical film directed by Andrei Proshkin and written by Yuri Arabov. The film is a highly fictionalized narrative of how Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow, healed Taidula Khatun, the mother of the Golden Horde khan Jani Beg, from blindness.

Most of the dialogues in The Horde are in the Karachay-Balkar language (with Russian overdub in the theatrical release). Filmmakers considered Karachay-Balkar as the living language most closely resembling Kipchak spoken by the 14th century Golden Horde. Nevertheless, none of the actors of Turkic extraction are native speakers of the language; Dakayarov, Lovov, and Yegorov are Yakuts, whereas Hairullina is Volga Tatar.

"Doctor Zhivago": Russian TV Mini-Series (2006)

In Doctor Zhivago, the life of a young doctor is intertwined with the fate of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Yuri Zhivago is orphaned at a young age, and his uncle brings him to Moscow, where he studies medicine while living with his uncle's family. At a New Year's ball, he witnesses an assassination attempt on a high society lawyer named Komarovksy. What shocks Yuri is the identity of the shooter: Lara Gishar. By coincidence, he had been present earlier when Lara and Komarovsky first met at the Montenegro hotel. At the time, their magnetism and their unusual relationship, both extremely open and particularly secretive, revealed to the young doctor a world of emotions he had yet to experience. Yuri is told that Komarovsky played a role in his father's suicide, but this news has less effect on him than the chance meeting with Lara. At the beginning of WWI, Doctor Zhivago goes to the front, leaving his wife and children in Moscow. He is unaware that many years later Lara will touch his life again, changing it for ever; Yuri Zhivago's personal drama plays out against a backdrop of social and historical upheaval, with his generation's hopes and desires wiped out by war and revolution. Yuri's work and family suffer from his sense of having lost his bearings. Hoping to get back on his feet, he makes the fateful decision to leave Moscow and return to his family's house beyond the Urals. Yuri observes from the window of his train as a new Russia is born, and unexpected encounters during his travels come to symbolize for him the spirit of a new era. The people he meets in the train have been forged in this new world, and Yuri desperately tries to find his place among them, learning to live in the provinces and forgetting the dreams of his youth. As he lies on his bunk in the train, Yuri has no idea that Lara has also left Moscow, taking up residence not far from his family home.

Amazon Video Debuts Russian Series About Catherine the Great

Russia is experiencing a golden age of fantastic, high quality historical dramatic TV series. Over the past couple of years subjects have included: the life of Russian civil war hero Admiral Kolchak, Rasputin (making the case he was a great guy, slandered and murdered by the British Secret Service), a screen adaptation of the epic novel Quiet Flows the Don, chronicling the experience of the Don Cossacks during WW1, the revolution, and the Russian civil war, and one following the history of the Romanov Tsars, among others.

Amazon Video Debuts Russian Series "Sophia"

Currently streaming on Amazon is the Russian television series "Sophia". Currently the first season of eight episodes is available.

According to the description:

In 15th Century Russia, the last Princess of Byzantium, Sophia Palaiologina, moves from Rome to Moscow to marry Czar Ivan III. Destined to become the first influential female figure of the Russian Empire, Sophia overcomes court intrigue and betrayals and helps Ivan consolidate the fragmented country, push Mongolian invaders out, and build the Kremlin. Russian language series with English subtitles. Starring: Mariya Andreeva, Eugeniy Tsiganov, Vilen Babichev.

New Russian Film - "The Monk and the Demon" (2016)

When a man decides to dedicate his life to God, he must know that temptations will come like an avalanche to test his internal state. Then he will know if he can truly and faithfully serve God. This path, as the Holy Fathers of the Church say, is narrow and not everyone can cross it. Some stumble from the very beginning, and some when they arrive just halfway, do not manage to reach the end.

But what can a man do when he is attacked by forces that he did not know much about until then? Of course he will fight, and emerge victorious with the help of God.

An Orthodox Chapel for the Russian Athletes in Rio de Janeiro

Members of the Russian Olympic team pose for a photograph after a prayer service at the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/Tass

August 11, 2016

Interfax

The father confessor of the Russian Olympic team, and rector of St. Dimitry Donskoy Church in Severnoye Butovo (district in south-east Moscow), Archpriest Andrey Alexeyev organized a chapel for the Russian Olympic athletes.

It was opened in the Olympic village in Rio de Janeiro. Each athlete receives support and consolation there, parishioners of St. Zinaida Church in Rio de Janeiro told Interfax-Religion on Thursday.

Greece, Orthodoxy and Geopolitics

Greece, Religion and Geopolitics:

A Hint of Civilisations Clashing

Erasmus

January 28, 2015

The Economist

AS MY last posting noted, the first edgy thing which the new Greek government did was to downgrade, albeit very politely, its relations with the church. The second thing was to upgrade a relationship whose historic roots are at least partly religious, with Russia. On his first day in office, prime minister Alexis Tsipras met the Russian ambassador, and then distanced Greece from an EU statement which protested over Russian actions in Ukraine and threatened further sanctions. He then named a foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias, who enjoys cordial relations with the religious-nationalist segment of the Russian elite.

Lots of questions arise. Is this a great historical paradox - the consolidation of a sentimental tie based on common Orthodox Christianity, under a secular Greek government and a stridently pious Russian one? That would be an interesting reversal of the cold war. Or is the relationship more cultural and historical, based on common memories of shimmering mosaics and swirling incense, rather than actively religious? If that is true, then it is not particularly dependent on what people on either side now believe.