The Russian Orthodox Church wants to create an adventure video game based on the conflict between the Moscow-based church and the one in Constantinople. Russian clergy supported the idea on Jan. 30 during the Christmas Educational Readings in Moscow, a popular annual event organized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
According to the idea, the protagonist of the game is Orthodox Metropolitan Nikolay. He receives a blessing from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill and sets out to create a fictional “metropolia of Secondrome and Antalyan” in Istanbul.
The game will be based on the current clash between the Russian church and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Bartholomew is the top authority of Eastern Orthodoxy, who on Jan. 5 granted the Ukrainian Orthodox Church an official document called a tomos, which makes the Ukrainian Orthodox Church independent of Moscow.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church was made subordinate to Moscow in 1686. The Russian church strongly opposed the creation of an independent church in Ukraine, and it cut off its relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople in response. Part of the video game involves Nikolay attempting to restore relations.
“The metropolitan will have to show outstanding diplomatic talents in negotiations with officials,” professor of the Moscow State Linguistic University Roman Silantyev told news agency Interfax on Jan. 30. Silantyev moderated the Christmas Readings.
“(Nikolay will have) to avoid death at the hands of the sinister sects of Gulen and Bozkurt; and to defeat the main villain named Barmalei at the end of the game. Barmalei is not to be killed, but to be reasoned with in a brotherly manner to bring him back into the fold as the archbishop of Zolotorozhsky,” Silantyev said.
NEWS ITEM: The Russian Orthodox Church accused the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople of intruding on its canonical territory and decided to cut religious ties between the two patriarchates during a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in Minsk on Oct. 15. (Kyiv Post)
However, the supporters of the initiative haven’t picked a name for the game, its features and requirements, and it’s not even known if it will actually be developed in the end.
A week ago, on Jan. 24, a Russian toymaker released a controversial board game based on political news in Russia and beyond. The game, “Our Guys in Salisbury,” features the same cities in Europe visited by the GRU agents accused of carrying out the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, England in 2018.
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