The series “Constantine’s heritage” (with the subheading “Orthodox culture – 21^st century”) was made after the ideas and sketches of introducing the general public into the wide area of Orthodox culture, conceived by Bishop Jovan of Nish. It was ordered from Deacon Nenad Ilic to write a scenario in line with the dialogue of Orthodox Church and the contemporary global culture. Under the directorial guidance of Deacon Nenad, long-standing associates of Opet & Opet have created six hour-long episodes of a documentary series which breaks the common prejudice that there is not much to say about the subject that piques the interest of many people, because the Church is out of touch with the real world. The series was filmed according to highest standards in this particular branch of the filming industry, all the while utilizing a vast amount of documentation and being filmed in city streets as well as in churches and monasteries throughout Serbia, with the inclusion of a large number of interlocutors and dramatized scenes including extras. It is dynamically montaged, with a high-class post production. The series aired on the First and Second channel of the Serbian Radio Television in the fall of 2013. Furthermore, a three-disk DVD edition was released at the same time.

1. „Everything is permitted“ 54:36

(The Problem of Value)

The first episode of “Constantine’s heritage”, a series about the Orthodox culture at the beginning of the 21^st century deals with the problem of endangerment of the value system in contemporary society. Orthodox culture confronts global relativisation by insisting on the preservation of the aspiration towards the Divine endlessness as the ultimate value of human personality. Not giving up on neither freedom, kindness, nor beauty, all of which being supreme values, Orthodox culture preserves proper models of resisting the consumer culture of today that favours happiness as the only mandatory value.

2. Raging Chronos 56:15

(The Problem of Time)

In the second episode of “Constantine’s heritage” the authors confront the problem of time, a distinct mark of our “sped up” civilisation, with the help of numerous interlocutors, dramatized scenes and documentary records. The IT revolution has brought on huge improvements in various areas of human activity, but along with those it brought the model of human living and functioning to that of a machine. After alienating himself from the rhythms of nature, modern city-dwelling man is burdened with the concept of so-called “multitasking” – the imperative of conducting multiple activities at the same time, which is actually modelled after the way that a computer executes its tasks. However, one is still offered the possibility to return to his true self and taste the breath of Divine, infinite and joyous today, through occasional participation in the church time that consists of yearly, weekly and daily services.

3. The Time Waste Bin 53:15

(The Problem of Space)

The third episode of the documentary series dealing with the place of Orthodox culture in contemporary society, “Constantine’s heritage” focuses on the problem of space. New technologies, transfer of images across great distances, internet, travel and communication have all warped the physical dimensions of time and space. All of us are acquainted with activities and appearances of places thousands of miles away from where we live, while at the same time we might not even know our first neighbour. This, along with the experience of consecrated space, the symbolic meaning of spatial organisation of the Christian temple, the relation between global and local, and the Orthodox answer for the loss of contemporary man’s certainty of his identity, often based on the stability of space, is addressed in the Time Waste Bin episode.

4. The Aging Narcissus 57:01

(The Problem of Body)

At the start of the 21^st century, our civilization is in many ways marked by a baffling amount of intensive care about one’s body and looks. As religion gradually lost most of its influence on modern civilization, the opinion that our biological component is the only one we know of with certainty has become deeply rooted in society. One of the base tasks of the consumer society has become to preserve the body and encourage the modern men to embrace all the methods suggested for battling the aging of his body. Fortunately, orthodox culture still retains the cure for the expanding narcissism of our civilization. The practice of asceticism, a healthy correlation with matter and the material, carnal love, an answer for ecological problems – these are all subjects mentioned in the fourth episode of the “Constantine’s heritage”, the series about Orthodox culture in the 21^st century.

5. The Great Narrative 56:12

(The Problem of Talking and Languages)

The 20^th century has certainly left the world in a gloomy state in its wake: there is the alienation and disorientation of individuals, Auschwitz and Hiroshima, ecological disasters and the monopoly of Western culture over the resources of knowledge through which it wishes to shape the whole world. At the end of 20^th and the beginning of 21^st century, postmodernism has turned its attention to all the “grand stories” and “narratives” – systems of thinking and believing which, when looked at from a new point of view, have the purpose of “enslaving” parts of the entire society as well as individuals. Tendencies of pluralism, diversity, multicolorness and mosaicity have all greatly expanded, overshadowing all others. An individual is therefore left without any life scenarios to rely on, and grand stories and meanings have become a reflection of poor taste and the subject of ridicule. Orthodox culture in its core, as well as its common points with global culture, has always defended and will always be defending the “grand story” of the God-man, which retains a deep meaning of life for every individual of any age. Watch about the “Grand story”, the symbols and language of the Church, as well as about Orthodoxy in literature in the fifth episode of “Constantine’s heritage” series – “The Great Narrative”

6. The Web of Trust 55:27

(The Problem of Community)

Orthodox Christianity reminds us that in this time of reign of science and technology, a time of illusory objectivity, it is constantly forgotten that the thing that keeps the community together is religion, the same as it is forgotten that people cannot, under any circumstances, live with without faith. It is only a question of who and what to believe in. Modern civilization is also built upon a complex web of trust. Watch about the endangered community in the time of expanding individualism and the means of its expansion, as well as about the characteristics of the Church as a community, its conformation, and about holidays as an important means of renewing the community in the sixth and last episode of “Constantine’s heritage” series – “The Web of Trust”.