Griffen - A Journey Through Time

The History of Ancient Chersoneses And Modern Day Sevastopol

Griffen is a unique performance about the history of Sevastopol presented on the new stage of the Tauric Chersoneses State Museum and Reserve.

Griffen, based on a play created by Metropolitan Tikhon, is a large-scale theatrical project that integrates modern special effects and high-technology scenography with the architecture of ancient Chersoneses.

We attended the spectacle on  August 17, 2024 on the stage at New Chersoneses, our third performance since August of 2022. 1

The story is about two young kids, Ivan and Masha, who sneak into a museum in Chersoneses at night. They are searching for information about the Griffen of ancient times. They break an ancient stone artifact of the Griffen that arouses the museum curator and chief archaeologist of Chersoneses. 

Suddenly, the mythical figure of Griffen emerges and tells the children if they want to know the secrets of ancient times, they must come with him. At first, the curator resists,  but eventually agrees to follow the Griffen with Ivan and Masha.

The Griffen then transports the three back in history to the 5th century BC with the Hellenic period, and on through Roman, Khazarian and Byzantine cultures featuring amazing battles for the city, including the Crimean War and World War II, the Great Patriotic War.

Metropolitan Tikhon presented the full history of the place where the Russian homeland was spiritually born. Tikhon invites the audience to take a journey along the continuum of Sevastopol to understand that Chersoneses is the gate to the immortality of Russia.

An Orthodox priest, Father Sergius Bulgakov wrote, “The purity of faith - these are our cradle gifts and this is our constellation. No nation has received such beautiful, pure and valuable gifts at birth…a non-Christian Russia cannot and will not exist historically.”  Orthodoxy and nationality are the foundational pillars of Russia.