Kellia - The Desert's Risk
Kellia - The Desert's Risk
"Kellia" and "Koinobia" are cooperative strategy games designed and illustrated by the brothers of the Taizé community, inspired by the lives of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. They combine spirituality, mutual aid, and ecology. The games were initially developed within the community and then tested multiple times by sharing them with friends and visitors who provided feedback. After this long phase of revision, the rules were established and written down, after which the graphics were created.
Koinobia:
Koinobia is a strategic, simple, and fascinating journey into the life of the monastic communities founded by Abba Pachomius in Egypt.
Living in community on the banks of the Nile. That was the surprising idea of some men and women in the fourth century in Egypt.
Inspired by the young Pachomius, they settled in an abandoned village, which gradually came back to life. Their example inspired others to do the same.
Thus the first Koinobia were born: places where people left everything behind to live the Gospel together.
But all these different characters living together in close quarters – could that ever work?
Seasons come and go. Moods change. Living with neighbors becomes difficult. Would everyone's desire for harmony be enough? The loss of one person would be a failure for all. Would it prove to be a joyful adventure or lead to certain disaster?
https://www.taize.fr/en/koinobia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WGhh0dHFgs&t=6s
Kellia:
Abba Sisoes said to a brother:
– How are you?
– I am wasting my days.
– Even if I waste one day in the end, I am grateful.
In the fourth century AD, in a remote area of Egypt, a handful of men and women in search of the absolute move into the desert, into small huts (Kellia) on the outskirts of a village.
But life in the desert is anything but easy! Everyone must provide for their material survival, accept the risks of a hostile place, cultivate the land and, above all – for those who were to become the first Christian hermits – fight against their own demons.
Yet for these people, who were to become the first Christian hermits, it would be the scene of a captivating adventure.