How does Tolstoy describe Freemasonry in the novel War and Peace? and got the best answer
Answer from Alexey Khoroshev[guru]
L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” was published at a time when Masonic societies in Russia had long been banned. But the events of the novel take us to the first decades of the 19th century, when Freemasonry flourished in Russia. It is known that Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov was a Freemason; he sought in the brotherhood an opportunity to comprehend and comprehend the world. His Masonic history begins in 1779: in the German city of Regensburg he became involved in the sacraments of the order. Later, traveling around Europe, Kutuzov entered the lodges of Frankfurt and Berlin, and upon returning to Russia in 1783, he was recognized by the lodges of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Mikhail Illarionovich enjoyed great authority among Masons of various degrees. Upon initiation into the seventh degree of Swedish Freemasonry, Kutuzov was given the order name Green Laurel and the motto “Glorify yourself with victories.” The life of the commander fully corresponded to this motto.
Kutuzov devoted more than 30 years to the brotherhood, it was he who stopped Napoleon, the demon of violence and lust for power in the understanding of the free masons, thereby realizing the main goal of the order - achieving peace and tranquility. In Tolstoy's novel, Kutuzov is already a man with established convictions; he is not tormented by doubts as much as it happens with Pierre Bezukhov, who is concerned with issues of moral self-improvement. The bearer of these ideas in the novel “War and Peace” is Joseph Alekseevich Bazdeev, who made a strong impression on Pierre with his passionate preaching. The image of Bazdeev is based on a real person - Joseph Alekseevich Pozdeev, very popular among Moscow masons. This circumstance, apparently, forced us to leave the character’s name and patronymic unchanged and make minor changes to his last name.
L. N. Tolstoy’s favorite heroes go through a difficult spiritual path in a painful search for truth. They get carried away by false ideas, get mistaken, change internally and ultimately approach the ideal of simplicity.
Pierre Bezukhov's entry into the Masonic society occurred during a difficult period of his life, associated with his marriage to Helen Kuragina. He suffers, realizing that he was not only deceived, but also deceived others. He considered himself guilty for marrying without love - this plunges Pierre into a deep crisis. “What's wrong? What well? What should you love, what should you hate? Why do you need to live and what am I? What is life, what is death? What force controls everything? “- he asks himself. These reflections on the meaning of life are characteristic of Tolstoy's positive heroes.
Pierre's coming to Freemasonry was an important event, as it would help him find a way out of his inner turmoil. He “thought and thought and thought and thought,” the author reports. But the more he thought, the “darker, more confusing and more hopeless the past, future and, most importantly, the present seemed to him.”
During such reflections, when Pierre was immersed “in the highest mindset that a person can achieve,” at that moment a stranger entered the room. It was the old Mason Bazdeev, who came to Pierre to convert him. He immediately started talking about Freemasonry and suggested introducing Pierre to the “brotherhood of free masons,” where he would find peace. In the penetrating gaze of the freemason, Pierre “felt hope and reassurance.” A week later, Bezukhov’s reception was scheduled “at the St. Petersburg Northern Lights Lodge.” Pierre was accepted into the lodge in compliance with all rituals. The new life instilled new strength in Pierre, and after initiation into the Freemasons he was “cheerful and restrained, as if making fun of the whole world, knowing the truth.”
From the day he was accepted into the “Brotherhood of Freemasons”, “a new life of activity and self-satisfaction” began for Pierre. Soon Pierre, supported by his fellow Masons in his long-standing intentions, went to the estates “with a very clearly defined goal: to benefit his twenty thousand souls of peasants.”
Pierre finds the meaning of life in the philosophy of moral self-improvement as a means of eliminating evil in oneself and the world.
Historians and literary scholars have repeatedly raised the question of how reliable Tolstoy’s depiction of Freemasonry is and about the prototypes of Bezukhov’s image. To the second question, Tolstoy himself answered more than once that with the exception of two characters (Denisov and Akhrosimova), all the other characters in the novel are fictional, or rather, collected from the smallest features from many specific people. Even such historical figures as Bonaparte and Alexander are described by Tolstoy in a rather unique way. As for the first question, there is undoubtedly more reliable and accurate here. Tolstoy used sources with extraordinary reliability, and he had many of them, and they were all excellent. Even today, the closed collections of the main Russian Library contain such inexhaustible riches that no other book collection in the world can boast of. Special repositories for Masonic publications and manuscripts alone occupy many floors of a huge building, and everyone knows this. Not everyone, however, manages to look at them. In Tolstoy's time all this was, of course, available. Therefore, both speeches and individual words - always taken in quotation marks - as well as Pierre’s diary, were copied verbatim in the library, where a collection of rituals with Tolstoy’s autographs is still kept. However, some inaccuracies are also striking. Firstly, it is said that Pierre’s heart “did not lie in the mystical side of Freemasonry,” and Tolstoy also repeats this twice. But in this case, Pierre could not have been a student and admirer of Bazdeev (Pozdneev), who was one of the deepest mystics who did not recognize Freemasonry outside of Orthodox Christian mysticism...
The improbability of traveling “for the purpose of Masonic secrets abroad at the beginning of the 19th century is also obvious. Such a trip could only take place in Catherine's time. It was obviously inspired by Schwartz’s trip or the journey of V.I. Zinoviev, but, of course, in the 19th century there was no need to go...
However, all these inaccuracies are insignificant compared to how accurately and soulfully the great writer conveyed the main meaning and significance of belonging to the brotherhood of free masons. And this despite the fact that Tolstoy himself was quite wary of Freemasonry, since at the time when he lived and worked, Russian Freemasonry began to degenerate, acquiring more and more features of political organizations of future extremists - the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. Tolstoy contrasted the philosophical reasonings of Platon Karataev with Masonic teachings. This opposition of “Karataev’s truth to the Masonic labyrinth of lies, which Pierre, who was disillusioned with Freemasonry, felt,” sounds like a condemnation of Freemasonry, which Tolstoy wanted to express, apparently, wittingly or unwittingly, projecting contemporary Russian Freemasonry onto the entire history of the world order.
And yet, in the sense of popularizing the brotherhood of free masons, Tolstoy’s epic probably did no less than all historical literature, and made it so that in the circles of the intelligentsia the old Russian Freemasonry was loved and appreciated. A deep reader could always understand that Pierre's tossing and disappointments are connected with his personal drama, that he himself is partly to blame for the failures and blows of fate he experiences. And more than once, as the author testifies, Freemasonry was not only a source of consolation for his hero, but also provided an opportunity to rise to great spiritual heights. And these pages were written by Tolstoy with such brightness and persuasiveness that the impression from them does not fade despite subsequent hesitations and doubts. And even seventy With more than years of Soviet history, when official propaganda declared Freemasonry to be almost the main source of world evil, people continued to read “War and Peace” and many began to believe, like Pierre, after a conversation with Bazdeev, “in the possibility of a brotherhood of people united with the goal of supporting each other on the path of virtue."
Based on materials from the book by Y. Vorobyovsky and E. Soboleva “The Fifth Angel Sounded the Trumpet.” Freemasonry in modern Russia. M: 2002.-500 p.
In terms of popularizing the brotherhood of free masons, L. Tolstoy’s epic “War and Peace” probably did no less than all historical literature, and made it so that in the circles of the intelligentsia the old Russian Freemasonry was loved and appreciated. The reader could always understand that Pierre's tossing and disappointments are connected with his personal drama, that he himself is partly to blame for the failures and blows of fate he experiences. And more than once, as the author testifies, Freemasonry was not only a source of consolation for his hero, but also provided an opportunity to rise to great spiritual heights. And these pages were written by Tolstoy with such brightness and persuasiveness that the impression from them does not fade, despite subsequent hesitations and doubts.
Leo Tolstoy is a cult character of the Russian intelligentsia.
At the age of 12, one of the authors was taken to Yamnaya Polyana to venerate the grave of the great writer. This grave, a mound without a cross, made a depressing impression. Of course, the pioneer did not know then that Tolstoy himself bequeathed to bury himself without “the so-called divine service, but to bury the body so that it would not stink.” So they buried it. Like a dog. And, as if over a suicide, they did not put a cross.
Well, he was a spiritual suicide. The grave became, of course, a place of worship. I found all the signs of a religious monument. Soon after the count's death, on August 28, 1911, his faithful student Biryukov and his comrades came here. They laid flowers. Biryukov's ten-year-old son bent down to straighten them and suddenly screamed loudly. The father saw with horror that the child’s right arm was entwined with a viper that had bitten the boy... Vipers were not seen in these places, the investigation established, and the appearance of a gray snake three-quarters of an arshin in length is a mystery. At the same time, a snake hole was discovered in the writer’s grave.
The creeping “wisdom” of this sinner will sting for a long time even from the grave. No, it was not for nothing that Lenin almost affectionately called Tolstoy the mirror of the Russian revolution. In general, there is an interesting connection between these two characters, woven from a whole series of coincidences (?). In Anna Karenina, the prototype of the revolutionary demons, the “new man,” a suicidal intellectual who finds an “anchor of salvation” in the revolution, bears the name Levin. This was one of Lenin's first pseudonyms. Too frank, pointing to Levitic roots (like the surname K, Marx - Levi). In the early edition of the novel, this Levin was called Nikolai Lenin. This, as we know, is the next pseudonym of the “leader of the world proletariat” and the future “cadavre”.
School and college curricula have always kept silent about the fact that Tolstoy was not just a writer. He was aiming to create his own religion. Supposedly Christian, but without Christ. What is the volume of various “teachings” he collected - from all religious traditions and from all kinds of philosophers worth? In these completely ecumenical “four menaions” it is prescribed what “wisdom” should be read on this or that day of the year. And here is the entry in the writer’s diary dated April 20, 1889: “A new worldview and movement is ripening in the world, and it seems as if my participation is required - its proclamation. It’s as if I was purposely made for this purpose by what I am with my reputation—made by a bell.”
Truly messianic ambitions! They were developed in Tolstoy by a certain voice. Here is the entry from May 25 of the same year: “At night I heard a voice demanding that the errors of the world be exposed. This night a voice told me that the time has come to expose the evil of the world... We must not hesitate or put off. There is nothing to be afraid of, nothing to think about how or what to say.”
The blasphemer galloped through the outskirts of Yasnaya Polyana on a bay stallion, which he named Bes. And an invisible demon sat behind the count’s back. Like on the ancient seal of the Knights Templar - two riders on one horse. Well, the ancient ancestor of the writer belonged to the Templar family. Shrugging away from the fire of the Inquisition, he arrived in Rus' in the 14th century. And the terrible cry of Jacques de Molay, his cry from the flames: “Vengeance, Adonai, vengeance!” - resounded centuries later in the soul of the Templar descendant.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Lev Nikolaevich also received specific intellectual training. It began with his desire to learn the Hebrew language. The teacher was the Moscow rabbi Solomon Moiseevich Minor (real name Zalkind).
Tolstoy, whose family’s founder is considered to be the Knight Templar Count Henri de Mons, archetypally accurately reproduced the Templar appeal to Judaism for “wisdom.” After some time of studying, Minor stated: “He) Tolstoy also knows the Talmud. In his vigorous pursuit of truth, during almost every lesson he asked me about the moral views of the Talmud, about the Talmudists’ interpretation of biblical legends, and, in addition, he also drew his information from the book “Worldview of the Talmudists,” written in Russian.
Teachers' tips can be heard in many of Tolstoy's texts. For example, that it is not Christianity that truly lives, but “socialism, communism, political-economic theories, utilitarianism.” The spirit of Talmudic Christ-hatred, mundane practicality, disguised as the communism of Jewish messianism, blows over these words.
Tolstoy speaks of the demons of the future revolution, the murderers of Alexander II: “the best, highly moral, selfless, kind people, like Perovskaya, Osinsky, Lizogub and many others.” On Freemasonry: “I have great respect for this organization and believe that Freemasonry has done a lot of good for humanity.” But about the “persecuted people”: From a letter to V.S. Solovyov, who compiled the “Declaration against Anti-Semitism” in 1890: - “I know in advance that if you, Vladimir Sergeevich, express what you think about this subject, then you express my thoughts and feelings, because the basis of our disgust from the measures of oppression of the Jewish nationality is the same: the consciousness of brotherly ties with all peoples and especially with the Jews, among whom Christ was born and who suffered so much and continue to suffer from pagan ignorance so called Christians."
And more quotes:
- “The fact that I reject the incomprehensible trinity and ... the blasphemous theory about a god born of a virgin redeeming the human race is completely fair.” - “Look at the activities of the clergy among the people, and you will see that only idolatry is preached and intensively introduced: raising icons, blessing waters, carrying miraculous icons around houses, glorifying relics, wearing crosses, etc.”
- “In the consecration of oil, as well as in anointing, I see a method of crude witchcraft, as in the veneration of icons and relics, as in all those rituals, prayers, spells.”
He considered all this “the evil of the world.” By the hand of the one who heard the “voices” Tolstoy was seen, apparently, by the same character as in his time by the hand of the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod Melissino, and later by Lenin. The count wrote terrible words about God. But what were the intonations! What an irritation with which all this was said! What were the eyes! In the memoirs of contemporaries we see truly inhuman malice.
Talmudic wisdom is the main thing in Lev Nikolaevich’s attitude to sacred texts.” The methodology for creating heresy is perfectly shown in his article “How to Read the Gospel.” He advises taking a blue and red pencil in your hands and using blue to cross out places with which you do not agree, and using red to highlight those that you like. One must live according to the personal Gospel compiled in this way.
Tolstoy himself cut off the beginning and end of the Gospel (Incarnation and Resurrection). And in the middle, Christ was forced to humbly ask for the permission of the Yasnaya Polyana teacher of all mankind for every word he spoke. Everything - including Jesus, whom Tolstoy essentially takes as his disciple. Lev Nikolayevich forbade Jesus to perform miracles at all.
Why are they all - from Tolstoy to Melissino - so enraged by the very fact of God's miracle? Because they themselves are not involved in it? Because it is not subject to the proud human will? It is strange that Tolstoy, who affirmed universal human solidarity in matters of ethics, who insisted that a person closed in his individualism is flawed, who persistently wrote that one must agree with the best moral thoughts expressed by the teachers of all mankind and all peoples, did not extend this solidarity to the area of faith . He could not trust the religious experience of people - even those people whom he included among his teachers.
One day Tolstoy came to Optina Pustyn, but, due to his pride, he never crossed the threshold of the elder’s cell. After the death of the blasphemer, Rabbi Ya. I. Maze said: “we will pray for Tolstoy as a Jewish righteous man.” Kagal did not forget the words of the count: “A Jew is a holy being who brought eternal fire from heaven and enlightened the earth and those living on it with it. He is the spring and source from which all other peoples drew their religions and faiths....
The Jew is the pioneer of freedom. Even in those primitive times, when the people were divided into two classes, into masters and slaves, the teaching of Moses forbade keeping a person in slavery for more than six years.
The Jew is a symbol of civil and religious tolerance. In the matter of religious tolerance, the Jewish religion is far from only recruiting adherents, but, on the contrary, the Talmud prescribes that if a non-Jew wants to convert to the Jewish faith, then it must be explained to him how difficult it is to be a Jew, and that the righteous of other nations will also inherit the kingdom of heaven ... The Jew is eternal. He is the personification of eternity." Oh, soon, very soon, the “eternal Jew” will show Russia his holiness, his culture, and his religious tolerance...
Many of us received an idea of Freemasonry from historical and fiction literature. But is it true? There are many myths that actually have nothing to do with reality and only distort the impression of this rather ancient teaching.
Myth one. Freemasonry is a sect
Has very little in common with sects. It is, rather, an esoteric society whose members are engaged in spiritual search. Outside the Masonic lodge, the life of its members is not controlled by anyone; a person can do whatever he wants, for example, go to church.
Myth two. It is known that many outstanding people belonged to Freemasonry, for example, Peter I and Pushkin
We will never know for sure. Lists of Masons are kept within the lodges and are not made public. Therefore, we can only assume that this or that person was or is a Freemason... By the way, the members of the lodges themselves are forbidden to talk about their comrades.
Myth three. We are ruled by the Masons
Rumors of a “Masonic conspiracy” are complete nonsense. Freemasonry is not a political force and cannot in any way influence the life of the state. There is also no evidence that any representatives of government structures are members of Masonic lodges. Moreover, conversations about politics are prohibited at meetings of Masonic lodges.
Myth four. Only the “chosen ones” - representatives of the elite and bohemian circles - are accepted into the Freemasons. For example, businessmen, lawyers, scientists, writers, artists
The motto of Freemasonry is “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” Therefore, theoretically, anyone can become a Freemason, regardless of their social or professional affiliation. Another thing is that you must be prepared for the fact that you will have to pay fees, as in every society, and they are not symbolic here... And in order to accept spiritual initiation, you need to have a certain level of development. Therefore, as a rule, more often people from certain social circles and with a corresponding level of material wealth come to Freemasonry.
Myth fifth. Membership in Masonic lodges may provide career or financial benefits
Nothing like that happens. The Masonic organization is a secret order where people come for spiritual interests, and not a public structure. Therefore, membership in it does not give the right to any social status. Moreover, members of the order are generally not recommended to talk about their affiliation with Freemasonry. Thus, it does not give any priorities.
Everyone who comes here... If it turns out that a person came for any social or material benefits, he is immediately eliminated.
True, one of the main activities of the order is charity. An obligatory element of the ritual tradition is the so-called “Widow's Mug”. This is a bag with which all members of the lodge are passed around, and everyone has the right to put their donation into it. These donations then go to charitable causes. Members of the order can also provide assistance to their brothers who find themselves in distress.
Myth six. Freemasons single out “especially worthy” ones and invite them to join the order
In fact, direct campaigning is prohibited here. A member of the order may hint that he has an acquaintance in these circles and can recommend a candidate. No more…
Myth seventh. Upon entry into the order, candidates go through complex rituals
We mainly know about the introductory rituals of Freemasonry from Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace,” which describes the scene of Pierre Bezukhov’s acceptance into the Freemasons. In our time, they have also remained practically unchanged: questioning under a bandage, testing by the elements... But they are all symbolic in nature.
Myth eight. Women are not accepted into the Freemasons, at least in Russia
Now mixed lodges have appeared in Russia, where women are also accepted. Although traditionally only men were selected into Masonic organizations.
The fact is that in Masonic rituals there are a lot of so-called security elements. For example, many of them are related to weapons. They enter the box under arches of swords. The first thing the initiate sees when the bandage is removed is a semicircle of people with swords in their hands, pointed at his chest. This ritual semicircle symbolizes the rays of the sun... To properly wield edged weapons, you need to be a very prepared person. I think this is why women were not allowed into the order for a long time.
Myth nine. Masons recognize each other by special signs
Oddly enough, this is true. Masons can recognize each other by a special handshake. There is also a specific word that is used by members of the lodge. But this is a rather archaic tradition.
Myth tenth. Masons are prohibited from talking about the activities of the order
This is also true. Otherwise, the existence of the order will have no meaning at all. The Masonic organization has been closed from the very beginning, which means that the spiritual knowledge acquired by its members is not revealed to the uninitiated. After all, in order to perceive them, a person must have a certain level of spiritual development and preparation.
Based on materials from the book by Y. Vorobyovsky and E. Soboleva “The Fifth Angel Sounded the Trumpet.” Freemasonry in modern Russia. M: 2002.-500 p.
In terms of popularizing the brotherhood of free masons, L. Tolstoy’s epic “War and Peace” probably did no less than all historical literature, and made it so that in the circles of the intelligentsia the old Russian Freemasonry was loved and appreciated. The reader could always understand that Pierre's tossing and disappointments are connected with his personal drama, that he himself is partly to blame for the failures and blows of fate he experiences. And more than once, as the author testifies, Freemasonry was not only a source of consolation for his hero, but also provided an opportunity to rise to great spiritual heights. And these pages were written by Tolstoy with such brightness and persuasiveness that the impression from them does not fade, despite subsequent hesitations and doubts.
Leo Tolstoy is a cult character of the Russian intelligentsia.
At the age of 12, one of the authors was taken to Yamnaya Polyana to venerate the grave of the great writer. This grave, a mound without a cross, made a depressing impression. Of course, the pioneer did not know then that Tolstoy himself bequeathed to bury himself without “the so-called divine service, but to bury the body so that it would not stink.” So they buried it. Like a dog. And, as if over a suicide, they did not put a cross.
Well, he was a spiritual suicide. The grave became, of course, a place of worship. I found all the signs of a religious monument. Soon after the count's death, on August 28, 1911, his faithful student Biryukov and his comrades came here. They laid flowers. Biryukov's ten-year-old son bent down to straighten them and suddenly screamed loudly. The father saw with horror that the child’s right arm was entwined with a viper that had bitten the boy... Vipers were not seen in these places, the investigation established, and the appearance of a gray snake three-quarters of an arshin in length is a mystery. At the same time, a snake hole was discovered in the writer’s grave.
The creeping “wisdom” of this sinner will sting for a long time even from the grave. No, it was not for nothing that Lenin almost affectionately called Tolstoy the mirror of the Russian revolution. In general, there is an interesting connection between these two characters, woven from a whole series of coincidences (?). In Anna Karenina, the prototype of the revolutionary demons, the “new man,” a suicidal intellectual who finds an “anchor of salvation” in the revolution, bears the name Levin. This was one of Lenin's first pseudonyms. Too frank, pointing to Levitic roots (like the surname K, Marx - Levi). In the early edition of the novel, this Levin was called Nikolai Lenin. This, as we know, is the next pseudonym of the “leader of the world proletariat” and the future “cadavre”.
School and college curricula have always kept silent about the fact that Tolstoy was not just a writer. He was aiming to create his own religion. Supposedly Christian, but without Christ. Consider the volume of various “teachings” he collected - from all religious traditions and from all kinds of philosophers. In these completely ecumenical “four menaions” it is prescribed what “wisdom” should be read on this or that day of the year. And here is the entry in the writer’s diary dated April 20, 1889: “A new worldview and movement is ripening in the world, and it seems as if my participation is required - its proclamation. It’s as if I was purposely made for this purpose by what I am with my reputation—made by a bell.”
Truly messianic ambitions! They were developed in Tolstoy by a certain voice. Here is the entry from May 25 of the same year: “At night I heard a voice demanding that the errors of the world be exposed. This night a voice told me that the time has come to expose the evil of the world... We must not hesitate or put off. There is nothing to be afraid of, nothing to think about how or what to say.”
The blasphemer galloped through the outskirts of Yasnaya Polyana on a bay stallion, which he named Bes. And an invisible demon sat behind the count’s back. Like on the ancient seal of the Knights Templar - two riders on one horse. Well, the ancient ancestor of the writer belonged to the Templar family. Shrugging away from the fire of the Inquisition, he arrived in Rus' in the 14th century. And the terrible cry of Jacques de Molay, his cry from the flames: “Vengeance, Adonai, vengeance!” - resounded centuries later in the soul of the Templar descendant.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Lev Nikolaevich also received specific intellectual training. It began with his desire to learn the Hebrew language. The teacher was the Moscow rabbi Solomon Moiseevich Minor (real name Zalkind).
Tolstoy, whose family’s founder is considered to be the Knight Templar Count Henri de Mons, archetypally accurately reproduced the Templar appeal to Judaism for “wisdom.” After some time of studying, Minor stated: “He) Tolstoy also knows the Talmud. In his vigorous pursuit of truth, during almost every lesson he asked me about the moral views of the Talmud, about the Talmudists’ interpretation of biblical legends, and, in addition, he also drew his information from the book “Worldview of the Talmudists,” written in Russian.
Teachers' tips can be heard in many of Tolstoy's texts. For example, that it is not Christianity that truly lives, but “socialism, communism, political-economic theories, utilitarianism.” The spirit of Talmudic Christ-hatred, mundane practicality, disguised as the communism of Jewish messianism, blows over these words.
Tolstoy speaks of the demons of the future revolution, the murderers of Alexander II: “the best, highly moral, selfless, kind people, like Perovskaya, Osinsky, Lizogub and many others.” On Freemasonry: “I have great respect for this organization and believe that Freemasonry has done a lot of good for humanity.” But about the “persecuted people”: From a letter to V.S. Solovyov, who compiled the “Declaration against Anti-Semitism” in 1890: “I know in advance that if you, Vladimir Sergeevich, express what you think about this subject, then you express my thoughts and feelings, because the basis of our disgust from the measures of oppression of the Jewish nationality is the same: the consciousness of brotherly ties with all peoples and especially with the Jews, among whom Christ was born and who suffered so much and continue to suffer from pagan ignorance so called Christians."
And more quotes:
- “The fact that I reject the incomprehensible trinity and... the blasphemous theory about a god born of a virgin redeeming the human race is completely fair.” - “Look at the activities of the clergy among the people, and you will see that only idolatry is preached and intensively introduced: raising icons, blessing waters, carrying miraculous icons around houses, glorifying relics, wearing crosses, etc.”
- “In the consecration of oil, as well as in the anointing, I see a method of crude witchcraft, as in the veneration of icons and relics, as in all those rituals, prayers, spells.”
He considered all this “the evil of the world.” By the hand of the one who heard the “voices” Tolstoy was seen, apparently, by the same character as in his time by the hand of the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod Melissino, and later by Lenin. The count wrote terrible words about God. But what were the intonations! What an irritation with which all this was said! What were the eyes! In the memoirs of contemporaries we see truly inhuman malice.
Talmudic wisdom is the main thing in Lev Nikolaevich’s attitude to sacred texts.” The methodology for creating heresy is perfectly shown in his article “How to Read the Gospel.” He advises taking a blue and red pencil in your hands and using blue to cross out places with which you do not agree, and using red to highlight those that you like. One must live according to the personal Gospel compiled in this way.
Tolstoy himself cut off the beginning and end of the Gospel (Incarnation and Resurrection). And in the middle, Christ was forced to humbly ask for the permission of the Yasnaya Polyana teacher of all mankind for every word he spoke. Everything - including Jesus, whom Tolstoy essentially takes as his disciple. Lev Nikolayevich forbade Jesus to perform miracles at all.
Why are they all - from Tolstoy to Melissino - so enraged by the very fact of God's miracle? Because they themselves are not involved in it? Because it is not subject to the proud human will? It is strange that Tolstoy, who affirmed universal human solidarity in matters of ethics, insisted that a person closed in his individualism is flawed, and who persistently wrote that one must agree with the best moral thoughts expressed by the teachers of all mankind and all peoples, did not extend this solidarity to the area of faith . He could not trust the religious experience of people - even those people whom he included among his teachers.
One day Tolstoy came to Optina Pustyn, but, due to his pride, he never crossed the threshold of the elder’s cell. After the death of the blasphemer, Rabbi Ya. I. Maze said: “we will pray for Tolstoy as a Jewish righteous man.” Kagal did not forget the words of the count: “A Jew is a holy being who brought eternal fire from heaven and enlightened the earth and those living on it with it. He is the spring and source from which all other peoples drew their religions and faiths....
The Jew is the pioneer of freedom. Even in those primitive times, when the people were divided into two classes, into masters and slaves, the teaching of Moses forbade keeping a person in slavery for more than six years.
The Jew is a symbol of civil and religious tolerance. In the matter of religious tolerance, the Jewish religion is far from only recruiting adherents, but, on the contrary, the Talmud prescribes that if a non-Jew wants to convert to the Jewish faith, then it must be explained to him how difficult it is to be a Jew, and that the righteous of other nations will also inherit the kingdom of heaven ... The Jew is eternal. He is the personification of eternity." Oh, soon, very soon, the “eternal Jew” will show Russia his holiness, his culture, and his religious tolerance...
