Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T06:00:50.718Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 5 - Lev Tolstoi and Orthodox Forms of Spirituality: Elders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2022

Pål Kolstø
Affiliation:
University of Oslo
Get access

Summary

In Russia in the nineteenth century, several Orthodox forms of spirituality flourished outside the established Church structures, in particular “the elder” (starets), the holy wanderer” (strannik) and “the holy fool.” Tolstoi held these in high regard, also identifying with them, up to a point. Each of these spiritualities is examined in depth in Chapters 5 through 7, constituting a kind of triptych. Tolstoi was well-acquainted with these forms of spirituality through reading as well as by personal contact. The major center of elder piety in Russia at Tolstoi’s time was the Optina Monastery, located not far from his home at Iasnaia Poliana, and he visited the famous elder Makarii several times. Although his diaries show that he returned home with rather negative impressions, the fact that he returned suggests that he was seeking something here which he did not find elsewhere. What he took with him home was a specific model of spiritual guidance, and several contemporary authors noted that he set himself up as a secularized “elder” at Iasnaia Poliana. The elders’ abilities of prophesy and healing were now absent, as was the subjecting to spiritual authority: Tolstoi emerged as more of a modernized version of this kind of ministry.

Type
Chapter
Information
Heretical Orthodoxy
Lev Tolstoi and the Russian Orthodox Church
, pp. 89 - 108
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×