Heretical Orthodoxy: Lev Tolstoi and the Russian Orthodox Church

✍ Scribed by Pål Kolstø

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 318
• Series: Ideas in Context
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Lev Tolstoi was not only one of the world's most famous writers, he was also a deeply concerned thinker and hugely influential critic of the Church whose impact was felt long after his death. For an entire generation, Tolstoi set the agenda for ethical and religious thought, in Russia and beyond. Most of Tolstoi's main ideas drew on his Christian heritage – selected and creatively combined. While he claimed that his life's work consisted of rediscovering the pure doctrine of Christ as it had been before the Church perverted it, in fact he radically reinterpreted the Christian faith he had encountered in his own life, Russian Orthodoxy. This book offers a new and comprehensive account of Tolstoi's relationship with the Orthodox Church and its teachings, and shows how the Russian Church reacted to the “Tolstoi phenomenon” and attempted to counteract the influence of this new “heretic" - with scant success.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half-title
Series information
Title page
Copyright information
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Tolstoi as a Practicing Orthodox
Childhood and Adolescence
Nihilistic Period?
External Adaptation and Internal Maladaptation
Causes Behind the Break
Lies and Truth
Chapter 3 Tolstoi's Examination of Dogmatic Theology
Why the Book Was Written
A Neglected Work
The Examined Books
Tolstoi's Assessment Criteria
Doctrine on Salvation
Theology of Man
God's Incomprehensibility
The Attributes of God
Chapter 4 Tolstoi, Orthodoxy and Asceticism
The Body
The Passions
Apatheia
Apatheia and Theosis
Apatheia and Agape
Asceticism for Everyone
Chapter 5 Lev Tolstoi and Orthodox Forms of Spirituality: Elders
The Elders and Spiritual Guidance in Traditional Orthodox Theology
Chapter 6 Tolstoi and the Wanderer Tradition in Russian Culture
Tolstoi's Encounters with Wanderers
Chapter 7 Tolstoi and the Ideal of ''the Holy Fool''
Chapter 8 Father Sergius: Kasatskii's Spiritual Journey to Holy Foolishness
Kasatskii in the World
Sergius in the Monastery
Sergius as an Elder
Kasatskii as Holy Wanderer
Kasatskii as Holy Fool
Chapter 9 Tolstoi and the Social Ideal of the Eastern Church: John Chrysostom
Chapter 10 The Church Mounts a Counterattack: Threat Perceptions and Combat Strategies
Tolstoianism as a Sect Movement
Tolstoianism as an Intelligentsia Movement
Individual Orthodox Reactions: Scope and Motives
Censorship
Chapter 11 Between ''Almost Orthodox'' and ''Antichrist'': Images of Lev Tolstoi in Russian Orthodox Polemics
Assessments of Russian Orthodox Radicals
Bishop Antonii (Khrapovitskii)
Tolstoi Demonized
The Solov'evian Synthesis: Antichrist as a Double
Chapter 12 The ''Excommunication'' and Its Aftermath
Who Were the Authors of the Circular Letter and What Were their Motives?
Anathema?
Reactions to the Circular Letter
Tolstoi's ''Reply to the Synod'' and Orthodox Responses
Church Strategies after the Circular Letter
Conclusions
Chapter 13 A Requiem for a Heretic? The Controversy over Lev Tolstoi's Burial
The Requiem Debate: Ante Mortem
The Metropolitan's Trump Card: Tolstoi's Will
Postmortem
''Mr. X in a Cassock'' Officiates
Chapter 14 Summary and Conclusions
Russian Orthodox Reactions
Bibliography
Index