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

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.