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Russian Library
Vita dell’arciprete Avvakum scritta da lui stesso
Molti hanno detto che la grande letteratura russa comincia con questo libro, con la sua dolorosa asprezza, con la forza del nominare che Avvakum aveva e si trasmise poi, per vie misteriose, a scrittori così diversi come Puškin e Tolstoj. Avvakum visse nella tempesta religiosa del Seicento russo, che culminò nello scisma. La sua parte era quella del perdente, la parte dei raskolniky, i «Vecchi Credenti», contrari a ogni correzione dei testi sacri e a ogni grecizzazione nella liturgia e nella dottrina. Allora la Russia si spaccò in due, e quella spaccatura si prolungò per tutta la sua storia, sino alle dispute fra occidentalisti e populisti nell’Ottocento, fino a oggi. Rinchiuso nei sotterranei di una gelida prigione, prima di morire Avvakum volle lasciare testimonianza della sua vita – o meglio di come Dio operò su di lui in certi punti della sua vita, e soprattutto nella lotta testarda contro coloro che «col fuoco, con il knut e col capestro vogliono affermare la fede». È una storia di incessanti violenze, dove i contrasti teologici si manifestano a pugni, a calci, a frustate, fra lingue strappate, sepolti vivi, roghi, saccheggi, persecuzioni, fughe nell’immensità asiatica. La vita di Avvakum è come un unico naufragio, dove a sprazzi intravediamo l’arciprete aggrappato a qualche relitto di chiatta: «Fiume renoso, ci si affonda dentro, zattere pesanti, sorveglianti spietati, nodosi i bastoni, secche le sferzate, tagliente il knut, torture crudeli, il fuoco e i tratti di corda». Vi è in lui una carica primordiale, che non si lascia esaurire. Tutto il suo fervore spirituale è intensamente fisico. Si azzuffa con i demoni come fossero cani e il diavolo lo guarda seduto sulla stufa. Un giorno, sfinita sul ghiaccio, l’arcipretessa si rivolge a Avvakum: «“Quanto durerà questo tormento, arciprete?”. Rispondo: “Markovna, fino alla morte”. Al che lei: “Va bene, Petrovic: tireremo ancora avanti”». Questo dialogo è sigillo della storia russa e del suo spirito. Dopo una vita di tumultuose peripezie, Avvakum finì sul rogo. Dice la leggenda che per sette volte lo zar ordinò il supplizio di Avvakum, e per sette volte, mentre il boia preparava il rogo, lo zar e la zarina caddero malati, e intimoriti mandarono un messo per annullare la pena. Per chi apra oggi le pagine di questa Vita non vi è migliore accompagnamento delle parole di Andrej Sinjavskij: «Su Avvakum non si possono fare tanti discorsi: su di sé ha già detto tutto lui, si è ficcato come un orso nella sua tana e l’ha riempita tutta». Vita dell’arciprete Avvakum fu pubblicato per la prima volta a stampa nel 1861. Della Vita rimangono tre versioni: la presente traduzione è la prima che si basi sull’autografo della versione C, la più lunga, scoperto nel 1966.
244 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1861
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468 people want to read
About the author
Avvakum Petrov
14 books5 followersAvvakum Petrov (Russian: Аввакум Петров). Priest opposed to the reforms of Patriach Nikon in seventeeth century Russia. Burnt at the stake in Pustozyorsk after years of imprisonment.
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February 9, 2017Early in the book Avvakum (1620? - 1682) is on a boat travelling on the Volga when he begins to lambast a Boyar's son who has shaved his beard off - shocking behaviour for seventeenth century Russia. The Boyar's son promptly has the lowly Archpriest Avvakum thrown overboard.
And that's how Avvakum tells the story of his life. Truth to power, heedless of the consequences, preaching an intense and serious approach to religion (something he shared with the Patriarch Nikon who could be regarded ironically, at least indirectly, as his nemesis) and determined to stand up for tradition not only against social change but particularly against the religious reforms brought in by the aforementioned Patriarch Nikon. As such Avvakum became one of the leading figures among the so called Old Believers, a group regarded as heretics by the Orthodox Church over their disagreements on what was correct religious practise.
Avvakum is careful in his autobiography to stress that he has an upbeat and positive relationship with Tsar Aleksei - as you would if you were the subject of an autocratic ruler finding yourself in the increasingly dangerous position of vehemently not being in active support of his religious policies. So unsurprisingly this doesn't save him from what is effectively a period of exile in Siberia (where he tells us the fish were so fat they would fry themselves in the pan) and later from imprisonment north of the Arctic circle with other leading Old Believers (or Raskolniki / splitters as they were called - & yes the similarity of the term to the name Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment is not accidental) and eventually martyrdom.
The discovery of Avvakum's work as discussed in Bortnes Visions of Glory had an impact on later Russian Literature as Avvakum had invented a style that combined both formal, liturgical Old Church Slavonic and a colloquial form of Russian, but also managed to combine deeply traditional elements drawn from the tradition of Hagiography with a very direct and immediate style of storytelling. It also has historical interest as early Russian prison literature, as a historical document from the side of the defeated - the Old Believers were to be continually persecuted under the Tsars until things relaxed under the Soviets, but it is particularly interesting because the autobiography comes down to us complete with a series of earlier drafts.
What this tells us is exactly how radically Avvakum revised his texts, shaving away words and hacking apart sentences to create a skaz style in which the writing is extremely direct, intimate and aiming for an emotional connection with the reader. It's a little as though you are sitting by a fire next to the author, chatting together, and you can see the tears in his eyes. For example in his earliest draft he begins by describing when he was born and who his parents were and then explains when his wife was born and who her parents were. By his final version he has abandoned all this in favour of 'My wife and I were orphans with no one in the world to fend for us'. Every precise and historical detail has been shaved away in favour of creating a text that is vague but makes a direct emotional appeal to the reader.
You realise how carefully he has designed his life story to appeal to the reader and clearly to strengthen them in Old Belief through his self-portrait as a martyr. The end of the story therefore contains the martyr like sufferings of his companions and the miraculous ability of one of them to speak after his tongue had been removed. For Avvakum this is a miracle, personally it reminds me that you just can't get hold of the staff, even back in the day.
A word of warning, if you seek this book out try to avoid the older translation published by Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press which was bowdlerised. Apparently those Bloomsbury set types couldn't stand all the foul language.
A note on the Manuscript tradition
Since Avvakum was officially regarded as a heretic, part of an officially persecuted group, his Life was not published in his lifetime. It was rediscovered in the nineteenth century in three manuscripts (MS), known as A, B and C in order that it was believed they were written in, and a version was prepared for publication and released in the same year as another classic of Russian prison literature - Dostoevsky's The House of the Dead.
In 1949 another MS of the life was found, known as the Prianishnikov MS and this was radically different in style to the other MSS but closer to letters and petitions written by Avvakum that had also survived. This led to a reconsideration of the order of the MS tradition which it is now argued runs: Prianishnikov-B-A-C.
What this shows is how much Avvakum did not want to simply tell the story of his life, but deliberately and with care reworked it into the passion story of a martyr. Perhaps this should serve to remind us how far all autobiographies are not just the story of a life but the deliberate and careful creations of their authors.
And that's how Avvakum tells the story of his life. Truth to power, heedless of the consequences, preaching an intense and serious approach to religion (something he shared with the Patriarch Nikon who could be regarded ironically, at least indirectly, as his nemesis) and determined to stand up for tradition not only against social change but particularly against the religious reforms brought in by the aforementioned Patriarch Nikon. As such Avvakum became one of the leading figures among the so called Old Believers, a group regarded as heretics by the Orthodox Church over their disagreements on what was correct religious practise.
Avvakum is careful in his autobiography to stress that he has an upbeat and positive relationship with Tsar Aleksei - as you would if you were the subject of an autocratic ruler finding yourself in the increasingly dangerous position of vehemently not being in active support of his religious policies. So unsurprisingly this doesn't save him from what is effectively a period of exile in Siberia (where he tells us the fish were so fat they would fry themselves in the pan) and later from imprisonment north of the Arctic circle with other leading Old Believers (or Raskolniki / splitters as they were called - & yes the similarity of the term to the name Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment is not accidental) and eventually martyrdom.
The discovery of Avvakum's work as discussed in Bortnes Visions of Glory had an impact on later Russian Literature as Avvakum had invented a style that combined both formal, liturgical Old Church Slavonic and a colloquial form of Russian, but also managed to combine deeply traditional elements drawn from the tradition of Hagiography with a very direct and immediate style of storytelling. It also has historical interest as early Russian prison literature, as a historical document from the side of the defeated - the Old Believers were to be continually persecuted under the Tsars until things relaxed under the Soviets, but it is particularly interesting because the autobiography comes down to us complete with a series of earlier drafts.
What this tells us is exactly how radically Avvakum revised his texts, shaving away words and hacking apart sentences to create a skaz style in which the writing is extremely direct, intimate and aiming for an emotional connection with the reader. It's a little as though you are sitting by a fire next to the author, chatting together, and you can see the tears in his eyes. For example in his earliest draft he begins by describing when he was born and who his parents were and then explains when his wife was born and who her parents were. By his final version he has abandoned all this in favour of 'My wife and I were orphans with no one in the world to fend for us'. Every precise and historical detail has been shaved away in favour of creating a text that is vague but makes a direct emotional appeal to the reader.
You realise how carefully he has designed his life story to appeal to the reader and clearly to strengthen them in Old Belief through his self-portrait as a martyr. The end of the story therefore contains the martyr like sufferings of his companions and the miraculous ability of one of them to speak after his tongue had been removed. For Avvakum this is a miracle, personally it reminds me that you just can't get hold of the staff, even back in the day.
A word of warning, if you seek this book out try to avoid the older translation published by Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press which was bowdlerised. Apparently those Bloomsbury set types couldn't stand all the foul language.
A note on the Manuscript tradition
Since Avvakum was officially regarded as a heretic, part of an officially persecuted group, his Life was not published in his lifetime. It was rediscovered in the nineteenth century in three manuscripts (MS), known as A, B and C in order that it was believed they were written in, and a version was prepared for publication and released in the same year as another classic of Russian prison literature - Dostoevsky's The House of the Dead.
In 1949 another MS of the life was found, known as the Prianishnikov MS and this was radically different in style to the other MSS but closer to letters and petitions written by Avvakum that had also survived. This led to a reconsideration of the order of the MS tradition which it is now argued runs: Prianishnikov-B-A-C.
What this shows is how much Avvakum did not want to simply tell the story of his life, but deliberately and with care reworked it into the passion story of a martyr. Perhaps this should serve to remind us how far all autobiographies are not just the story of a life but the deliberate and careful creations of their authors.
February 16, 2022
”…nor should we be negligent in godly concerns; and we simply must not barter them for the seductions of this vain age.”
This was a fascinating read, an autobiography from an Old Believer (just as they became “Old Believers”) in the 1600s. You know, that infamously vain age. Oh Petrovich, what would you say of us now?
On this book… first of all, it makes you feel pretty good about whatever you’ve got going on in your life because the 1600s were not fun. exile and years of wandering in deep poverty is pretty much the “light” sentence to not conforming to the church reforms if the time (in Orthodox Russia).Tongues get torn out, hands chopped off, people are burned or ”roasted” in ovens, hanged, or buried alive…
Then you are reminded that this was about things like how to hold your fingers while crossing yourself and you’re taken aback, even though people doing horrible things to people for seemingly petty things is all of history. This particular schism, or Raskol, is one I’ve mostly heard of from the side of the reformers, so I loved being able to partake in the arguments of the opposition. Not that there were much arguments per se, more strong faith in the truth.
Avvakum believed enough to die for what he thought was true, and though he curses his persecutors, he also finds forgiveness in his heart and does not blame them for the division (but Satan).
It is a harsh world filled with violence and hardships, but also miracles. Pulling through it does seem like a blessing of God to be honest.
The language is vivid and if slightly prone to deviate into side stories, Avvakum always finds a way back to the red thread of his narrative. I can see how this as hugely inspirational to great Russian authors of later times, even in translation the language is lively and rapt and the images are vivid, asking me feel like I am watching this narrative unfold like a movie.
And who knew there was a ‘happy wife, happy life’ for the 17th Century?
“We already knew that when the womenfolk are pleasant, then everything will be pleasant in Christ.” (P.48)
I put a lot of notes in this book that I’ll return to from time to time, the Archpriest, by his own admission, is not perfect, yet there is something to learn from his humility yet also his steadfastness and strong belief. It is inspiring to see someone not bow down to something they find obviously wrong, even if the actual conflict is a bit difficult to relate to in the present.
Quote regarding his enemy:
“Ten years he tormented me, or I him - I don’t know. God will sort it out on Judgement Day.”
Quote regarding his wife:
“Will these sufferings go on s very long time, Archpriest?”
And I said, “Markovna, right up to our very death.”
And so she sighed and answered, “Good enough, Petrovich, then let’s be getting on.”
Something about that makes me thing of Waiting for Godot. The resignation and acceptance that, oh well, no one said it was going to be easy. And ain’t that just life. Let’s be getting on.
This was a fascinating read, an autobiography from an Old Believer (just as they became “Old Believers”) in the 1600s. You know, that infamously vain age. Oh Petrovich, what would you say of us now?
On this book… first of all, it makes you feel pretty good about whatever you’ve got going on in your life because the 1600s were not fun. exile and years of wandering in deep poverty is pretty much the “light” sentence to not conforming to the church reforms if the time (in Orthodox Russia).Tongues get torn out, hands chopped off, people are burned or ”roasted” in ovens, hanged, or buried alive…
Then you are reminded that this was about things like how to hold your fingers while crossing yourself and you’re taken aback, even though people doing horrible things to people for seemingly petty things is all of history. This particular schism, or Raskol, is one I’ve mostly heard of from the side of the reformers, so I loved being able to partake in the arguments of the opposition. Not that there were much arguments per se, more strong faith in the truth.
Avvakum believed enough to die for what he thought was true, and though he curses his persecutors, he also finds forgiveness in his heart and does not blame them for the division (but Satan).
It is a harsh world filled with violence and hardships, but also miracles. Pulling through it does seem like a blessing of God to be honest.
The language is vivid and if slightly prone to deviate into side stories, Avvakum always finds a way back to the red thread of his narrative. I can see how this as hugely inspirational to great Russian authors of later times, even in translation the language is lively and rapt and the images are vivid, asking me feel like I am watching this narrative unfold like a movie.
And who knew there was a ‘happy wife, happy life’ for the 17th Century?
“We already knew that when the womenfolk are pleasant, then everything will be pleasant in Christ.” (P.48)
I put a lot of notes in this book that I’ll return to from time to time, the Archpriest, by his own admission, is not perfect, yet there is something to learn from his humility yet also his steadfastness and strong belief. It is inspiring to see someone not bow down to something they find obviously wrong, even if the actual conflict is a bit difficult to relate to in the present.
Quote regarding his enemy:
“Ten years he tormented me, or I him - I don’t know. God will sort it out on Judgement Day.”
Quote regarding his wife:
“Will these sufferings go on s very long time, Archpriest?”
And I said, “Markovna, right up to our very death.”
And so she sighed and answered, “Good enough, Petrovich, then let’s be getting on.”
Something about that makes me thing of Waiting for Godot. The resignation and acceptance that, oh well, no one said it was going to be easy. And ain’t that just life. Let’s be getting on.
October 31, 2022
Quello che colpisce di più in questa testimonianza dell'arciprete Avvakum è la sua forte passione nella fede che professa, fino a rinunciare a tutto, anche a separarsi dalla famiglia, pur di non piegarsi ai suoi nemici. E poi è una testimonianza importante per la storia della fede russa, che ci riporta nel Seicento in cui avvenne lo scisma. Avvakum non si piega mai, nonostante venga frustato, imprigionato, torturato, preso a calci e pugni, perseguitato e ricercato in tutta la Russia.
Questo testo storico è stato definito uno dei capolavori della letteratura russa: nel XVII secolo, in Russia, ha luogo un grande scisma all'interno della Chiesa ortodossa, in cui si contrappongono i Vecchi Credenti (i raskolniky, di cui fa parte Avvakum) e il Patriarca Nikon con i suoi seguaci. Nikon apportò diverse modifiche nella liturgia ortodossa, basandosi soprattutto su quella della Chiesa greca, corrompendo così il vero spirito della religione russa, profondamente radicata nel popolo e in cui ministri del culto erano uomini esattamente uguali al resto dei credenti. Avvakum e altri si oppongono a quella che per loro è una vera e propria eresia e per questo vengono perseguitati e puniti. Con il Concilio del 1666-67, le cose precipitano inesorabilmente. Avvakum passa la maggior parte della sua vita o in esilio o imprigionato ma, a differenza di altri suoi compagni, non cede mai: fino alla fine combatterà contro l'apostata Nikon e patirà qualsiasi tortura pur di continuare a professare la vera fede, che non è di certo quella corrotta dei Greci e dei Latini. La forza di quest'uomo è straordinaria e non solo la sua, ma anche quella della moglie e dei figli, costretti a seguirlo durante l'esilio e anche loro imprigionati. In questa autobiografia Avvakum parla nel linguaggio schietto del popolo, senza lasciarsi andare a pensieri troppo complicati tipici dei Cristiani latini. Quella dell'arciprete è una fede sentita, fisica e lo si capisce in particolar modo durante le descrizioni degli scontri contro i demoni che si impossessano delle persone e che tentano di corromperlo. Anche se vacilla, Avvakum torna sempre a Dio amandolo con più forza.
Questo testo storico è stato definito uno dei capolavori della letteratura russa: nel XVII secolo, in Russia, ha luogo un grande scisma all'interno della Chiesa ortodossa, in cui si contrappongono i Vecchi Credenti (i raskolniky, di cui fa parte Avvakum) e il Patriarca Nikon con i suoi seguaci. Nikon apportò diverse modifiche nella liturgia ortodossa, basandosi soprattutto su quella della Chiesa greca, corrompendo così il vero spirito della religione russa, profondamente radicata nel popolo e in cui ministri del culto erano uomini esattamente uguali al resto dei credenti. Avvakum e altri si oppongono a quella che per loro è una vera e propria eresia e per questo vengono perseguitati e puniti. Con il Concilio del 1666-67, le cose precipitano inesorabilmente. Avvakum passa la maggior parte della sua vita o in esilio o imprigionato ma, a differenza di altri suoi compagni, non cede mai: fino alla fine combatterà contro l'apostata Nikon e patirà qualsiasi tortura pur di continuare a professare la vera fede, che non è di certo quella corrotta dei Greci e dei Latini. La forza di quest'uomo è straordinaria e non solo la sua, ma anche quella della moglie e dei figli, costretti a seguirlo durante l'esilio e anche loro imprigionati. In questa autobiografia Avvakum parla nel linguaggio schietto del popolo, senza lasciarsi andare a pensieri troppo complicati tipici dei Cristiani latini. Quella dell'arciprete è una fede sentita, fisica e lo si capisce in particolar modo durante le descrizioni degli scontri contro i demoni che si impossessano delle persone e che tentano di corromperlo. Anche se vacilla, Avvakum torna sempre a Dio amandolo con più forza.
February 25, 2021
Two reviewers battle within me: the scholarly one and the cheery, enthusiastic one. Which to choose?
Thanks are in order for NetGalley and Columbia University Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review; I'm afraid you get two.
Review One: Of Scholarly Interest
"The Life Written by Himself" is the autobiography of the Russian priest Avvakum (1620(?)-1682). A series of hasty reforms in the Russian Orthodox Church lead to a small schism and religious persecution. Avvakum is on the losing side of the Old Believers, who want to keep the old ways intact.
His autobiography has many interesting qualities to it. The first is the style: Avvakum writes in the spoken Russian at the time, with a great sense of how to make it compelling to listeners from all walks of life. Whenever he quotes the Bible or saints, however, he switches to the archaic style of ecclesiastic scholarship, so it's always clear when he's deferring to authority. It's an interesting combination - and it actually works. Kenneth Brostrom does a wonderful job here. The English version of this text is superbly readable and compelling. It simply flows and it feels familiar and friendly.
Avvakum also combines real events with hagiographic tropes (a hagiography is a biography of a saint), so we have his life and that of other Old Believers, combined seamlessly with miracles and martyrdom. The ill are healed through the power of prayer, captives have their chains fall off, Old Believers speak clearly despite their tongues being cut out - and more.
Aside from the details of schismatic life, Avvakum adds descriptions of Russian landscape, as his exiles take him on journeys north, so he gets to marvel at flora and fauna.
While the autobiography in itself is quite wonderful to read, this edition of "The Life Written by Himself" is more than accessible to anyone, regardless of their familiarity with any of the topics involved. Avvakum's "Life" is about 90 pages long, but the book is 216, containing everything one needs to understand it thoroughly, from an introduction explaining Russia's context and what the religious schism was all about, to numerous endnotes detailing everything from the lives of those mentioned in the books, to Avvakum's inaccuracies, to facts about the Russian fauna mentioned in Avvakum's writings.
I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but I got all that and more.
Review Two: I'm laughing. They were tortured and killed, and I'm laughing.
Oh god, there are so many dumbasses in this book, I can't even...
Look. I understand. If you really, truly, deeply, absolutely believe in the existence of God and in there being a Right Way to worship Him, then the slightest change to that is a huge concern and might indeed be worth dying for. I can respect a martyr for the faith.
But Avvakum, man. He could be a martyr for the stupid.
Aside from any religious concerns, insulting your captors and implying they're the scum of the earth out of the blue is not conducive to a long and peaceful life. Getting whipped badly for it isn't you suffering for the faith. I'm not usually one to vicitim-shame, but have you considered, like, maybe not baiting the people who have power over you?
There's also an inherent hilarity in him beating his wife and maid, then realizing he did badly, and having his entire household whip him for penance while everyone cried their eyes out, whipping and crying, crying and whipping.
And also, once, when a guy in a position of authority let someone get away with incest, Avvakum decided that was entirely unfair and wanted that guy dismissed... so he accused the guy in a position of authority of incest. That's not how it works, Avvakum! Not even in the 17th century!
I feel somewhat like a horrible person, because life in the 17th century was hard and violent. People were tortured and killed, they were burned alive, or they burned themselves alive in the name of faith, there was famine, and brutality at all levels. On a human level, it's chilling and horrifying to think all these things happened to real people. I don't think the actual reality of living back then was in any way funny.
But Avvakum's description of events isn't very realistic to begin with. And if you're very impassive and welcoming about being tortured and/or killed, then I'm not about to take it very seriously, either, am I? I mean, you just had a little girl deliver a full prophetic speech and telling you about what edicts the Tsar will be giving, I'm not about to find it any less funny that you got whipped.
Also, for a saintly man, Avvakum sure was an asshole. Never mind wanting his own kids to die for the right faith, but all the beatings he himself delivers, praying for people he knew and cared about to die in battle so that someone else's prophecy of them being victorious won't come true and more show him as a relatively vengeful and petty bastard.
I'm sure this is all very serious (the introduction tells us that Leo Tolstoy couldn't read "The Life" without weeping), but I think I'm a bit of an asshole, too, because I was much too amused.
(Also, important life lesson: if it's a year ending in "666", like 1666, maybe hold off on making major changes to your Christian religion, because that number of the beast thing might be an issue.)
Thanks are in order for NetGalley and Columbia University Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review; I'm afraid you get two.
Review One: Of Scholarly Interest
"The Life Written by Himself" is the autobiography of the Russian priest Avvakum (1620(?)-1682). A series of hasty reforms in the Russian Orthodox Church lead to a small schism and religious persecution. Avvakum is on the losing side of the Old Believers, who want to keep the old ways intact.
His autobiography has many interesting qualities to it. The first is the style: Avvakum writes in the spoken Russian at the time, with a great sense of how to make it compelling to listeners from all walks of life. Whenever he quotes the Bible or saints, however, he switches to the archaic style of ecclesiastic scholarship, so it's always clear when he's deferring to authority. It's an interesting combination - and it actually works. Kenneth Brostrom does a wonderful job here. The English version of this text is superbly readable and compelling. It simply flows and it feels familiar and friendly.
Avvakum also combines real events with hagiographic tropes (a hagiography is a biography of a saint), so we have his life and that of other Old Believers, combined seamlessly with miracles and martyrdom. The ill are healed through the power of prayer, captives have their chains fall off, Old Believers speak clearly despite their tongues being cut out - and more.
Aside from the details of schismatic life, Avvakum adds descriptions of Russian landscape, as his exiles take him on journeys north, so he gets to marvel at flora and fauna.
While the autobiography in itself is quite wonderful to read, this edition of "The Life Written by Himself" is more than accessible to anyone, regardless of their familiarity with any of the topics involved. Avvakum's "Life" is about 90 pages long, but the book is 216, containing everything one needs to understand it thoroughly, from an introduction explaining Russia's context and what the religious schism was all about, to numerous endnotes detailing everything from the lives of those mentioned in the books, to Avvakum's inaccuracies, to facts about the Russian fauna mentioned in Avvakum's writings.
I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but I got all that and more.
Review Two: I'm laughing. They were tortured and killed, and I'm laughing.
Oh god, there are so many dumbasses in this book, I can't even...
Look. I understand. If you really, truly, deeply, absolutely believe in the existence of God and in there being a Right Way to worship Him, then the slightest change to that is a huge concern and might indeed be worth dying for. I can respect a martyr for the faith.
But Avvakum, man. He could be a martyr for the stupid.
Aside from any religious concerns, insulting your captors and implying they're the scum of the earth out of the blue is not conducive to a long and peaceful life. Getting whipped badly for it isn't you suffering for the faith. I'm not usually one to vicitim-shame, but have you considered, like, maybe not baiting the people who have power over you?
There's also an inherent hilarity in him beating his wife and maid, then realizing he did badly, and having his entire household whip him for penance while everyone cried their eyes out, whipping and crying, crying and whipping.
And also, once, when a guy in a position of authority let someone get away with incest, Avvakum decided that was entirely unfair and wanted that guy dismissed... so he accused the guy in a position of authority of incest. That's not how it works, Avvakum! Not even in the 17th century!
I feel somewhat like a horrible person, because life in the 17th century was hard and violent. People were tortured and killed, they were burned alive, or they burned themselves alive in the name of faith, there was famine, and brutality at all levels. On a human level, it's chilling and horrifying to think all these things happened to real people. I don't think the actual reality of living back then was in any way funny.
But Avvakum's description of events isn't very realistic to begin with. And if you're very impassive and welcoming about being tortured and/or killed, then I'm not about to take it very seriously, either, am I? I mean, you just had a little girl deliver a full prophetic speech and telling you about what edicts the Tsar will be giving, I'm not about to find it any less funny that you got whipped.
Also, for a saintly man, Avvakum sure was an asshole. Never mind wanting his own kids to die for the right faith, but all the beatings he himself delivers, praying for people he knew and cared about to die in battle so that someone else's prophecy of them being victorious won't come true and more show him as a relatively vengeful and petty bastard.
I'm sure this is all very serious (the introduction tells us that Leo Tolstoy couldn't read "The Life" without weeping), but I think I'm a bit of an asshole, too, because I was much too amused.
(Also, important life lesson: if it's a year ending in "666", like 1666, maybe hold off on making major changes to your Christian religion, because that number of the beast thing might be an issue.)
June 19, 2024
Очень интересно на много видов, и история, о как поменялся литература))
January 26, 2021
One group of people forced another group of people to literally live in a hole in the ground because the two groups could not agree whether to make the sign of the Cross with two or three fingers. The people in a hole in the ground were the lucky ones – compared to the ones who had the offending fingers cut off.
One group believed that saying “Alleluia, alleluia, glory be to thee, O God!” was looked on with favor by divine authorities, but saying “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory be to thee, O God!” would get you damned to hell for eternity. In this case, cutting out the tongue was considered appropriate.
The argument over whether religious services should properly be seven hours long, or merely three hours long, led to torture, violence, and death.
Your enjoyment of this book will depend on whether you find all of this senseless violence fascinating or infuriating.
I am not a scholar of things Russian, but I know more about the topic than the average non-Russian, which was enough to be able to enjoy this book, if “enjoy” is the right word. It will probably be incomprehensible if you are not a bit of a Russian and/or religious history nerd.
Surprisingly, this book is an easy read. The translator says the original is written in a style easily comprehensible for native speakers of Russian, so that the average man could read and understand it. This idea seems unremarkable now, but in seventeenth century Russia, it was an unusual idea.
The translator, Kenneth Brostrom, attempted – successfully – to duplicate this style in his English translation. This translation was originally published in 1979, and the translator was working on a revised edition when he passed away (see obituary here). His work was completed by another scholar.
The original author, Avvakum Petrov, is sort of a Martin Luther-analog for Russian Old Believers, a group which broke off with the mainstream of the Russian Orthodox Church around the years 1650. To this day, they are to be found in pockets all over the world, miraculously surviving centuries in defiance of war, repression by forces both secular and religious, and the temptations of the modern world.
In many ways Petrov seems quite a bit like Martin Luther – both alternated between moments of heartfelt humanity and longer periods of monomaniacal intolerance. In other ways, he was the opposite of Luther – rather than change the church for the better, Petrov's mission was to make sure that nothing the church did ever changed.
Like Luther, he enjoyed proclaiming loudly that he was a miserable sinner, but he never, ever, forgot a slight given or an offense taken.
This all may seem a little grim, but Petrov really comes alive on the page – I enjoyed reading this.
This book is very heavily footnoted. The reader will need several bookmarks (either paper or electronic) and will have to shuttle back and forth frequently to keep track of which bloated religious hypocrite Petrov is currently railing against, and why.
As for the matters of doctrinal dispute mentioned at the top (e.g., two vs. three fingers): it's easy, from a vantage point of smug modern superiority, to sneer at these people as ignorant yokels and tell ourselves that we are past this type of hair-splitting idiocy now, but every time I hear somebody blather on about how their city, state, country, or skin color are superior to someone else's, it's clear that we haven't really come so far.
I received a free electronic copy of this book for review via Netgalley from Columbia University Press.
One group believed that saying “Alleluia, alleluia, glory be to thee, O God!” was looked on with favor by divine authorities, but saying “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory be to thee, O God!” would get you damned to hell for eternity. In this case, cutting out the tongue was considered appropriate.
The argument over whether religious services should properly be seven hours long, or merely three hours long, led to torture, violence, and death.
Your enjoyment of this book will depend on whether you find all of this senseless violence fascinating or infuriating.
I am not a scholar of things Russian, but I know more about the topic than the average non-Russian, which was enough to be able to enjoy this book, if “enjoy” is the right word. It will probably be incomprehensible if you are not a bit of a Russian and/or religious history nerd.
Surprisingly, this book is an easy read. The translator says the original is written in a style easily comprehensible for native speakers of Russian, so that the average man could read and understand it. This idea seems unremarkable now, but in seventeenth century Russia, it was an unusual idea.
The translator, Kenneth Brostrom, attempted – successfully – to duplicate this style in his English translation. This translation was originally published in 1979, and the translator was working on a revised edition when he passed away (see obituary here). His work was completed by another scholar.
The original author, Avvakum Petrov, is sort of a Martin Luther-analog for Russian Old Believers, a group which broke off with the mainstream of the Russian Orthodox Church around the years 1650. To this day, they are to be found in pockets all over the world, miraculously surviving centuries in defiance of war, repression by forces both secular and religious, and the temptations of the modern world.
In many ways Petrov seems quite a bit like Martin Luther – both alternated between moments of heartfelt humanity and longer periods of monomaniacal intolerance. In other ways, he was the opposite of Luther – rather than change the church for the better, Petrov's mission was to make sure that nothing the church did ever changed.
Like Luther, he enjoyed proclaiming loudly that he was a miserable sinner, but he never, ever, forgot a slight given or an offense taken.
This all may seem a little grim, but Petrov really comes alive on the page – I enjoyed reading this.
This book is very heavily footnoted. The reader will need several bookmarks (either paper or electronic) and will have to shuttle back and forth frequently to keep track of which bloated religious hypocrite Petrov is currently railing against, and why.
As for the matters of doctrinal dispute mentioned at the top (e.g., two vs. three fingers): it's easy, from a vantage point of smug modern superiority, to sneer at these people as ignorant yokels and tell ourselves that we are past this type of hair-splitting idiocy now, but every time I hear somebody blather on about how their city, state, country, or skin color are superior to someone else's, it's clear that we haven't really come so far.
I received a free electronic copy of this book for review via Netgalley from Columbia University Press.
July 24, 2021
Poor old Avaakum. He really didn’t have a good time of it. Talk about suffering for your faith – he never seemed to stop suffering. Although he did manage to find time to marry and have children in between bouts of imprisonment, torture, beatings, starvation and so on. His autobiography makes for some fascinating reading. Not only is it an important historical document but a wonderful insight into an era when religious conflict was part of everyday life and disputes about worship could lead to the most horrendous of punishments. Signing the cross? Is it to be 2 fingers or 3? Worth dying for, obviously. Avaakum (1620/1682) was the one of the principal leaders of the Old Believers and in the 1660s and 1670s decided to chronicle his life – his career, religious persecution, torture and imprisonment, making this a unique account, written in everyday language that anyone could understand, in a language and vivid style that served as a model for later writers such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. He lived and died for his religious faith, never flinching from talking truth to power, regardless of the consequences. He was burned as a heretic, never willing to compromise in any way. This edition has been excellently translated, and includes an essential introduction and many useful footnotes and annotations. So yes, it’s a scholarly and academic work but nevertheless, and although obviously not aimed at the general reader, a book that will be of enormous interest to all Russophiles in particular as well as those interested in church and religious history.
June 12, 2014
After years of torture, beatings and starvation in Siberian exile, Avvakum's wife turns to him and asks, "Will these sufferings go on a long time, Archpriest?". He answers "Markovna, right up to our very death". So she sighs and replies, "Good enough, Petrovich, then let's be getting on." For this excellent bit of dialog alone, the book gets four stars. Of course Avvakum was right as far as his own future was concerned -- the rest of his life was just more of the same up to the point that he was finally killed by burning. At least there were a few healings, miracles and holy fools along the way,and that devil's spawn, the Patriarch Nikon, was never able to get Avvakum to stop crossing himself with two fingers. This is the greatest work of Russian medieval writing and is said to have influenced, among others, Gogol and Tolstoy. The combination of the mundane and the holy, expressed in an interesting mixture of vernacular and ecclesiastical writing styles is like nothing else that I have ever read. This book isn't for everyone, but I found it fascinating.
June 25, 2025
Utterly fascinating look at the beginning of Russian literature that somehow manages to be both entertaining and educational. The extensive footnotes, which you will need to fully appreciate the book unless you are well versed in Russian history and/or theology, can be a little too exhaustive and take away from the flow of the book itself, though the enrichment and understanding they add more than make up for it.
June 5, 2025
If you don’t have a map of 17th century Russia by your side, it can get very confusing because he moves around so much..
August 1, 2017
Раскол православия — трагедия конца XVII века. Выходцы из кружка ревнителей благочестия изменили миропонимание русских христиан. Желая добиться истинного следования религии, ревнители уничтожали сделанное до них. Если человек желает перемен, он их делает не задумываясь, не осознавая, к чему это приведёт. Как ратовал Никон за ему потребное, так и Аввакум шёл по пути собственных представлений о действительности. Никто из них не исповедовал настоящего пристрастия к делу их жизни, поскольку они не понимали, зачем осуществляют требуемые им перемены.
(c) Trounin
(c) Trounin
August 12, 2021
Aunque nunca he estado en Rusia me interesa la literatura de este país y por ello compré este libro, de lectura cruda, trágica, y te hace llorar por los sufrimientos del autor cuando explica cómo fue castigado por oponerse a las reformas del cristianismo ortodoxo del siglo XVII, y cómo se morían de hambre sus hijos en Siberia. Finalmente el hombre sufrió martirio y fue quemado en la hoguera. Muy duro de leer, pero auténtico y útil para conocer a los denominados viejos creyentes, que fueron obligados a emigrar a Siberia y Alaska.
July 17, 2024
слово и дело
January 24, 2019
Avvakum's autobiography is a great testament of faith, but an even better portrait of a man who struggles with himself and is undeniably real. It is a rare occasion that one can read the self-written story of a martyred Russian Orthodox priest from the 1660s and come away with this thought, but this is accomplished within this book. At times, his arrogance and self-contradictory nature will harshen your view towards him, but as you take this in along with his compassion and endurance, his character truly comes into fruition, and even if you do not like him it is hard to deny the richness of his personality. An interesting aspect of this work is its rather modern nature, and though it is far from a novel of our time, it is a unique work from its era. This isn't a book I recommend to most people, as it isn't a topic that will interest most, but I have a bleeding heart for those martyred for their beliefs, especially when their faith is as untarnished like Avvakum. I shall end this with a few quotes from the book.
"And I said to them, 'We are fools for Christ's sake! Ye are honorable, but we are despised! Ye are strong, but we are weak!'"
"I am swathed in weakness of mind and hypocrisy, I am covered with lies, I am arrayed in hatred of my brother and love of myself, I am perishing in the condemnation of all men; seeming to be something, I am excrement and pus, an accursed man - just plain shit! I stink all over, in body and soul! It would be good for me to live with dogs and hogs in their pens; they stink just like my soul, with an evil-smelling stench. But hogs and hounds stink by their nature, while I stink from my sins like a dead dog cast out into a city street."
"And I said to them, 'We are fools for Christ's sake! Ye are honorable, but we are despised! Ye are strong, but we are weak!'"
"I am swathed in weakness of mind and hypocrisy, I am covered with lies, I am arrayed in hatred of my brother and love of myself, I am perishing in the condemnation of all men; seeming to be something, I am excrement and pus, an accursed man - just plain shit! I stink all over, in body and soul! It would be good for me to live with dogs and hogs in their pens; they stink just like my soul, with an evil-smelling stench. But hogs and hounds stink by their nature, while I stink from my sins like a dead dog cast out into a city street."
September 26, 2018
La nascita della letteratura russa, dicono. La potenza verbale, nominativa per così dire, è enorme in effetti. Ma ancor più incredibile è che questo libro sia nato: nella Russia ancora medioevale del Seicento non solo ecco un testo più o meno letterario, benché grezzo e animalesco, con un autore ben definito, ma questo autore parla addirittura di sé, e in un modo del tutto inaudito in una realtà in cui non esistevano che testi sacri, cronache, commentarii e agiografie. Il passo è colossale e brevissimo: questa È un'agiografia, un'autoagiografia. Ma quale dev'essere stato lo shock culturale del raskol, se ha potuto spingere un uomo a tramandare la propria testimonianza in un'epoca e in un mondo in cui il concetto di testimonianza non esisteva - non, almeno, in prima persona e da vivi! La letteratura inizia con questo testo solamente per questo, perché un uomo porta testimonianza di sé e della propria vita attraverso la scrittura, usando il proprio nome, usando la propria lingua, facendosi autore, personaggio e testimone: martire.
February 26, 2022
Superbe ouvrage, en tous points. Je voudrais d'abord souligner qu'il y a, derrière cette édition (attention, pas bilingue), un rigoureux travail philologique, exposé en toute transparence dans l'impeccable introduction (sur la vie d'Avvakum, les manuscrits, les éditions précédentes, les langues dans la Vie...) et dans les notes de bas de page très fournies. La traduction française est également très agréable à lire. Quant à la Vie elle-même, c'est un vrai bijou de l'"antique" littérature russe. Entre autobiographie, épopée, hagiographie, la Vie d'Avvakum nous emmène avec lui au fil de ses malheurs, exils, supplices. Le portrait d'un homme tenace dans sa foi, à la fois espiègle et miséricordieux (je te pardonne... une fois que je t'aurai insulté). Cette Vie est une vraie leçon de persévérance, d'humilité et d'amour du prochain, en plus d'offrir une très belle peinture du paysage politique, religieux, et même (rigoureusement bien) géographique de la Russie du XVIIe.
January 17, 2023
La vie d’Avvakum décrit la lutte de cet archiprêtre contre les réformes du patriarche Nikon dans l’église orthodoxe russe du XVIIème siècle. Avvakum sera exilé successivement en Sibérie puis en Transbaïkalie et dans le nord vers la Mer Blanche. À plusieurs reprises il rencontrera le tsar Alexis et lui écrira des épîtres. Ce récit fait voyager le lecteur aux quatre coins de la Russie et est un intéressant témoignage des conditions de vie de l’époque.
November 23, 2018
Interesting how fervent one can be about issues like "how many fingers should be used to cross oneself" etc. Amusingly told, though.
March 6, 2022
sinceramente il libro più brutto che io abbia mai letto
October 17, 2022
The story of one of the "Old Believers" of the Russian Orthodox Church. Lots of suffering and misery. Interesting in the element of Russian history and the modernization of the Church.
October 18, 2022
Никогда бы не подумала прочитать, если бы не Полка. А оказалось очень читабельно (17 век!), живо и иногда даже смешно — протопоп и трикстер в одном лице.
September 10, 2024
Maybe 2 stars, not sure. I didn't read the whole thing.
August 7, 2025
Rus kilisesinde 17. yüzyılda gerçekleşen bölünmede, gelenekçi tarafta olan Avvakumun yazdığı otobiyografik bir kitap.
February 4, 2021
I had the chance to read an early copy of an upcoming update to an old book. It’s called The Life Written by Himself by a Russian Archpriest named Avvakum Petrov. The book comes out at the end of May but you can preorder it now.
This book certainly isn’t for everyone. That’s to be expected from the fact that it shares the thoughts of a 17th-century priest who lived in poverty and persecution in Russia. Yet the older I get, the more I realize how much we stand to gain from reading really old books.
The updated intro itself is worth the book as it offers a fascinating historical setup to Avvakum’s life and times. Avvakum stood up against a version of Christianity that joined itself together with the government of Russia to gain power and influence. This is something the church in America would benefit to reflect on as well. Beyond this, there are two reasons you might find to appreciate this book.
The first reason—and the best takeaway from this book—is its perspective on the nature of suffering, especially for a Christ-follower. Despite the difference in culture and times, I was incredibly moved by his account. Avvakum is tortured in numerous ways throughout his lifetime and is eventually killed for his faith. Yet he lives with boldness in the face of suffering.
-I came up, and the poor dear started in on me, saying, “Will these sufferings go on a long time, Archpriest?” And I said, “Markovna, right up to our very death.” And so she sighed and answered, “Good enough, Petrovič, then let’s be getting on.”
-Neither famine of bread nor thirst for water destroys a man; but a great famine it is for a man to live, not praying to God.
-In the Chamber of the Cross the bishops disputed with me, then led me into the great cathedral, and after the Transposition of the Host they sheared the Deacon Fyodor and me, and then damned us, but I damned them in return. Almighty lively it was during that Mass!
-Satan besought God for our radiant Russia so he might turn her crimson with the blood of martyrs. Good thinking, devil, and it’s good enough for us—to suffer for the sake of Christ our Light!
Most moving of all for me was the way Avvakum boldly lived out his faith, precisely when he recognized what it would cost him. Passages like this one are stunning (and show how amazing his wife was too):
"Sitting there feeling heavy at heart, I pondered: “What shall I do? Preach the Word of God or hide out somewhere? For I am bound by my wife and children.” And seeing me downcast, the Archpriestess approached in a manner most seemly, and she said unto me, “Why are you heavy at heart, my lord?” And in detail did I acquaint her with everything: “Wife, what shall I do? The winter of heresy is here. Should I speak out or keep quiet? I am bound by all of you!” And she said to me, “Lord a’mercy! What are you saying, Petrovich? I’ve heard the words of the Apostle—you were reading them yourself: ‘Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.’ I bless you together with our children. Now stand up and preach the Word of God like you used to and don’t grieve over us. As long as God deigns, we’ll live together, and when we’re separated, don’t forget us in your prayers. Christ is strong, and he won’t abandon us. Now go on, get to the church, Petrovich, unmask the whoredom of heresy!” Well sir, I bowed low to her for that, and shaking off the blindness of a heavy heart I began as before to preach and teach the Word of God about the towns and everywhere, and yet again did I unmask the Nikonian heresy with boldness."
The second reason you may enjoy this book is if you have an appreciation for Russian literature. Perhaps that is an even smaller category than the first reason I gave to read this book. Yet there is a lot here. In the past six months, I read both the Gulag Archipelago and Crime and Punishment (two iconic Russian books). Both impacted me deeply and continue to stir my thoughts.
Avvakum is considered Russia’s first modern writer. Therefore, reading him is a chance to “climb the tree” of ideas and trace many back to an early source (see: Climbing the Tree). The great novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (who wrote Crime and Punishment) hilariously said, “I think that if one were to translate a piece such as the narrative of the Archpriest Avvakum, the result would be nonsense, or better, nothing whatever would come of it.” I think he was wrong on both accounts.
More favorably, another great Russian writer—Leo Tolstoy—“once said that he could not read the Life without weeping, and one supposes that he perhaps saw in Avvakum an ideal Russian with a Russian capacity to suffer and to remain steadfastly true to his understanding of the good.” I read the book more as Tolstoy did. If reading this book helps us with the capacity to suffer and remain steadfastly true to our understanding of the good, it would be well worth it.
Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This book certainly isn’t for everyone. That’s to be expected from the fact that it shares the thoughts of a 17th-century priest who lived in poverty and persecution in Russia. Yet the older I get, the more I realize how much we stand to gain from reading really old books.
The updated intro itself is worth the book as it offers a fascinating historical setup to Avvakum’s life and times. Avvakum stood up against a version of Christianity that joined itself together with the government of Russia to gain power and influence. This is something the church in America would benefit to reflect on as well. Beyond this, there are two reasons you might find to appreciate this book.
The first reason—and the best takeaway from this book—is its perspective on the nature of suffering, especially for a Christ-follower. Despite the difference in culture and times, I was incredibly moved by his account. Avvakum is tortured in numerous ways throughout his lifetime and is eventually killed for his faith. Yet he lives with boldness in the face of suffering.
-I came up, and the poor dear started in on me, saying, “Will these sufferings go on a long time, Archpriest?” And I said, “Markovna, right up to our very death.” And so she sighed and answered, “Good enough, Petrovič, then let’s be getting on.”
-Neither famine of bread nor thirst for water destroys a man; but a great famine it is for a man to live, not praying to God.
-In the Chamber of the Cross the bishops disputed with me, then led me into the great cathedral, and after the Transposition of the Host they sheared the Deacon Fyodor and me, and then damned us, but I damned them in return. Almighty lively it was during that Mass!
-Satan besought God for our radiant Russia so he might turn her crimson with the blood of martyrs. Good thinking, devil, and it’s good enough for us—to suffer for the sake of Christ our Light!
Most moving of all for me was the way Avvakum boldly lived out his faith, precisely when he recognized what it would cost him. Passages like this one are stunning (and show how amazing his wife was too):
"Sitting there feeling heavy at heart, I pondered: “What shall I do? Preach the Word of God or hide out somewhere? For I am bound by my wife and children.” And seeing me downcast, the Archpriestess approached in a manner most seemly, and she said unto me, “Why are you heavy at heart, my lord?” And in detail did I acquaint her with everything: “Wife, what shall I do? The winter of heresy is here. Should I speak out or keep quiet? I am bound by all of you!” And she said to me, “Lord a’mercy! What are you saying, Petrovich? I’ve heard the words of the Apostle—you were reading them yourself: ‘Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.’ I bless you together with our children. Now stand up and preach the Word of God like you used to and don’t grieve over us. As long as God deigns, we’ll live together, and when we’re separated, don’t forget us in your prayers. Christ is strong, and he won’t abandon us. Now go on, get to the church, Petrovich, unmask the whoredom of heresy!” Well sir, I bowed low to her for that, and shaking off the blindness of a heavy heart I began as before to preach and teach the Word of God about the towns and everywhere, and yet again did I unmask the Nikonian heresy with boldness."
The second reason you may enjoy this book is if you have an appreciation for Russian literature. Perhaps that is an even smaller category than the first reason I gave to read this book. Yet there is a lot here. In the past six months, I read both the Gulag Archipelago and Crime and Punishment (two iconic Russian books). Both impacted me deeply and continue to stir my thoughts.
Avvakum is considered Russia’s first modern writer. Therefore, reading him is a chance to “climb the tree” of ideas and trace many back to an early source (see: Climbing the Tree). The great novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (who wrote Crime and Punishment) hilariously said, “I think that if one were to translate a piece such as the narrative of the Archpriest Avvakum, the result would be nonsense, or better, nothing whatever would come of it.” I think he was wrong on both accounts.
More favorably, another great Russian writer—Leo Tolstoy—“once said that he could not read the Life without weeping, and one supposes that he perhaps saw in Avvakum an ideal Russian with a Russian capacity to suffer and to remain steadfastly true to his understanding of the good.” I read the book more as Tolstoy did. If reading this book helps us with the capacity to suffer and remain steadfastly true to our understanding of the good, it would be well worth it.
Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
January 2, 2025
“Ныне он, а завтра я так же умру.”
April 1, 2022
Considerado por muchos como la antesala del siglo de Oro de la literatura rusa en términos narrativos, relata los sufrimientos y penurias del protopope Avvakum Petrov y su familia por oponerse a las reformas religiosas de Nikon que provocaron la escisión de la Iglesia Ortodoxa en dos corrientes. En este sentido, el libro ejemplifica el hostigamiento al que fueron sometidos los “viejos creyentes” y nos muestra las condiciones de vida y el pensamiento de la época. No es una perla narrativa, pero es interesante si uno quiere conocer que hay detrás de autores como Dostoyevski y Tolstoi, así como profundizar en su conocimiento de la literatura e historia rusa. Recomiendo elegir una edición que combine los tres manuscritos existentes.
January 6, 2021
I could well see this as the most esoteric book I've ever reviewed. The minutest of audiences, then, will care for my thoughts on this story - the life-story of a seventeenth century Russian monk, who begins his script with some religious thoughts and commendations, then alludes to him being turned on by the confession of a fornicating woman, and then, well. Multiple death threats and potential assassinations, imprisonment and torture, being used as a human tow horse as someone moves some boats around in Siberia... Missionary work, interactions with the Tsar, and a heck of a lot of other detail are covered before it kind of drifts to a close.
It's not a perfect read, in itself - you have to wonder quite why he's the victim of all these unexplained death threats at first, and whether it's just him at fault or there's a full-on purge. You also only get the cold details - there's nothing too internal, revealing his thoughts or what he might have used or said to affirm his faith under such duress. So while we get some good details of note (the time when Lake Baikal was a lake of much plenty, etc) these "wanderings" (his word) are not perfect. It's too far into it that we learn the whole thing hangs on a debate of whether to use two or three fingers, and a baddy named after a camera brand I knew I was right all along in never using.
Luckily, of course, this publishing house knows what it's doing, and the scholarly yet readable introduction is on hand to prove to us the import of all the main text. Nikon (hence my quip about the cameras) and a whole host of followers were indeed trying to change the entirely of religion, from the ceremony right up to the power it had in society. Our author was on the other side, one of what we now call the Old Believers. It turns out he was also a wrong'un, with his lot doing a lot of plugging for the idea of mass suicidal immolation by fire and drowning, but he is quite personable here. I take the miracles he recounts (of asking God for water to drink while walking in the middle of a miles-wide frozen lake, and getting it, and of people whose cut-out tongues reformed perfectly, like a lizard's tail) with more than a pinch of salt, but that's just my inclination. I certainly do think you have to be a believer to get much from his writing, but there is also the fact this text is pretty unique, and quite probably like no other you've ever read. Within the distinct religious timbre that makes a lot of this feel quite antiquated, there is a lot of successful cussing for a man of the cloth.
Coming as I always do to this house's books, I consider them for the intended reader and from the point of view of the general browser, chancing their arm here, and/or perhaps persuaded by this being a netgalley freebie. Of the latter, a lot would give either one or two (possibly three) fingers to the whole thing, for this really has a specific reach. But for the target, scholarly purchaser, this is perfect. I've never seen such a fully annotated text, with the notes and introduction by far outweighing what they discuss. It's for that real audience, then, that my star rating is intended - one star for every reader, almost.
It's not a perfect read, in itself - you have to wonder quite why he's the victim of all these unexplained death threats at first, and whether it's just him at fault or there's a full-on purge. You also only get the cold details - there's nothing too internal, revealing his thoughts or what he might have used or said to affirm his faith under such duress. So while we get some good details of note (the time when Lake Baikal was a lake of much plenty, etc) these "wanderings" (his word) are not perfect. It's too far into it that we learn the whole thing hangs on a debate of whether to use two or three fingers, and a baddy named after a camera brand I knew I was right all along in never using.
Luckily, of course, this publishing house knows what it's doing, and the scholarly yet readable introduction is on hand to prove to us the import of all the main text. Nikon (hence my quip about the cameras) and a whole host of followers were indeed trying to change the entirely of religion, from the ceremony right up to the power it had in society. Our author was on the other side, one of what we now call the Old Believers. It turns out he was also a wrong'un, with his lot doing a lot of plugging for the idea of mass suicidal immolation by fire and drowning, but he is quite personable here. I take the miracles he recounts (of asking God for water to drink while walking in the middle of a miles-wide frozen lake, and getting it, and of people whose cut-out tongues reformed perfectly, like a lizard's tail) with more than a pinch of salt, but that's just my inclination. I certainly do think you have to be a believer to get much from his writing, but there is also the fact this text is pretty unique, and quite probably like no other you've ever read. Within the distinct religious timbre that makes a lot of this feel quite antiquated, there is a lot of successful cussing for a man of the cloth.
Coming as I always do to this house's books, I consider them for the intended reader and from the point of view of the general browser, chancing their arm here, and/or perhaps persuaded by this being a netgalley freebie. Of the latter, a lot would give either one or two (possibly three) fingers to the whole thing, for this really has a specific reach. But for the target, scholarly purchaser, this is perfect. I've never seen such a fully annotated text, with the notes and introduction by far outweighing what they discuss. It's for that real audience, then, that my star rating is intended - one star for every reader, almost.
December 16, 2014
The thing with Avvakum (if you don't know who he is, just have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avvakum and note that what I have just read is considered a "masterpiece") is that, sometimes, he's a bit interesting to read. I won't say fun, because you'll smile and be amused for 1% of this thing and then go "aagaghrg get to the point already" for the remaining 99%. At least I felt that way, because I've painstakingly gone through this text over like 3 months, word by word, three times, the first of which in Avvakum's own handwriting, which looks like, yeah, this:
(https://twitter.com/tricours/status/4...)
If you read it like a normal person would, it's probably more fun. Also, I've read the original version; the translation that's readily available in English online (http://www2.potsdam.edu/mausdc/class/...), is a later version, where he has... edited himself a bit.
But - it's not all bad. Avvakum talks of his journeys here and there, constantly being sent by some (evil) person or other to Moscow or Dauria or wherever. He almost dies ALL THE TIME. He laments the suffering of his poor wife, who, upon one occasion, had to go bare-headed! Ah, the outrage! He talks about how his sons and spiritual children have suffered for their faith, how the devil seizes his wife, inducing her to quarrel with the maid, and how the devil then takes hold of Avvakum himself, forcing his hand into giving both of them a beating. Then they all apologize to each other, praising God.
Avvakum talks of how he feels lust upon hearing a girl confess her sins, and has to hold his hand over a burning candle until godliness fills him yet again, and he curses Nikon and the nikonians over and over again. It's all the fault of the devil, of course. He is responsible for EVERYTHING bad that ever happens and is absolutely everywhere.
And it's a bit fun, you can read it like an autobiography, thinking these things actually happened. But then the medieval miracles enter, and you can't trust Avvakum anymore. I lost count of how many demons he drives out (once he leaves the poor people alone the demons come back, though, and they do horrible things, like, say, marry), not to mention the number of hands and tongues that are cut off but that are easily attached again and whatnot... But apparently, if you wrote a medieval text, you needed things like these to keep your reader interested, and to demonstrate what a great God you have! Weird how God doesn't do these things anymore though.
(https://twitter.com/tricours/status/4...)
If you read it like a normal person would, it's probably more fun. Also, I've read the original version; the translation that's readily available in English online (http://www2.potsdam.edu/mausdc/class/...), is a later version, where he has... edited himself a bit.
But - it's not all bad. Avvakum talks of his journeys here and there, constantly being sent by some (evil) person or other to Moscow or Dauria or wherever. He almost dies ALL THE TIME. He laments the suffering of his poor wife, who, upon one occasion, had to go bare-headed! Ah, the outrage! He talks about how his sons and spiritual children have suffered for their faith, how the devil seizes his wife, inducing her to quarrel with the maid, and how the devil then takes hold of Avvakum himself, forcing his hand into giving both of them a beating. Then they all apologize to each other, praising God.
Avvakum talks of how he feels lust upon hearing a girl confess her sins, and has to hold his hand over a burning candle until godliness fills him yet again, and he curses Nikon and the nikonians over and over again. It's all the fault of the devil, of course. He is responsible for EVERYTHING bad that ever happens and is absolutely everywhere.
And it's a bit fun, you can read it like an autobiography, thinking these things actually happened. But then the medieval miracles enter, and you can't trust Avvakum anymore. I lost count of how many demons he drives out (once he leaves the poor people alone the demons come back, though, and they do horrible things, like, say, marry), not to mention the number of hands and tongues that are cut off but that are easily attached again and whatnot... But apparently, if you wrote a medieval text, you needed things like these to keep your reader interested, and to demonstrate what a great God you have! Weird how God doesn't do these things anymore though.
February 11, 2024
Finished THE LIFE WRITTEN BY HIMSELF by Archpriest Avvakum (1620-1682), a 17th-century "Old Believer" priest who describes his tumultuous career in the Russian Orthodox church. His memoir was admired by later writers such as Tolstoy for its record of piety, compassion, and humility--as well as Avvakum's absolute defiance of those seeking to reform the "old ways" through intimidation, torture, imprisonment, and execution (he was eventually burned to death). Of his enemies he sarcastically wrote, "It's a miracle, somehow they just don't want to gain true understanding! They want to strengthen the faith with fire, the knout and the gallows! Now which of the apostles taught them that? I don't know. My Christ never commanded our apostles to teach this way..." Of himself Avvakum wrote, "Neither famine of bread nor thirst for water destroys a man; but a great famine it is for a man to live, not praying to God." THE LIFE is a remarkable document, as noted by the translator, Kenneth Brostrom. On one hand, it is the memoir of a man who stubbornly opposed anything he considered modern. On the other hand, Avvakum wrote one of Russia's first modern literary prose works, revealing his humanity to his readers Brostrom), much like the inventor of the personal essay, Michel de Montaigne.
August 21, 2021
I received a digital ARC via NetGalley.
I've been consistently impressed with these translations of important but rarely-translated (into English, anyway) works of Russian literature from Columbia University Press. Like the others I've read, this is an accessible and natural-feeling translation that makes an important work available to an English-reading audience.
Another great strength of these translations, and this one is absolutely included, are well-written and detailed introductions that provide a great deal of important ccontext.
While this book is very likely to only be of particular interest to people who are either very interested in tracing aspects of the Russian literary tradition and the influence of this particular work on later authors, or else who are interested in the Schism of the Russian Orthodox Church in this period, I really do feel that the introduction makes it a little more accessible to wider non-specialist audience.
I've been consistently impressed with these translations of important but rarely-translated (into English, anyway) works of Russian literature from Columbia University Press. Like the others I've read, this is an accessible and natural-feeling translation that makes an important work available to an English-reading audience.
Another great strength of these translations, and this one is absolutely included, are well-written and detailed introductions that provide a great deal of important ccontext.
While this book is very likely to only be of particular interest to people who are either very interested in tracing aspects of the Russian literary tradition and the influence of this particular work on later authors, or else who are interested in the Schism of the Russian Orthodox Church in this period, I really do feel that the introduction makes it a little more accessible to wider non-specialist audience.
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