Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky, (Russian: Дмитрий Сергеевич Мережковский) was a Russian novelist, poet, religious thinker, and literary critic. A seminal figure of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry, regarded as a co-founder of the Symbolist movement, Merezhkovsky – with his poet wife Zinaida Gippius – was twice forced into political exile. During his second exile (1918–1941) he continued publishing successful novels and gained recognition as a critic of Soviet Russia. Known both as a self-styled religious prophet with his own slant on apocalyptic Christianity, and as the author of philosophical historical novels which combined fervent idealism with literary innovation, Merezhkovsky was a nine times nominee for the Nobel Prize in literature, which he came closest to winning in 1933.
The words he put in Leonardo da Vinci's mouth in his biographical novel Romance of Leonardo da Vinci -- "I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men" -- are echoed by animal rights activists all over the world and have come to often be misattributed to Leonardo da Vinci himself.
Россия идёт по пути отрицания Бога. Нет никого, кто наставит человека на путь истинный. То и не требуется людям. Поскольку всякий наставляющий преследует определённые цели, с которыми человечество не обязано соглашаться. И не всегда наставляющий – достойный такого права. Покуда не снизойдёт новый Христос, способный принять грехи людей, до той поры человек останется прозябающим в невежестве. Но скоро грядёт хам – он повергнет во мрак человечество, утвердив каждого во мнении, что высших духовных материй не существует. Есть лишь действительность, где никогда не было и быть не может чего-либо, называемого божественным промыслом.