Additional information
by Constantine Popoff (Translator), Sergiy Novikov (Foreword by), Leo Tolstoy (Author)
"What I Believe" (Russian: V chem moia viera?) is a work by Leo Tolstoy in which he expounds his general views on life.
This edition of the book was banned following its publication in Russia. In February 1901, the Russian Orthodox Church excommunicated Leo Tolstoy. The author describes the changes which happened to his mind. He also tells about the long way he had covered before coming to his ideas. The basis for the latter is also described in this book, proving them to be well-grounded and thought-out. Deputy of the First State Duma Victor Obninsky wrote the following in the newspaper Utro Rossii (Russian Morning) on November 4, 1910, "...What do we have to justify our new crime?.. We ruined Pushkin and Lermontov, drove Gogol insane, sent Dostoyevsky to rot in prison, exiled Turgenev to foreign land, and finally threw Tolstoy, eighty-two years of age, onto a wooden bench at an out-of-the-way station .. Our life seems to be a ceaseless descent into a bottomless dull pit, where nothingness, a spiritual death, awaits us."Author Biography
Leo Tolstoy criticized the Russian Orthodox Church in harsh terms for postponing the original Christian ideals to its own interests. The Russian Ministry of Interior passed a circular order prohibiting the publication of any telegrams, news, and articles expressing sympathy with the writer and criticizing the Synod's decision. However, Russian glass plant workers presented Tolstoy with a large lump of glass. The lump had the following engraved in gold on it, "You share the fate of many great people in advance of their time, dearest Leo Tolstoy! They used to be burned at the stake and sent to rot in prison or exile before. Let the pharisaic 'high priests' excommunicate you. Russian people will always be proud of you, outstanding, much appreciated and greatly admired as you are."
