Question by izazivač: Why was Leo Tolstoy excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Bobby
Tolstoy built his religious beliefs around the Sermon on the Mount and became in opposition with leaders of the Church.
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OPsaltis says
From a response to a letter inquiring about Tolstoy:
"The Holy Synod simply cited by its decision a fact that had already taken place—Count Leo Tolstoy excommunicated himself from the Church and completely broke off ties with it. This is something that he not only did not deny, but even resolutely emphasized at every convenient opportunity: ”It is perfectly justifiable that I have renounced the Church that calls itself Orthodox… I renounce all the sacraments… I have truly renounced the Church, I have stopped fulfilling its rites, and I have written in my will to my close ones that they should not allow any clergymen from the Church near me when I will be dying…” These are just a few of the great writer's numerous proclamations in this regard. " [1]
Tolstoy himself renounced ties to the Orthodox Church. In Orthodoxy, one excommunicates oneself in many ways, such as absence from Church and not receiving communion three Sundays in a row without good reason (traveling, illness, care for others, etc.) Intentionally renouncing the faith also puts one "out of communion" with the Church. It Tolstoy's case, the Church simply made official what Tolstoy practiced and proclaimed. He could have repented of his error and been received back into communion at any time via confession (and perhaps chrismation), but chose to stay out of the Church.
Blessings.
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Serega says
the best electronic editions of books by Tolstoy
Quite a large series of classical Russian books by Tolstoy has appeared on Amazon's Kindle Store store recently, it’s not a problem to find them. One can just type (no spaces) ruBook in the searchbox of Kindle Store.
What’s good about those books in Russian which are sold on Amazon's Kindle Store is:
-text of great quality. One can find quite a lot of free Russian texts on the Internet, but there’re mistakes, omissions, scanning defects in them.
-the texts on Amazon's Kindle Store are supplemented with additional materials in English. They have a summary, an English explanation of the most challenging words, an individual vocabulary for every book, onomastic vocabularies. Generally speaking, each book is adapted for people learning the language.
Here’re just the best e-books from the store:
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00866K2JY http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00866IJ3K http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00822PRBA http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0082C4ZCM http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008663NE0 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008DJ1GVW http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0086W4Z32 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008BLJBA0 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008DJ1NEC
Greg says
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/42983.htm
Good answer (probably the most official answer) from the Russian Orthodox Church today. Tolstoy broke with the Church over issues of fundamental doctrine. The excommunication was only a reflection of Tolstoy's own decisions.
Janhoi says
Because some of his views were unorthodox, like his view that St Paul's writing distorted what Jesus said.