Tolstoy's Three Hermits, His Tradition, and The Russian Orthodox Church

Throughout his life Lev (Leo) Nikolayevich Tolstoy struggled with his faith and the teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church. Tolstoy had his own ideas and interpretations of morality, teachings of Jesus, and the nature of God himself. He would implant his ideas, philosophy, and morality into his works. Tolstoy wanted to teach his readers something about how to live your life morally straight. In this paper the theme of the nature of prayer is explored in Tolstoy’s short story Three Hermits. That theme of the nature of prayer in Leo Tolstoy’s Three Hermits does not fit well with the Russian Orthodox Christian dogma of his time period. However not fitting with the views of the Church made this story fit in well with other works in his corpus. Tolstoy disliked the Orthodox Church and made this clear in his body of work. Tolstoy uses irony, and symbols to show that it is not the type of prayer that is important but the nature of prayer.

Tolstoy uses irony to show that it’s not the type of prayer that’s important but the meaning and thought behind the prayer. There is a priest in the story who travels to a remote island where there are three hermits (Three, 1886). These hermits are said to be very holy but only know one very simple prayer (Three, 1886). To make sure the hermits are praying to God correctly the priest teaches them the Lord’s Prayer (Three, 1886). Irony appears when the hermits run on the water to catch up to the priest after they forgot the Lords Prayer (Three, 1886). This use of irony showcases Tolstoy’s theme of the nature of prayer because the hermits are holier than the priest even though they don’t know any special prayers. Tolstoy wanted to show that it’s not the actual words of the prayer that matter; it’s the t...

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...of moral teachings and spiritual freedom from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Works Cited

1) Croft, Lee B. "The Three Hermits." Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition (2004): 1-2. Literary Reference Center. Web. 4 May 2014.

2) Tikhon, Archimandrite. "TOLSTOY EXCOMMUNICATED HIMSELF, BUT CHRISTIANS HAVE COMPASSION." Letter to S. V. Stepashin. 22 Nov. 2010. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. .

3) Tolstoy, Leo N. "A Confession." (1884): n. pag. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .

4) Tolstoy, Leo N. Three Hermits, (1886). The Literature Network. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .

5) Unknown Author. "Leo Tolstoy: A Comprehensive Comprehension." Leo Tolstoy: A Comprehensive Comprehension. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. .