Sometimes it seems that Russian writers saw their mission in refuting the theses that manuscripts do not burn and the written letter remains. Putting your creations on fire is a long tradition of Russian writers.
Gogol
Schoolchildren of all times and peoples praise Gogol for destroying the second part of his immortal poem Dead Souls. But few people know that the writer "rehearsed" the burning long before that. Thus, the author was extremely disappointed with his first work, the romantic poem Hans Küchelgarten.
Critics also added fuel to the fire, who extremely negatively assessed the writer's early experience. An emotional 18-year-old Gogol ran around all the stores to buy up the circulation, and then destroyed it. Today, the reader has the opportunity to get acquainted only with fragments of this work, because some parts of the idyll have not been restored.
Pushkin
Everyone knows that Pushkin did not spare his works. The tenth chapter of "Eugene Onegin" was left by the author only in the form of encrypted quatrains. From the poem "The Robbers" only the plot survived, which formed the basis of the "Bakhchisarai Fountain".
The second volume of Dubrovsky, as well as the manuscript of Gavriliad, also perished. Almost at the end of work on The Captain's Daughter, her draft autographs for the final chapters were destroyed. In the poet's drafts, one can often see torn pages, on which, as literary critics suggest, dedications to the Decembrists or drawings were placed, for which Pushkin would not have been greeted.
Dostoevsky
Dostoevsky was very demanding in the process of creativity. He could destroy an almost completed work and start writing from scratch. It is interesting that he originally planned to call the novel “Crime and Punishment” “Drunk”, and the storyline was supposed to be based on the story of the Marmeladov family.
However, the writer was fascinated by another idea, and he created Crime and Punishment in the form in which the novel is known to us today. But the theme of the “drunk” remained: it creates the background for Raskolnikov’s crime and introduces the motive of divine judgment into the narrative. And the author trusts Marmeladov to tell the reader about the main reason for the crime.
Bulgakov
The manuscripts of the novel The Master and Margarita have not been completely preserved, while the first version of the novel was completely destroyed by the author. Bulgakov destroyed individual sheets, bundles of sheets and entire draft notebooks with his works. He even admitted in correspondence to one of his friends that the stove had become his favorite edition, because with the same willingness “absorbs both laundry receipts” and poetry.
He burned many of his diaries, drafts of volumes 2 and 3 of The White Guard, and much more. Often, acts of burning were due to the arrests of Bulgakov's friends and acquaintances who made public works in which censorship saw danger. The great novel was "collected" from the surviving manuscripts. Let us recall, by the way, that some of the manuscripts of The Master and Margarita were lost in the Russian state repository.
Akhmatova
Anna Akhmatova burned many of her works. This was not due to dissatisfaction with their work, but because of the constant danger of search and arrest. Most of the poems before being burned, she read to her friend Lidia Chukovskaya. When the danger receded, the friends together restored the destroyed works from memory.
Works of the Tsarskoye Selo theme "My Young Hands" and "Russian Trianon" were burned. Only fragments of them have survived. But the destroyed Tashkent poem "Enuma Elish" Anna Andreevna did not restore. I wrote something completely different. The poem "Requiem" for a long time was not embodied in a manuscript version. “Queen-tramp”, and that is how Akhmatova ironically called herself, read the finished parts of the poem to her friends and immediately burned the draft.
It can rightly be considered one of the best books of Russian literature. Gogol's language is so mesmerizing that one literally cannot tear oneself away from the book. The magnificent speech of the writer makes literary critics to this day regret the impossibility of ever seeing the second volume of this work.
Many generations of researchers of the Russian writer's work ask themselves the question: why did Gogol burn the second volume of Dead Souls? There are several answers to this question.
Option one: the second volume did not exist
This version is based on the fact that no one has seen the handwritten version of the second volume. The only witness to her burning is Semyon, Gogol's servant. According to him, the writer told him to bring the manuscript and, throwing it into the fireplace, set fire to the paper. Semyon allegedly asked him not to burn the book, to which Nikolai Vasilievich replied that it was none of his business.
Illiteracy and the young age of the servant cause a frivolous attitude to this version. However, the testimonies of contemporaries and studies of draft materials lead us to believe that the second volume existed. Consequently, the version that Gogol burned the second volume is quite realistic.
Option two: the writer destroyed the draft version of the second volume, and the manuscript came to Count A.P. Tolstoy
This option, like the first one, is also unlikely and is based on the data of the same Semyon, Gogol's servant. Even if we assume that Tolstoy decided to hide the existence of the manuscript, for such a long time it would certainly fall into the hands of researchers of the writer's work. However, this version quite simply explains why Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls: he got rid of unnecessary paper.
Option three: the writer burned the second volume of the book, being in a not quite sane state
I must say that the writer was prone to depression from an early age, quite often he had seizures. It is known that in the winter of 1852 his state of mind was negatively affected by the death of his friend's wife. The writer was very afraid of death. Perhaps he burned his work in an excited emotional state, considering, for example, that his creation was not good enough. This version is more plausible and explains why Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls, but at present it is not the most popular.
Option four: Gogol burned the manuscript by mistake, confusing it with drafts
As mentioned above, the information received from Gogol's servant, although not entirely accurate, is close to the truth. It is known that one morning the writer shared with Count Tolstoy, with whom he lived, that, intending to burn some of the things he had prepared for this, he burned everything. He also shared that the destroyed notebooks contained a lot of useful information.
According to this version, Nikolai Vasilyevich was pleased with his work. Of course, he had moments of despair, but this is typical of every person, especially creative ones. In this case, the answer to the question why Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls sounds unusually simple: he made a mistake and destroyed not what he wanted.
A little about the genre of the work and its title
Having considered the versions of why the author destroyed his work, let's try to understand its genre features. So, why Gogol called "Dead Souls" a poem. At first glance, this definition of the genre seems strange. When we hear the word "poem", we remember the Iliad and the Odyssey. At first glance, it seems to us that there is nothing in common between "Dead Souls" and Homer's creation. However, researchers of Gogol's work find evidence that these works really belong to the same genre. In particular, Korobochka is a kind of personification of the nymph Calypso, whose remote estate resembles an abandoned island. In the image of Sobakevich, you can recognize the Cyclops Polyphemus - a giant living in lairs. Odysseus and Chichikov begin to travel at the behest of the elements that control them. The first is powerless before the forces of nature, the second - before the nature of man.
Gogol's author's confession
It is known that the idea of this poem belonged to A.S. Pushkin, who admired Gogol's talent for describing portraits of people and presented his idea to Nikolai Vasilyevich. The author of "Dead Souls" was so carried away by the work that he decided to write three whole volumes. According to the author's intention, the second and third parts were supposed to present us with positive characters and show the moral growth of the main character - Chichikov.
Initially, the author planned to write a novel, but due to the large number of lyrical turns, Gogol came to understand the need to call "Dead Souls" nothing more than a poem. Such a definition of the genre of the work by the writer himself once again suggests that he could not destroy it of his own free will, as he valued his offspring too much. Most likely, it really was a mistake.
So, we examined the versions of why the author destroyed his offspring. However, drafts remained. The most popular are the first five chapters of the destroyed volume. They were supposed to be published in 2010, but this did not happen. I would like to express the hope that sooner or later the draft version of the second volume will see the light of day.
Those who at least occasionally read books know perfectly well that many classical works of certain masters of the word are known that have not survived to this day ... The most striking, of course, is considered the main work of N.V. Gogol is the second volume of the novel about the landowner Chichikov known to us from school. Friends, today we will try to understand why Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls.
At the end of his life, the writer lived in Moscow. His house was on Nikitsky Boulevard. This estate legally belonged to Count Alexei Tolstoy, who sheltered a lonely writer in it. Tradition says that it was there that Gogol destroyed his most important literary work. At first glance, the writer lived in abundance - he did not have his own family, which means that no one and nothing could distract him from work, he had a permanent roof over his head. But what happened? Why Gogol burned the second volume What was going on in his mind at the moment when he set fire to his manuscripts?
No stake, no yard...
Few people know that Nikolai Vasilyevich invested everything in his work! He lived only for them. For the sake of creativity, the writer doomed himself to poverty. Then they said that all Gogol's property was limited to only one "suitcase with pieces of paper." His main work is about to come to an end. He put his whole soul into it. This was the result of religious machinations; it was the whole truth about Russia and all the love for it ... The writer himself said that his work was great, and his feat was saving. But the novel was never destined to be born: Gogol burned "Dead Souls" because of a woman...
Oh dear Catherine!
In the life of Nikolai Vasilyevich there was a real turning point. It all started on a January morning in 1852. It was then that a certain Ekaterina Khomyakova, the wife of one of Gogol's friends, passed away. The fact is that the writer himself sincerely considered her a worthy woman. Some literary scholars say that he was secretly in love with her and more than once veiledly mentioned her in his work. After her death, the writer told his confessor Matthew that he was seized for no reason. Now Gogol constantly thought about his future death, he had depression ... Father Matthew strongly advised the writer to think about his spiritual state, leaving his literary works.
Diagnosis: psychoneurosis
"Psycho neurosis! That's why Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls," this is precisely the opinion expressed by modern psychiatrists. They say that such a state can drive any person to suicide, not to mention damage to one's own property or any work. How did Gogol burn the second volume of his novel?
Chichikov, goodbye!
February 24, 1852 Night. The writer called his manager - Semyon, ordering him to bring his portfolio with manuscripts for the continuation of the novel. Under the entreaties of Semyon to change his mind and not to destroy his literary works, Nikolai Vasilievich, with the words: "It's none of your business," directed to the manager, threw the handwritten notebooks into the fireplace and brought a burning candle to them ...
The evil one is strong!
The next morning, the writer was stunned by his own act. Justifying himself to Count Tolstoy, he said: “I was just going to destroy some things that had already been prepared in advance, but I destroyed everything ... How strong the evil one is! That's what he did with me and my labors! he explained a lot and explained everything ... ". According to the writer, he wanted to give each of his friends a notebook as a keepsake, but his dream did not come true...
That's how it is, my friends, in real life. As they say, if a person is talented, then this is manifested in everything. Perhaps it is the writer's genius that explains why Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls. Be that as it may, modern literary critics all agree that the execution of the continuation of the novel about Chichikov is a real loss for all world literature!
February 24, 1852 Nikolay Gogol burned the almost finished second volume of Dead Souls, on which he had been working for more than 10 years. The story itself was originally conceived by Gogol as a trilogy. In the first volume, the adventurer Chichikov, traveling around Russia, encountered only human vices, in the second part, fate brought the protagonist together with some positive characters. In the third volume, which was never written, Chichikov had to go through exile in Siberia and finally embark on the path of moral purification.
AiF.ru tells why Gogol burned the second volume of "Dead Souls" and what adventures in the continuation of the story were to happen to Chichikov.
Most likely, Gogol burned the second volume of Dead Souls by accident. In the last years of his life, the writer felt constant weakness in his body, but instead of being treated, he continued to exhaust his body with strict observance of religious fasts and exhausting work. In one of the letters to poet Nikolai Yazykov Gogol wrote: “My health has become rather poor ... Nervous anxious anxiety and various signs of complete unsticking all over my body frighten me myself.” It is possible that this “sticking up” prompted the writer on the night of February 24 to throw the manuscripts into the fireplace and then set them on fire with his own hands. The servant witnessed this scene Semyon, who persuaded the master to spare the papers. But he only rudely replied: “None of your business! Pray!
On the morning of the next day, Gogol, struck by his act, lamented his friendCount Alexander Tolstoy: "That's what I did! I wanted to burn some things that had long been prepared for that, but I burned everything. How strong the evil one is - that's what he moved me to! And I was there a lot of practical clarified and outlined ... I thought to send to friends as a keepsake from a notebook: let them do what they wanted. Now everything is gone."
Gogol claimed that he wanted to burn only drafts and unnecessary papers, and the second volume of Dead Souls was sent to the fireplace due to his oversight. Nine days after this fatal mistake, the writer died.
Gogol's letters and the remaining drafts allow us to restore the approximate content of some parts of the burnt manuscript. The second volume of "Dead Souls" begins with a description of the estate of Andrei Ivanovich Tentetnikov, whom the author calls "the smoker of the sky." An educated and fair person, due to laziness and lack of willpower, drags out a meaningless existence in the village. Tentetnikov's fiancee, Ulinka, is the daughter of a neighboring general, Betrishchev. It is she who becomes the “beam of light in the dark realm” of the story: “If a transparent picture suddenly flared up in a dark room, lit from behind by a lamp, it would not have struck like this figurine shining with life, which appeared exactly to illuminate the room ... It was hard to tell what country she was from. Such a pure, noble outline of the face could not be found anywhere, except perhaps only on some ancient cameos, ”Gogol describes it this way. Tentetnikov, according to Gogol's plan, was to be convicted for participation in an anti-government organization, and his lover would follow him to hard labor. Then, in the third volume of the trilogy, these heroes had to go through exile in Siberia along with Chichikov.
Further, according to the plot of the second volume, Chichikov meets the bored landowner Platonov and, having incited him to travel together in Russia, goes to the master Kostanzhoglo, who is married to Platonov's sister. He talks about the ways of managing, by which he increased the income from the estate tenfold, which Chichikov is terribly inspired by. Shortly thereafter, Chichikov, having borrowed money from Platonov and Kostanjoglo, is trying to buy the estate from the ruined landowner Khlobuev.
On the "border line" between good and evil in the second volume of the story, the financier Afanasy Murazov suddenly appears. He wants to spend 40 million rubles earned by him not in the most honest way on “saving Russia”, but his ideas are more reminiscent of sectarian ones.
In the surviving drafts of the end of the manuscript, Chichikov is found in the city at a fair, where he buys fabric of a lingonberry color so dear to him with a spark. He runs into Khlobuev, whom, apparently, he “gave up”, either by depriving, or almost depriving him of his estate by forgery. Murazov saves Chichikov from continuing an unpleasant conversation, who convinces the ruined landowner of the need to work and determines him to raise funds for the church. Meanwhile, denunciations are being found against Chichikov both about forgery and about dead souls. However, the help of the corrupt official Samosvistov and the intercession of Murazov allow the hero to avoid prison.
In the year of the 175th anniversary of the publication of "Dead Souls" and the 165th anniversary of the death of Gogol, a well-known literary critic, professor at Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Vladimir Voropaev told RIA Novosti about why Gogol is still considered a satirist and not a spiritual writer in Russia, what happened to the second volume of "Dead Souls" and what prevents the spread of Christianity in modern culture. Interviewed by Viktor Khrul.
Vladimir Alexandrovich, you have repeatedly said that in Russian public opinion Gogol is perceived in the old Soviet tradition - only as a satirist, and his spiritual works remain in the shadows. Why?
— Firstly, it is the force of inertia. The fact that Gogol was not a satirist was already understood by his contemporaries. The same Belinsky, the frantic Vissarion, wrote: "It is impossible to look at Dead Souls more erroneously and understand them more roughly than seeing satire in them."
Of course, Gogol has an accusatory layer: both in The Government Inspector and in Dead Souls he writes about what is wrong with us. This is about us. Everything that Gogol writes is about us.
But for an adequate perception of Gogol, it is important to have spiritual experience, which is far from always the case for a modern reader. Many do not know that he built his life in accordance with the church liturgical charter. How is this known? From his works. He himself says: "We say every day ..." and quotes Little Compline from memory.
- So he had liturgical books?
- There were just no books in his library, but whole folios of his extracts from liturgical books have been preserved.
At what age did he make them?
- In the prime of his work, in 1843-1845. At that time he was abroad, and friends from Russia supplied him with literature, as well as Russian priests who served in Europe.
In the book "Selected passages from correspondence with friends" there is an article "What, finally, is the essence of Russian poetry and what is its peculiarity." Do you feel some irritation in the title? He names three sources from which Russian poets should draw inspiration: folk proverbs, songs, and the word of church pastors.
In another place, he remarks on this subject: "Still a mystery for many is the lyricism that is hidden in our church songs and canons." The secret of this lyricism was revealed to Gogol and is known not by hearsay, but from personal experience. As is clear from the contents of the surviving notebooks, he read the Menaion for six months - from September to February - and made excerpts for each day.
Here is the clue to Gogol's unique style - this is a combination of colloquial, everyday, even colloquial language and high Church Slavonic.
© Photo: photo from the personal archive of Vladimir Voropaev
© Photo: photo from the personal archive of Vladimir Voropaev
Where does this love come from?
- It was born in the family, but developed during the school years. In the charter of the Nizhyn gymnasium, where Gogol studied, it was written that each student must learn three verses from the Holy Scriptures daily. So count: Gogol studied for seven years, three verses from the Holy Scripture by heart - how much per week, per month, how much for seven years.
- And how is Gogol's obvious interest in evil spirits and subtle humor combined with this? Where did it come from?
Our famous culturologist, literary critic, esthetician Mikhail Bakhtin wrote that the work of such a "brilliant exponent of the people's consciousness" as Gogol can really be understood only in the flow of folk culture, which has developed its own special view of the world and special forms of its figurative reflection. Gogol came out of this folk culture, hence such a vivid, picturesque description of evil spirits. All this is taken from folklore - Russian and Little Russian, Slavic in the broadest sense. But at the same time, mind you, the word "devil" leaves Gogol's mature works.
- Why?
- Because it is a "black" word, not commonly used in secular conversation, as Gogol put it. A demon, unclean, crafty - Gogol abuses this a little in "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka".
Not everything in folk culture, of course, is acceptable to a church person. And Gogol understood this perfectly. Gogol went forward like a Christian. He himself said: "From the age of twelve, I have been walking along the same path, without hesitating in the opinions of the main ones." All the same, this was a whole nature - and one cannot say that this is a "late Gogol", but this is an "early".
- Did the grown-up, mature Gogol condemn something in his young work?
- Yes, you know, he was quite critical of his early works, including Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.
- What did not suit him?
“He thought there was a lot of immature stuff out there. His early stuff is very didactic, remember? Everything is openly stated, without deep artistic overtones: when Vakula runs to drown himself in an ice hole - who is behind him, in a bag? Bes. That's what pushes a person to commit suicide. Gogol's early works are very edifying, in them the divine power always wins over the demonic power. Gogol emerged from popular culture, from popular ideas - and this is his strength, and this is partly, in a sense, his weakness.
- And he is always a Christian - both in life and in work?
“Of course, without a doubt. Let me give you one more example. The last work of Gogol, on which he worked during the last years of his life and which saw the light after his death, was "Reflections on the Divine Liturgy". This is the most famous work of Gogol in the 20th century, the most reprinted, one of the best examples of Russian spiritual prose. In the Soviet era, this thing was not published at all, because, as stated in the comments to the academic publication, "it has no literary interest."
It is known from the memoirs of Gogol's fellow students in Nizhyn that he often sang the Divine Liturgy to himself in church, and one day, dissatisfied with the way they sang on the kliros, he climbed onto the kliros and began to sing, pronouncing the words of prayers loudly and distinctly. And the priest heard an unfamiliar voice, looked out of the altar and ordered him to leave.
What does it say? That he already knew the course of the Divine Liturgy at school, and did not come to this at the end of his life. However, unfortunately, the idea that Gogol was first one and then another lives even in the minds of church people.
- But in his works there are examples of spiritual rebirth ...
— Yes, for example Chichikov. Pay attention to his name - Paul. In the last, eleventh chapter of the first volume of "Dead Souls", the author tells readers that it is still a mystery why this image is displayed in the poem, that in this same Chichikov, perhaps, something is contained that will later plunge a person to dust and kneel before wisdom heaven. This is nothing more than a reminiscence from the Acts of the Holy Apostles, the episode of Saul's conversion to Paul. There is reason to believe that the very name of the hero contains a hint of his coming spiritual rebirth.
- And why did Gogol burn the second volume of "Dead Souls"?
- The secret of the second volume is the most painful problem of Gogol studies. What did you burn when you burned, why did you burn? There are no clear answers to these questions. About twenty years ago, I already expressed an idea that no one has yet refuted: Gogol never wrote the second volume. Because no one has ever seen the white manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls. Nobody ever.
- On what facts is the hypothesis of burning based?
— On the confession of Gogol himself. On the night of February 11-12, 1852, he burned his manuscripts. What exactly is unknown. This is evidenced by his serf servant, who served him in the house of Count Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy. The servant said that Gogol took away the papers, threw them into the stove and moved the poker to make them burn better.
Draft manuscripts of the second volume have come down to us. These are the four initial chapters and an excerpt from one of the last chapters, conventionally called the fifth. But these are draft chapters, they have two layers of editing: first he wrote, then he began to edit according to this text.
Gogol's spiritual father, Archpriest Matthew Konstantinovsky from Rzhev, was the last to familiarize himself with the chapters of the second volume. This was on the eve of the burning of the manuscripts. He is often blamed for the fact that it was he who pushed the writer to this. Father Matthew denied that, on his advice, Gogol burned the second volume, although he said that he did not approve of several sketches and even asked to be destroyed: "They say that you advised Gogol to burn the second volume of Dead Souls?" - "Not true and not true ... Gogol used to burn his failed works and then restore them again in the best possible way. Yes, he hardly had the second volume ready; at least I did not see it. It was like this: Gogol showed me several scattered notebooks<…>Returning the notebooks, I resisted the publication of some of them. The priest was described in one or two notebooks. He was a living person, whom anyone would recognize, and features were added that ... I don’t have, and besides, with Catholic shades, and he didn’t come out as a completely Orthodox priest. I opposed the publication of these notebooks, even asked to be destroyed. In another of the notebooks there were sketches ... only sketches of some governor, which do not exist. I advised not to publish this notebook either, saying that they would ridicule it even more than for correspondence with friends.
Now about why Gogol's plan did not find its completion. Gogol said more than once that he wanted to write his book in such a way that the path to Christ was clear to everyone. Spiritual rebirth is one of the highest abilities bestowed on man, and, according to Gogol, this path is open to everyone. In all likelihood, Gogol wanted to lead his hero through the crucible of trials and suffering, as a result of which he would have to realize the unrighteousness of his path. This internal upheaval, from which Chichikov would have emerged as a different person, apparently, Dead Souls was supposed to end.
The idea was grandiose, but unrealizable, because it is not the task of literature to show the path of spiritual rebirth.
What then is her job?
- It is designed to show human vices, the sinfulness of human nature. Yes, she has been successful in this. But there is a "problem of a good hero" - where to get it if a person is imperfect? Gogol's idea is beyond literary creativity. And that is why his last book was "Reflections on the Divine Liturgy" - that's where this path is shown for everyone.
Ask schoolchildren or teachers why the characters in "Dead Souls" are dead souls? They are unlikely to answer you. And the answer is simple: they live without God. In his dying note, addressed to all of us, Gogol says: "Be not dead, but living souls, there is no other door than that indicated by Jesus Christ ...". This is the path, this is the meaning of the title of the great poem, this is Gogol's testament.
Art for him is invisible steps to Christianity.
In a letter to his spiritual father, he hoped that after his book "Selected passages from correspondence with friends" the reader would pick up the gospel.
- How to help today's people turn to Christian values? What is in our power?
- There are a lot of resources. You just need to remain a Christian, grow spiritually, not stand still. A person who stopped in spiritual development went back. Educate your children, your environment, "do your own thing." It seems to me that Russia will stand firm in its Christian postulates and foundations longer than other countries and states.
What is more important for the correct assessment of the writer - his way of life or the values preached in his works?
“It seems to me that a person should be judged by the heights of his spirit, and not by his falls. Holiness is not sinlessness. Even holy men were not sinless. And there is no need to grab the writer "by the tongue." Like Yesenin, he once said something stupid about communion, they repeat it, and even many priests dislike him for it. And Pushkin, even if he wrote the Gavriiliada, undoubtedly repented of this: it is known that he destroyed all the lists and became very angry when he was reminded of it. Although I am personally convinced that Pushkin never wrote the Gavriiliada, and I can give irrefutable arguments in this regard. Be that as it may, it is the Lord who judges him, not us.
- What do you think hinders the spread of Christianity in modern Russian culture?
- Lack of genuine, correct spiritual enlightenment. Now a very big responsibility lies with the priests, with the theological schools. If we do not have theologians, a quality spiritual education, then it is difficult to demand something from schools, parents, and children. From somewhere you need to draw this information, the correct ideas.
- But church shops are crammed with Orthodox literature ...
- For the most part, these are reprints of the old. And the situation is changing, new answers are needed.
It seems to me that priests should take part in public discussions - both on the Internet and on television - their voice should be heard, people should listen to them. In this sense, the Spas channel is remarkable: there are a lot of interesting materials, priests often speak there and give their view on the modern process.
- Is it necessary to remove the character called "priest" from Pushkin's fairy tale about Balda?
- The priest does not need to be removed from the fairy tale - this is a joke of the poet. By the way, the word "priest" (translated from Greek - an Orthodox priest, priest; hence the archpriest, archpriest) in the nineteenth century did not have that pejorative meaning that appeared already in the Soviet era.
But the opera "Tannhäuser" and the film "Matilda" are another matter, as it seems to me. There are topics that an artist must approach with special tact and responsibility. Now, as far as I know, the opera "Tannhäuser" is not being performed - and rightly so, because the director did not show due tact and responsibility in this case. The same with the film "Matilda". Imagine: the director made a film about the Prophet Muhammad, using his fantasies, his sources. There was such a literary precedent - "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie, who was sentenced to death in Iran.
Does this mean that Christianity is leaving culture?
- What is happening now is over, does not inspire any optimism. European culture in its origins is a Christian culture, a church one. It is all permeated with these values. Take it away and it will lose its identity, its specificity.
Apostasy - a departure from God - is an irreversible process. In modern Europe, this process is developing rapidly, but Russia is still resisting. Although, of course, this process is irreversible. Our task is not to stop this process, but to remain ourselves, to remain faithful to Christ. Despite everything.
A Christian in his place should do his job - to be a witness and preacher of Christ. This is his direct duty. And a Christian warrior must also do his job as a Christian - to defend the faith, homeland, country, people.
Both business and politics must be Christian. Our traditional values are Christian, Orthodox values, and we should not be ashamed of this.
