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The Inevitable Conflict with the Holy Synod 11:47 Jackson: You have to imagine the tension in Russia at the turn of the century. You’ve got Tolstoy, this absolute giant of literature, basically telling everyone that the church is a "tool for power and control." And then you’ve got the Holy Governing Synod—the top authority of the Russian Orthodox Church—which was essentially a branch of the government. This wasn't just a religious debate; it was a political crisis.
12:11 Lena: It really was. The church and the state were so intertwined that an attack on one was an attack on the other. And for years, they actually hesitated to act against him. Emperor Alexander III famously said he didn't want to add a "martyr’s crown" to Tolstoy’s fame. They knew that if they punished him, they might just make him even more popular.
12:30 Jackson: But by 1901, the situation had changed. Tolstoy had published *Resurrection*, which was a scathing indictment of both the legal system and the church. He described priests performing rituals "mechanically" and mocked the idea of the Eucharist as "meaningless колдовство." He even portrayed the head of the Holy Synod, Konstantin Pobedonostsev, in a very thin-veiled, unflattering light as the character Toporov.
12:54 Lena: Oh, Toporov was a brutal caricature—cold, cynical, and purely focused on maintaining the status quo. So, you can imagine how Pobedonostsev felt! But interestingly, Pobedonostsev was actually a bit hesitant about the excommunication. He was worried it would backfire. It was actually Metropolitan Anthony of St. Petersburg who pushed for it. He felt the church *had* to say something because Tolstoy’s "false teaching" was spreading everywhere.
13:20 Jackson: So, in February 1901, they finally drop the hammer. The Holy Synod issues this formal "Determination" and sends it to every church in the Empire. They didn't use the word "anathema" or "curse," which is an important detail. They framed it as a "testimony of fact"—basically saying, "Tolstoy has already separated himself from the church by his own words, so we’re just officially recognizing that he’s no longer a member."
13:48 Lena: Right, it was very carefully worded. They accused him of preaching against the Trinity, denying the deity of Christ, and ridiculing the sacraments. They called him a "new false teacher" who was using his "literary talents" to "destroy the true faith." And they forbid him from receiving communion or being buried with Orthodox rites unless he repented.
14:08 Jackson: And how did the public react? Because this was huge news. It was flashed via telegraph all over the world.
14:14 Lena: It was a total firestorm! In Russia, it was like a "national icon" had been attacked. People were crowding into churches to read the decree, but instead of turning against Tolstoy, a lot of them showed up at his house with flowers and telegrams of support. There were even demonstrations in major cities. Ilia Repin’s portrait of Tolstoy—depicting him barefoot and at prayer—became this focal point for protests.
14:37 Jackson: It’s so ironic. The church tries to diminish his influence, and as one biographer put it, the excommunication just "enlarged the forum from which he spoke." He became a symbol of the "living conscience" of Russia standing up against a "bureaucratic" and "lifeless" institution.
14:54 Lena: And Tolstoy’s response was just as defiant. He wrote this "Reply to the Synod" in April 1901, where he basically told them they were right! He said, "I have indeed repented of my connection to your church." He accused them of "slander" and "incitement to hostility" but then went on to list all the reasons why he couldn't accept their dogmas. He ended it with his own "symbol of faith," centered on love and truth.
15:18 Jackson: It’s such a fascinating document because he’s so calm and "joyful" about it. He says he’s approaching death with peace because he’s finally living according to his conscience. But the church didn't stop there. Some of the more conservative figures, like John of Kronstadt, were absolutely vitriolic. He called Tolstoy an "atheist" and a "beast" and even wrote a prayer asking God to "take him from the earth."
15:40 Lena: It got really ugly. There were even threats on Tolstoy’s life. But at the same time, you had religious philosophers like Nikolai Berdyaev who, while they didn't agree with Tolstoy’s theology, defended him. Berdyaev argued that Tolstoy had "exposed the чудовищную неправду"—the "monstrous untruth"—of official Christianity. He felt Tolstoy was a necessary "mirror" for a hypocritical society.
16:04 Jackson: This really highlights the "two Russias" at the time, doesn't it? You have the official, institutional Russia of the Tsar and the Synod, and then you have this "underground" Russia of the intelligentsia and the peasants who were increasingly looking to Tolstoy as a moral leader. The excommunication just sharpened that divide.
6:24 Lena: Exactly. And it’s important to note that Tolstoy’s "attack" wasn't just on the Russian Orthodox Church. He was also deeply critical of Western forms of Christianity. He looked at the Reformation and called it a "triumph of narrow-mindedness." He even interacted with English Evangelicals—the "Radstockists"—and eventually rejected them too. He felt their emphasis on "salvation by the blood of Christ" was "disgusting."
16:47 Jackson: He really was an equal-opportunity iconoclast! He investigated Buddhism, Islam, and even anarchism, trying to find this "universal truth." But in the end, he felt he was the only one who had truly understood the "original" message of Jesus. It’s a very solitary position to be in—the world’s most famous writer, excommunicated from his church, at odds with his family, and convinced that the entire world was "thinking wrongly."
17:14 Lena: And that isolation only grew as he got older. But before we get to the end of his life, we should look at how these ideas actually worked out in practice. Because Tolstoy didn't just write books; he inspired people to set up "Tolstoyan communities." And the results of those experiments tell us a lot about the practicality of his "practical religion."