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TOLSTOY
WHEN
Leo Tolstoy died, the represen
tatives of the Church proclaimed him
as their own.
"
He was with us,"
they said. It reminds one of the
Russian fable about the fly and the ox. The fly
was lazily resting on the horn of the ox while he
plowed the field, but when the ox returned home
exhausted with toil, the fly bragged,
"
We have
been plowing." The spokesmen of the Church
are, in relation to Tolstoy, in the same position.
It is true that Tolstoy based his conception of hu
man relationships on a new interpretation of the
Gospels. But he was as far removed from pres
ent-day Christianity as Jesus was alien to the insti
tutional religion of his time.
Tolstoy was the last true Christian, and as such
he undermined the stronghold of the Church with
all its pernicious power of darkness, with all its
injustice and cruelty.
For this he was persecuted by the Holy Synod
and excommunicated from the Church; for this
he was feared by the Tsar and his henchmen; for
this his works have been condemned and pro
hibited.
275
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