Tolstoy’s Faith, such as it was

Abstract

Tolstoy was unique, but he was not unique in every respect. In many ways he was the product of his time and of his nation, reflecting and sharing their characteristics. His nihilism, for example, owed a great deal both to the Zeitgeist and to the peculiarities of the Russian character—it was not for nothing that the word “nihilism” was invented in Russia when Tolstoy was in his thirties. New words appear when they are needed to describe notions that may have existed for a while but are now so all-pervasive as to demand a terse definition.

L. Tolstoybelieves inneitherGod, norinthe sonofGod,nor in Christ the Savior, nor even in “the wisest and most righteous of all people, the man Jesus”—he believes in nothing.

Dmitry Merezhkovsky