Solzhenitsyn

[Thekla]

just read this, for those who may be interested



Nobel prize-winning Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was forced into exile for books strongly critical of the Soviet government, has died at 89.

http://voanews.com/english/2008-08-03-voa25.cfm

[Matrona]

May his memory be eternal! :crosseo:

[MariaRegina]

Eternal be his memory.
Eternal be his memory.
May his memory be eternal.

[Lukaris]

Memory eternal. I only read August 1914 out of his books & it was very good.

[ClementofRome]

Memory eternal!

[Anglian]

Memory eternal:crosseo:

He was one of the great confessors of our time, and the Russian Orthodox Church brought him to Christ and gave him the spiritual strength to witness to the True Faith in the face of some of the greatest trials of our time.

Memory eternal:crosseo:

Peace,

Anglian

[Mary of Bethany]

Too bad that from reading that article, you'd never know that it was his Orthodox faith that shaped his life and his writing.

May his memory be eternal!

Mary

[Kreikkalainen]

The most important thing about this man is that he didn't shy out to expose the wrong-doings of both communist East & capitalist West. Regardless of the extend to which one agrees or disagrees, this shows an independent thinker - so rare these days.

Rest in Peace.

Some day I will read the Archipelago - it's been highly recommended to me.

[ma2000]

Memory Eternal!

[rusmeister]

The Archipelago is hard reading. Because it is true, it has report after report of wrongdoings, atrocities, and due to its seeming repetitiveness is just not to be taken as an artistic work. It is dedicated to revealing the truth.

[Kreikkalainen]

Yes, that's the reason why I avoided it when my mum insisted that I read it around 10 years ago. I thought it would be too harsh & I wasn't really in the mood to read about tortures. But some day I'll read it.

Repetitiveness won't be a problem for me - many / most / all russian / soviet writers are verbose & repetitive, but I'm seasoned :). I've read quite a bit of Dostoyevsky plus samples of Turgenev, Gogol, Tolstoi, Bulgakov & even Gorski.

[nikolayalexandroff]

Remember, O Lord, the soul of Thy newly departed servant Alexander, forgive him every transgression, voluntary and involuntary; grant him the Kingdom and a part in Thy eternal joys, and the delight of Thy blessed and everlasting life.
:crosseo:

[rusmeister]

Yes, that's the reason why I avoided it when my mum insisted that I read it around 10 years ago. I thought it would be too harsh & I wasn't really in the mood to read about tortures. But some day I'll read it.

Repetitiveness won't be a problem for me - many / most / all russian / soviet writers are verbose & repetitive, but I'm seasoned :). I've read quite a bit of Dostoyevsky plus samples of Turgenev, Gogol, Tolstoi, Bulgakov & even Gorski.
I assume you mean "Gorky". :)

I don't think most Russian writers are so repetitive. I meant that The Archipelago stands out (in the sense of repetitive) because he tells the fate of so many people, faithfully, seemingly forgetting no one, again and again (and a lot of the fates sound the same), because for the people who survived the Gulag, nothing was more important than telling the truth about it. That's why I also hold the story of Fr Arseny to be 100% factual. Those people were dedicated and determined to exaggerate nothing and leave out nothing. They had paid too high a price for anything less.

[Anglian]

Dear Kreikkalainen,

You are quite correct. Solzhenitsyn was cast in the same mould as Fr. Arseny and those confessors and martyrs who followed God law and who refused to bow to the dictates of either Communist or Western fashions.

So many of his western admirers in the 1960s and 1970s admired him because of his anti-communism, but failed to see why he was so opposed to it; its materialism and denial of God's law was abhorrent to his Christian faith. That is why some of his admirers became less keen on him when he condemned unrestrained capitalism as another form of materialism. He did not play the political game which dictates that the enemy of my enemy is my friend; he was more of a prophet than a politician.

Memory Eternal:crosseo:

Peace,

Anglian

[InTheCloud]

Take Alexandr in Heaven o Lord, my Your Eternal light shine on him.

I have read the 3 volumes of the Achipelago Gulag, a brutal tearfull reading. It was worthy.

Also a Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch.

Please look at my signature for this month.

[Protoevangel]

Memory eternal!

[SpyridonOCA]

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn sets an example for how Orthodox Christians should behave in all countries, in defense of human dignity and individual rights. Unlike Buddhists who renounce the world to contemplate their navel, Orthodox Christianity is concerned with the real world.