About Faith, Christ and Science. Thoughts and words of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky)
Share
Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky)
“The more I study nature, the more I stand in awe at the works of the Creator,” said biologist Louis Pasteur. And Isaac Newton, in addition to his famous scientific works, also wrote commentaries on the New Testament. The fact that faith and science not only do not contradict each other, but, on the contrary, are closely interconnected, was discussed a lot by a prominent domestic scientist, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Stalin Prize laureate, surgeon Valentin Feliksovich Voino-Yasenetsky, aka St. Luke of Crimea , Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, glorified by her as a saint. The Nicaea publishing house collected the wise sayings of St. Luke on the topic of faith and science under one cover and published the collection “On Faith, Christ and Science. Thoughts and words of St. Luke of Voino-Yasenetsky.”
“You may know that the plane is able to lift you, but if you are not sure of this, you will never dare to get into it,” notes St. Luke and argues that knowledge in itself, without faith, without personal its acceptance by a person will remain for him just useless information. And therefore, knowledge is not stronger than faith, as many believe. On the contrary, it is faith that imparts power to knowledge.
The saint also reinforces his thoughts with quotations from the Gospel - for example, from the First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians: “Whoever loves God has been given knowledge from Him.” Archbishop Luke also finds this connection in well-known historical stories. For example, he recalls Johannes Guttenberg, who was eager to find a way to widely disseminate the Bible and... invented the printing press!
One of the saints closest to us in time, who lived in the mid-twentieth century, an intellectual and highly educated person, Saint Luke of Crimea, was able to reason logically about such a seemingly illogical phenomenon as faith. Persecuted in Soviet times for his church activities, he was interrogated more than once. At one of them, the investigator sarcastically asked the eminent surgeon how he could believe in God if he had never seen him. And Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) answered: “I operated a lot on the brain and, opening the skull, I never saw the mind or conscience there. Does this mean that they don’t exist?”
Since the time of Darwin, whose views Saint Luke reasonably criticizes, of course, much has changed. Not all modern scientists rely on the atheistic concept of the origin of the world, but on the contrary, they periodically present new hypotheses confirming the existence of the Creator. And for this, perhaps, we should not least say thanks to St. Luke Voino-Yasenetsky, whose thoughts and words “On Faith, Christ and Science” still provide rich food for thought.
Aphorisms of Luke
“...This is how it always turns out: a person thinks to himself – I’m doing well! Grab - and people are unhappy..."
“... people are becoming smarter, more and more interesting... and even though they live, everything is worse, but they want everything to be better... stubborn!..” “... It is, perhaps, lordship - like smallpox... and a person will recover, but the signs remain... »
“...How many different people on earth are in charge... and they frighten each other with all sorts of fears, but there is still no order in life... and there is no purity...”
“...if someone has not done good to someone, he has done something bad...”
“...Man lives in every way... as his heart is adjusted, so he lives... today he is good, tomorrow he is evil...”
“...Why should we love them?.. To love – we must love the living... the living...” (Luke about the dead)
“...You – beware of the living... that’s what I’ll say...” (Luke about the dead and the living)
“...it’s not the word that matters, but why the word is said? - that's the problem!.."
“...If you believe that you had true love... that means you had it! Was!.."
“...It’s never harmful to caress a person...”
“...Girl, someone needs to be kind...you need to feel sorry for people! <...> it’s time to feel sorry for a person... it happens well!..”
“...Prison will not teach you goodness, and Siberia will not teach you... but man will teach you... yes! A person can teach goodness... very simply!..”
“... It’s true, it’s not always because of a person’s illness... you can’t always cure a soul with the truth...”
“...Whoever seeks will find... Whoever wants hard will find!..”
“...There are people, and there are others – people...”
“...That’s why every person must be respected...we don’t know who he is, why he was born and what he can do...maybe he was born for our happiness...for our great benefit?..”
“...We especially need to respect children... children! Children need space! Don’t interfere with the children’s lives... Respect the children!..”
“I respect swindlers too, in my opinion, not a single flea is bad: all are black, all jump... that’s it”
“...where it’s warm, there’s the Motherland...”
“We are all wanderers on earth...”
“Barbarity is like smallpox... and a person will recover, but the signs remain”
“Even a pimple won’t pop up without a reason.”
“He [a person] - no matter what he is - is always worth his price...”
“Everyone (...) endures... everyone endures life in their own way...”
“What good is it if you forgot what you love? The beloved has all the soul.”
“A person can do anything... if only he wants to...”
“Death - it calms everything down... it is gentle for us...”
“...if someone has not done good to someone, he has done something bad...”
“And...what do you really need badly...think about it! She really might be a bitch for you..."
“Ashes: ...is there a God? Luke: If you believe, it is; If you don’t believe it, no...What you believe in is what it is..."
“Look - what am I? Bald...Why? From these very different women... "
“A person lives differently... as his heart is adjusted, so he lives... today he is good, tomorrow he is evil...”
“To love is to love the living... the living...”
"…I will say ? go for him, girl, go! He ? the guy is okay, good! Just remind him more often that he is a good guy, so that he doesn’t forget about it! Is he for you? he will believe... Just tell him: “Vasya, are you? good man... don’t forget!”
“Girl, someone needs to be kind...you need to feel sorry for people!”
“Christ felt sorry for everyone and told us so...”
“I only say that if someone has not done good to someone, he has done something bad...”
“You... don’t know what applause is... it’s like... vodka! I remember! Favorite poem... is that bad, old man? What good is it if you forgot what you love? In your favorite? my whole soul... I drank my soul, old man... I, brother, died... Why? died? I didn’t have faith... I’m finished..."
"Who is looking ? will find... Who really wants it? will find it!”
“... every person must be respected... we don’t know who he is, why he was born and what he can do... maybe he was born for our happiness... for our great benefit?.. We especially need to respect children... children! For the kids? space is needed! Don’t interfere with the children’s lives... Respect the children!”
The old man lives from himself... he looks at everything with his own eyes. One day I asked him: “Grandfather! Why do people live?..” <…> “But people live for the best, dear! <…> So are all the others... mechanics, there... shoemakers and other working people... and all the peasants... and even gentlemen? they live for the best! Everyone thinks that they live for themselves, but it turns out that they live for the best! A hundred years... or maybe more? they live for a better person!”
“- There are people, and there are others and people... - You... don’t be wise! Don’t ask riddles... I’m no more stupid than you... What are people and people? - Where is the mystery here? I speak ? there is land that is inconvenient for sowing... and there is productive land... whatever you sow on it will give birth... So that’s it...”
“Prison will not teach you goodness, and Siberia will not teach you... but man will teach you... yes! A person can teach goodness... very simply!”
“Cuddle a person? never harmful..."
“A person lives differently... as his heart is adjusted, so he lives... today he is good, tomorrow he is evil...”
- Grandfather! Talk to me, honey... I feel sick... - It's nothing! This ? before death... dove. Nothing, honey! You hope... That means you’ll die, and you’ll be at peace... you won’t need anything else, and there’s nothing to be afraid of! Silence, calm... lie down! Death, it calms everything down... it is gentle for us... If you die, you will rest, they say... that’s true, dear! Because where can a person rest here?
“A person can do anything... if only he wants to...”
“You... get treatment! Nowadays there is a cure for drunkenness, hear! They treat them for free, brother... this is the kind of hospital built for drunkards... so that, therefore, they can be treated for nothing... They recognized, you see, that a drunkard is also a person..."
“This is how it always turns out: a person thinks to himself - I’m doing a good job! Grab it, but people are unhappy..."
“Perhaps, lordship is like smallpox... and a person will recover, but the signs remain...”
“...I have papers... but they are no good... They, the papers, are all like that... they are all no good.
“We are all wanderers on earth... They say, I heard, that our earth is also a wanderer in the sky.”
“We lived better... yes! I... used to... wake up in the morning and, lying in bed, drink coffee... coffee with cream... yes!
“That’s it, people! No matter how you pretend, no matter how you wobble, but you were born a man, you will die a man... And still, I see, people are becoming smarter, more and more entertaining... and although they live worse and worse, they want everything better... stubborn!
“Ehehe! I’ll look at you, brothers, your life is oh! Such a life that just as you got up in the morning, you started howling..."
- I’ll leave tonight... - This is better. It's always better to leave on time...
“In the middle of the night... I can't see the road... "
“They crushed it a lot, that’s why it’s soft...”
“And the good side is Siberia!”
“...like a cucumber in a greenhouse!”
"What you believe in is what you believe..."
“This Vasilisa is worse than Cheremis”
"Luke's philosophy is faith in man"
It is unlikely that anyone will argue that Gorky is a humanist and a great writer who has gone through a great school of life. His works were not written to please the reading public - they reflect the truth of life, attention and love for people. And this can rightfully be attributed to his play “At the Depths,” written in 1902. It still disturbs the questions posed by the playwright. Really, what is better - truth or compassion? If the question had been formulated a little differently - true or false, I would have answered unequivocally: true. But truth and compassion cannot be made mutually exclusive concepts by opposing one to the other; on the contrary, the whole play is pain for a person, it is the truth about a person. Another thing is that the bearer of truth is Satin, a gambler, a sharper, himself far from the ideal of a person, which he sincerely and with pathos proclaims: “Man! It's great! That sounds… proud!” He is contrasted with Luke - kind, compassionate and “evil”, deliberately invoking a “golden dream” to the suffering shelters. And next to Luka and Satin there is another person who also argues about truth and compassion - M. Gorky himself. It is he, it seems to me, who is the bearer of truth and compassion. This follows from the play itself, from how enthusiastically it was received by the audience. The play was read in a shelter, the tramps cried, shouted: “We are worse!” They kissed and hugged Gorky. It still sounds modern now, when they began to tell the truth, but forgot what mercy and compassion are.
So, the action takes place in the Kostylevs’ rooming house, which is a “cave-like basement” under “heavy stone arches”, where prison twilight reigns. Here tramps eke out a miserable existence, having fallen “to the bottom of life”, where they were mercilessly thrown out by criminal society.
Someone very accurately said: “At the Bottom” is an amazing picture of a cemetery where valuable people are buried alive.” It is impossible without an internal shudder to see the world of poverty and lawlessness drawn by the playwright, the world of anger, disunity, the world of alienation and loneliness, to hear screams, threats, ridicule. The heroes of the play have lost their past, they have no present, only Kleshch believes that he will break out of here: “I’ll get out... I’ll rip off my skin, but I’ll get out...” The thief, “the thief’s son” Vaska Pepel, has a faint hope for another life with Natasha, dreams of pure love prostitute Nastya, however, her dreams evoke malicious ridicule from those around her. The rest have resigned themselves, submitted, do not think about the future, have lost all hope and have finally realized their uselessness. But in fact, all the inhabitants are buried here alive.
The actor who drank himself to death and forgot his name is pitiful and tragic; crushed by life, patiently suffering Anna, who is near death, is not needed by anyone (her husband awaits her death as liberation); smart Satin, a former telegraph operator, is cynical and embittered; the Baron is insignificant, who “expects nothing”, “everything is already in the past” for him; Bubnov is indifferent to himself and others. Gorky mercilessly and truthfully depicts his heroes, “former people”, writes about them with pain and anger, sympathizes with them, who have found themselves in a dead end in life. The tick declares in despair: “There is no work... no strength! That's the truth! Shelter... there is no shelter! We need to breathe out... this is the truth!..”
It is to these people, it seems, who are indifferent to life and themselves, that the wanderer Luke comes, addressing them with the greeting: “Good health, honest people!” This is for them, the rejected ones, those who have renounced all human morality!
Gorky’s attitude towards the passportless Luka is unequivocal: “And the whole philosophy, the whole preaching of such people is alms, given by them with hidden disgust, and under this sermon the words also sound beggarly, pitiful.”
And yet I still want to understand it. Is he so poor, and what motivates him when he preaches his comforting lies, does he himself believe in what he calls for, is he a swindler, a charlatan, a scoundrel, or a sincerely thirsty person for good?
The play was read, and, at first glance, the appearance of Luke brought only harm, evil, misfortune, and death to the shelters. He disappears, disappears unnoticed, but the illusions that he planted in the devastated hearts of people make their lives even more bleak and terrible, deprive them of hope, plunge their tormented souls into darkness. Let's once again see what motivates Luka when, after taking a close look at the tramps, he finds words of consolation for everyone. He is empathetic, kind to those who need help, and gives them hope. Yes, with his appearance under the arches of the gloomy shelter, hope settles in, previously almost imperceptible against the background of swearing, coughing, growling, groans. And a hospital for drunkards for Actor, and saving Siberia for the thief Ash, and true love for Nastya. “People are looking for everything, everyone wants what’s best... give them, Lord, patience!” - Luka says sincerely and adds: “Whoever seeks will find... You just need to help them...” No, it is not self-interest that drives Luka, he is not a swindler or a charlatan. Even the cynical Bubnov, who doesn’t trust anyone, understands this: “Luka... he lies a lot... and without any benefit for himself...” Unaccustomed to sympathy, Ash asks: “No, tell me, why are you doing all this...” Natasha asks him: “ Why are you so kind?” And Anna simply asks: “Talk to me, honey... I feel sick.”
And it becomes clear that Luka is a kind person who sincerely wants to help and instill hope. But the trouble is that this good is built on lies and deception. Sincerely wanting good, he resorts to lies, believes that earthly life cannot be different, and therefore takes a person into the world of illusions, into a non-existent righteous land, believing that “it is not always possible to cure a soul with the truth.” And if it is impossible to change life, then you can at least change a person’s attitude towards life.
I wonder what Gorky’s attitude is towards his hero in the play? Contemporaries recall that the writer was best able to read the role of Luke, and the scene at the bedside of the dying Anna brought tears to his eyes and delight to his listeners. Both tears and delight are the result of the merger of the author and the hero in a fit of compassion. And isn't that why. Gorky argued so furiously with Luka that the old man was part of his soul?!
But Gorky is not against consolation in itself: “The main question that I wanted to pose is what is better: truth or compassion? Is it necessary to take compassion to the point of using lies, like Luke?” That is, truth and compassion are concepts that are not mutually exclusive.
From the truth that Kleshch realizes: “To live is a devil - you can’t live... here it is - the truth! The old man believes: “...You need to feel sorry for people!.. I’ll tell you - it’s time to feel sorry for a person... it can be good!” And he tells how he pitied and saved the night robbers. Bubnov opposes Luke’s stubborn, bright faith in man, in the saving power of pity, compassion, kindness: “In my opinion, I will give the whole truth as it is! Why be ashamed? For him, the truth is a cruel, murderous oppression of inhumane circumstances, and Luke’s truth is so unusually life-affirming that the downtrodden, humiliated night shelters do not believe in it, mistaking it for a lie. But Luke wanted to inspire faith and hope in his listeners: “What you believe in is what it is...”
Luke brings to people the true, saving, human faith, the meaning of which was captured and expressed in the famous words of Satin: “Man is the truth!” Luke thinks that with words, pity, compassion, mercy, attention to a person, you can lift his soul, so that the lowest thief understands: “You have to live better! You have to live this way... so that you can... respect yourself...” Thus, for Luke there is no question: “What is better - truth or compassion?” For him, what is human is true. Then why is the ending of the play so hopelessly tragic? Although we hear that they say about Luke, he inspired Satin to make a fiery speech about a beautiful and proud man, but the same Satin indifferently asks the Actor to pray for him: “Pray yourself...” And to him, leaving forever, after his passionate monologue about a person shouts: “Hey, you, sicambre! Where?". His reaction to the death of the Actor seems creepy: “Eh... ruined the song... fool!”
It is scary that an inhumane society kills and maims human souls. But the main thing in the play, in my opinion, is that Gorky made his contemporaries feel even more acutely the injustice of the social system, which destroys people, ruins them, and made them think about man and his freedom.
What moral lessons have we learned? We must live without putting up with untruth, injustice, lies, but not destroy the person within us with his kindness, compassion and mercy. We often need consolation, but without the right to speak the truth, a person cannot be free. "Man - that's the truth!" And he gets to choose. A person always needs real hope, not a comforting lie, even if it is for salvation. Essay Gorky M. - At the bottom
The play “At the Lower Depths” was the result of almost twenty years of Gorky’s observations of the world of “former people.” In Gorky's early stories, the image of a tramp is not without even some romantic overtones. The reader is attracted by his prowess, breadth of soul, humanity, and search for justice. One can feel his undoubted superiority over the well-fed and complacent philistinism. As Gorky's political and artistic maturity grew in his work, the picturesque vagabonds, under whose rags noble hearts beat, were replaced by realistically truthful images of the victims of society. They are painfully aware of the impossibility of returning to a life worthy of a human being. Gorky approached the theme of tramping in a new way in the play “At the Depths.” He decided to bring to the stage something that was studiously ignored by society and kept silent about in every possible way. The author wanted readers and viewers to see that in society, next to a well-fed and carefree life, there is a huge world of poverty and human lawlessness. Gorky makes us feel this injustice especially acutely and piercingly by portraying his heroes as people with extraordinary inclinations, people undoubtedly worthy of a different life. A vivid collective image of the “bottom” appears in the play. An important role here is played by the author's remarks (remarks), depicting the environment of the shelter. The writer uses expressive details. The action of the play begins in the early spring morning, when nature awakens, and in the shelter there is eternal darkness, “heavy stone vaults, smoked, with crumbling plaster.” People are locked in a gloomy, damp dungeon. This impression is strengthened by the fact that the location of the play hardly changes.
The characters in the play come from almost all layers of Russian society of that time. The author masterfully introduces their backstories into the play. Different paths led them to the “bottom”, but they are all equally powerless, homeless, indifferently thrown overboard of life. Gorky convincingly conveys the moral decline of these people, which is manifested in their behavior and remarks. The writer refused to use slang expressions. Even the speech of the hereditary thief Vaska Pepel does not contain rude words. And without them, while maintaining the purity of the literary language, Gorky managed to achieve realistic authenticity in the depiction of people of the “bottom”. Their speech is often difficult, monosyllabic, and intermittent. Often the characters talk, poorly listening and understanding each other, immersed in their own experiences.
The gentle and poetic Actor takes his fall seriously. The stage directions note his constantly thoughtful, melancholy, confused look. The writer’s remarks to the Actor’s remarks are typical: “loudly, as if waking up,” “suddenly, as if waking up.” His kindness, responsiveness, high idea of a real person makes one involuntarily think that a man of true nobility has died in him. Gorky describes Mite with his ineradicable desire to work with great sympathy. The author was able to show that the “sinister” and “creaky” Mite is not evil by nature. He is attached to Anna in his own way, but he just doesn’t know how to express it. With great force, Gorky conveyed the feeling of loneliness that gripped Klesh after the death of his wife. He enters the shelter “slowly”, “shrinking”, and then, “stupidly” staring ahead, says with boundless grief: “What should I do now? And she... how about it?” Nastya with her dream of a noble feeling is very convincingly shown in the play. She has a lot of dedication and warmth.
Undoubtedly, the author also likes Vaska Pepel, his heroic prowess and spiritual generosity, his noble love for the young and pure Natasha. Even in the desperate skeptic Bubnov, Gorky, under the callousness and indifference, discovered a suffering human soul. His equanimity was emphasized by the author’s constant remark to Bubnov’s remarks “calmly.” At the end of the play, his naive dream of getting rich and opening a free tavern for the poor brings him closer to his fellow sufferers.
In each of the victims of the “bottom,” Gorky discovers, in the words of one of his critics, “pearls of moral qualities.”
But there are also characters in the play that evoke conflicting assessments. This is, first of all, the wanderer Luke. At his first appearance in the play, he finds himself in the center of attention of the night shelters, because he treats everyone kindly, sympathizes with everyone, and offers recipes for salvation. Who is this “amusing old man”? Throughout the play, the inhabitants of the “bottom” more than once pestered Luka with questions, but each time the crafty old man managed to evade a direct answer. Gorky conveys this very accurately in his dialogues. Adapting to life himself, Luka wants to reconcile those around him with it. Gorky emphasizes this by repeatedly repeating the words “losses” in his hero’s teachings. The author more than once puts Luke in such circumstances that as the action develops, he cannot remain a simple contemplator. At the end of the first act, Vasilisa beats Natasha off stage. Everyone who was in the shelter rushes there. Only Luka remains in place, reproachfully “shaking his head.” Natasha's moans and screams are drowned out by his "rattled laughter." The author also expressively notes Luka’s other actions: when confronted by the policeman Medvedev, he says “humbly,” when Vasilisa enters, he wants to “slip out” of the room, “shrinks.” At the moment of the fight, when Ash kills Kostylev, Luka quietly disappears and never appears again. And finally, the fourth act. In the stage directions, Gorky notes: “The setting of the first act. But Ash's rooms are not, the bulkheads are broken. And in the place where the Tick was sitting there is no anvil... It’s night... There’s wind outside.” There is no Ash, no Natasha, no Kostylev, no Vasilisa, Nastya screams in a fit of despair. And as the chord that completes the play is the death of the Actor. Thus, the logic of the action itself showed the inconsistency and helplessness of Luke’s recipes.
And although in the play itself there are no direct assessments of Luka’s personality, we meet them in Gorky’s journalism. Thus, in the essay “Leo Tolstoy,” the writer recalls: “When I wrote Luka in “At the Lower Depths,” I wanted to portray a kind of old man: he is interested in “all sorts of answers,” but not in people; inevitably encountering them, he consoles them, but only so that they do not interfere with his life. o interested in “all sorts of answers”, but not people; inevitably encountering them, he consoles them, but only so that they do not interfere with his life. And all the philosophy, all the preaching of such people is alms, given by them with hidden disgust.” And in the article “On Plays,” written thirty years after the release of “At the Lower Depths,” Gorky claims that comforters like Luka “are the most intelligent, knowledgeable and eloquent. That’s why they are the most harmful.” In my opinion, Gorky opposes Luke only because he views him exclusively as a bearer of certain philosophical ideas. If we approach Luke with the standards of real everyday situations, then, in most cases, his advice is quite legitimate. Luka acts within the limits of his capabilities, and to demand more from this sixty-year-old person without a passport and without rights is at least unfair.
As for Satin, here, it seems to me, Gorky was forced to put his ideas into the mouth of a hero whose character did not correspond to the author’s ideal. The writer himself admitted this, saying that there were no positive characters in the play, but he wanted it to talk about Man. In one of his letters, Gorky admits that “except Satin there is no one to tell it (the speech)” and that “this speech sounds alien to his language.” And when Satin pronounces his famous monologue on stage, we hear the author’s excited voice: “Man! It's great! That sounds… proud!”
