From Easter to Christmas: The Orthodox Subtext in Leo Tolstoy’s Novel “War and Peace”

The article highlights the principle of universalism in Leo Tolstoy’s depiction of Orthodox Russia in his novel “War and Peace,” which reflected all the main substantial Orthodox symbols and properties. First and foremost, they includes conciliarity (through the images of the beehive, the Russian nest, the dome), which goes back to the dogma of the Trinity, inherent in both the author’s favorite characters in the novel and the author’s own consciousness. In the novel, Tolstoy outlined one of the fundamental properties of the Orthodox soul — its contemplative mentality, manifested through prayerful appeal to God. The novel reveals different types of holiness: foolishness (“God’s people,”) martial holiness on the battlefield, worldly piety and asceticism. St. Petersburg appears in the novel as a “foreign city,” whose symbol is the Masonic temple. Holy Moscow in the novel is identical to the Russian Orthodox cosmos, which extends beyond the earthly limits. The theme of Holy Moscow as Holy Russia is supported and developed in the novel by numerous temple motifs and plots, depiction of significant events in connection with church sacraments (baptism, communion, funeral service, confession, wedding), temple and non-temple services. The main, internal temple symbol of the novel is the image of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and St. Sergius. All events unfold according to the church calendar. And although Tolstoy prefers unofficial religious folk festivities (for example, Yuletide) to Christmas, the main archetype of the novel is Easter. Despite the ambivalence of Tolstoy’s own point of view, which diverges into a consciously rational and archetypally unconscious elements, the events in the novel are presented from the perspective of the Orthodox worldview.