I don’t think it is much of an exaggeration to say that had Bible been written by men, Tolstoy could have been one of the writers. Just think about the torments of Ivan Ilyich. Or the chain of events in Resurrection or the intricate view on history in War and Peace. Apart from all these well-known great writings, Tolstoy wrote some wonderful stories; they are moral tales without being moralising and they look upon the direct connection one can have with God. Don’t think, however, that Tolstoy was a saint. Neither by a human measure, nor by a churchly one. In fact he still is on the blacklist of the Russian Orthodox Church. For the rest of us, however, he is one of the giants.
