Leo Tolstoy (above), the author of the novels War and Peace and and Anna Karenina, was born into a Russian aristocratic family today in 1828. His relationship with Christianity was always complicated, and he was censored and excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church for his powerful attacks on organised religion. But his thought was powerfully shaped by the ethical teaching of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount. His commitment to Christian non-violence was a powerful influence on Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
‘The Churches as Churches – as institutions affirming their own infallibility – are anti-Christian institutions. Between the Churches as such and Christianity, not only is there nothing in common except the name, but they are two quite opposite and opposing principles. The one represents pride, violence, self-assertion, immobility and death: the other humility, penitence, meekness, progress, and life.’ Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894)
Today in 2003, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay $85 million in an out of court settlement for the sexual abuse of children by its clergy over several decades. Criminal charges against five priests had been brought only after the Boston Globe published its Spotlight investigation into the abuse, and the cover-up by the Church. In one case, Revd John Geoghan had abused over 130 children during his time as a priest. The case was the catalyst for a national crisis in the American Church, where it was estimated that some 5,000 Catholic priests had abused children, with dioceses covering up their crimes by failing to report them to the police, and moving them on to new parishes where they continued to prey on vulnerable people.
Cardinal Richelieu, the powerful Chief Minister to the King of France, and dastardly villain in Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Three Musketeers, was born in Paris today in 1585. His career proceeded at high speed: Bishop at 22, Cardinal at 37, Chief Minister at 39, and Duke at 44. Known popularly as the ‘Red Eminence’, he centralised power in France, established a shadowy network of spies, and had his enemies executed. The chapel in his Palais-Cardinal featured a crucifix, a chalice and candlesticks all made from solid gold, set with rubies and diamonds. He is one of the most popular clergy characters in modern cinema.
Alexander Men, the popular Russian Orthodox priest and theologian, was murdered by being struck on the head with an axe on his way to celebrate Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning, today in 1990. Men was both a parish priest and an evangelist for the Christian faith in a country where religion had been brutally suppressed ever since the communist revolution of 1917. His books, sermons and lectures have grown in popularity since his death. His best known book, Son of Man, an introduction to the life of Jesus, was published in instalments during the Soviet era, with Men adopting various pseudonyms. His murder remains unsolved.
‘It is sometimes said that Christ taught a new ethic when he said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” While the commandment “Love your neighbour as yourself” had been given before through Moses, Christ gave it a completely new sound with the words, “as I have loved you”, because he remains with us in this filthy, bloody, and sinful world out of self-giving love.’ Alexander Men, final lecture, given the night before he died
It is the feast of St Peter Claver, the Spanish priest who entered slave ships as they arrived in Cartagena de Indias, on the coast of New Granada (now Colombia), to offer food, medicine and pastoral care to the terrified slaves brought from Africa. Claver, who lived in the early 17th century, dedicated himself to be ‘the slave of the Africans forever’, and spent 33 years working to alleviate their terrible conditions, travelling to where they worked in plantations and mines, advocating for their rights, and providing spiritual consolation and baptism. He died in September 1654.
Image: Library of Congress