Tolstoy's Restless Religiosity

Luigi Stendardo's superb study Leo Tolstoy and the Baha'i Faith (translated from the French by Jeremy Fox and published in 1985 by George Ronald) is important not only for the light it sheds on Tolstoy's late-life relationship to Iranian Babism and its successor movement Baha'ism but also for the considerable information that it makes available regarding the evolution of Tolstoy's religious thinking.

As Stendardo makes quite clear, based upon a careful study of Tolstoy's correspondence, by 1909 "one can no longer assert, without risk of contradicting oneself, that Tolstoy remained a Christian to the end of his life" (Stendardo, 42). Indeed, "according to Makovitsky" (Tolstoy's physician and secretary), Lev Nikolayevitch declared in his presence that "Just as I passionately loved the Gospels, now decidedly, I do not like them anymore, because they are full of contradictions" (ibid).

Stendardo's conclusions are measured and amply supported by his evidence: "... the religious question became over the years Tolstoy's main preoccupation. His determination not to conform to established rules was immediately striking, as was his determination to remain open, without prejudice, to everything which could stir his imagination and curiosity. His spiritual development seemed to be that of a restless person, always in search of absolute truth" (ibid., 57).

Tolstoy did not, in the end, embrace Baha'ism; nor did he embrace Islam or Buddhism. He remained among the restless Majnuniyya: rational beyond reason--an "ecstatic witness."