RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE | Solzhenitsyn, a great soul, laid to rest

Home

RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE

Solzhenitsyn, a great soul, laid to rest

Nov 16, 2024 3:33 PM

At Solzhenitsyn’s grave. Donskoy Monastery, Moscow. Aug. 6, 2008.

The Associated Press has published a moving series of photographs from Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s funeral here.

Acathistus

By Alexander Solzhenitsyn

When, oh when did I scatter so madly

All the goodness, the God-given grains?

Was my youth not spent with those who gladly

Sang to You in the glow of Your shrines?

Bookish wisdom, though, sparkled and beckoned,

And it rushed through my arrogant mind,

The world’s mysteries seemed within reckon,

My life’s lot like warm wax in the hand.

My blood seethed, and it spilled and it trickled,

Gleamed ahead with a multihued trace,

Without clamor there quietly crumbled

In my breast the great building of faith.

Then I passed betwixt being and dying,

I fell off and now cling to the edge,

And I gaze back with gratitude, trembling,

On the meaningless life I have led.

Not my reason, nor will, nor desire

Blazed the twists and the turns of its road,

It was purpose-from-High’s steady fire

Not made plain to me till afterward.

Now regaining the measure that’s true,

Having drawn with it water of being,

Oh great God! I believe now anew!

Though denied, You were always with me …

From The Solzhenitsyn Reader. New and Essential Writings 1947-2005 (ISI Books, 2006)

Previous Article：Poetic justice Next Article：Luckey joins Acton PowerBlog

Comments

Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.

Show More Comments

RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE

End the BBC’s monopoly status

The UK’s exit from the European Union opened a new era of liberty by empowering the British people to control their own destiny. However, state monopolies undermine their newfound autonomy by removing them from key decisions that affect their lives. One of the foremost UK monopolies that has eroded consumer sovereignty is the BBC, argues Rev. Richard Turnbull in a new essay for the Acton Institute’sReligion & Liberty Transatlanticwebsite. Rev. Turnbull – who is both ordained in the Church of...

Thousands gather in Venezuela to protest Nicolás Maduro’s government

With coronavirus understandably being the focus of most people’s thoughts these days, it’s not surprising that other important events might escape our attention. Consider, for example, the fact that tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets on March 10 this week in their nation’s capital, Caracas, as well as other cities to demand an end to the Chavista dictatorship of President Nicolás Maduro which has driven the country into an economic black hole from which it shows no...

By God’s Grace we will win the COVID-19 race

In this global crisis, mankind will find medical weapons to slay the COVID-19 dragon and stave off a massive loss of lives and global economic collapse. However, this means allowing enough operating space for God, through His Grace, by remaining diligently prayerful while also zealous and creative in our scientific research. Read More… “By God’s Grace we will win the race.” I love this optimistic expression used by some of my African priest friends in Rome. It is true that...

Dashed hopes in crisis? Be like Charles Borromeo

When the Israelites wondered aimlessly in the desert, often they got lost, were scared and worshiped false idols to abate their worries. They abandoned Yahweh, but the Lord did not reciprocate. Rather, he stood steadfastly by his chosen people, and demanded they walk straight, heads up and remain focused, trusting pletely, for soon would reach the coveted Promised Land. The Old Testament Covenant provided God’s chosen people with the gift of theological hope which the Israelite nation collectively relied on...

Coronavirus’ greatest threat: our social fabric

Over the weekend, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that her office received plaints of retailers gouging coronavirus-panicked consumers on the price of basic necessities: Stores in Farmington Hills, Dearborn, Ann Arbor and Allendale have been accused of jacking up the price of hand sanitizers, face masks, and rice and lentils by up to 900%. In one case, the Allendale store was allegedly selling face masksthat would normally sell for $3 apiecefor $6 to $10 each. Another store had increased...

How the Church can respond to the Coronavirus pandemic

If you had you asked someone on New Year’s Day of 2020 what they envisioned the year ahead might look like, few would’ve imagined that the first few months would be spent canceling trips, events, and academic semesters. Families and college students hadn’t planned to spend their spring break in quarantine. Most businesses didn’t enter the year in fear of stomach-turning Dow Jones plummets and sobering market uncertainty. Regardless of projections, governments across the world are taking extensive measures to...

Empty store shelves? Thank price controls

The COVID-19 pandemic panic has caused an eerie, post-apocalyptic scene to monplace across the country: supermarkets with barren shelves. One would think that this is the time for an intervention to ensure that stores stay stocked with the things we need, but governors nationwide are taking the opposite approach. This includes Michigan, Wisconsin, and Oregon. Several other states connect price controls to declared states of emergency, as well. Despite their good intentions, policies meant to curb price gouging will perpetuate...

Why culture matters for the economy

This article first appeared on February 24, 2020, in Law & Liberty, a project of Liberty Fund, Inc., and was republished with permission. In many peoples’ minds, economics and economists remain locked in a world of homo economicus—the ultimate pleasure-calculator who seeks only to maximize personal satisfaction from the consumption of goods and services and whose occasional displays of seemingly altruistic behavior really only function as a means of self-satisfaction. This conception of economics is far removed from how modern...

The Midwest’s growing ‘faith-and-tech movement’

We have long heard about the incessant flow of America’s best-and-brightest workers to the country’s largest urban centers, leading many to fear the consolidated power of “coastal elites” and the continuous disruption of the American heartland. Yet this movement seems to be slowing, as more workers and businesses shift to mid-sized metropolitan areas across the Midwest. Many venture capital firms are following suit, eyeing various eback cities” as frontiers for new growth. Given the many demographic and cultural differences between...

The post-liberal Right: The good, the bad, and the perplexing

This article first appeared on March 2, 2020, in Public Discourse, the journal of the Witherspoon Institute, and was republished with permission. Since 2016, much of the American Right has been preoccupied with the liberalism wars. Whether they question aspects of the American Founding, express strong doubts about free markets or press for more assertive roles for the state, post-liberals believe that the ideas variously called “classical liberalism,” “modern conservatism,” or simply “liberalism” have exercised too strong a hold on...

Related Classification

RELIGION & LIBERTY

RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE