Literature / Everyday Saints

Everyday Saints and Other Stories (Russian: Несвятые святые и другие рассказы; literally Unsaintly Saints and Other Stories) is a 2011 autobiographical book by Archimandrite, now Metropolitan, Tikhon (Shevkunov) of the Russian Orthodox Church. It topped the bestseller lists in Russia, getting translated into more than a dozen languages and inspiring a few Follow the Leader short story collections of a similar nature.

The book mostly describes the author’s own conversion and spiritual path and the lives of several people (monks as well as laymen) that were a particular influence to him or were associated with particularly bright memories. A great deal is written about the Pskov Caves Monastery where Georgy (the author’s layman name) received his tonsure.

Everyday Saints contains examples of:

• Afterlife Antechamber: When Hegumen Michael dies from exertion, he finds himself in something like that – a beautiful meadow with all the results of his life (his woodwork) heaped in front of him. The Virgin Mary appears and sadly tells him he has brought no prayers or repentance with him, after which he is brought back to life to change it.
• The Alleged Car: Father Raphael’s ancient vehicle, which he mends so that it can speed up to 150 km per hour. Still, it can break down in the middle of the road.
• And Some Other Stuff: The author doesn’t go into the "technical details" of spiritual seances, instead focusing on the horrible effect they had on him and his friends.
• Badass Preacher: Many examples, since after World War II a lot of former soldiers went to the monastery, but especially Archimandrite Alipiy, who was abbot at the Pskov Caves before the author’s time. At one point, he threatened a group from the KGB to chop off their heads. And it worked.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • When Abbot Gabriel sees "Father Augustine", he immediately yells the latter is a crook. Unfortunately, thanks to the Abbot’s reputation, nobody believes him.
  • When Father Ioann tries to persuade Valentina Konovalova to delay her cataract operation until after she spends two weeks at the seaside, she is irritated because she thinks that operation is a minor matter and all the doctors tell her to get it over with. She gets paralyzed on the operating table and dies shortly afterwards.
• Chekhov's Skill: Georgy starts as a student at the Institute of Cinematography, which he leaves after finishing the study to go to the monastery, stating it wasn’t a big loss for the institute. Then, many chapters later, the hierarchs find out he is a qualified filmmaker, and he is tasked with filming religious documentaries. Once, it becomes a key plot point: when he goes to shoot on location in another city, he finds the first clues to the true character of "Father Augustine".
• Cool Old Lady:
  • The nuns from the Diveyevo Monastery^note In the Orthodox tradition, there is no special word for convents.. They survived several decades of Soviet persecution, the youngest of them is eighty at least, and they still can sing an entire church service almost by heart.
  • Lyubov Cheredova, the spiritual daughter of Hieromartyr Hilarion who managed to accompany him to every place of exile except for the last. She lived to be over a hundred, determined to live until she was certain of her confessor getting canonized.
• Didn't Think This Through: The monastery's accountant decides to steal $180000 in cash and bolt away to Germany (he holds dual citizenship). However, he decides to do it on the 14th of September 2001, only three days after 9/11, without realising that the security measures on border checkpoints and the meticulousness of customs officials have skyrocketed.
• Don't Fear the Reaper: Most of the characters treat death like a journey towards God rather than like an end. Bishop Vasily (Rodzyanko), for example, has a lot of trouble explaining to others that he isn’t terrified of death, since it will be the greatest travel of his life.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Father Vladimir Rodzyanko begins drinking heavily after his wife Maria dies. Nobody can do anything to stop him, until Maria herself appears to him in a dream and calls him out for that.
• Fiery Redhead: Inverted – Father Antipa is very red-haired and has one of the mildest tempers in the Caves.
• Gentle Giant:
  • Archimandrite Antipa, whom the narrator compares to a large kindly lion.
  • Metropolitan Ioann of Pskov, huge, very old and very kind.
  • Bishop Vasily (Rodzyanko), very tall and stately – and never refusing to help anyone, if only the request doesn’t contradict the Orthodox teaching.
• Good Shepherd: Practically every priest described, but special mention goes to Archimandrite Ioann (Krestiankin), the author’s confessor.
• Grande Dame: Valentina Konovalova manages to combine many features of this trope, especially the looks, the wealth and the strong will, with genuine piety. The one time her willfulness gets the better of her, it leads to tragedy.
• Guardian Angel: One of the characters has trouble understanding the concept of guardian angels. Afterwards, when his car nearly catches fire and he and Georgy have a narrow escape, he admits he has no trouble with that particular theological field anymore.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Abbot Gabriel. He almost gets removed from the monastery for that. At one point, when Georgy is assigned as the abbot’s subdeacon, he feels like he’s going to war, even though subdeacon’s duties of assisting the abbot during service are relatively easy.
• Hot for Preacher: Father Raphael attracted crowds of girls even after his conversion, tonsure and ordination. His celibacy was never in danger, as he honestly put away all earthly cares (except cars) when entering the monastery.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Father Augustine, who has lived his entire life among monks in Georgian mountains, has bright and clear blue eyes. Subverted when he turns out to be a conman and thief.
• Instant Taste Addiction: Father Augustine, having previously lived in the mountain wilderness since he was four, becomes practically addicted to nut ice cream from the first time he tries it. Subverted, as he turns out to be an impostor who has never been a monk and has only spent a short while in the mountains, and ice cream has long been his favorite food.
• The Lost Lenore: When Father Vladimir Rodzyanko’s beloved wife Maria dies, he is heartbroken and goes into depression. The narrator notes that, even if second marriage hadn’t been forbidden for priests, Maria would have anyway remained Father Vladimir’s only earthly love.
• Meaningful Rename: When a monk is tonsured, he gets a new name; the procedure itself is a norm, but some of the renames are noted to carry a special meaning:
  • Father Melchizedek, one of the most mysterious ascetics in the Caves, is named after the most mysterious Old Testament saint.
  • Father Raphael is the only one whom Abbot Gabriel names after an Archangel. The narrator says it is a special honor and sign of recognition of spiritual gifts.
  • Georgy himself, after patiently waiting nine years for his mother to bless him for the monastic life, gets tonsured on his birthday and with the name of his favorite saint, Patriarch Tikhon (whose relics he later discovers).
• Obstructive Bureaucrat:
  • The Council for Religious Affairs, constantly demanding papers to permit any sort of religious activity.
  • Mean Father Nathaniel, the monastery’s treasurer and the second one (apart from the abbot) responsible for dealing with the Council, is this trope embodied. Or is he?
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, however, the namesakes are usually told apart by their titles (Archimandrite Ioann and Metropolitan Ioann, who appear especially frequently, for example).
• Out of Character Is Serious Business: When famously Hot-Blooded Father Gabriel suddenly quietly and humbly agrees to tonsure Father Michael into the Great Schema, the brethren of the monastery are practically as astonished by it as they were by Father Michael coming back from the dead.
• Patron Saint: A prominent theme, given the book’s nature.
  • St. Seraphim of Sarov is the most frequently mentioned one, being the patron saint of the Diveyevo Monastery and of Father Seraphim in the Caves.
  • Archimandrite Ioann is the Sretensky Monastery’s patron saint in all but name (since he isn’t canonized officially).
• The Quiet One: Father Melchizedek and Father Seraphim rarely speak, but when they do, a single phrase of theirs often suffices to solve the problem at hand.
• Refuge in Audacity: Often used by Archimandrite Alipiy against the government. For example, when the authorities try to force the monks to go to polling places during elections (instead of collecting their votes at the monastery), Father Alipiy holds a grand cross procession across the city and a molieben at the polling place. In Khrushchev’s times, he could have easily been jailed for that, and yet it works and the monks are allowed to vote at the monastery again.
• Spooky Séance: As bad as it can be. Georgy and his friends are nearly driven to suicide by the demonic spirits they summon when they try séances, which leads to them running for their lives to the nearest church.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Nikolay Yudin from the KGB, representative of the Council for Religious Affairs in Pskov. He is a very nice and kindly man who is not Drunk On Power despite his rank, but he can interfere in the religious life of the entire district.
• Thieves' Cant: Deacon Victor has picked up a lot of prison jargon during his several years’ time as an inmate, and Father Nikita picks it from him in turn. When Metropolitan Ioann of Pskov finds it out, he transfers Deacon Victor to another church, where the priest has been through twenty years of imprisonment but hasn’t spoken a single slang expression since.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Nut ice cream for Father Augustine. It becomes one of the clues by which Georgy establishes his real identity.
• Turbulent Priest:
  • A Running Gag with Father Raphael, who loves to prank the Council for Religious Affairs.
  • One day, Father Avvakum, the monastery's gatekeeper, decides he's had enough of unbelievers wandering in the monastery and he won't let in anyone who doesn't know the Orthodox Creed. That lasts until Abbot Gabriel puts a stop to it.
• Unexpected Kindness: When stern, autocratic Abbot Gabriel with an infamous Hair-Trigger Temper suddenly gently and humbly agrees to tonsure Father Michael into the Great Schema, the brethren of the monastery are as amazed by it as they were by Father Michael coming back from the dead.
• The Unpronounceable: A mild case with Schema-Hegumen Melchizedek (formerly Hegumen Michael). Abbot Gabriel can’t pronounce the name, try as he might, and it remains a mystery why he gave it to Father Melchizedek in the first place when tonsuring him into the Great Schema.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The part about Father Raphael, also the last part of the book, ends with one. Father Nikita and Ilya Danilovich have died (the latter, after getting tonsured and living several years as a monk), Deacon Victor also got his longed-for tonsure and is now a hieromonk in a village, Father Roman, formerly Brother Alexander, is living as a hermit in the swamps, and another book of his poems has been published recently.