An archimandrite (архимандрит) is a senior title among the monastic clergy of the Orthodox Church, usually held by the head of a large monastery. (General knowledge, not from the dive’s sources.)
In A Confession
A Confession (Исповедь, 1879–82) uses the word once. Asking why each faith holds that it alone is in the truth and the others in error, Tolstoy “went to archimandrites, bishops, elders, monks of the strictest orders”; none of them tried to explain, except one, “who explained it all and explained it so that I never asked anyone any more about it” (XV.4).1 The four words name kinds of clergy and monks: archimandrites, bishops (архиереи), elders (старцы) and schema-monks (схимники), the last translated by Maude as “monks of the strictest orders”.
Elsewhere in the research
- The Forged Coupon has an archimandrite among its characters: Misail, the religion teacher turned monk who persecutes the sectarians (dive).
- The surviving verdict of the spiritual censor Archimandrite Tikhon on the tale of Ivan the Fool is quoted in the stories-for-the-people dive (dive).
Open questions
- The one man who “explained it all” in XV.4 is not named in the text; whether the PSS commentary or the drafts identify him is not checked.
- The definition above is general knowledge and should be checked against a reference work before the page goes live.
Dive provenance
- 1879-1882-a-confession — the text of A Confession (PSS 23:1–59); Johan’s reader notes of 10 October 2026 asked for an explanation of the word.
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«Я ездил к архимандритам, архиереям, старцам, схимникам и спрашивал, и никто никакой попытки не сделал объяснить мне этот соблазн. Один только из них разъяснил мне всё, но разъяснил так, что я уж больше ни у кого не спрашивал» (PSS 23:54, ch. XV). English: Maude. ↩