The Chetyi-Minei (Четьи-Минеи) is “a collection of the lives of the saints of the Orthodox Church”.1 The lives are arranged by the days of the year, for reading. Maude translates the name “the Lives of Holy men”; Wiener, “the menaions”.
In A Confession
In chapter XIV, after he drew near to the people and their faith, Tolstoy writes: “So also was it when I read the Lives of Holy men, which became my favourite books. Putting aside the miracles and regarding them as fables illustrating thoughts, this reading revealed to me life’s meaning” (XIV.7).2 The Russian names two books, the Chetyi-Minei and the Prologues.
The PSS commentary gives the editions:
- The Chetyi-Minei. He read the Book of the Lives of the Saints printed at the Synodal Press in Moscow, fifth printing, 1864, in 12 volumes; his copy, with many of his marks, is in the library at Yasnaya Polyana. He also read the Great Menaion Reader collected by Metropolitan Makary, and V. Klyuchevsky’s study Old Russian Saints’ Lives as a Historical Source (Moscow 1871), whose Yasnaya Polyana copy is also heavily marked.1
- The Prologue. A widely read book of saints’ lives and sermons in old Russia; the oldest copy is of the 12th century and the first printed edition of 1642–44. He read the 1875–76 edition; his marked copy is at Yasnaya Polyana, and its bookmarks suggest he last read it in June 1880. The commentary places the readings named in XIV.7 in the Prologue: the life of Macarius the Great (19 January), the life of Prince Joasaph, a Christian retelling of the legend of the Buddha (18 November), the parable of the traveller in the well (19 November), the monk who found gold (13 September), Peter the publican (22 September), and the words of John Chrysostom, scattered through the whole book.3
Afterwards
In 1884–85, Birukoff writes, Tolstoy worked up popular legends for the Posrednik publishing house, “with selections from the Chetyi-Minei and the Prologues”.4 One result is Sufferings of the Saints (1885), two lives of martyrs adapted from the Chetyi-Minei of Dmitry of Rostov (stories-for-the-people dive).5
Open questions
- The PSS names the 1864 Moscow edition as the one Tolstoy read; the dive summary of Sufferings of the Saints names Dmitry of Rostov’s compilation. Whether the 1864 printing is Dmitry’s text is not checked here.
- Which lives Tolstoy marked in his copies is not shown by these sources.
Dive provenance
- 1879-1882-a-confession — the text of A Confession (PSS 23:1–59) and its commentary (PSS 23:515–537); Johan’s reader notes of 10 October 2026 asked “what book is this?”
- Birukoff, Biography, vol. III, ch. 1 (the doukhobors theme folder), and the stories-for-the-people dive.
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«Четьи-Минеи — сборник житий святых православной церкви. Толстой читал жития святых в издании: „Книга житий святых. Напечатался в царствующем великом граде Москве, в синодальной типографии, пятым тиснением, в лето от рождества по плоти бога слова 1864“, 12 томов. Это издание, с многочисленными пометками Толстого, хранится в яснополянской библиотеке» (PSS 23:534, commentary, note 36). English: ours. ↩↩
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«То же было со мной при чтении Четьи-Минеи и Прологов; это стало любимым моим чтением. Исключая чудеса, смотря на них как на фабулу, выражающую мысль, чтение это открывало мне смысл жизни» (PSS 23:52, ch. XIV). English: Maude. ↩
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«„Прологом“ в древней Руси называлась весьма распространенная книга, содержащая жития святых и поучения»; «Толстой читал „Пролог“ в издании 1875—1876 гг.»; «Судя по закладкам, Толстой в последний раз читал „Пролог“ в июне 1880 г.» (PSS 23:534–535, commentary, note 37). English: ours. ↩
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«Л. Н-ч, со своей стороны, занялся разработкой слышанных им или записанных народных легенд, выборкой из четьи-миней и прологов» (Birukoff, Biography, vol. III, ch. 1; text from tolstoy-lit.ru). English: the project’s translation. ↩
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PSS 25:860–861, apparatus to Страдания святых, as summarised in the stories-for-the-people dive’s commentary extract; not checked against the apparatus. ↩