Prayer room

Ivan Sergeyevich Shmelev (1873-1950) was a Russian writer and publicist, twice nominated for the Nobel Prize, nicknamed the 'Orthodox writer' for his numerous texts on the spirituality of the Russian people. While in emigration, 'not for a moment in his spiritual fervor does he stop thinking about Russia and agonizing over its misfortunes.' The novella 'Bogomolye' was created by the author in Paris and was particularly popular among the circles of the Russian emigration, and in the late 1980s it was successfully published in Russia. In it, Ivan Shmelev recalls memories of his lost homeland, describing with sadness and warmth his distant childhood, which he was fortunate to spend in pre-revolutionary Moscow, and tells about the way of life in those times. In three parts, the story is told of how little Vanya, together with his father's worker, the carpenter Gorky, makes a pilgrimage from his parental home to Sergiev Posad, where they meet the famous elder Varnava Gefsimansky, and to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.