Book: Diary of a writer. Page 2

You are fathers, they are your children, you are modern Russia, they are the future: what will happen to Russia if the Russian fathers evade their civic duty and begin to seek solitude or, better to say, detachment, lazy and cynical, from society, their people and their very first duties.

Well, who is closest to the people? Clergy? But our clergy do not answer the questions of the people for a long time. In addition to other priests still burning with the fire of jealousy for Christ, often imperceptible, unknown to anyone, precisely because they are not looking for anything for themselves, but live only for the flock - except for these and, alas, very, it seems, a few, the rest, if answers are very much required of them, - will answer the questions, perhaps, with a denunciation of them. Others so alienate the flock from themselves with disproportionate extortion that no one will come to them to ask.

And then a banner will be displayed with the inscription: "Après nous le déluge" (After us, even a flood)! Could such a glorious "civilization" bring the European man to such a motto, and so he will be finished with it? It goes to that.

And yet, did I really want to convince someone. It was a joke. But - a weak person: maybe someone from teenagers, from the young generation will read ...

We have, however, one consolation, one great pride before our people, and that is why we despise them: this is that he is national and stands on that with all his might, and we - universal convictions, and our goal set in universal humanity, and therefore, immensely above him towered. Well, this is all our discord, all and the rupture with the people, and I declare directly: if we had settled this point, if we had found a point of reconciliation, and all our discord with the people would have ended at once. But this item is, because it is extremely easy to find.

And indeed, all of our Russian Asia, including Siberia, for Russia still seems to exist in the form of some kind of pendant, which, as it were, our European Russia does not even want to be interested in. "We are, they say, Europe, what should we do in Asia?" There were even very harsh voices: “Oh, this is our Asia, we in Europe cannot get some order for ourselves and get a job, but here they are also shoving us into Asia. This Asia is superfluous for us, at least to put it somewhere! " These judgments are sometimes heard even now among our clever people, from their very big mind, of course.

And note that as soon as after times and centuries (because there is also its own law, unknown to us) began to loosen and weaken in this nationality its spiritual ideal, so immediately began to fall and nationality, and together fell and all its civil charter, and faded all those civil ideals that had time to develop in it.

Where, if so, can the ideal of a civil order in human society come from? But follow it historically, and you will immediately see where it comes from. You will see that it is the only product of the moral self-improvement of units, it begins with it, and that it was so from time immemorial and will remain forever. At the beginning of every nation, every nationality, the moral idea always preceded the birth of nationality, for it also created it.

Do you know that very many people are sick precisely with their health, that is, exorbitant confidence in their normality, and thereby infected with a terrible conceit, unscrupulous narcissism, sometimes reaching almost to the conviction of their infallibility.

This joy about the failures of Russia and the frivolous squeal of delight that Russia was suddenly "weak, without finances, with a frustrated army, with a disgruntled and grumbling people, with nihilism that undermined society" - all these fables are undoubtedly carried a seal of such a well-known origin. Oh, it is impossible that Russian pens were not found, ready to write in unison with the clerics, but these correspondences abroad, it seems, cannot be written by the Russians: it would be too vile. Nevertheless, the clerics, perhaps not trying very hard, undoubtedly even direct the Russian feathers in our home. They may not even persuade them at all, and they do not enter into relations with them, direct and proper, because these lively liberal feathers sometimes belong to the most honest people who, having listened to a direct proposal from the cleric, perhaps would have let him down even with stairs. But on the other hand, a cleric, especially one who has settled down with us, knows perfectly well that he does not even need to go to a brisk pen, because a brisk Russian pen will write everything for him for nothing - only imagining (oh, dear ones!) That this is both honest and liberal ... A lively pen is outraged, for example, by the clerics who stuck around MacMahon in France, and writes menacing articles against them. But at the same time, he will not only not notice the Russian Roman clerical, but sometimes he will sing to him in the fullest unison. There are such, there are. And our cunning Roman clerics may even marvel at them: “After all, they want to flop between two chairs like that,” they nod with their heads. - And how disinterested! True, one must be liberal to the end. After all, they are shouting that Russia does not even have the right to free the Slavs: why, it’s not enough to give them a hundred thousand for this! And all this is between two chairs, minute by minute, but minute by minute. How does it not hurt them only? Heals, or something, they have it so soon ... "

The richer a nation is spiritually, the richer it is. And yet, what an old word I say!

Oh, of course, man has always and at all times idolized materialism and was inclined to see and understand freedom only in providing himself with money accumulated with all his might and stored by all means. But never have these aspirations been raised so frankly and so instructively to the highest principle as in our nineteenth century. “Everyone for himself and only for himself and all communication between people is unique for himself” - this is the moral principle of most of today's people, and not even bad people, but, on the contrary, working people who do not kill, do not steal. And ruthlessness towards the lower masses, and the fall of brotherhood, and the exploitation of the rich by the poor - oh, of course, all this was both before and always, but - but it was not raised to the level of the highest truth and science, but it was condemned by Christianity, and now, on the contrary , is elevated to virtue.

However, an atheist or indifferent in the matter of faith Russian European and does not understand faith except in the form of formalism and hypocrisy. In the people they do not see anything like hypocrisy, and therefore conclude that he does not understand anything in faith, prays when he needs to, a board, but in fact is indifferent, and his spirit is killed by formalism. They did not notice the Christian spirit in it at all, perhaps because they themselves have long lost this spirit, and do not know where it is, where it is.

They carry a vessel with precious liquid, everyone falls down, everyone kisses and adores the vessel that encloses this precious, living moisture, and then suddenly people get up and begin to shout: "Blind! what do you kiss the vessel: the road is only life-giving moisture, it contains, expensive contents, not containing, and you kiss glass, simple glass, adore the vessel and attribute all holiness to glass, so you forget about its precious contents! Idolaters! Throw the vessel, break it, adore only living moisture, not glass!" And then the vessel breaks, and the living moisture, precious contents, spills on the ground and disappears into the ground, of course. The vessel was broken and moisture was lost. But while the moisture has not gone all into the ground, turmoil rises: in order to save something that survived in the broken shards, they begin to shout that a new vessel is needed, they begin to argue how and from what to make it. The argument starts from the beginning; and immediately, from the very first two words, the dispute goes into a letter. They are ready to bow to this letter even more than the previous one, if only to get a new vessel as soon as possible; but the dispute hardens, people break up into hostile piles, and each bunch carries away for itself a few drops of the remaining precious moisture in their special multi-caliber, everywhere typed cups and is no longer communicated with other piles. Each with his cup wants to be saved, and in each individual bunch new disputes begin again. Idolatry is intensified as many times as the shards broke the vessel.