On September 9, 1828, one of the world’s greatest literary and spiritual figures was born in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia — Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, known to the world as Leo Tolstoy. More than a novelist, he was a philosopher, moral thinker, and a restless seeker of truth. His novels such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina changed the course of literature, while his spiritual writings transformed how humanity thinks about truth, faith, and morality.
Even today, more than a century after his passing in 1910, Tolstoy’s voice continues to echo. His words and stories challenge us to strip away illusions, question conventions, and return to the essence of life — simplicity, compassion, and truth.
Tolstoy the Writer
Tolstoy’s novels are often described as “mirrors of life.” War and Peace is not just a tale of battles but an epic meditation on history, fate, and human nature. Anna Karenina portrays the tragic struggle between personal desire and social morality. Through these works, Tolstoy proved that literature could probe the deepest questions of existence.
But in midlife, Tolstoy underwent a profound spiritual crisis. Despite wealth, fame, and family, he felt a gnawing emptiness. This crisis pushed him to study the Gospels, world religions, and the writings of sages. What he sought was not organized religion, but pure truth — free from ritual, authority, and falsehood.
The Three Hermits By Leo Tolstoy
A bishop was sailing on a ship across the sea. On board with him were many pilgrims traveling to worship at holy shrines. The bishop went among the people, teaching them and answering their questions.
One evening, as the ship sailed quietly, a fisherman pointed to a small island on the horizon. “On that island,” he said, “there live three holy hermits. They are so old and simple that they live only for God. People say they perform miracles.”
The bishop grew curious. “I wish to see these men,” he said. He ordered the sailors to steer toward the island.
When the ship reached the shore, the bishop saw the three hermits: bent with age, wearing coarse garments, their faces shining with peace. He greeted them and asked how they served God.
“We do not know how to serve God properly,” they replied humbly. “We only pray in this way: ‘Three are ye, three are we, have mercy upon us!’”
The bishop smiled at their innocence. “You pray simply, but not rightly,” he said. “Let me teach you the proper prayers of the Church.”
So he taught them the Lord’s Prayer — ‘Our Father, who art in heaven…’ The hermits repeated after him until they knew the words by heart. The bishop spent the night on the island, testing them again and again until they remembered the prayer. At last, satisfied, he blessed them and returned to the ship.
As the vessel sailed away under the moonlit sky, the bishop stood on deck, gazing back at the island. Suddenly, he saw a light moving across the waves. To his astonishment, the three hermits were running upon the water, shining brightly as they came.
When they reached the ship, they cried out, “Holy Father, we have forgotten the words you taught us! Teach us again!”
The bishop, trembling and humbled, bowed low before them.
“Your prayer will reach the Lord better than mine,” he whispered. “It is not the words, but the purity of heart that matters. Pray as you have always prayed.”
And the three hermits turned back across the water, their voices echoing into the night:
“Three are ye, three are we, have mercy upon us.”
Watch: The episode “Teen Sadhu” by Satyen Bose (Adaptation)
Tolstoy’s quotes on truth:
“Some mathematician said that pleasure lies not in discovering the truth but in searching for it.“
“There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.”
“To tell the truth is very difficult, and young people are rarely capable of it.“
“Every lie is a poison; there are no harmless lies. Only the truth is safe. Only the truth gives me consolation – it is the one unbreakable diamond.“
“For us, with the rule of right and wrong given us by Christ, there is nothing for which we have no standard. And there is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.“
“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.“
On this day, Tolstoy’s birth anniversary, we do not merely remember a great novelist. We celebrate a man who spent his life wrestling with the eternal questions of existence — What is truth? How should we live? What is the meaning of life?
Tolstoy found answers not in wealth, fame, or power, but in truth, simplicity, and love. His voice calls us back, reminding us that the purest gold of life is revealed not by accumulation, but by letting go of everything that is not essential.
