| The Cathedral Clergy | |
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1921 title page |
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| Author(s) | Nikolai Leskov |
| Original title | Соборяне |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre(s) | Romantic chronicles |
| Publisher | Russky vestnik |
| Publication date | 1872 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback & Hardback) |
The Cathedral Clergy (Соборяне, Sobory′ane) is a novel by Nikolai Leskov, a series of "romantic chronicles" (as the author called them) of the imaginary town of Stargorod. It was first published in ##4-7 1872 issues of Russky vestnik magazine[1] and formed a trilogy with Old Years in Plodomasovo (1869) and A Decayed Family (1874).[2]
Contents |
Leskov started working upon his "romantic chronicles" in January 1866.[1] In ## 6-8 (March-April) 1867 Otechestvennye zapiski issues appeared the Book 1 of it under the original title of Awaiting Waters.[1] The romantic chronicle (Чающие движения воды. Романтическая хроника). The publication then has been stopped after the raw between Leskov and Krayevsky, as to the cuts that had been made. Then Literaturnaya biblioteka started publishing the novel from the beginning, in its 1868 ##1 and 2 issues (as Bozhedomy. Chapters of Awaiting Waters, the unfinished novel), but closed after the February issue's release. Only in 1872 Russky vestnik published the novel's full text's in its renewed version, as Soboryane.[1]
In its original version (as presented by the Book I, in Otechestvennye zapiski) the novel dealt more with the life of Stargorod in general, focusing on its starovery community with it's problems and altercations, but also describing in detail the ordinary, non-religious people's spiritual leanings. Book I, therefore, looked more like background for the story of Savely Tuberozov, the novel's main character. In the Russky vestnik version most of the side plots, which had little to do with protopope Tuberozov and his colleagues, have been cut. Konstantin Pizonsky and Platonida who featured prominently in the chronicles disappeared from the latter version and resurfaced as the main characters of Kotin doilets y Platonida short story, included into the collection Novelets and Short Stories by M.Stebnitsky (Vol.1, 1867).[3]
Priest Savely Tuberozov, a spiritual leader of a small religious community (sobor) in a provincial town of Stargorod, who firmly believes in his spiritual and social mission, but not in making compromises of any kind, comes into conflict with his church bosses and the local authorities. His seniors expect him to "eradicate raskol", and expect him to report to them on dissenters, he refuses to comply and criticizes instead the destruction of the old believers' church as barbarism. As the Governor comes to town, he comes up with a speech complaining of local masters exploiting peasants, making them work on Sundays and religious holidays; describes devastation local rural areas were being submerged into. The Governor doesn't want to listen, and protopope Tuberozov, reprimanded for such an audacity, gets demoted in rank. His mission ends after he summons the whole of the local authority figures to a moleben and makes a sermon which sounds more like a political speech, promising dires to leaders who treat their people in an inhuman way. Tuberozov gets fired, goes through numerous humiliations, falls ill and dies. [4]
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