The Russian Orthodox Church
Department for External Church Relations
Department for External Church Relations
The Russian Orthodox Church
Department for External Church Relations
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“The Gospel according to Dostoyevsky” book by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk has come out
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, the Poznanie Publishers has released a new book by
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for
External Church Relations. The book’s title is “The Gospel according to Dostoyevsky.”
Dostoyevsky, among the Russian writers, is one of the most difficult to understand. There is no
one like him who will make the reader think over the questions he raised but gave no direct
answers to them. The Gospel is one of the keys to open Dostoyevsky’s world outlook, while his
works might become a key for some people to finding the Gospel.
The title of the book has a double meaning. The book is not just about that Gospel which
Dostoyevsky had been reading all his life, but also about the Gospel he had been writing. His
works have indeed been the “good news” for the Russian people – the prophetic and apostolic
news about salvation through Christ. Dostoyevsky perceived the Gospel in a very personal way,
through the prism of his own experience. He was destined by the providence of God to become a
prophet proclaiming the Gospel’s truths in the 20 th and 21 st centuries.
The book reveals Dostoyevsky’s Christian worldview against the background of his biography
and on the basis of his four novels: ‘Crime and Punishment,’ ‘The Idiot,’ ‘The Possessed,’ and
‘The Brothers Karamazov.’ His other novels, such as ‘The Adolescent’ and ‘A Writer’s Diary,’
and his letters and notebooks as well as memoirs of his relatives and friends are used as
additional sources. Dostoyevsky’s writings are presented in the general context of the Russian
literature of the 20 th century and the situation in Russia at his time.
Press Service of Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies/
DECR Communication Service
Patriarch
Department Chairman
Sermons
Metropolitan Hilarion: The Lord always grants to us the opportunity to display our talents
24.01.2021
Metropolitan Hilarion: We should remember that the life of each human being is in the hands of God
06.11.2020