Russian literature is renowned for its focus on the spiritual and its dedication to expressing the depths of the soul. Lent is an excellent time to pull one of these masterpieces off the shelf. Here are five recommendations to start with, and if they should take you longer than 40 days to read, fret not — you’ll find plenty of nods to the resurrection alongside the Passion. For the first two works, links are provided to the full text. For the final three, links are provided to a recommended translation.
1. “The Student” by Anton Chekhov” – This story, though it appears very simple at first glance, was the one of which Chekhov was most proud. As a young seminarian invites a stranger into his retelling of the Passion on Good Friday, we are invited, too, to find our place in the story that shapes our lives and our faith.
2. “Requiem” by Anna Akhmatova – Akhmatova wrote this poetry cycle during the height of Stalin’s terror, while waiting in long lines outside the prison where her son was held on false charges. The echoes of Mary and the other women at the foot of the cross are unmistakable, and this collection draws us into contemplation of the universality of suffering and our call to bear witness to it.
3. “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov – This is a novel like no other: The devil turns up in 1930s Moscow and wreaks all manner of havoc amidst Stalin’s purges, and one writer finds himself struggling against his limitations, his calling and his conscience. The other part of the novel is composed of a retelling of the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ. Together, the two narratives sing of the joy of spiritual and creative courage during a reign of terror and oppression.
4. “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by Lev Tolstoy– What better time than Lent to reflect on our mortality? This novella is a meditation on the meaning of suffering and the profundity of accompaniment to the dying. You can always count on Tolstoy to plumb the depths of human consciousness and emotion, and here he does not disappoint.
5. “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky – One of the crowning jewels of Russian literature, Dostoevsky’s masterpiece chronicles the lives of a dysfunctional family as they wrestle with their spiritual, philosophical and relational quandaries. The beating heart of the novel is the testament of the Elder Zosima, who tenderly presides over the monastery where the youngest son has taken refuge from the chaos of his family. The novel is unflinchingly honest about the human condition, and yet never fails to draw us into the hope of love and care for one another.