Pilgrimage

Ivan Sergeyevich Shmelev (1873-1950) — a Russian writer and publicist, twice a nominee for the Nobel Prize; nicknamed the "Orthodox writer" for a large number of texts about the spirituality of the Russian people. While in emigration, "not for a... moment in his soul’s burning does he cease to think about Russia and suffer from its misfortunes."

The story "Pilgrimage" was created by the author in Paris and was especially popular in the circles of the Russian emigration, and in the late 1980s it was successfully published in Russia. In it, Ivan Shmelev refers to memories of his lost homeland, describing with sadness and warmth the distant childhood he was fortunate to spend in pre-revolutionary Moscow, and tells about the way of life at that time.
In three parts, it conveys the story of how little Vanya, along with his father's worker, carpenter Gorkin, makes a pilgrimage from his parental home to Sergiev Posad, where they meet the famous elder Varnaava of Gethsemane, and to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.