Pilgrimage

Ivan Sergeyevich Shmelev (1873-1950) — a Russian writer and publicist, twice nominated for the Nobel Prize; nicknamed the “Orthodox man of letters” for his numerous texts about the spirituality of the Russian people. While in exile, “not for a moment in his inner burning does he cease to think about Russia and suffer from its misfortunes.” The novella “Pilgrimage” was created by the author in Paris and was especially popular among the Russian emigration, and in the late 1980s it was successfully published in Russia. In it, Ivan Shmelev turns to memories of the lost homeland, describing with sadness and warmth his distant childhood, which he was fortunate to spend in pre-revolutionary Moscow, and narrating the way of life at that time. In three parts, it tells the story of how little Vanya, together with his father's worker, carpenter Gorkin, makes a pilgrimage from his parental home to Sergiev Posad, where they meet the famous elder Varna of Gethsemane, and to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.