Top Bestseller 'Everyday Saints' Outruns All Competition on the Russian Literary Scene
MOSCOW, Dec. 3, 2012 /
Christian Newswire/ -- The original Russian language version of
Everyday Saints and Other Stories by Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) has won Russia's highly prestigious "Big Book" literary award--the Russian public has proclaimed it its favorite book.
Everyday Saints and Other Stories was recently published in the U.S. It was launched on October 5 at a media event in the Library of Congress. As The New York Times reported:
"The book is a portrait of one of the Orthodox Church's holiest sites, the Pskovo-Pechersky [Pskov Caves] Monastery in northwestern Russia. The monastery stayed open during the Soviet era, surviving first within independent Estonia, then by the wiliness and fortitude of the monks after the territory was absorbed into the Soviet Union.
"His [Archimandrite Tikhon's] book runs 640 pages and has sold over 1.1 million copies in Russian… OLMA Media Group, which published the book in 2011, announced in August that it was the country's biggest best seller since the Soviet era. "
Antonio Mennini, the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain who previously served in Russia, in his review of the book suggests what makes it so popular:
"Over the years of my ministry in Russia, I have encountered and been deeply touched by what is described in this book--the simple, almost child-like, but not necessarily impeccable religiosity, which is therefore even more disarming. It is touching not because of its aspiration for consistency and personal perfection, but by the seeking and contemplation of Jesus in everyday life…
"Father Tikhon has successfully fulfilled an extremely important task, combining the ability to formulate the problems of life with true faith using modern language, beginning a dialogue with modern man on his own territory, yet avoiding all banality and primitive cliché… The author refuses to fit faith into the framework of piety in order to make it more appetizing, or even to present it at the cost of diluting or changing it. He does not stand on a pedestal or try to convince anyone; he only recounts his own experience, sharing it, but never playing upon his listener."
The award ceremony took place on Tuesday, November 27 in Moscow. Readers in Russia were invited to vote for their favorite book out of fourteen finalists on the website, Bookmate. The readers were given an opportunity to freely access the text of the book on the site and read it before they entered their vote.
There were two first place awards given by "Big Book"--one determined by a jury, the other by popular vote. The jury chose My Lieutenant, a World War II novel by Daniel Graninu, while an overwhelming majority of readers chose the book of stories written by the Abbot of Moscow's Sretensky Monastery, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov).
This is the second major award earned by Everyday Saints in 2012. In September, it won the "Book of the Year Award" for best prose, also by a wide margin. The book became a runaway bestseller from the time of its release in late 2011. Just a week before the "Big Book" laureates were announced, Archimandrite Tikhon in an online conference stirred even greater enthusiasm among his readers when he confessed that he would not be against writing a sequel.
Everyday Saints and Other Stories by Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)
$23. ISBN 978-0-9842848-3-2, Pokrov Publications. 504 pages, illustrated.
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) is the abbot of one of most well-known religious institutions in Russia—the Moscow Sretensky Monastery. A graduate of the Moscow State Cinematography Institute specializing in screen writing, Father Tikhon is the author of numerous books and articles, and the creator of many documentary films. He appears often on Russian television, and is highly active in a number of social and cultural projects in his country.
HISTORY OF SRETENSKY MONASTERY
Sretensky Monastery is one of the most ancient monasteries in Moscow. It was founded in 1395 in honor of the city's salvation from Tartar invaders. In 1917, the brothers of the monastery were arrested by the Soviet authorities and exiled to prison camps; many were executed.
In 1994 the monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, at which time Archimandrite Tikhon was appointed its abbot. Since then the monastery has been raised from ruins, and a theological seminary was created within its walls.
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