Heretic or Scapegoat?

Description

By Martin George Holmes.  In 1901, the Russian Orthodox Church excommunicated Count Leo Tolstoy for heresy. It was a decision that shook the world. Many commentators decried it as a political attack, as punishment for Tolstoy’s criticism of the tsarist autocracy. In this book, Dr. Martin George Holmes argues that, regardless of other factors involved, the excommunication was theologically justified from an Orthodox perspective. Dr. Holmes highlights that doctrinal disagreements underscored the conflict between Tolstoy and the Church; that it was Tolstoy’s relentless polemics against Orthodoxy which inspired the excommunication; and that it was Tolstoy’s failure to recant before he died that explains why the Church has never revoked the edict. 130 pages.  $15.00.