Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton ChekhovTO S. P. DYAGILEV.YALTA, December 30, 1902.… You write that we talked of a serious religious movement inRussia. We talked of a movement not in Russia but in the intellectualclass. I won’t say anything about Russia; the intellectuals so farare only playing at religion, and for the most part from having nothingto do. One may say of the cultured part of our public that it hasmoved away from religion, and is moving further and further awayfrom it, whatever people may say and however many philosophicaland religious societies may be formed. Whether it is a good or a badthing I cannot undertake to decide; I will only say that the religiousmovement of which you write is one thing, and the whole trend ofmodern culture is another, and one cannot place the second in anycausal connection with the first. Modern culture is only the firstbeginning of work for a great future, work which will perhaps go onfor tens of thousands of years, in order that man may if only in theremote future come to know the truth of the real God—that is not,I conjecture, by seeking in Dostoevsky, but by clear knowledge, asone knows twice two are four. Modern culture is the first beginningof the work, while the religious movement of which we talked is asurvival, almost the end of what has ceased, or is ceasing to exist.But it is a long story, one can’t put it all into a letter ….413