{"product_id":"father-sergius-and-other-stories-and-plays-tolstoy","title":"Father Sergius, and Other Stories and Plays by Leo Tolstoy","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eBy Leo Tolstoy\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe story begins with the childhood and exceptional and accomplished youth of Prince Stepan Kasatsky. The young man is destined for great things. He discovers on the eve of his wedding that his fiancée Countess Mary Korotkova has had an affair with his beloved Tsar Nicholas I. The blow to his pride is massive  and he retreats to the arms of Russian Orthodoxy and becomes a monk. Many years of humility and doubt follow. He is ordered to become a hermit. Despite his being removed from the world  he is still remembered for having so remarkably transformed his life. One winter night  a group of merry-makers decide to visit him  and one of them  a divorced woman named Makovkina  spends the night in his cell  with the intention to seduce him. Father Sergius discovers he is still weak and in order to protect himself  cuts off his own finger. Makovkina is stunned by this act  and leaves the next morning  having vowed to change her life. A year later she has joined a convent. Father Sergius' reputation for holiness grows. He becomes known as a healer  and pilgrims come from far and wide. Yet Father Sergius is profoundly aware of his inability to attain a true faith. He is still tortured by boredom  pride  and lust. He fails a new test  when the young daughter of a merchant successfully beds him. The morning after  he leaves the monastery and seeks out Pashenka (Praskovya Mikhaylovna)  whom he  with a group of other boys  had tormented many years ago. He finds her  now in all the conventional senses a failure in life  yet imbued with a sense of service towards her family. His path is now clearer. He begins to wander  until eight months later he is arrested in the company of a blind beggar who makes him feel closer to God. He is sent to Siberia  where he now works as the hired man of a well-to-do peasant  teaching the gentleman's young children and working in the gardens.","brand":"Lushena Books","offers":[{"title":"PAPERBACK","offer_id":52798779949336,"sku":"9798890967534","price":44.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"HARDCOVER","offer_id":52798779982104,"sku":"9798890967633","price":62.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0787\/8203\/8296\/files\/9798890967534.jpg?v=1790924369","url":"https:\/\/lushenabooksinc.com\/products\/father-sergius-and-other-stories-and-plays-tolstoy","provider":"Lushena","version":"1.0","type":"link"}