Over Christmas I read the novel The Monastery by Zakhar Prilepin, translated from the Russian by Nicholas Kotar. The book was written in 2014 and published in English last year.
It is a long read, and at 750 pages, probably overlong. It is also rather a harrowing story since the book deals with a particularly unhappy chapter in the history of The Great Solovetsky Monastery and the islands that surround it
The monastery was established in the 15th Century on an archipelago in the White Sea, some 100 miles from the arctic circle. Probably because of its remoteness from early times it was also often used as a prison and fortress. Prilepin’s book, which is set in the 1920’s, is set in the period when the monastery and the islands became a ‘camp of special designation,’ a forerunner of the Soviet Gulag system. The transformation that takes place during the book from being a place aimed at re-education to a mass labour camp is unedifying, but the book is redeemed by the engaging character and activities of its hero, Artium, a character based on the author’s great-grandfather. Many of the individuals who appear in the book are based on real people. It is, as I have said, very long at 750 pages, and rather uneven in quality. I have only read it in English, so do not know if this reflects the original book, or the translation. Nonetheless for those interested in Russia and its history, it is an interesting read.
In the 1990’s, following the fall of the Soviet Union, the monks returned to the Solovetsky islands and the monastery is now fully operational once again. I have been lucky enough to visit the islands twice; they are now a UNECSO world heritage site. It is well worth reading about them here. Despite its bleak history the islands are a particularly magical place. In addition to the huge monastery on the largest island, some of the churches on the archipelago are wonderfully atmospheric.
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| Hare Island |
I have plans to return to Solovky when we are free to travel once again.
I talk about the history of the monastery and in particular about its part in the Great Schism in the orthodox church in the seventeenth century in my talk ‘Between Heaven and Earth.’
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| The dining hall of the Monastery |