Мать Мария, Mère Marie

Khomyakov, Dostoevsky,Solov’ev, In Search of Synthesis,
Four 1929 Works
By E.Skobtsova (Mother Maria)

Our present four writings written in 1929 by Mother Maria, however, seem not to have been reprinted in Russian since their original publication, and hence remain largely inaccessible for even the Russian reader. In 1929, the Skobtsova works on Khomyakov, Dostoevsky and Vl. Solov’ev were published by Paris YMСA Press in three small separate booklets; the chronological order of their appearance is not evident, perhaps simultaneous. Skobtsova’s article «In Search of Synthesis» [«В поисках синтеза»] appeared in the № 16 (May) issue of Journal Put’, c. 49-68.In the 1980’s, both the Khomyakov and Vl. Solov’ev booklets were still available from the Paris YMCA Press (Editions Reunis), which the present translator had the good fortune to order and purchase. A photocopy of the Dostoevsky booklet was kindly provided by N. Shapiro of Princeton University Library; the Journal Put’ article likewise by E. Silk of the St. Vladimir Seminary Library. As initially mentioned, this present English translation languished for 20 years collecting dust since 1996-1997. And it is doubly ironic, then, that in the following year 1998, the Moscow Patriarchate consolidated the entire corpus of Journal’s Put’ onto a single CD-Rom (priced at $100 US, impossible for a then Russian), and moreover kept this priceless treasure a closely guarded secret from the world. It is now no longer available. The present translator managed to purchase his legitimate copy back then, through channels. The 1990’s were an unsettled time for Russia; hopefully perhaps, the Moscow Church can be persuaded to remedy this oversight…

Translated by Fr S.JANOS
Frsj Publications, USA
frsj@xecu.net