Description
Book SynopsisDrawing on multiple archives and primary sources, including secret police files and samizdat, Holy Sobriety in Modern Russia reconstructs the history of a spiritual movement that survived persecution by the Orthodox church and decades of official atheism, and still exists today. Since 1894, tens of thousands of Russians have found hope and faith through the teachings and prayers of the charismatic lay preacher and healer, Brother Ioann Churikov (18611933). Inspired by Churikov''s deep piety, miraculous healing ability, and scripture-based philosophy known as holy sobriety, the trezvennikior sober onesreclaimed their lives from the effects of alcoholism, unemployment, domestic abuse, and illness.
Page Herrlinger examines the lived religious experience and official repression of this primarily working-class community over the span of Russia''s tumultuous twentieth century, crossing overand challengingthe traditional divide between religious and secula
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Becoming "Brother Ioann": Belief, Behavior, and Image
2. An Extraordinary Man on A Sober Mission
3. Sober Brothers: Male Trezvenniki Tell their Stories
4. Sober Sister: the Voices of Trezvennitsy
5. Not in Good Faith: the Orthodox Church's Case against Brother Ioann, 1910-1914
6. An Unorthodox Conversation: An Unorthodox Conversation
7. Revolutionary Sobriet: Challenges and Opportunities, 1917-1927
8. The End of it All? The Soviet State's Campaign against the Trezvenniki
9. Promises of an Afterlife: Holy Sobriety after Brother Ioann's Death
10. Sober Truths during Late Socialism
The Past is Present
