"Laurus" by Evgeny Vodolazkin, summary Automatic translate

"Laurus" is a 2012 novel written in the form of a hagiography, but deliberately subverting it from within: the speech of 15th-century characters unexpectedly incorporates modern words and expressions, and the style of a chronicle sits alongside the colloquial intonations of our time. It is the story of one man who lived under four names — a story of love, guilt, and redemption that stretches across a lifetime.

In 2013, the novel won the Big Book and Yasnaya Polyana awards, and translation rights were sold in more than twenty-four countries.

Childhood in Rukina Slobodka

Arseny was born on May 8, 1440, in Rukina Slobodka near the Kirillov Monastery — the feast day of Arseny the Great, whose name he received at baptism. When he was about eight years old, a plague decimated the village. Arseny’s father managed to take him to his grandfather, asking him to wait outside — and never came out again. His mother whispered from the dark hut: "Son, I can’t wake up anymore."

Orphaned Arseny goes to live with his grandfather, Christopher, a herbalist who lives near the cemetery fence. Christopher is a learned and eccentric man: he treats the coughing and infirm, helps with delicate "bedtime" matters, and discusses the nature of the soul and the structure of the heavenly bodies. He records everything on birch bark manuscripts — from remedies for warts to information about the life of Solomon. Arseny quickly learns to read and devours these manuscripts with the same fervor with which he rereads the Alexandria, the ancient tale of Alexander the Great’s campaigns.

A wolf that has become a companion to the grandfather and grandson on their forest walks follows them, catching discarded pieces of bread, and sleeping in the yard. One night, when the fourth member of the gang of robbers who killed the monk Nektarios breaks into the house with a knife, the wolf pounces on him and suffers several fatal blows. In the morning, he is found in a pool of blood by the stove, and the next day, he retreats into the forest to die — as animals do.

Ustina

After Christopher’s death, Arseny lives and practices medicine alone. A girl named Ustina comes to him — without property or family. He takes her into his home, and they develop a relationship that they never consummate in marriage. When Ustina becomes pregnant, Arseny hesitates to tell the priest, putting it off, fearing condemnation. Labor begins suddenly. The baby is stillborn. Ustina dies after him.

From that night on, Arseniy carries the same sentence within him: his silence killed Ustina — not the illness, but his cowardice before God. He buries her and the child and vows to live his life in her stead — praying for her, healing others, taking their sins upon himself. From that moment on, he always addresses Ustina in his thoughts — as if she were alive.

Pskov: Ustin the Fool

Arseny goes to Pskov under the name Ustin — the male form of Ustina. He doesn’t speak, lives in a cemetery, and wears rags, but still heals everyone who comes. His voice is played by the holy fool Karp — a noisy, good-natured madman who distributes other people’s kalachi (cakes) and proclaims the imminent end of the world. Together, they make an odd couple: one is silent, the other shouts for all of Pskov to hear.

In Pskov, Arseny meets Ambrogio, an Italian scholar and chronicler who keeps records of events that will occur centuries from now: he sees the future, though he doesn’t always understand what he sees. The Pskov mayor, Gabriel, asks Ambrogio to hang a lamp in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in memory of his deceased daughter, Anna.

When Carp dies, another fool, Thomas, tells Arseny: "Without Carp, your silence is meaningless. Go to the earthly Jerusalem and intercede there for Ustina with the Almighty." Arseny reveals his true name and agrees to go with Ambrogio.

The Road to Jerusalem

Posadnik Gabriel equips them for the journey. Arseny and Ambrogio travel south with pilgrims from various countries. The journey proves grueling. On the outskirts of Jerusalem, the Arab guides, in league with the Mamluks, betray the pilgrims: a Mamluk detachment surrounds them. Brother Jean of Besançon is thrown from his camel, and the horse kicks him in the head. Arseny rushes to help — and is himself struck in the head.

Despite this, the pilgrims reach Jerusalem. Arseny enters the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — the point he believes is closest to heaven. It is here that he tells everything he never told Ustina in life.

Monasticism and the last years

On the way back, Ambrogio wanders into a snowstorm and disappears. Arseny searches for him for a long time, but to no avail. He returns alone.

Arseny came to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery and took monastic vows with the name Ambrose, then the Great Schema with the name Laurus. He went to live in a forest cell by the lake. His fame as a healer spread throughout Rus’: hopeless patients were brought to him, and Laurus placed his hand on their foreheads — the illness retreated. His novice Meletius was always at his side, admitting and dismissing those who came, while the elder himself silently gazed into the fire or into the face of the sufferer.

In the flames of the hearth, Lavr sometimes sees a fair-haired boy — himself as a child. And that boy, looking into another fire, sees an old man with his hair tied back at the nape of his neck. Two ends of one life gaze at each other through the flame: the beginning and end of a journey, seamlessly united.

When Laurus dies, his body does not decay. It lies untouched for several days, and then disappears. The chronicle legend doesn’t explain this — it simply states it.