The Restorational Faith of Leo N Tolstoy

Russia's most greatest of authors, Leon Tolstoy’s story is that of a bourgeoisie who has amassed riches but felt worthless to the point of melancholia.

Rather than ending it, all he restored a Christianity that was similar to the practices of the Doukhabors, who were Russian peasants who rejected the Orthodox Church priests, icons, and associated church ritual. As well, they rejected the tyranny and oppression of the Russian Czarist government.

Both Tolstoy and the Quakers helped pay the Doukhobors' passage across the Atlantic Ocean circa 1899. Some of them immigrated to Canada.

Sadly though, the Doukhobors ended up being persecuted by BC Premier W.A.C. Bennett, due to their unwillingness to be assimilated into Canadian culture.

Yet Leon N Tolstoy’s Christianity is also a restored Christianity that is practised without the doctrines and dogma of the Orthodox Church from which he had apostatized.

In 1882, Tolstoy first published his four-part series on his faith under the title of A Confession. Originally titled An Introduction to a Criticism of Dogmatic Theology, this series also consisted of "A Criticism of Dogmatic Theology", "The Four Gospels Harmonized and Translated" — the inspiration for "The Gospel in Brief" — and "What I Believe" which was also published in English as "My Religion" and "My Faith".

Because of the Russian Orthodox Church's censorship, the series was banned from publication, being censored in the Russian journal Russian Thought, No 5. So it was later published in Geneva in 1884, and again in Russia in 1906 in the Russian journal World Bulletin 1.

In 1887 it was translated, published and copyrighted by Thomas Y Crowell & Co.

Tolstoy’s restorational faith is expressed in the Introduction to his book, The Kingdom of God is Within You: Christianity Not as a Mystic Religion But as a New Theory of Life. Being restorational in nature, this book should be studied by intellectuals of restorational churches such as the LDS.

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References:

Doukhobor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doukhobor

Leo Tolstoy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy

The Angels That Understand (Their Place in A Man's World) (Satire)

In 2003 tATu came out to the world by kissing after singing "All the Things She Said."

This video (above) was a promo for reality show "t.A.T.u. Under The Heaven" which came out in 2008.

After twelve years of existence, which is a long time for two young teenagers named Julian Volkova and Lena Katina, they grew up working as the girl group since 1999 and it went on hiatus in 2011.

However, the sexism inherent in Russian society is also contained in this short clip from six years ago.

Here is how the reality show "t.A.T.u. Under the Heaven" was introduced to the world:

Лучшее качество девочек — покорность.
Девочкам запрещается проявлять физическую силу.
Они не имеют права заниматься боевыми искусствами и брать в руки оружие.
Когда девочек бьют, они не должны стонать и жаловаться на боль.

The best quality in girls is obedience.
Girls are forbidden from expressing physical strength.
They do not have the right to engage in martial arts or hold weapons.
When girls are beaten they must not make any noise or complain about the pain.

It is apparent that this reality show was the last chance to grab more fame from controversy before moving on.

Back in 2004, both Julia and Lena came out and said they were coached by their manager to pretend to be lesbian to appeal to the world.

Given the power and influence of the Russian Orthodox Church, it is doubtful they were ever lesbian. This was a gimmick by their manager using the forbidden to appeal both domestically and globally. Both women are heterosexual, though Julia is consider to be bisexual due to her admission that she "still likes boys and girls".

When t.A.T.u was disbanded in 2011 with the previous seven years under scrutiny, including their proposed "Show Me Love" tour in the UK which canceled due to poor ticket sales in 2002, both women launched solo careers. It turned out the poor tickets sales was due to a parental advisory based on the belief that the girls' sexual image were inappropriate.

Having gone solo since 2008, Julia Volkova created her genre Sex Rock, and both Lena and her were based in LA for a bit but often return to Russia for tATu gigs and promos for their brands. Later Julia based herself in Moscow.

After breaking up Lena has admitted going to a shrink to recover from the 12 years of performing in tATu. I can't blame her.

In 2012 Lena moved to LA to reboot her career.

After Lena was being managed by Tristam Buckley from 2012 to 2013, the Tatu management team returned. Buckley helped reboot Lena's solo career which had gone down the tubes due to mismanagement in the year since t.A.T.u officially went into hiatus in 2011.

In 2013 Buckley sued for his share of the t.A.T.u. pie.

As of now, the new t.A.T.u, which began in December 2012, consists of small concerts they do and also product endorsement. However, the concerts they do ares not the biggest part of their lives due to being solo artists.

They also have their own lives to live. Julia has two kids from two relationships and converted to Islam because her second boyfriend is a Persian-Russian businessman, and Lena just got married in 2013 to a Russian musician.

Because the old t.A.T.u. concerts were a part of grueling tours, I can certainly understand why they are reluctant to dedicate all of their time to t.A.T.u.

Their solo careers have only begun.

As far as genre goes, Julia does Europop, Pop and Rock. Lena is definitely Rock.

However, these two angels of tATu will never be forgotten. These angels that understood their place in a man's world live on.

After Putin approved the anti-gay law, which forbids the practice of homosexuality in public, Rolling Stones Russia interviewed Lena Katina. During the interview they shared three bottles of wine. Lena jokingly admits to being an alcoholic. However, drinking is a big part of Russian culture along with big parties during birthdays and holidays, even on weekends.

Lena admits to not being particularly interested in politics back in Moscow, and loves the fact that American television filters out most of the "demonstrations, arrests, fights with the Special Purpose Mobile Unit" happening back home.

While she was not in touch with Julia after she moved back to Moscow almost two years before this interview, she's fine with that. As well, she holds no grudge against Ivan, the man who created t.A.T.u. and their fey-gay persona while performing.

Even though the lesbianism was all an act, I got the feeling after reading the interview, that to them, t.A.T.u was just as much performance art as it was a musical act.

Indeed, I am pretty sure it is the same with Pussy Riot, who may have inspired Putin to sign the anti-gay law due to the fact that none of the members of that musical act had boyfriends because they were ardent feminists too busy with their political performance art. It would be interesting for Rolling Stones Russia to interview Pussy Riot and ask them if t.A.T.u. inspired them in some way, too.

When asked if she and Julia would return to t.A.T.u., Lena denied it, saying that both she and Julia are very much into their solo careers. However, she never flat out said "Never."

As well, she described how Ivan had once took them to a drug den after the fame had gone to his head. Nothing like this shocked Lena Katina, who claims Ivan considered her to be the "conscience" of t.A.T.u. Such goings-on merely made her a little sad. In fact, she once fantasized becoming a famous psychotherapist who would counsel drug addicts for a living.

Well, after her beauty fades in her 40s and she becomes another dumpy babushka, Lena Katina the music star could become Elena Katina the psychotherapist in a world-famous rehab clinic for celebrities who want to kick their drugs habits.

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Reference:

tATu tumblr fansite, blog post for January 17, 2014: http://ta-tu.tumblr.com/post/73629164053

t.A.T.u. v Podnebesnoi (promo 4) for reality show "t.A.T.u. Under The Heaven" circa 2008:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia7zN4eym1E

T.A.T.u : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.A.T.u.

Julia Volkova: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yulia_Volkova

Lena Katina: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena Katina

t.A.T.u sued: http://www.tmz.com/2013/06/09/tatu-lena-katina-manager-lawsuit/

2012 interview of t.A.T.u: http://www.muumuse.com/2012/11/10-years-in-the-wrong-lane-an-interview-with-t-a-t-u.html/

Rolling Stones Russia interview: http://www.lenakatina.nl/rolling-stone.php

All You Need is Love, Russia! (satire)

Originally the Bolsheviks were supported by Great Britain until the atrocities Stalin did woke them up to the crypto-facist violence underlying the Communist facade of the Soviet Union.

Because of the dictatorship of the Communist state in Russia, one cannot call this a truly Communist nation, but rather a legitimate criminal enterprise organized along political lines in order to gain international prestige which stole from the rich and poor without discretion, and shared it only with their cronies.

What Russia was at that time was a State-controlled capitalism based on Communist ideals. Yet it was greatly supported by its fellow member states in the UN due to the short-sightedness caused by adhering to Communist ideology rather than treating its people with respect.

At the root of the Soviet era was the centuries of Orthodox Church domination through the Czar who reign was legitimized by support of and by the Church.

Indeed, the Orthodoxy also legitimizes Putin's and all leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States since the Soviet Union fell.

As well, Russia has been influenced by talks between the Orthodoxy, Bavaria's Christian Democrats and possibly America's New Apostolic Reformation with regard to their anti-homosexual law.

It seems that the oligarchs of Russia run their corrupt government with the same brand of autocracy as in their former Soviet days, with the military acting like the largest mafiya in the world, unwilling to share power with its minorities and willing to reframe the notion of freedom fighters as terrorists, despite the fact that in the Commonwealth of Independent States, your freedom is compromised by corruption and the Church.

As well, there is no distinction between Russia mafiya and the military since they are essential cogs in the Russia political machinery.

Apart from the politics and the religion, Russians are friendly and wonderful people.

That they are so willing to remain complacent due to the autocratic nature of their government makes Russians especially hardy under adversity.

Sadly though, because the Orthodoxy still influences the government, Russia will remain a corrupt State because autocracies like it depend on the complacency of its people in order to better exercise absolute power.

What is the point of the Russian people revolting when their disaffected youth can enjoy the decadent freedom of being Neo-Nazis and act as the youth arm of oppression against immigrants and homosexuals with criticism by the Church falling on deaf ears?

What kind of criticism might the Russian Orthodox Church declare? "Stop abusing your Nana! Instead displace your anger that was kindled as a spoiled child by your mother on the homosexuals, for they are lowering the morals of Mother Russia."

What good is a revolution now when the aftermath of the original revolution trampled over the rights and freedoms of intellectuals?

It is much better to remain complacent and be ever compliant to the demands of the State in Russia, lest a would-be oligarch hire the Russian mafiya, or better yet influence a certain Russian general, to correct your "conduct unbecoming a citizen of Russia."

People of Russia, I love you more than I love your government. Please steal the unconditional love your Orthodox Church has shared with you and other minor religions of your Commonwealth and sell your love to today's new Moors: The Chechens! For the true threat to you are the Neo-Nazis!

I'll tell you a little secret about Russian history: Russia is a nation of immigrants, for Slavs have been dominated by Vikings, Greeks, Huns, Goths, Mongols, and the Ottomans. Now only Turkey remains, its immigrants scaring your Nana as much as a Chechen martyr might by bombing a theatre in Moscow..

Yet I ask you to embrace the immigrants out of unconditional love, because your love for Putin and his alliance with the Neo-Nazis will come to no good. His recent anti-homosexual law only shows how closely tied Putin is to the Church. For he is only currying favor with Russian Christendom in order to control the Russian people through threats and intimidation if you are immigrant or homosexual.

God forbid you are both!

For all you need is love, just like John wrote.