Better look this up to see how true it is: it looks like a great author gets commandeered by TSCC.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/blog/post/leo-tolstoys-thoughts-on-mormonism

I suppose one of the Three Nephites told Tolstoy about LDS.

I also find it amusing they don't mention 'War and Peace', possibly the most famous novel ever.

Yes, more famous than the Book of Mormon.

Chicken N. Backpacks Wrote:
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> I also find it amusing they don't mention 'War and
> Peace', possibly the most famous novel ever.
>
> Yes, more famous than the Book of Mormon.


Yep. Me, too.

I don't know where the Tolstoy tale came from, but it's been around for quite a while. There's a version in Legrand Richard's book "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder." That was the first place I read it. Can't remember if Richard gave a source.

Richards sat next to Tolstoy on a Lufthansa airbus piloted by Dieter Uchtdorf.

that was Elder Gene R. Cook and his travelling companion was Mick Jagger.

I would be surprised if this was true to be honest. Is there any sources outside of what TSCC says?

Andrew D. White while visiting Tolstoy recorded that “speaking of the Mormons, he remarked that no doubt two-thirds of their religion is deception, but on the whole ‘he preferred a religion that professed to have dug its sacred book out of the earth, to one which pretended that it was let down from heaven.’”

From The Life of Tolstoy: Later Years by Aylmer Maude

That sounds a bit more accurate. What a coincidence that the deception part was left out by TSCC.

I don't know if the cartoon is a rape of Tolstoy's story but if not, it isn't one of his best works. You can see the punchline coming a mile away. And it's nothing more than a sentimental cliche.

I can see why Mormons would like it.

Tolstoys views on Mormonism;

Andrew D. White while visiting Tolstoy recorded that "speaking of the Mormons, he remarked that no doubt two-thirds of their religion is deception, but on the whole 'he preferred a religion that professed to have dug its sacred book out of the earth, to one which pretended that it was let down from heaven.'
"
From The Life of Tolstoy: Later Years by Aylmer Maude

Tolstoy's letters to his friend and biographer J. C. Kenworthty: "And thus do pervert Christianity all founders & organisators of sects from the Mormons to the Salvation Army. This haste [to convert the greatest possible quantity] has always been and continues to be the great drawback to the spreading of Christianity" (July 8, 1894).
I wrote down a few things. I read both the Mormon Bible and the life of Smith and I was horrified. Yes, religion, religion proper, is the product of deception, lies for a good purpose. An illustration of this is obvious, extreme in the deception: The Life of Smith; but also other religions, religions proper, only in differing degrees.
Collected Works, L, p. 22.Jan 23, 1889

But people will say: Churches like the Quakers, Methodists, Shakers, Mormons, and in particular now, the Catholic Congregations, collect money from their members without employing the power of the state and therefore support their churches without the use of force. But this is not right: the money which has been acquired by rich individuals, and in particular, by Catholic congregations, during the course of centuries of hypnosis by money, is not a free offering made by the members of the church, but is rather the product of the crudest kind of force. Money is acquired by means of force and always is an implement of force. If a church wishes to consider itself tolerant it must be free from all monetary influences. "Freely I have received, freely give."
Concerning Religious Toleration" Collected Works, XXXIV, p. 297.

The source of alleged pro mormon statemets of Tolstoy comes from Thomas J Yates, who had talked with White.
Professor Leland A. Fetzer thinks the story is not trustworthy

"It appears in retrospect that there will never be a solution to the question of the reliability of Yates' version of his conversation with White in Ithaca in 1900. It is my opinion, however, that the great interval of time separating the sequence of events, the apparent reliance upon memory rather than written records on the part of both White and Yates, and the extravagance of the claims for Mormonism attributed to Tolstoy which completely lack confirmation from any other printed sources from the literature on Tolstoy, cast very serious doubts on the reliability of Yates' account."

"Apparently it is Yates' article which is the source of the pervasive oral tradition within Mormonism that Tolstoy had an especially favorable attitude towards Mormonism.Yates' articles also served as the major source of a recent article by Truman Madsen ("What Did Tolstoy see in Mormonism?" The New Era, 1 [March 1971], 46-49).
I regret that limitations in space make it impossible to discuss this article at length here. Madsen's article is based upon the Yates article, the Wells article, and the letter which Susa Young Gates wrote to Wells; the major source of ideas on Tolstoy's thought appears to be White's Autobiography. Madsen heavily emphasizes Tolstoy's purported predictions for Mormonism's future as reported by Yates. In addition to containing a number of factual errors,the article is characterized by an unwarranted interpretation of Tolstoy's attitude towards Mormonism which makes him out to be a far warmer advocate of Mormonism than the facts justify, I believe."

http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V06N01_15.pdf

From "On This Day in Mormon History:"

Jan 1, 1889 - Russian Author Leo Tolstoy writes in his journal,
"I got up, cut wood, it was warm, and I went to breakfast. My
thoughts were brighter. A beautiful letter from an American
woman." The "American woman" was Susa Young Gates, daughter of
Brigham Young, who also sent a copy of the Book of Mormon and a
copy of George Q. Cannon's LIFE OF JOSEPH SMITH.

Jan 23, 1889 - Russian author Leo Tolstoy writes in his diary:
"I wrote down a few things. I read both the Mormon Bible and
the life of Smith and I was horrified. Yes, religion, religion
proper, is the product of deception, lies for a good purpose.
An illustration of this is obvious, extreme in the deception:
The Life of Smith; but also other religions, religions proper,
only in differing degrees." He had been sent the Book of
Mormon and George Q. Cannon's LIFE OF JOSEPH SMITH by Susa
Young Gates, a daughter of Brigham Young.

Where the quote came from:

In 1939 a MORMON, Thomas J. Yates, writing for the Church
magazine "The Improvement Era" recalled a conversation with
journalist and author Andrew D. White in 1900 about a
conversation that White had had with Tolstoy in 1894.

So the story is third hand with 39 years between Yates'
conversation with White and Yates' tell of it in the faith-
promoting house organ of the Church, and 6 years between
White's conversation with Tolstoy and his recounting of it to
Yates.

White's printed recollections of his conversations with Tolstoy
make no mention of Tolstoy's high opinion of Mormonism.

On the other hand we have, in Tolstoy's own handwriting,
concerning Mormonism, of his description of being "horrified"
and writing of the "deception."

So, which of the two pieces of (contrary) evidence do YOU think
best represents Tolstoy's true opinion of Mormonism? A
second-hand conversation recalled by a Mormon 39 years after it
took place, or what Tolstoy wrote with his own hand?

baura Wrote:
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> So the story is third hand with 39 years between
> Yates'
> conversation with White and Yates' tell of it...

Well, that's less time than there is between the supposed events they purport to describe, and the "gospels"...

:)

After reading just now from LeGrand Richards, "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder," the interview with Dr. White, I am impressed with the humanity of both Tolstoy and Richards.

Richards' motive is to convince people to raise themselves up to a knowledge of Christ and to approach their worldly challenges and trials from an eternal point of view -- this in the context of a set of beliefs held by a new religion, which in theory embraces the whole truth. I believe the interview with White is truly characterized by Richards.

Tolstoy doesn't pretend to be an authority in contrast to Dr. White. In this interview, Tolstoy shares his musings with Dr. White regarding how marvelously an American church, which embraces the whole truth, would resolve his overarching questions regarding the plight of the common man, on Earth and in Heaven, in light of the stagnant and punishing socio-economics of his Czarist and Russian Orthodox times. Tolstoy's musings seem to have been influenced by talk of democracy, giving power to the common man, and he places hope in answers coming out of America, a land of hope in those times. Tolstoy seems to reflect influences of talk of utopian communal living for all men, whether in the LDS faith or elsewhere. His impressions of the LDS Church seem to be based upon more readings than just the Book of Mormon and the Joseph Smith Story. What do we really know about Tolstoy's study of the Church or lack thereof.

Forty-eight years ago, I said, "In his own way, Tolstoy had a testimony of the LDS Church." Whether that is true not, I wouldn't put it that same way today. I would say, "At this interview, Tolstoy was playing down, out of his league, and he scolded Dr. White, not just for his lack of knowledge about the Church, but also for his vain-glorious, sound-bite dismissal of the Church and his insensitivity to the screaming need for such an ideal church and socio-economy. It is possible the Spirit taught Tolstoy this hopeful attitude toward the Church.

Don't you love the pure grand humanity of the vastly fertile mind of Leo Tolstoy, complete with intellectual curiosity, moral complexity, generosity of heart, and strivings for integrity in light of his love for the true and perfect Jesus Christ? Elder Richards has his own version of grand humanity, not so different from that of Tolstoy. We should admire the best of these men and deny ourselves of the temptation to vain-gloriously challenge either of them. We should commend and appreciate the Church for drawing upon the works of Tolstoy for their teaching and entertainment materials.

Sail on Tolstoy fans.