The Cadet Monastery. The One-Idea Man

An audiobook based on Nikolai Leskov’s story “Cadet Monastery” reveals the worldview of the Russian person—with its distinctive strength, faith, compassion, and spirituality. “We have never lacked the righteous—and we will never lack them,” Leskov is convinced. The work by the Russian classic is devoted to the problems of “moral valor” during the “stale” times, which were upheld by example by “service people” and educators of the First St. Petersburg Cadet Corps. The author’s memories of studying there formed the basis of the story.

Alexander Ryzhov had one passion. He kept a sort of diary, in which he wrote down biblical quotations and his own reflections on life. Whenever something important happened—an act of nature, the coronation of the ruler, the appearance of a new law—Ryzhov recorded it in a large notebook, adding his own commentary. As the notebooks filled up, he stitched them together into a single cover, with a meaningful inscription on it: “One-Minded.” No one knew what was hidden in that book, so to the people around it seemed not only mysterious, but also seditious. With the book’s appearance, he received the nickname One-Minded, and it stuck to him for the rest of his life.

Ryzhov’s diary, titled “One-Minded.”