This is a
parable written by the post-conversion pacificistic Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) when he was becoming estranged
from the Russian Orthodox Church because of its sanctioning the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8. In 1901 he was excommunicated by the Church. His response was to write his own version of the gospels and to respond to questions about his
religion with the rhyming (in Russian) aphorism "God and I, we are friends. I don''t need religion" ("Bog i ya, my druzya. Mne ne nuzhna religiya") In his story, "The Three Old Men," a powerful Archbishop is traveling with his retinue on a ship in the far north''s White Sea. From three different people on the ship, the Archbishop hears about three old men who live a solitary but "holy" existence on a remote island. Curious, the Archbishop insists that the ship''s captain alter course to visit the island. Rowed ashore, the Archbishop encounters a trio of wizened and impoverished white-bearded men. He asks them how they pray, and they answer: "We merely say to the Lord, ''Three are we, Three are ye, Have ye mercy upon us''." The Archbishop condescends to teach the three old men the Lord''s Prayer, and, impressed with the Archbishop''s apparent piety, the old men repeat it over and over, trying to commit it to memory. Satisfied with himself, the Archbishop returns to the ship and the ship sails away. But then something dark against the sky is sighted in the distance. It is moving over the water toward the ship. As it approaches, it is distinguished to be the group of three old men, soaring in unison without wings over the surface of the water so as to catch the ship. They come alongside and say to the stunned Archbishop: "We tried and tried to learn that prayer you taught us, but as soon as you left we forgot it. Can you teach it to us again?" From this the Archbishop learned a lesson about true piety and man''s relationship to God.