Testament of Memory 9780884651840 cover image

Testament of Memory

A Siberian Life

By Mikhail ChevalkovTranslated by John Warden

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Description

“My children!  I am giving you these writings of mine describing my life as a testament that you may work harder for God than I worked for Him…” 

The author, a native Altai tribesman, Father Mikhail Chevalkov, was a man of great moral courage and integrity.  He was one of the first native disciples of the Russian Orthodox missionary priest Makarii (Glukharev), glorified as a saint in 2000 AD.   In this simple yet profound narrative, the  reader travels with Chevalkov, through his life as we learn of his conversion, his struggle for literacy,  the care shown to  his family, and his numerous encounters with pagan tribes.  Chevalkov created the written Altai language as he  translated church service  books  and  religious songs, as well as allegorical poems, parables and maxims. This memoir will enrapture the reader with its directness and beauty whilst also providing invaluable insights for students of  Christian mission, ethnography,  and geography.

Additional information

Dimensions 127 × 178 in
Author Name

Mikhail Chevalkov
Format

BC
Publication Date

20110401
Imprint

Pages

168
Publisher

Translator

John Warden
Language

English
Book Dimensions

178 × 127 mm × 13 mm
Format Detail

Paperback

Author Biography

Mikhail Chevalkov was a man of great moral courage and integrity. He was a pioneer both in his missionary work and in the establishment of the Altai language as a vehicle for literature. Chevalkov was illiterate until his late teens, when he largely taught himself Russian, yet he became an invaluable translator to the missionaries and to the orientalists who studied his people in the 1860s. He served as a deacon and priest; his work and travels as a missionary took him all over the region. His translations in the Altai language of the Bible, prayer books, religious songs, and service books were published in the 1840s. He became well known beyond the Altai but never lost his humility and modesty.

Dr. John Warden, lives in Staffordshire, U.K. He was formerly lecturer in Russian and Soviet Studies at the University of Coventry in central England.

Contents

Introduction
1. A Journey Begins  

  •  Awakening to God
  •  The Wisdom of Father Macarios
  •  A New Home

2. Interpreter of Faith

  •  On Missionary Roads
  •  Baptism of Tiban
  • Prayers Answered by St Nicholas
  • Pagan Ways

3. Raising Voices and Hearts to   God

  •  A Women’s Monastery
  •  Russian Emissary to China
  •  Baptizing among the Yurts
  •  Miracles Never Cease
  •  The Baptism of the People of  Ak-Korymsk

4. Admonitions to My Children

  •  To My Children and Their Descendants
  •  The Long Arm
  • My Children!

Index

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