"Two Old Men" ("Два старика") is a short story by

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

written in 1885. It is a religious piece that was translated to English by

Leo Wiener Leo Wiener (1862–1939) was an American historian, linguist, author and translator. Biography Wiener was born in Białystok (then in the Russian Empire), of Lithuanian Jewish origin. His father was Zalmen (Solomon) Wiener, and his mother was ...

in 1904. According to

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "eva ...

, it is the story of Efim and Elisha, two neighbors who decide to make a pilgrimage to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

before dying, "but one gets sidetracked caring for a needy family".

Publication and Commentary

The story was retold in a sermon by Benedictine monk

David Steindl-Rast Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B., (born July 12, 1926) is an American Catholic Benedictine monk, author, and lecturer. He is committed to interfaith dialogue and has dealt with the interaction between spirituality and science. Life and caree ...

, who concluded his retelling with, "Who really got to the goal of the pilgrimage?" The story is included in numerous Tolstoy collections, such as ''Twenty-Three Tales'' (1924), ''Leo Tolstoy's 20 Greatest Short Stories'' (2009), and ''Tolstoy: Tales of Courage and Conflict'' (1986).

References

External links

* Original Text *
''Two Old Men''
from RevoltLib.com *

from Marxists.org *
''Two Old Men''
from

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

Short stories by Leo Tolstoy 1885 short stories {{1880s-story-stub

Publication and Commentary

See also

References

External links