On September 30th, 1999, in the 93rd year of his life, academician Dimitry Sergeevitch Likhachev, a great Russian figure accurately described as the conscience of thinking Russia, departed this temporal life. A few years ago, while he was visiting Washington on a cultural exchange program, we had the honor of meeting him and becoming close to him. He spoke in our parish hall and answered numerous questions.
Academician Likhachev gave his last interview to Moscow News. Here are some excerpts:
Q. Dimitry Sergeevich, arranging an interview with you was quite complicated: Japanese television records, discussions, meetings…How do you stand such an intense work schedule?
It is not work, but simply meetings. I am happy to do something for others, if my advice or opinion about this or that question is of use to someone. I must confess that I sometimes doubt that I can resolve a situation, but if in our current and complicated circumstances my participation, even if only in the form of a signature, gives someone hope, I am compelled to respond. Sometimes, it brings results. For example, they succeeded in lobbying for an apartment for the curator of Pushkin’s manuscripts. She lived in Gatchina, in a communal apartment without even a phone. And since so much with respect to the preservation and study of Pushkin’s manuscripts depended upon her, I consider this assistance not as a worldly matter, but as a cultural one.
Q. You are of the same age as this century, you have lived with it your entire life. What current tendencies trouble you?
Bitterness and the decline of culture throughout the world. Pushkin was right, it is the “iron age.” It is a callous age based on calculation, an age of the decline of culture. The decline took place gradually. Sometimes it seemed that some negative manifestations were not long-term, that they would not influence the essence of our life, but everything became more complicated and deeper. Just as putrefactive bacteria penetrate living tissue and destroy it, so these processes have had extremely serious consequences Now it is obvious that the victorious progress of mankind does not exist; it is a fantasy. To some extent, even progress has an adverse effect. Compared to a sailboat, a steamer represents some kind of progress, but, forgive me for saying so, a submarine represents the decline of culture, for its invention neither gave anything good to mankind, nor will it do so. I am saddened by people’s primitive understanding of personal gain. Man occupies himself with acquiring millions; yet his money gives him nothing, and does not morally satisfy him. It saddens me that these millions have not reached those in need - in the schools, hospitals, scientific institutes, where they would have been of far more service and would have done far more good.
Q. What do you see as the solution?
In upbringing, upbringing with an educational slant. We must do everything possible to save the younger generation from a lack of spirituality and from moral decline. But unfortunately, the reverse is still taking place. Toward the end of the age, in Russia there have appeared thousands of homeless children, a phenomenon well known to me. In the 1920s, on our street there lived these same types of boys, dwelling in asphalt kettles, hiding in attics and cellars.
Q. What do you consider to be the event of the era in Russia?
The burial of the relics of the Royal Family. The century began in Russia with unspeakable evil, the execution of the Tsar [and Tsarina], their children, and their servants, without so much as the semblance of a trial. And the fact that at the end of the age, we recognized this and repented of it, begs to be included in a primer to instruct our descendants. The age began with murder, and ends with the burial of the victims. This is an event of a moral nature, which unquestionably will affect the future fate of Russia.
Q. In what way?
In a mystical way. As the grain which fell onto the prepared ground will certainly rise up. Moreover, the turning point in our attitude to monarchist power, the assessment of the role of individuals in history, would elevate us…
Q. Whom would you consider the most distinguished personality of the 20th century?
I cannot answer that question. There are many people I simply do not know. There are simple people, unknown to anyone, who change the lives of those around them, who help others, and serve the good. The world is maintained by them.
Q. Later in the interview, Dimitry Sergeevitch spoke of spiritual and cultural processes…
It is mostly those who live in large cities that do not notice these processes. In the provinces, this is all the more readily apparent. Here, for example, is the town of Myshkin on the Volga. There, the administration is headed by a cultured person. There is an excellent library where lectures are given, where they celebrate the anniversaries of Russian authors, where there are small exhibitions, where they publish a remarkable journal of local history. In Myshkin, it is forbidden to build structures of brick. The buildings are exclusively of wood, so as not to change the traditional appearance of the town. An ordinary policeman and his brother built a wooden church dedicated to St. Anastasia the Looser of Knots, who brings about reconciliation to everyone. I very much love Yaroslavl, where there is an excellent art gallery is the center of its cultural life, where there are excellent young scholars engaged in scientific studies. They are kind, remarkable people of good will. So Moscow and St. Petersburg have absolutely no reason to turn up their noses. I feel a greater kinship to those who do not consider themselves better than others, but who inconspicuously but conscientiously go about their work.
Q. Dimitry Sergeevitch, you spoke of the decline of culture, but you see much that is positive in contemporary life. Is there still hope, in spite of our being in the “iron age?”
I cannot say that it is “in spite of.” These are parallel movements. On the one hand, the decline of culture, on the other, its rise. I can even see powerful currents going side by side, as in a rainbow, and sometime merging. Good is poured into some type of mass of a different color. There is a bifurcation, a “disturbance” in the color, as one flows into another, and this is life. Life is diversity. If diversity appears, it will certainly be followed by a personality.
Life. Life is diversity. If diversity appears, it will certainly be followed by a personality.