Nadezhda Borisovna Smirnova is an Orthodox writer. Nadezhda Smirnova: I want to be sincere with the reader. Do you have literary idols?

Members of the Club of Orthodox Book Lovers and other townspeople had an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with the contemporary Orthodox writer Nadezhda Smirnova. Meetings with her took place on November 26 and 27 in the Art Hall of the Library. Vladimir Mayakovsky.

The writer has twice been to Diveevo, and came to Sarov for the first time - at the invitation of our townswoman Larisa Ivanova, whose initiative was supported by the library. As the meeting participants admitted, before Nadezhda Smirnova's arrival in Sarov, they did not know her work, although many of her books were winners of literary prizes. Until recently, the works of the writer, whose favorite genre is the story, were published by the Humility publishing house, and the last book, I have returned, Lord! has already been issued by the large secular publishing house EKSMO.

Nadezhda Borisovna spoke about herself and her work. She comes from the small town of Masalsk in the Kaluga region. She graduated from the Pedagogical Institute with a degree in history, later received a second degree, mastered the profession of a psychologist. And this knowledge helps her write, study documents, communicate with people. The stories are born from real life stories that she learns from people, even from short acquaintances and conversations, for example, in a train compartment. She has been writing for a long time, collaborated with the magazines "Winter Cherry", "Liza" and others. Even then, she created stories with a moral component, rejecting the publishers' order "on the topic of the day" - sex, murder. And Orthodoxy entered her life recently, after a serious illness in 2005, when her faith, which had been largely superficial, became deeper.

According to the writer, she wants to be sincere with the reader, not to lie. She always tries to study as deeply as possible what she writes about. For example, the need to write about the youth of her hero in Poland (the story "Stepanov's bread") led her to a trip to this (99% Catholic) country, where she managed to visit a unique place, an island of Orthodoxy - the holy mountain of Grabarka. It is called the mountain of a thousand crosses. This is the only place in the world where crosses are placed for the living and not for the dead.

The heroes of Nadezhda Smirnova's stories are real "little" people, socially unprotected. It can be the homeless, and residents of nursing homes, and alcoholics, and old people left by children in an abandoned village ... The theme of soldiers of the Great Patriotic War also deeply touches the writer. The hero of one such story was our fellow countryman Kirill Gavrilovich Kuzmin, who died near Moscow in the direction of Warsaw in the so-called "valley of death", where, according to official data, 18 thousand soldiers died. The medallion with his name was unearthed by the guys from the military-patriotic club, who are engaged in the reburial of the remains of fallen soldiers.

Nadezhda Smirnova also writes about saints. One of her books is dedicated to St. Kuksha, thanks to which a vast territory of ancient Russia was baptized into the Orthodox faith. When asked if she could write about St. Serafima, Nadezhda Borisovna replied that this topic was very interesting to her.

The meeting on November 27 was attended by readers who could find excerpts from Nadezhda Smirnova's stories on the Internet and get to know them. And some of them bought her books the day before and managed to “swallow” them overnight. People thanked, shared their impressions, asked questions, did not let the writer go for a long time. Everyone was very glad to meet Nadezhda Smirnova and invited her to come to Sarov again, to bring her new books.

The next day, the writer met with the sixth-graders of the Sarov Orthodox Gymnasium. She read to them excerpts from her works and analyzed the compositions of the children themselves.

A year ago, on the feast day of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, the famous Kaluga writer Nadezhda Borisovna Smirnova passed away to the Lord. For many years, the books of this author were published in numerous editions in the capital's publishing houses, while in their homeland, i.e. in the Kaluga region, she was almost unknown. Meanwhile, almost all of Nadezhda Borisovna's works are devoted specifically to her native Kaluga land, because, as the writer herself said, she (that is, the land) has "such a rich and varied history." Many novels and stories by Nadezhda Smirnova are already familiar to our readers. And today we offer another of her books, which was the last in her literary works. The book was published by the publishing house Humility and is called - "My favorite stories."

“Without God, it’s not up to the threshold” - this is how you can define the main idea of ​​​​the works of Nadezhda Borisovna Smirnova, who for a long time was one of the regular authors of the Moscow Orthodox publishing house “Humility”. Her stories are true stories from the life of our contemporaries, ordinary people, those who live next to us. They, just like us, rejoice and grieve, make mistakes, offend, and sometimes they themselves suffer from injustice. It is sometimes difficult for them to take some steps or make decisions, it is hard to live without a rudder and sails, without faith in God. Having passed certain life tests, they understand that everything is surmountable if the Lord is near.

As the publishers note, the reality surrounding us constantly confronts us with many tasks that cannot be correctly comprehended and solved without help from above, but we continue to believe only in ourselves, trying on our own to create our own illusory world that seems to us paradise. But “the eighth thousand years already,” St. Theophan the Recluse tells us, “how the peace-loving people are exhausted in the means to arrange a paradise on earth, and not only there is no success, on the contrary, everything is going to the worse.” And then one day we suddenly realize that the carefully built house of cards called “life” has crumbled. And then the question arises: is it possible today, in the age of colossal economic opportunities and unprecedented technological progress in all spheres of life, to do without turning to God?

In her works, Nadezhda Borisovna again and again tells about the difficult fate of ordinary people - our contemporaries, unsuccessfully trying to build their lives outside the church, beyond the threshold of the holy temple. And only the realization of the futility of these attempts makes them take the first timid steps towards God. On specific examples of modern life, the author examines the pressing issues of faith and its ever-increasing influence on the everyday life of a person. According to the publishers, the stories of Nadezhda Smirnova are, as a rule, instructive in nature, and the conclusions that the reader draws follow from an unbiased analysis of the lives of people who are not rooted in the faith - the main characters of this or that book. The narrative of each story is imbued with Christian love for all "unlucky heroes" and a deep belief in the need for a broad churching of the Russian people.

In one of the books about her journey to the temple, Nadezhda Borisovna told the following: “It so happened that my childhood, youth and most of my maturity passed without faith in God. I, like other children of the Soviet era, was a pioneer, famously saluted, standing in the guard of honor at the monument to Lenin, then joined the Komsomol, actively promoting the ideas that the whole country lived at that time. Equality, brotherhood, freedom and ... godlessness. Such concepts as religion and church simply did not exist for us, the then Komsomol members and pioneers. Now I'm even scared to write these lines, but then terry atheism was in the order of things. We were brought up this way from early childhood, instilling that God is nothing but the hero of an ancient Slavic epic. We took these words on faith, not imagining that in our country there are people who think in a completely different way, people who compare their every step not according to communist clocks, but according to the Laws of God. And they simply do not imagine another life for themselves.

The road to the temple, to faith... It is different for everyone. These words, which became true and acquired a new meaning in the late 80s of the last century for many Russians, made the author think too. What is faith? Is there a meaning to life without faith? And why? There were many of these “whys”, and Nadezhda Borisovna could not always find an answer to them. “Why did I end up outside the Church,” she asked herself. Why didn’t the Lord lead me to faith earlier, why did I live, as I thought, well and happily, but it turned out to be meaningless, sinful and scary? It's scary, because in my godless insensitivity I have become a robot, a puppet in the hands of a machine called the state. And this machine sculpted me in its own image and likeness, trying to erase from my memory the origins - Orthodoxy. It’s scary, because I didn’t even try to resist her, and after the pioneer tie I put on a Komsomol badge on my chest, proudly marched under red banners at rallies and demonstrations, not realizing that I was getting further and further from God.

These words of the author are probably familiar to many of us, the same former pioneers and Komsomol members. But, as you know, “the soul of every person is by nature a Christian. Without God, she is sad and cold. And it is important to catch this desire for Christ in yourself in time, so as not to let your soul perish in the pursuit of fun at drunken parties or in useless activities. Realize that life, which seemed real until now, is just a mirage, in the captivity of which your soul toiled. Thus, once a bell rang in the soul of Nadezhda Smirnova, calling to stop, think and go in a completely different direction. At first, his ringing was timid, but gradually it sounded louder and louder, and, as the author writes, she “understood: you need to change something in your life before it’s too late. The soul was torn somewhere, rushing about, rejecting the imaginary pleasures so generously supplied by this world.

And only “crossing the threshold of the temple, Nadezhda Borisovna, along with anxiety and excitement, felt an unusual, amazing grace. From the walls, the dark faces of the saints looked at her, the candles crackled softly. The priest uttered unfamiliar words of the service, and she wanted to cry with happiness, because she had found what she was looking for. Namely - the true faith and the meaning of later life. Then there were difficulties, temptations, a terrible illness, but the author overcame all this with the help of God. And then came true stories that tell about the various paths that lead people to God. And books began to appear: “Beyond the Gates of the Temple”, “Touch My Heart, Lord”, “Holy Spring”, “The Secret of the Old Psalter” and others.

The new, and now the last, collection of Nadezhda Borisovna - "My Favorite Stories" - is composed of works written in different periods of the writer's work. The sequence of their location was determined by the author herself. Some stories have already been awarded prizes, others are completely new, but they are all united by a common theme, the author's sincere love for Russia and people living in different parts of our country: whether it is a remote outback or a big city. As before, the characters in Nadezhda Smirnova's stories are ordinary, simple people that we encounter on a daily basis. They, at times, live hard, often make mistakes, stumble, fall into despondency and despair, but in the end, the faith and hope they have gained allows them to understand and rethink a lot in their lives, and most importantly, not to pass by the helping hand extended by the Lord, Who is Love itself.

Once, at the presentation of Nadezhda Smirnova's books, Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk said the following about her works: “This is not theological literature - these are stories, stories, and the person who reads them gets the understanding that it is necessary to turn to God. It is impossible to live without God. It shows the fate of people who, in the end, having gone through trials, came to God.” The publishers of the book are talking about it too. They note that the stories of Nadezhda Borisovna bring light and hope, allow you to think, decide for yourself the most important thing, look into your soul, perhaps cry with bright cleansing tears. Such a life-affirming meaning permeated all the work of the Orthodox writer, deservedly loved by many readers.

On April 1, our parish was visited by a guest - the writer Nadezhda Borisovna Smirnova from the Kaluga region. She has been traveling around the country with performances for a long time and her books are published in thousands of copies. In January 2015, she was awarded the order of the Russian branch of the Peace Foundation. And for the work “Beyond the gates of the temple. Confessions of a Lonely Soul" the writer was awarded the national award "Best Publishing Book of 2010".

Many of her stories are familiar to readers and have long been loved by them. These are the books “Dunyashina Easter”, “I have returned, Lord”, “Stepanov's bread”, “Holy spring”. "Gift of the Queen of Heaven", "Indian Summer", "Green Trinity", "War and Faith" and others. The heroes of her stories are people with a difficult fate, who face questions about choosing a life path. Spiritual quests make them change, look at the world around them with different eyes, and be stricter about their own actions.

Based on the stories of N.B. Smirnova shot several films and cartoons. Her speeches were made in the assembly hall of the Sunday school of the parish, in the comprehensive Bilyar school, in the central library of the settlement. Alekseevskoe, in the House of Culture of the village of Kurkul, at the Alekseevskaya School of Arts. Its listeners were parishioners and employees of the church, students and teachers of schools, members of the society of veterans, disabled people and internationalists of the region. Librarians and readers. Everyone wanted to hear a clever, kind word, from which good fruits should grow.

Before leaving, Nadezhda Borisovna left the following review in the Book of Honored Guests: “The Lord granted me to visit your village and your amazing temple. In addition, He filled my heart with joy and warmth from meeting people who serve God so zealously. My deepest gratitude to everyone. I want to wish you Easter joy, burning, God's help, as well as faith, hope and love. With the hope of new meetings, the Orthodox writer N.B. Smirnov.
We wish our guest further creative success!

On June 21, the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church held a meeting with the writer Nadezhda Borisovna Smirnova, who writes in the genre of Orthodox prose. At the meeting, there was also a presentation of her books - “Touch my heart, Lord”, “Beyond the gates of the temple. Confession of a lonely soul”, “Stepanov bread”.

Opening the meeting, Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsk Kliment admitted that, having become acquainted with Nadezhda Smirnova and her books, he met a good, kind person and discovered a new name for himself in modern Russian literature.

Unfortunately , Literature today does not often please us with thoughtful, serious works about our country, our troubles and joys, about the path to faith and God. It is all the more gratifying that sometimes new authors appear with kind, good books about what is important for all of us. One of these authors is Nadezhda Smirnova.

Nadezhda Borisovna lives and works in the small town of Mosalsk, Kaluga Region, which, according to her, is one of those places thanks to which "our Russia has always grown in high spirituality and morality." Nadezhda Smirnova herself was brought up on such rich and wonderful spiritual and moral traditions. Maybe that's why she is so close and familiar with the life of the Russian hinterland and a simple Russian person with all its joys and sorrows. It is easier and easier to write about joys, but how to write about troubles, suffering, human passions? And is it even necessary? Nadezhda Smirnova believes that this is simply necessary: ​​“I am not indifferent to the fate of our society and our country. That is why I raise moral questions in my works.”

What is Nadezhda Smirnova talking about? Who is the hero of her books? Oddly enough, these are the most unfortunate people in our modern society - the homeless, the poor, orphans, the elderly. It is them, according to the author of the books, that we “often throw out of life and from the family. We are accustomed to despise and repulse them. However, they all require our sympathy, attention and prayer.” Nadezhda Smirnova sees the reason for such an attitude towards her neighbor in the fact that “we are infected with lack of spirituality and immorality. Our hearts have ceased to be kind, hardened. We no longer feel sorry for each other, which has never been characteristic of Russians. Thus, we break away from the traditions and culture of our people.” The author is also concerned about the spiritual life of the person himself - the hero of her books. This is most clearly reflected in the story "Where does the stream run?". This is the story of a female teacher who is forgotten and abandoned by society, but at the same time, she herself is struck by a heavy passion - alcoholism. With this work, the author tries to convey to the reader the idea that each person should be attentive to his spiritual and moral state. On the basis of such an attentive attitude of each person to himself, a healthy society is formed.

There is another topic that excites the author - the topic of the younger generation. According to Nadezhda Smirnova, “modern youth today are increasingly asking: who am I? Why am I? Why do I live in this world? Being young is really hard. They are waiting for our help every minute.” That is why a considerable part of the author's work is devoted to this topic. In particular, the work “Stepanov Khleb” is devoted to this, the main character of which, through understanding the history of his family and country, begins to treat human life and work in his native land in a different way.

Of course, the theme of faith and a person's path to God runs through all these works. Only thanks to faith and attempts to find God in their lives, the main characters of the works of Nadezhda Smirnova receive hope for a new life. The writer is sure that "for the world to become bright and colorful, you just need to believe in the Lord, rely on His will and try to live according to His commandments."

At the end of the meeting, Nadezhda Smirnova shared her plans for the future: “I would like to hope that in the future I will not deceive the expectations of readers, because the reader buys not only the author’s skill, but also his view of the world, a view of life, which is reflected in his work ".

Sergei Milov,
author's photo