The Three Hermits

"The Three Hermits" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy that explores themes of faith, simplicity, and the essence of true spirituality. The narrative follows a priest who travels to a remote island, where he discovers three hermits living a life of profound simplicity and devotion. Despite their lack of formal education and religious training, the hermits embody a deep understanding of faith through their genuine love for God. As the priest attempts to teach them the complexities of prayer, he ultimately learns that true spiritual wisdom often transcends scholarly knowledge. The story highlights the contrast between institutional religion and the pure, instinctive faith that can exist in the hearts of simple people.

• Short story

								
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for
     they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not
     ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye
     have need of, before ye ask him. (Matt. vi. 7-8.)


A bishop was sailing in a ship from Arkhángelsk to Solóvki. On this ship
there were pilgrims on their way to visit the saints. The wind was
favourable, the weather clear, and the vessel did not roll. Of the
pilgrims some were lying down, some eating, some sitting in groups, and
some talking with each other. The bishop, too, came out on deck, and
began to walk up and down on the bridge. He walked up to the prow and
saw there several men sitting together. A peasant was pointing to
something in the sea and talking, while the people listened to him. The
bishop stopped to see what the peasant was pointing at: he could see
nothing except that the sun was glistening on the water. The bishop came
nearer and began to listen. When the peasant saw the bishop, he took off
his cap and grew silent. And the people, too, when they saw the bishop,
took off their caps and saluted him.

"Do not trouble yourselves, friends," said the bishop. "I have just come
to hear what you, good man, are telling about."

"The fisherman is telling us about the hermits," said a merchant, who
was a little bolder than the rest.

"What about those hermits?" asked the bishop. He walked over to the
gunwale and sat down on a box. "Tell me, too, and I will listen. What
were you pointing at?"

"There is an island glinting there," said the peasant, pointing forward
and to the right. "On that island the hermits are living and saving
their souls."

"Where is that island?" asked the bishop.

"Please to follow my hand! There is a small cloud; below it and a little
to the left of it the island appears like a streak."

The bishop looked and looked, but only the water was rippling in the
sun, and he could not make out anything with his unaccustomed eye.

"I do not see it," he said. "What kind of hermits are living on that
island?"

"God's people," replied the peasant. "I had heard about them for a long
time, and never had any chance to see them; but two summers ago I saw
them myself."

The fisherman went on to tell how he went out to catch fish and was
driven to that island, and did not know where he was. In the morning he
walked out and came to an earth hut, and there he saw one hermit, and
then two more came out. They fed him and dried him and helped him to
mend his boat.

"What kind of people are they?" asked the bishop.

"One is small and stooping, a very old man, in an old cassock; he must
be more than a hundred years old, the gray of his beard is turning
green, and he smiles all the time, and is as bright as an angel of
heaven. The second is taller; he, too, is old, and wears a ragged
caftan; his broad gray beard is streaked yellow, and he is a powerful
man: he turned my boat around as though it were a vat, before I had a
chance to help him; he also is a cheerful man. The third man is tall;
his beard falls down to his knees and is as white as snow; he is a
gloomy man, and his brows hang over his eyes; he is all naked, and
girded only with a piece of matting."

"What did they tell you?" asked the bishop.

"They did everything mostly in silence, and spoke little to one another.
When one looked up, the others understood him. I asked the tall man how
long they had been living there. He frowned and muttered something, as
though he were angry, but the little hermit took his arm and smiled, and
the tall one grew silent. All the little hermit said was: 'Have mercy on
us,' and smiled."

While the peasant spoke, the ship came nearer to the island.

"Now you can see it plainly," said the merchant. "Please to look there,
your Reverence!" he said, pointing to the island.

The bishop looked up and really saw a black strip, which was the island.
The bishop looked at it for quite awhile, then he went away from the
prow to the stern, and walked over to the helmsman.

"What island is this that we see there?"

"That is a nameless island. There are so many of them here."

"Is it true what they say, that some hermits are saving their souls
there?"

"They say so, your Reverence, but I do not know whether it is so.
Fishermen say that they have seen them. But they frequently speak to no
purpose."

"I should like to land on that island and see the hermits," said the
bishop. "How can I do it?"

"The ship cannot land there," said the helmsman. "You can get there by a
boat, but you must ask the captain."

The captain was called out.

"I should like to see those hermits," said the bishop. "Can I not be
taken there?"

The captain began to dissuade him.

"It can be done, but it will take much time, and, I take the liberty of
informing your Reverence, it is not worth while to look at them. I have
heard people say that they were foolish old men: they understand nothing
and cannot speak, just like the fishes of the sea."

"I wish it," said the bishop. "I will pay you for the trouble, so take
me there."

It could not be helped. The sailors shifted the sails and the helmsman
turned the ship, and they sailed toward the island. A chair was brought
out for the bishop and put at the prow. He sat down and looked. All the
people gathered at the prow, and all kept looking at the island. Those
who had sharper eyes saw the rocks on the island, and they pointed to
the earth hut. And one man could make out the three hermits. The captain
brought out his spy-glass and looked through it and gave it to the
bishop.

"That's so," he said, "there, on the shore, a little to the right from
that big rock, stand three men."

The bishop looked through the glass and turned it to the right spot.
There were three men there: one tall, a second smaller, and a third a
very small man. They were standing on the shore and holding each other's
hands.

The captain walked over to the bishop, and said:

"Here, your Reverence, the ship has to stop. If you wish to go there by
all means, you will please go from here in a boat, and we will wait here
at anchor."

The hawsers were let out, the anchor dropped, the sails furled, and the
vessel jerked and shook. A boat was lowered, the oarsmen jumped into it,
and the bishop went down a ladder. He sat down on a bench in the boat,
and the oarsmen pulled at the oars and rowed toward the island. They
came near to the shore and could see clearly three men standing there: a
tall man, all naked, with a mat about his loins; the next in size, in a
tattered caftan; and the stooping old man, in an old cassock. There they
stood holding each other's hands.

The oarsmen rowed up to the shore and caught their hook in it. The
bishop stepped ashore.

The old men bowed to him. He blessed them, and they bowed lower still.
Then the bishop began to talk to them:

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