paolalizano

Christine Benagh's AN ENGLISHMAN IN THE COURT OF THE TSAR: The Spiritual Journey of Charles Sydney Gibbes is a biography of a little-known and humble figure who after instruction at Cambridge set off for Moscow, served as tutor to the Russian royal family until their murder, and spent the latter half of his life as an Orthodox priest in Britain. Gibbes is a fascinating figure, but this biography proved unsatisfying because it seems a mishmash of three separate books, none of which are all that good. The first aim of the book is the simple course of Gibbes' life, eventful enough as he lived in Russia through all the final upheavals of its monarchy, from Bloody Sunday in 1905 through World War I to the October Revolution and the doomed defence of the White army. However, Gibbes left very few records of his own thoughts and opinions of what was going on, and ultimately the bulk of the book is no more than a listing of where he was at what time, lacking what makes for great biography. The other two parts of the book are Orthodox Christian in nature, and probably won't appeal to those looking for mere biography. Benagh describes Gibbes' "spiritual journey" as the subtitle of the book claims. But Gibbes didn't actually come to the Orthodox Church until 1934, 253 pages into this book of 294. Before this point, Gibbes was either simply nonobservant of any specific religion, or he was dabbling in Eastern thought like Buddhism and Shintoism. As a result, those looking for a heartwarming convert's tale like those of Fr. Peter Guilquist or are likely to be disappointed. The other religious aim of the book is to defend the sanctity of Tsar Nicholas II and the royal family, rebutting claims that they were especially wicked tyrants who brought the Bolsheviks upon themselves. While their status as holy martyrs was controversial when the book was written, the glorification of the royal family as passion-bearers by the Russian Orthodox Church has now been recognized by world Orthodoxy and so a tract of this nature simply doesn't seem necessary.

2022-11-14 16:41