Otitis

The creator of new ways of therapy is Pyotr Andreevich Kupriyanov. Petr Andreevich Kupriyanov - chief surgeon of the front Kupriyanov Petr Andreevich General Lieutenant of the Medical Service

Lieutenant General of the Medical Service, Professor, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR, Hero of Socialist Labor, Full Member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, laureate of the Lenin Prize and the Prize named after. N.N. Burdenko. Chairman of the All-Union Society of Surgeons of the USSR. Honorary Chairman of the Pirogov Surgical Society. Honorary Chairman of the Cardiological Society named after G.F. Langa. Member of the editorial boards of the journals "Breast Surgery", "Surgery" and "Bulletin of Surgery". Member of the Board of the International Society of Surgeons. Member of the Board of the European Society of Cardiovascular vascular surgeons. Member of the Board of the All-Russian Society of Surgeons of the RSFSR. Member of the editorial board of the Great Medical Encyclopedia.

He headed the department and clinic of advanced training surgery for doctors from 1943 to 1963. (now a cardiology clinic vascular surgery named after Academician P.A. Kupriyanov Military Medical Academy). Participant of the First World War (1915-1917), the Soviet-Finnish (1939-1940) and the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). In the last two he was the chief surgeon of the Front. Author of the creation of special hospitals: chest, stomach, head, limbs. He substantiated and implemented many installations for military field surgery that were used in the Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

Mastered and implemented in clinical practice many operations on the heart, lungs, mediastinum, esophagus. For the first time (1954) he used hypothermia during heart surgery.

For the first time in the USSR (in 1958), he created the Department of Anesthesiology, and introduced endotracheal anesthesia and muscle relaxants into practice.

Literature:

1. Diaghilev V. Ya., “Surgeon Kupriyanov”, L., 1961;

2. Shevchenko Yu. L., Nemchenko V. I. "P. A. Kupriyanov - surgeon and scientist", Surgery, 1993, No. 4, pp. 87-90;

3. Shevchenko Yu. L., Nemchenko V. I. “100th anniversary of the surgeon P. A. Kupriyanov”, Bulletin of Surgery named after. Grekova, 1993 No. 5/6, pp. 147-150;

4. Nechaev E. A., Shevchenko Yu. L., Nemchenko V. I. “Kupriyanov is an outstanding surgeon of our time,” VMG, 1993, No. 2, pp. 66-69.

, Russian Empire

Famous students B. V. Petrovsky, I. S. Kolesnikov, V. I. Burakovsky, A. P. Kolesov, M. S. Girgolav, V. I. Kolesov, M. N. Anichkov, S. L. Libov, S. A. Gadzhiev

Pyotr Andreevich Kupriyanov(January 27 [February 8], St. Petersburg - March 13, Leningrad) - Soviet surgeon, academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1944), lieutenant general of the medical service (1945). Laureate of the Lenin Prize (1960), Hero of Socialist Labor ().

Biography

Kupriyanov's grave at the Bogoslovskoye Cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Since 1918 - teacher, then privat-docent Military Medical Academy. In 1921 he defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic: “ Surgical anatomy outer base of the skull. Since 1924 - senior resident, head of the surgical department of the Leningrad District Clinical Military Hospital named after. Z. P. Solovyova. At the same time, in 1934-1938, he was deputy head of the hospital surgery clinic of the Military Medical Academy, headed by Professor S. S. Girgolav. In 1938-1941 - chief surgeon LVO.

At the same time, since 1926 - a teacher, since 1930 - professor, head of the department of operative surgery and topographic anatomy, then - department Faculty of Surgery(until 1949).

In 1943-1963 - professor, head of the newly created department of faculty surgery No. 2 (later - the department of surgery for advanced training of doctors) Military Medical Academy named after S. M. Kirov.

In 1958, on the initiative of P. A. Kupriyanov, the first department of anesthesiology in the USSR was created on the basis of the clinic, which he headed until the end of his life.

In 1944-1950 - vice-president of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

He was elected chairman of the All-Union Society of Surgeons of the USSR, honorary chairman of the Pirogov Surgical Society and the G. F. Lang Cardiological Society. Member of the boards of the International Society of Surgeons, the European Society of Cardiovascular Surgeons, and the All-Russian Society of Surgeons of the RSFSR.

He was a member of the editorial boards of the journals “Breast Surgery”, “Surgery”, “Bulletin of Surgery”; Great Medical Encyclopedia.

Video on the topic

Scientific activities

He studied the problems of operative, thoracic and military field surgery. Editor of the section “Chest Wounds” of the work “The Experience of Soviet Medicine in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”, editor and author of a number of sections of the “Atlas” gunshot wounds"(in 10 volumes, 1945-1955).

In 1953, he was the first in Leningrad (and the second in the country after A.N. Bakulev) to perform ligation of the patent ductus arteriosus, elimination of pulmonary artery stenosis, and coarctation of the aorta. In the same year, he performed the first closed mitral commissurotomy for rheumatic stenosis.

On June 19, 1959, he was the first in the USSR to begin operations involving opening the cavities of the heart (surgery on a “dry” heart).

Author of more than 360 scientific works in the field of operative surgery, military field surgery, chest and abdominal surgery, cardiac surgery, anesthesiology, resuscitation, clinical physiology and others. Trained 25 doctors and 38 candidates of science.

Selected works

Contemporary issues thoracic surgery, [Speech...], L., 1954
Short course military field surgery, M., 1942;
Atlas of gunshot wounds, vol. 1-10, [L.], 1946-55;
Purulent diseases of the pleura and lungs, L., 1955.
Kupriyanov P. A. Surgical treatment of chronic purulent diseases lungs // Surgery. - 1952. - No. 8.
Kupriyanov P. A. Experience surgical treatment heart defects // Bulletin of surgery named after. Grekova. - 1955. - T. 76, No. 9.
Kuprianov P. A. La sindrome cardiorespiratoria in corso di pneumatorace aperto // Minerva medica. - Torino, 1955. - Vol. 46, no. 57-58. - P. 177-81.
Kupriyanov P. A. et al. The problem of artificial hypothermia in heart surgery // Clinical medicine. - 1956. - № 10 .

KUPRIYANOV ALEXEY ANATOLYEVICH www.advocat.apparel.ru/ Both male and female, I am a merchant. The Kupriyanovs traded in fodder (2nd guild); the house on Ulyanovskaya has been preserved. They were railway and weaving engineers. Close surnames are ZINOVIEVS, OGNYANOVS, SPIRINS (the latter lived in Ostozhenka in the house where Gerasim from “Mu-Mu” lived). In Soviet times there were a lot of builders. Many, like my grandfather ALEXEY SERGEEVICH KUPRIYANOV (+1944), died in the camps. In the male line, TIKTINERS (timber trade, 1st guild, “supplier to the court of His Imperial Majesty”), KOGAN, SHKLOVSKY. After the revolution, mainly lawyers and doctors. Famous story- my great-uncle saved Moscow from the plague in 1934? year. Saved at the cost of his life. Many died in camps and at the front. In 1941, there were 4 men in my father’s family. In 1945, only my 16-year-old father remained, TIKTINER ANATOLY ABRAMOVICH, a well-known builder in Moscow (housing and control center for the USSR submarine fleet). His two older brothers died in Belarus and at Stalingrad. LEO received the first order in 1941, when they were almost never given. YURI was also awarded twice. Both were wounded multiple times. Grandfather ABRAM died of typhus. You can write endlessly. There is information about relatives right up to the swift boyar Ivan the Terrible SABUROV. My great-great-grandmother was SABUROVA.

P. A. Kupriyanov was born in 1893 in St. Petersburg. As a student at the Military Medical Academy, in 1915 he was sent to the active army, where he served as a resident of the division infirmary and a doctor of the artillery brigade. After the Great October Socialist Revolution, he joined the Red Army, with which he was inextricably linked throughout his life.

Having graduated with honors from the Military Medical Academy in 1918, P. A. Kupriyanov was left as a teacher in the department of operative surgery and topographic anatomy, headed at that time by a prominent anatomist and surgeon, Prof. V. N. Shevkunenko. At the same time, he worked in academic surgical clinics headed by professors V. A. Oppel and S. P. Fedorov.

Having gone through such a wonderful school, Pyotr Andreevich developed as a clinician of broad erudition. IN everyday communication With these outstanding domestic scientists, his medical talent grew and strengthened. In 1921, he defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic “Surgical anatomy of the external base of the skull.” It presented the results of studies of surgical options for surgical interventions in this difficult to reach area.

In 1930, P.A. Kupriyanov received the title of professor and was confirmed as head of the department of operative surgery and topographic anatomy of the First Leningrad Medical Institute.

At the same time, he was appointed consultant surgeon at the Leningrad District Military Hospital.

During the Soviet-Finnish military conflict in 1939-1940. P. A. Kupriyanov, leading the work of our surgeons, organizes the provision of specialized surgical care wounded.

The bright talent of P.A. Kupriyanov, an organizer of military health care and an excellent surgeon, especially manifested itself during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. Being the chief surgeon of the North-Western direction, and then the Leningrad Front, he personally conducted large number complex surgical interventions, often working without sleep or rest. In the difficult conditions of besieged Leningrad, he devoted all his strength to quickly returning the wounded to duty and creating a network of specialized institutions.

From 1944 until the end of his life (“1963”) P. A. Kupriyanov headed the faculty surgical clinic of the S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy, which he created, and from 1944 to 1949 he simultaneously headed the department of faculty surgery 1 Leningrad Medical Institute.

P. A. Kupriyanov left a multifaceted and very rich scientific heritage. He published over 200 scientific papers, including a number of fundamental monographs on various problems of surgery. All scientific works of P. A. Kupriyanov can be divided into two main areas: works on military field surgery and works of a clinical nature.

Among the works of the first direction should be called “A Short Course in Military Field Surgery” (together with S. I. Banaitis), “Atlas of Gunshot Wounds” (together with I. S. Kolesnikov), “Breast Wounds” (vol. 9 in “Experience” Soviet medicine in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"), which served as important milestones in the formation and development of Soviet military field surgical doctrine.

P. A. Kupriyanov’s interest in the problems of military field surgery manifested itself in his early works devoted to the treatment of gunshot wounds. In the 1930s, based on peacetime materials, good results when suturing wounds with a primary blind suture. Many surgeons proposed transferring it to military field surgery, considering it one of the best ways surgical treatment of wounds. However, P. A. Kupriyanov, at the XXIII All-Union Congress of Surgeons, held in Leningrad in 1935, made a report “Step-by-stage treatment of injuries,” in which he argued the inappropriateness of using a primary blind suture and recommended primary surgical treatment of gunshot wounds without suturing them. At that time it was a refusal the latest achievements surgical science, but life has fully confirmed the validity of the views of P. A. Kupriyanov. A clear illustration of this was the experience acquired by our medical service in the battles at Lake Khasan and on the Khalkhin Gol River.

The experience of surgeons during the Soviet-Finnish military conflict, as well as in the first year of the Great Patriotic War, was summarized by him in famous works published in 1942 (“A Short Course in Military Field Surgery” and “Treatment of Wounds in War”). The manual on military field surgery, created together with S.I. Banaitis, became a reference book for Soviet surgeons during the Great Patriotic War. It has not lost its significance even today.

Important role in the conditions of blockaded Leningrad, there were works by P. A. Kupriyanov, which showed the influence of violations general nutrition on the course of gunshot wounds, as well as the connection between various complications of wounds and vitamin deficiencies.

A significant place in his scientific works of this period is occupied by works devoted to gunshot wounds to the chest. He summarized his vast experience in the surgical treatment of chest wounds in his fundamental work “Breast Wounds” (“The Experience of Soviet Medicine in the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945”).

Scientific works P. A. Kupriyanova, making up the second direction, reflect the diverse and current problems modern surgery, which testifies to the multilateral surgical interests of the author and the wealth of his clinical experience. They clearly reflect the problems of heart surgery and great vessels, lungs, esophagus, pain relief problems, etc.

IN post-war period P. A. Kupriyanov continues to tirelessly and fruitfully develop the problems of thoracic surgery. In 1944, Pyotr Andreevich created and headed the faculty surgical clinic of the Military Medical Academy named after. S. M. Kirova (now surgical clinic for the improvement of doctors No. 1), where, along with the training of highly qualified surgeons, the improvement of diagnostics continues surgical diseases, technology surgical interventions. P. A. Kupriyanov pays great attention to research external respiration in patients with diseases of the lungs and heart, separate testing of pulmonary function, oxygen therapy, etc. He proposed and tested for the first time many special tools for performing operations on the breast organs.

Pyotr Andreevich did a lot for the development of domestic science of pain relief. Along with development theoretical foundations anesthesiology, he made every effort to establish it organizationally. On his initiative in 1958 at the Military Medical Academy named after. S. M. Kirov created the country's first independent department of anesthesiology, which became a good base for training qualified anesthesiologists for civilian and military medical institutions.

The merits of P. A. Kupriyanov in the development and implementation are invaluable surgical methods treatment of diseases of the heart and great vessels. Under his leadership, the most important methods of closed surgical treatment of heart disease were mastered: mitral commissurotomy, ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus, surgical treatment stenosis of the pulmonary artery and aorta, bypass anastomoses with tetralogy of Fallot, etc.

In a short period of time, the clinic he led became one of the largest cardiac surgery centers.

One of the methods that expanded the possibilities cardiovascular surgery, is artificial hypothermia. P. A. Kupriyanov was the first in our country to perform surgery on a “dry” heart under conditions of hypothermia, and he approached the study of hypothermia as a major general biological problem. The progress of cardiovascular surgery in the 60s dictated the need to develop and introduce the method of extracorporeal circulation into clinical practice. The merits of P. A. Kupriyanov in this regard are also very significant. In 1962, the monograph “Artificial circulation in surgery of the heart and great vessels” was published, which was the result of the enormous work of the team led by P. A. Kupriyanov.

For a number of years, Pyotr Andreevich paid great attention to aortic surgery. In the clinic he led, vascular plastic methods using prostheses made of synthetic materials were widely used. He took an active part in the development current issues medical electronics and cybernetics, the creation of new advanced diagnostic devices and various samples medical equipment. The best recognition of his services in the development of surgery of the heart and great vessels was the awarding of the Lenin Prize to him in 1960.

P. A. Kupriyanov trained and united a large team of highly qualified surgeons and anesthesiologists. Many of his students work in hospitals and civilian medical institutions in various parts of our Motherland. He was a brilliant teacher. His lectures were characterized by emotionality and excitement; he knew how to, as they say, breathe fire into them. But, perhaps, the most important thing about them was that previously familiar topics revealed something new and unusual. Pyotr Andreevich knew how to control the audience well, he did not teach, but told, and skillfully led the listeners themselves to conclusions. His speeches at congresses, conferences, and symposiums always attracted the attention of the audience.

Under the leadership of P. A. Kupriyanov, 16 doctoral and more than 30 candidate dissertations were defended. He created a wonderful school of surgeons, including prominent representatives of modern clinical surgery: A. P. Kolesov, V. I. Kolesov, V. I. Burakovsky, M. S. Grigoriev, S. L. Libov, M. N. Anichkov, S. A. Gadzhiev, etc.

Extensive social activities P. A. Kupriyanova. He was an honorary member and then honorary chairman of the Pirogov Surgical Society, chairman of the All-Union Society of Surgeons, and a member of the Czechoslovak and Polish Surgical Societies. P. A. Kupriyanov actively collaborated in various central journals. He was repeatedly elected to district and city Councils of People's Deputies.

For services to the Motherland, P. A. Kupriyanov was awarded the high title of Hero of Socialist Labor, awarded three Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and many medals.

Human high culture, exceptionally purposeful and tireless, who had wide fame and enormous authority in the country, P. A. Kupriyanov was surprisingly friendly to everyone who surrounded him.

This is how he will remain forever in the history of Soviet surgery.

Notable students:

Biography

In 1911 he entered the Imperial Military Medical Academy. After the 4th year he was released as an ordinary doctor and from May 1915 to December 1917 he served as a resident of the division infirmary and as a doctor of an artillery brigade on the fronts of the First World War. In 1918 he graduated with honors from the Military Medical Academy.

Since 1918 - teacher, then private assistant professor at the Military Medical Academy. In 1921 he defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic: “Surgical anatomy of the external base of the skull.” Since 1924 - senior resident, head of the surgical department of the Leningrad District Clinical Military Hospital named after. Z. P. Solovyova. At the same time, in 1934-1938, he was deputy head of the hospital surgery clinic of the Military Medical Academy, headed by Professor S. S. Girgolav. In 1938-1941 - chief surgeon of the Leningrad Military District.

At the same time, since 1926 - a teacher, since 1930 - a professor, head of the department of operative surgery and topographic anatomy, then - the department of faculty surgery (until 1949).

In 1958, on the initiative of P. A. Kupriyanov, the first department of anesthesiology in the USSR was created on the basis of the clinic, which he headed until the end of his life.

In 1944-1950 - vice-president of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.

He was a member of the editorial boards of the journals “Breast Surgery”, “Surgery”, “Bulletin of Surgery”; Great Medical Encyclopedia.

Scientific activities

On June 19, 1959, he was the first in the USSR to begin operations involving opening the cavities of the heart (surgery on a “dry” heart).

Author of more than 360 scientific papers in the field of operative surgery, military surgery, chest and abdominal surgery, cardiac surgery, anesthesiology, resuscitation, clinical physiology, etc. Trained 25 doctors and 38 candidates of science.

Selected works

Modern problems of thoracic surgery, [Rech...], L., 1954
Short course of military field surgery, M., 1942;
Atlas of gunshot wounds, vol. 1-10, [L.], 1946-55;
Purulent diseases of the pleura and lungs, L., 1955.
Kupriyanov P. A. Surgical treatment of chronic purulent lung diseases // Surgery. - 1952. - No. 8.
Kupriyanov P. A. Experience in surgical treatment of heart defects // Bulletin of Surgery named after. Grekova. - 1955. - T. 76, No. 9.
Kuprianov P. A. La sindrome cardiorespiratoria in corso di pneumatorace aperto // Minerva medica. - Torino, 1955. - Vol. 46, no. 57-58. - P. 177-81.
Kupriyanov P. A. et al. The problem of artificial hypothermia in heart surgery // Clinical Medicine. - 1956. - No. 10.

Awards

four Orders of the Red Banner
Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree
medals
Lenin Prize (1960) - for work on cardiovascular surgery
Prize named after N. N. Burdenko
Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (September 3, 1942)

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Notes

Excerpt characterizing Kupriyanov, Pyotr Andreevich

“Why not wash your face, it’s not clean,” said Prince Andrei; – on the contrary, we must try to make our life as pleasant as possible. I live and it’s not my fault, so I need to live until death somehow better, without interfering with anyone.
– But what motivates you to live with such thoughts? You will sit motionless, doing nothing...
– Life doesn’t leave you alone anyway. I would be glad to do nothing, but, on the one hand, the nobility here awarded me the honor of being elected leader: I got away with violence. They could not understand that I did not have what was needed, that I did not have that well-known good-natured and concerned vulgarity that was needed for this. Then there was this house that had to be built in order to have our own corner where we could be calm. Now the militia.
– Why don’t you serve in the army?
- After Austerlitz! - Prince Andrey said gloomily. - No; I humbly thank you, I promised myself that I would not serve in the active Russian army. And I wouldn’t, if Bonaparte had stood here, near Smolensk, threatening the Bald Mountains, and then I wouldn’t have served in the Russian army. Well, that’s what I told you,” Prince Andrei continued, calming down. - Now the militia, father is the commander-in-chief of the 3rd district, and the only way for me to get rid of service is to be with him.
- So you are serving?
- I serve. – He was silent for a moment.
- So why do you serve?
- But why? My father is one of the most remarkable people of his century. But he is getting old, and he is not only cruel, but he is too active. He is terrible for his habit of unlimited power, and now this power given by the Sovereign to the commander-in-chief over the militia. If I had been two hours late two weeks ago, he would have hanged the protocol officer in Yukhnov,” said Prince Andrei with a smile; - this is how I serve because no one except me has influence on my father, and in some places I will save him from an act from which he would suffer later.
- Oh, well, you see!
“Yes, mais ce n"est pas comme vous l"entendez, [but this is not the way you understand it],” continued Prince Andrei. “I did not and do not wish the slightest good to this bastard protocol officer who stole some boots from the militia; I would even be very pleased to see him hanged, but I feel sorry for my father, that is, again for myself.
Prince Andrei became more and more animated. His eyes sparkled feverishly as he tried to prove to Pierre that his actions never contained a desire for good to his neighbor.
“Well, you want to free the peasants,” he continued. - This is very good; but not for you (you, I think, did not detect anyone and did not send them to Siberia), and even less for the peasants. If they are beaten, flogged, sent to Siberia, then I think that it is no worse for them. In Siberia he leads the same bestial life, and the scars on his body will heal, and he is as happy as he was before. And this is necessary for those people who are perishing morally, making repentance for themselves, suppressing this repentance and becoming rude because they have the opportunity to execute right or wrong. This is who I feel sorry for, and for whom I would like to free the peasants. You may not have seen it, but I saw how good people, brought up in these traditions of unlimited power, over the years, when they become more irritable, become cruel, rude, they know it, cannot resist and become more and more unhappy. “Prince Andrei said this with such enthusiasm that Pierre involuntarily thought that these thoughts were suggested to Andrei by his father. He didn't answer him.
- So this is who I feel sorry for - human dignity, peace of conscience, purity, and not their backs and foreheads, which, no matter how much you cut, no matter how much you shave, will still remain the same backs and foreheads.
“No, no, and a thousand times no, I will never agree with you,” said Pierre.

In the evening, Prince Andrei and Pierre got into a carriage and drove to Bald Mountains. Prince Andrei, looking at Pierre, occasionally broke the silence with speeches that proved that he was in a good mood.
He told him, pointing to the fields, about his economic improvements.
Pierre was gloomily silent, answering in monosyllables, and seemed lost in his thoughts.
Pierre thought that Prince Andrei was unhappy, that he was mistaken, that he did not know the true light, and that Pierre should come to his aid, enlighten him and lift him up. But as soon as Pierre figured out how and what he would say, he had a presentiment that Prince Andrei with one word, one argument would destroy everything in his teaching, and he was afraid to start, afraid to expose his beloved shrine to the possibility of ridicule.
“No, why do you think,” Pierre suddenly began, lowering his head and taking on the appearance of a butting bull, why do you think so? You shouldn't think like that.
- What am I thinking about? – Prince Andrei asked in surprise.
– About life, about the purpose of a person. It can't be. I thought the same thing and it saved me, you know what? Freemasonry No, don't smile. Freemasonry is not a religious, not a ritual sect, as I thought, but Freemasonry is the best, the only expression of the best, eternal sides of humanity. - And he began to explain Freemasonry to Prince Andrey, as he understood it.
He said that Freemasonry is the teaching of Christianity, freed from state and religious shackles; teachings of equality, brotherhood and love.
– Only our holy brotherhood has real meaning in life; “everything else is a dream,” said Pierre. “You understand, my friend, that outside of this union everything is full of lies and untruths, and I agree with you that the smart and good man there is nothing left to do but live out your life like you, trying only not to interfere with others. But assimilate our basic beliefs, join our brotherhood, give yourself to us, let us guide you, and now you will feel, as I did, part of this huge, invisible chain, the beginning of which is hidden in the heavens, said Pierre.
Prince Andrey, silently, looking ahead, listened to Pierre's speech. Several times, unable to hear from the noise of the stroller, he repeated the unheard words from Pierre. By the special sparkle that lit up in the eyes of Prince Andrei, and by his silence, Pierre saw that his words were not in vain, that Prince Andrei would not interrupt him and would not laugh at his words.
They arrived at a flooded river, which they had to cross by ferry. While the carriage and horses were being installed, they went to the ferry.
Prince Andrei, leaning on the railing, silently looked along the flood glittering from the setting sun.
- Well, what do you think about this? - asked Pierre, - why are you silent?
– What do I think? I listened to you. “It’s all true,” said Prince Andrei. “But you say: join our brotherhood, and we will show you the purpose of life and the purpose of man, and the laws that govern the world.” Who are we, people? Why do you know everything? Why am I the only one who doesn’t see what you see? You see the kingdom of goodness and truth on earth, but I don’t see it.
Pierre interrupted him. – Do you believe in a future life? – he asked.
- To the future life? – Prince Andrei repeated, but Pierre did not give him time to answer and took this repetition as a denial, especially since he knew Prince Andrei’s previous atheistic beliefs.
– You say that you cannot see the kingdom of goodness and truth on earth. And I have not seen him and he cannot be seen if we look at our life as the end of everything. On earth, precisely on this earth (Pierre pointed in the field), there is no truth - everything is lies and evil; but in the world, in the whole world, there is a kingdom of truth, and we are now children of the earth, and forever children of the whole world. Don't I feel in my soul that I am part of this huge, harmonious whole. Don’t I feel that I am in this huge number of beings in which the Divinity is manifested - higher power, as you wish, that I constitute one link, one step from lower beings to higher ones. If I see, clearly see this staircase that leads from a plant to a person, then why should I assume that this staircase breaks with me, and does not lead further and further. I feel that not only can I not disappear, just as nothing disappears in the world, but that I will always be and always have been. I feel that besides me there are spirits living above me and that there is truth in this world.
“Yes, this is Herder’s teaching,” said Prince Andrei, “but that, my soul, is not what convinces me, but life and death, that’s what convinces me.” What is convincing is that you see a being dear to you, who is connected with you, before whom you were guilty and hoped to justify yourself (Prince Andrei’s voice trembled and turned away) and suddenly this creature suffers, is tormented and ceases to be... Why? It cannot be that there is no answer! And I believe that he is... That’s what convinces, that’s what convinced me,” said Prince Andrei.
“Well, yes, well,” said Pierre, “isn’t that what I’m saying!”