About the book: 1995 / I. Kallinikov's novel "Relics" is compiled from three separately published books by the author in the 20s after the 1917 revolution. In it, the author depicted with frank authenticity the life and everyday life of one of the monasteries during the period of its decomposition on the eve of the revolutionary unrest. In Soviet Russia, the novel was declared pornographic, sharply criticized, almost never published, and in the end was banned. Soviet criticism declared the novel pornography and a counter-revolutionary libel, the church milieu took up arms against Kallinikov, and the book was ordered to be removed from all libraries. Despite the negative attacks coming from his homeland, the writer managed to publish “Relics” in 1930 in a German publishing house. The novel was first published in Russian, then translated into German, and a little later into other languages, becoming world famous. Foreign critics praised him for his “exceptional life truth and vividness of presentation.” The book was able to return to our country only after 1991. Important for the creation of this work was the author’s experience of contact with the monastic environment in which Kalliniki grew up. In his autobiography, he wrote: “Since childhood, in the morning on the choir, in the altar, at graves with my grandfather, singing requiem services. After lunch, clear the paths and take care of the trees. Every path, grave, lilac bush, bird cherry tree, pears and apples from the cemetery in autumn is familiar and dear...” The underside of monastic life, which by no means always fit into church postulates, could not escape the attention of the observant teenager. After all, monks are the same ordinary people, with their own passions and temptations of carnal life. It is these passions and vices of monastic life that the author talks about in the novel. A striking example of the decline of morality is the novice Nikolka, whose main character traits are cold calculation, greed and cruelty. His only desires are to get rich and climb higher on the social ladder. To achieve his goals, he uses the kind and naive Fenichka Grakina, a merchant’s daughter, whom he lies about love and only wants to seduce in order to get her family’s capital. Nikolka achieves her goals and becomes the abbot of the monastery, but this does not change him for the better. Fenichka, having gone through lies, hypocrisy and humiliation as a novice, still retains her spiritual purity. Thus, “Relics” is a book about love and betrayal, about eternal spiritual aspiration and endless spiritual searches.18 + The ending of the novel, which was not published in the USSR - Volume 4, story nine, “The Cave of Fire” (Berlin, 1930) - at this time edition not included