It’s the birthday of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (born in Moscow in 1821).
Dostoyevsky published his first novel — a short novel in letters called Poor Folk — in 1846, and hailed as a great new voice of Russian literature. Vissarion Belinsky, an acclaimed Russian literary critic, spoke of Dostoyevsky as the new Gogol.
Dostoyevsky was no saint, but as an Orthodox Christian he knew well the Gospel and tradition of the Church. His religious beliefs were complicated and identifiable.