On the imitation of Christ: 4 books of Thomas à Kempis

“On the Imitation of Jesus Christ” by Thomas a à Kempis, martyr Mikhail Novoselov About the beauty of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) The book “On the Imitation of Christ” has gained worldwide fame, and there is no end to its readers. Its first printed edition appeared in 1470 in Augsburg; in the 15th century this book already had at least 80 editions. From the beginning of the 16th century to the present day, there are approximately 10,000 editions of “Imitation” in different languages. Not all readers are looking for the same thing in this book, not everyone loves the same things about it, not everyone starts it and leaves it with the same idea about it. For others, this book is precious solely in that it satisfies religious feelings and edifies spiritually; others, reading it in the spirit of piety and feeding on the idea, at the same time enjoy its external expression, satisfying the poetic mood of the soul. And indeed, this book is filled with sacred poetry; every page in it breathes, so to speak, with the lyrical delight of a believing soul: everywhere in it one can hear a solemn song about God, about eternity and about the fate of man. In works of this kind it is almost impossible to separate content from form, and in “The Imitation of Christ” this inseparability of form and content is especially noticeable. The style of "Imitation", of course, is far from the grace that distinguished the language of classical Roman literature: in this respect it does not stand up to criticism. But this syllable also has special qualities that attract the reader to it: it seems to reflect the sincerity of the thought and the fervor of the feeling that it served as an expression, despite the construction of the phrase, which will seem barbaric to a learned critic. The reader finds special expressiveness and naivety in this syllable when he picks up a book in order to follow the author’s thoughts and, together with him, rise to the height of inflamed feeling. It was desirable for the Russian translator to convey, if possible, similar qualities of Russian speech in his translation, while at the same time retaining the exact meaning of each word and each phrase. To what extent he managed to get closer to fulfilling his task - readers will judge. The original text of the book “On the Imitation of Christ” was repeatedly corrected using new copies. The present translation was made from the Berlin edition of Dekker of 1862 and corrected in this edition according to the text of the original manuscript of “Imitations”, recently examined in the Brussels Library and published in 1874 by the German scientist Karl Hirsch 1 . After debates that have continued for a long time and have given rise to a huge literature about who is the true author of the Imitation of Christ, it seems that we should accept as final the conclusion made by Hirsch that Thomas a à Kempis, whom many had hitherto considered only a copyist of the creation, according to the manuscript of 1441, is at the same time its true author. Giersche comes to this conclusion on the basis of the most thorough external and internal study of the text of the manuscript. The most detailed comparison of the text with other undoubted works of Thomas à Kempis has shown that it uses the same spelling features that constitute the distinctive feature of Thomas à Kempis everywhere, and the same punctuation marks that he used everywhere to guide reading and to indicate connections between phrases. With the help of these signs, Hirshe discovered a special, very remarkable rhythmic or musical structure of an entire work, written in measured periods, many of which end in rhyme, and a whole system of punctuation that was supposed to maintain this structure for the ear, in reading. Extreme opinions are often expressed about this book. Some assign it the significance of a holy book, placing it on a par with the paternal writings; others speak of it as a work imbued with the spirit of the Western Church and unsafe to read. It is not surprising that the extremity of the book’s admirers was caused by the other extreme of its detractors. The book “On the Imitation of Christ”, without a doubt, does not have ecclesiastical authority among us, if we look at it from a dogmatic point of view: but, along with it, there are many books that do not have dogmatic authority, but, nevertheless, constitute favorite reading among simple and pious people. The creation of Thomas a à Kempis attracts us especially with the spirit of ardent love that is spread throughout it. In addition, on every page, in every chapter of this book, there is one main thought that will never cease to arouse consonance in hearts that have been tested by life and are seeking in eternity a solution to the questions that have been shattered in their life without receiving an answer in it. This main idea of ​​“Imitation” is the thought of the vanity and vanity of human desires and affairs. But the word “vanity,” which the sages repeat from century to century, is not pronounced by everyone in the same sense, and does not lead everyone to the same end. How much self-delusion can there be in this thought, how much dryness of soul can there be in this word, when the soul stops at it and closes itself off from the whole world in a feeling of selfishness?! But this thought leads the author of “Imitation” to God, and therefore, on every page of the book, the sighs of his soul, disappointed with life, merge with an animated, often enthusiastic song to God. This is the reason why the book “On the Imitation of Christ” has not ceased and will not cease to attract readers who are especially tested and burdened by life. Perhaps many, when approaching it, are looking not so much for teaching as for consolation - in the midst of everyday sadness, inspiration - in the midst of everyday vanity and despondency, and they love it because they found both in it. Publications by this scientist: 1. Prolegomena zu einer neuen Ausgabe der Imitation nach dem Autograph. I-r B. Berl. 1873. 522 pp. 2. Thomae Kempensis de Imitatione Christi. Ed. Hirsche. Berl. 1874–3. Imitation de Jesus Christ. Reproduction en facsimile du manuscrit autographe. Leipzig. 1879. You might be interested in: