by Amen

“Amen” by Alexey Tolstoy is a beautiful historical and philosophical story that immerses the reader in the early Christian era and explores the eternal confrontation between the flesh temptation of the pagan world and the spiritual transformation of faith. The story takes place in the 2nd century of our era. The young and noble Roman Verecund, attracted to Christian teaching, is preparing to accept baptism. However, on the way to a new spiritual birth, his former beloved — the beautiful pagan Amen. Using all of her charm, sensual beauty and exhausted philosophical arguments, she tries to bring Verecunda back to the former, full of pleasures and terrestrial joy of life. The main character is faced with a painful choice between the bright but strict ideal of spirit and the enlightening passion of flesh. Alexey Tolstoy, with poetical delicacy and realism, re-creates the atmosphere of the late Antiquity, turning the love drama into a profound philosophical thinking about the nature of the human soul, the faith and the price of true freedom. **Who to read:** Fans of the Russian classical prose of the 19th century, lovers of historical works about late Rome and early Christianity, as well as all lovers of deep psychological and moral and philosophical dramas.