"My wife and I just watched a video of Ivan at my birthday party, where he says words... He is a very kind person, very kind... I have very rarely met such people - for a person to live for everyone. Ivan has two daughters - Varya is six years old and Sasha is three years old. If there were four children, he would raise four with pleasure.
Ivan always answered everyone, despite his workload, his matches, travel, and flights. He will always answer any SMS, always congratulate everyone, not only me and my family, everyone - happy birthday... He called from anywhere in the world. He could communicate with absolutely anyone, regardless of rank - an official or just some school friend whose life was not going well“, - these words were said by Ivan’s friend Tkachenko in a conversation with a RIA Novosti correspondent. Everyone spoke well of Ivan. He was respected in the team, and how the fans loved him...
Ivan was the leader of Lokomotiv both in the locker room and on the ice. He was distinguished by his fighting qualities and unbending character. He devoted himself to Lokomotiv without reserve, giving his best in every episode. He could have missed an empty goal, but not a single person at Arena 2000 could say a bad word about him, knowing that in a second Tkachenko would be gnawing on the ice, doing everything for the success of his team.
"In our team I am ready to play in absolutely any line“- Ivan uttered these words quite recently. How many times other KHL clubs wanted to lure him away, but each time Tkachenko happily signed a new contract with his home team.
In general, Ivan Tkachenko can be called a typical representative of the Yaroslavl hockey school. And whoever you take: Galimov, Rudenko, Klyukin, Nepryaev, Kiryukhin and many others - they, of course, had talent. But how much did they have to overcome before gaining a foothold in the core of their home team? Some were forced to play for a farm club, others were sent out on loan, but none of them gave up or gave up. And, in the end, thanks to their perseverance and hard work, they became great masters.
Moreover, they put the interests of the team above personal ambitions. Others do not stay long at the Yaroslavl school. They know what a team is. Team hockey is the face of the entire Lokomotiv, from the youth school to the team of masters. It is no coincidence that many considered Ivan Tkachenko to be the face of the “railroad workers”. Looking at him, one could immediately understand what kind of team “Lokomotiv” was. He combined the best qualities of a graduate of the Yaroslavl hockey school. Although, like many of his comrades, Ivan had a hard time on the way to his main goal.
So, for example, before gaining a foothold in the core of his native team, Tkachenko managed to play for the farm clubs “Spartak” and “Torpedo”, and played in the “tower”, playing for the Tver THC and the Volga-based “Motor”. In addition, he managed to play for Neftekhimik. And only when Vladimir Vuiteka we found out what this striker is really like. True, as the Czech mentor later admitted, at first he expelled Tkachenko from the team: “ When I arrived, I didn’t know the players. There were 19 attackers. He is a newcomer, he is 20 years old. I told him: “Here you won’t make the team, play for a year in Nizhny Novgorod" He left, and then scored three goals for us in the preseason. I didn’t say anything to him that day, but three days later he was already in Yaroslavl.”
Later in Ivan’s career he won a silver medal at the 2002 World Championship as part of the Russian national team. While playing for Lokomotiv, he managed to become a two-time champion of Russia (2002, 2003), won silver twice (2008, 2009) and bronze (2005, 2011). In addition, in 2003, together with his home team, he became the silver medalist of the Continental Cup. In the 2009/10 season, Tkachenko was the captain of Lokomotiv.
This season was supposed to be his 10th in the Lokomotiv uniform...
Ivan is survived by his pregnant wife Marina and two daughters: Sasha and Varya.
He played for the fans, loved Lokomotiv in himself. Lokomotiv and Tkachenko are like a single whole. It was, is and will always be so.
17th, Vanya, you are always in our hearts.
We remember…
We ask those who knew Ivan Tkachenko to write in the comments what they consider necessary. This material, like materials about other Lokomotiv guys, will remain on the Internet forever. And every year, on September 7, we will supplement it with your stories and commemorate it with you.
"My wife and I just watched a video of Ivan at my birthday party, where he says words... He is a very kind person, very kind... I have very rarely met such people - for a person to live for everyone. Ivan has two daughters - Varya is six years old. If there were four children, he would raise four with pleasure. Ivan always answered everyone, despite his workload, his matches, travel, and flights. He always answered any SMS, congratulated everyone, not only me and my family, everyone - happy birthday... He called from anywhere in the world. He could communicate with absolutely anyone, regardless of rank - an official or just some school friend whose life was not going well.", - recalled after the tragedy,
In general, everyone spoke warmly about Ivan. And how many good things we learned about him later.
Only those closest to him knew that he was involved in charity work, fighting for the lives of children. 15 minutes before the disaster, Tkachenko made a bank transfer to the personal account of Elena Ibragimova, whose daughter Diana was being treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Ivan made all donations anonymously. For four and a half years, he transferred for these purposes 9 996 300 rubles
And how Lokomotiv fans loved him. Tkachenko was the leader of the team both in the locker room and on the ice. He was distinguished by his fighting qualities and unbending character. He devoted himself to Lokomotiv without reserve, giving his best in every episode. He could have missed an empty goal, but not a single person at Arena 2000 could say a bad word about him, knowing that in a second the guy with number 17 would be gnawing on the ice, doing everything for the team’s success. " In our team I am ready to play in absolutely any line“- said Tkachenko. How many times other KHL clubs wanted to lure him away, but each time he happily signed a new contract with his home team.
In general, Ivan can be called a typical representative of the Yaroslavl hockey school. And whoever you take: Galimova, Rudenko, Klyukina, Nepryaeva, Buta, Kiryukhina and many others - they, of course, had talent. But how much they had to overcome before gaining a foothold in the core of their native team! Some were forced to play for a farm club, others were sent on loan, but none of them gave up or gave up.
These guys put the interests of the team above personal ambitions. Others do not stay long at the Yaroslavl school. They know what a team is. Team hockey is the face of the entire Lokomotiv, from the youth school to the team of masters. It is no coincidence that many considered Tkachenko to be the face of the “railroad workers”. He combined the best qualities of a graduate of the Yaroslavl hockey school. Although, like many of his comrades, Ivan had a hard time on the way to his main goal.
For example, before gaining a foothold in the core of his native team, Tkachenko managed to play for farm clubs "
Spartak" and "Torpedo", to spin in the "tower", playing for the Tver THC and the Zavolzhsky "Motor". He spent some time in "Neftekhimik". And only under Vladimir Vuyteka we learned what this striker really is. True , at first the Czech expelled him from the team: " When I arrived, I didn’t know the players. There were 19 attackers. He is a newcomer, he is 20 years old. I told him: “You won’t make the team here, play for a year in Nizhny Novgorod.” He left, and then scored three goals for us in the preseason. I didn’t say anything to him that day, but three days later he was already in Yaroslavl".
Later in Ivan’s career he won a silver medal at the 2002 World Championship as part of the Russian national team. While playing for Lokomotiv, he managed to become a two-time champion of Russia (2002, 2003), won silver twice (2008, 2009) and bronze the same number of times (2005, 2011). In addition, in 2003, together with his home team, he became the silver medalist of the Continental Cup. In the 2009/10 season, Tkachenko was the captain of Lokomotiv.
The 2011/12 season was supposed to be his 10th in the Lokomotiv uniform...
Ivan is survived by his wife Marina and two daughters - Sasha and Varya. At the time of Ivan’s death, Marina was expecting her third child, and on January 14, 2012, she gave birth to a son, Nikolai. The boy was born weighing 3.8 kg, height 52 cm." He was so looking forward to the birth of his son, but he didn’t wait. To be honest, I get goosebumps when I remember Lokomotiv. I came to Yaroslavl from Nizhnekamsk with Vanya, I knew him very well. This is a bright person. I want his son to become the same. Or maybe better. I'm sure the guy will be raised by his father's example.", he said then Alexander Guskov.
Later in Yaroslavl, in memory of Tkachenko, a memorial plaque was installed on the house where the hockey player once lived. And in September of this year, secondary school No. 9 in Yaroslavl, where pupils of the Lokomotiv children's and youth school study, was named after him. In addition, it is known that Ivan’s parents are building a hockey school.
Ivan was a golden man and an excellent hockey player. He played for the fans, loved Lokomotiv in himself. Lokomotiv and Tkachenko are like a single whole. It was, is and will always be so. Today he would have turned only 34 years old.
We remember…
The widow of Ivan Tkachenko gave the baby a name invented by her husband
On January 14, the widow of Lokomotiv captain Ivan TKACHENKO, who died in a plane crash last September, gave birth to a son. The hockey player was waiting for this child with special excitement. But he was not destined to see the baby.
Marina and Ivan had two daughters growing up: Alexandra - now the girl is six years old, and Varvara - she is three years old. Every time the wife found herself in an interesting situation, the husband anticipated: “We will have a Ring!” However, he doted on his daughters too. During the third pregnancy, an ultrasound showed that a boy would be born. The happy father showered his wife with armfuls of flowers and presented her with a gold set with diamonds. It seemed that nothing in the world could separate this friendly family. Until that fateful flight to the match in Minsk on September 7, 2011, when the entire Yaroslavl Lokomotiv team crashed in a plane crash.
Guys, you are not dead. “You have flown to the very Major League,” the fans cried at the farewell ceremony.
Wildflowers
Ivan and Marina met when he was nine years old and she was 12, thanks to the girl’s younger brother, Sasha. He got into a fight with a future hockey star in a pioneer camp, and when he returned from his shift, he discovered that the offender lived in the next entrance of the house.
A childhood conflict resulted in a great friendship, he recalls with a smile Alexander Bokov. - When we were six years old, we shared boats in the same puddle. Then we studied at the same school, but in different classes: Vanya went to sports. We walked together and “quadrilled” the girls. Marina was looked after by older guys who had already returned from the army. Tkach always stood up for his sister if one of the guys spoke about her. And he fought for her more than once. And during my service, they came to the first visit holding hands.
At the age of 16, Tkachenko invited Marina on an official date. He came with a bouquet of wild flowers - there was no money for roses. But even when the family became wealthy, the wife was more happy with simple daisies and bells than with the most exotic flowers.Vanya loved to give gifts to his wife, says Bokov. - I always brought an original ring from each country. I bought jewelry for the birth of my daughters. I remember that Alexandra was born - and Tkach was present at the birth - he immediately presented his wife with a ring. I no longer dared to go to the birth of my youngest Varvara. And the fact that they didn’t put a stamp in the passport and didn’t have a wedding - the friend was skeptical about the papers. And he didn’t like lavish celebrations.
The couple traveled a lot around Europe, but in recent years they spent more time relaxing near Kostroma, where they bought a cottage. Vanya loved to organize picnics with lamb kebabs for his friends. Marina spoiled the company with homemade pickles and Italian dishes.Only his wife knew that Tkachenko was involved in charity work, anonymously donating large sums to children with cancer.
Vanya didn’t want to advertise it, he knew that there would be a stir,” Marina’s brother grins. - He also transferred money to churches, orphanages and simply pensioners seen in television stories. Before the fateful flight, he called the girl’s mother, who needed a complex operation, saying that he had sent her half a million rubles.
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Ivan TKACHENKO (2007) |
By the way
The other day a boy was born to the deceased coach of Lokomotiv Alexandra Karpovtseva. The son of an athlete and Diana Karpovtseva was born weighing 3500 g and 51 cm tall.
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Ivan TKACHENKO |
On September 7, 2011, a great tragedy occurred: the entire hockey team of the Lokomotiv club died in a plane crash that occurred near Yaroslavl. The plane with all the passengers on board, including a team of hockey players, crashed near the airport in Tunoshna. The unit did not even have time to gain altitude.
Every year on this day, thousands and thousands of fans, along with relatives of deceased athletes, meet at Arena 2000. At this stadium, hockey players held training camps, trained, and prepared for fights. Most of the guys were buried at Leontyevskoye Cemetery, where people also gather to remember the athletes.
One of their hockey players, who was 31 years old at the time, Ivan Tkachenko, made a money transfer of 500,000 rubles a few hours before the accident. The amount was intended for a girl suffering from acute leukemia. Diana Ibragimova was literally pulled out of the other world thanks to the amount received that day.
Ivan Tkachenko, captain of the Lokomotiv team, regularly helped sick children with certain amounts of money. As it turned out later, a decent amount of money (10 million rubles) from a certain Ivan Leonidovich was in the account of charitable organizations.
Who exactly is a good figure was revealed two weeks after the tragedy. Today on classical-news it became known that after the events of 4 years ago, the hockey player was posthumously awarded the honorary badge of children's recognition “Ladoshki”.
Ours or others'
At the cemetery where the athlete is buried, his parents (Tatyana Vladimirovna and Leonid Vladimirovich) and the wife (Marina) of the deceased often meet. For some time now, Ivan’s parents can only see their grandchildren at their son’s grave, and then, as they say, with one eye.
Marina gave birth to three children to Ivan: Alexandra (10 years old), Varvara (7 years old), Nikolai (3 years old). Ivan was never able to see his son, although he always dreamed of a boy. When his wife was expecting a baby, the hockey player said, “This time we’ll definitely have Kolya!” However, Kolya appeared only 4 months after the funeral of the captain of the hockey team.
“We have never held our only grandson,” Vanya’s father says bitterly. “As soon as we are in sight of Marina and the children, she tries to leave as quickly as possible, taking her grandchildren away, as if we were complete strangers. We managed to tinker with our older granddaughters, but we never had a chance to play with Kolenka. We miss our grandchildren madly, because this is all that Tatyana and I have left of our son.”
The discord between Ivan Tkachenko’s parents and Ivan’s chosen one occurred immediately after the tragedy. The fault was a banal circumstance - inheritance. The common-law wife categorically does not want to talk about it, and is also silent about the conflict that happened.
“Vanya always said that he dreamed of building a school in the city where he grew up, for young athletes who want to take up hockey.” – Leonid Vladimirovich added. Vanya was very worried that the younger generation was wandering around the city streets with nothing to do, smoking, sketching on the walls, doing nonsense. He dreamed of improving the streets by engaging children in sports. Now my wife and I are working on a project. All funds were used for the son’s business, but they are not enough.
The governor of the Yaroslavl region took part in this event and allocated a sufficient piece of land for development. We count on the support of the authorities; we would like to quickly begin the first stage of construction.
We received only a third of the inheritance from Ivan. The rest (an apartment, a car, a salary of 1 million rubles, insurance of 2 million rubles) was left to Marina. She did not welcome our idea to build a school and asked us to give the entire amount to her. We had to refuse, because this is our son’s dream. From then on, we were forbidden to meet with our grandchildren.”
Leonid and Tatyana tried more than once to make peace with Marina.
“We came to their house together with their eldest son, Ivan’s brother, Sergei. They knocked, called, waited... However, the door was never opened to us. We even tried to have children’s educational institutions visit our grandchildren, but apparently they were told that “grandfather and grandmother are bad” and you shouldn’t talk to them.
At last year’s meeting at the cemetery, Alexandra’s eldest granddaughter lowered her head when she saw us, Varya tried to run towards us, but her mother stopped her. Without saying a word, Marina took the children and left.”
Tatyana and Leonid live in a 2-room apartment, quite modest in size, where they moved some time before the death of the hockey player. Ivan spent a long time persuading his parents to move to a larger apartment and organized renovations there.
“We are at retirement age, we receive little money, the bulk of which is spent on paying utilities and car maintenance - without this it is impossible. The rest goes to purchasing products that we buy where it is inexpensive».
Parents, children and their inheritance
1 month ago, pensioners had to sell the apartment in which Ivan was raised and raised in order to invest the proceeds in the hockey player’s long-standing business. Ivan Tkachenko founded Rocks Bar in 2006. In a short period of time, this place gained enormous popularity in Yaroslavl, the athlete’s colleagues and comrades began to regularly visit it - Kalyanin, Demitra and other comrades.
“At the moment, Marina is the owner of the establishment, but we want to buy Rocks Bar from her. No one takes care of the establishment, although it was very dear to Ivan.”
The Tkachenko couple are not entitled to additional payments, while Marina regularly receives them.
“We helped Marina and signed an agreement. We understand perfectly well that she needs to raise three children. When they tried to ask her for help in providing the same service, she flatly refused. It turns out that she became a dependent, while Marina never worked in her life, neither during Ivan’s life, nor after his death.”
The parents only had photographs and one award left to remember their son. All other personal belongings of her beloved son (medals, awards, certificates, cups, etc.) are with Marina. However, this is nothing compared to the important and main inheritance - the grandchildren, for whom the Tkachenko spouses are sad.
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Russian Federation
Ivan Leonidovich Tkachenko (November 9, Yaroslavl - September 7, Tunoshna, Yaroslavl region) - Russian hockey player. Honored Master of Sports of Russia (2002). He played mainly for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
Biography
He played for the teams “Khimik” Engels, “Vyatich” Tver, “Spartak-2” (Moscow), “Torpedo-2” (Yaroslavl), “Motor” Zavolzhye, “Neftekhimik” (Nizhnekamsk). Since 2001 in Yaroslavl Lokomotiv: in the 2008/2009 and 2010/2011 seasons - vice-captain, 2009/2010 - team captain (No. 17). Lokomotiv's record holder in the club's history for the number of points scored - 313, as well as the number of assists - 178.
He died along with the Lokomotiv team on September 7, 2011 when the plane took off from Yaroslavl airport. He was buried at the Leontyevskoe cemetery in Yaroslavl.
He had two daughters: Alexandra and Varvara. On January 14, 2012, the widow of Ivan Tkachenko gave birth to a son, Nikolai.
After the plane crash
After the death of the hockey player in a plane crash, it turned out that he, without revealing his name, provided large-scale financial assistance to children with serious illnesses. In particular, Ivan made his last payment in the amount of 500,000 rubles to a girl suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia on the day of his tragic death. The total amount of transferred funds at the time of death was 9,996,300 rubles. During his lifetime this fact was not known. In 2011, he was awarded the medal of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation “Hurry to do good.”
The hockey player’s parents announced their intention to build a children’s hockey school in memory of their son and his team, which will be an ice palace with stands for 100 people. Its main task is the training process. The cost of construction is estimated at approximately 80 million rubles.
Memory
In 2016, the AST publishing house published the book “Swifts on Ice,” dedicated to Ivan Tkachenko. The author of the work was the famous writer Eduard Topol. The book takes place in Yaroslavl. The main character was a 12-year-old disabled boy named Egor. Egor was next on the list of children whom Ivan wanted to help, but a fatal plane crash did not allow him to complete the matter. And so Yegor dreams of Ivan, who supports him and shares with him his reserve of will and endurance. Gradually, the child begins to develop his paralyzed leg to play hockey.
Achievements
Prizes
In the series “Molodezhka” (STS channel, season 2, episode 27) it is mentioned as a hockey player who anonymously provides financial assistance to children. He is being set as an example for the Bears team.
Statistics
Club career
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | Games | G | P | Points | +/- | Shtr | Games | G | P | Points | +/- | Shtr |
| 1995-96 | Chemist Engels | CR | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Vyatich Tver | CR | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1996-97 | Torpedo-2 Yar | First League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Spartak-2 Moscow | First League | 35 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 20 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1997-98 | Torpedo-2 Yar | RVL | 47 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 16 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Torpedo Yar | RSL | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1998-99 | Torpedo-2 Yar | VL | 63 | 31 | 32 | 63 | 42 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| 1999-00 | Torpedo-2 Yar | First League | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Motor Zavolzhye | RVL | 43 | 15 | 14 | 29 | 13 | 22 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Neftekhimik-2 | First League | 8 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 24 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Neftekhimik | RSL | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2000-01 | Neftekhimik | RSL | 30 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -5 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2001-02 | Lokomotiv Yar | RSL | 44 | 13 | 21 | 34 | 22 | 57 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 4 |
| Lokomotiv-2 Yar | First League | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2002-03 | Lokomotiv Yar | RSL | 44 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 7 | 57 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
| 2003-04 | Lokomotiv Yar | RSL | 56 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 1 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
| 2004-05 | Lokomotiv Yar | RSL | 59 | 15 | 15 | 30 | 9 | 30 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| 2005-06 | Lokomotiv Yar | RSL | 45 | 10 | 21 | 31 | 18 | 30 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -4 | 16 |
| 2006-07 | Lokomotiv Yar | RSL | 52 | 9 | 24 | 33 | -4 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 2007-08 | Lokomotiv Yar | RSL | 56 | 14 | 15 | 29 | 9 | 34 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 6 |
| 2008-09 | Lokomotiv Yar | KHL | 56 | 14 | 13 | 27 | 8 | 40 | 19 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 10 |
| 2009-10 | Lokomotiv Yar | KHL | 56 | 6 | 16 | 22 | -1 | 34 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 8 |
| 2010-11 | Lokomotiv Yar | KHL | 54 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 4 | 43 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | -5 | 8 |
| Total in RSL and KHL | 557 | 113 | 154 | 267 | 70 | 389 | 127 | 24 | 28 | 52 | 9 | 72 | ||
International competitions
| Year | Team | Tournament | Place | AND | G | P | ABOUT | Shtr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russia | World Cup | 9 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |||
| Total (main team) | 9 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | ||||
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Excerpt characterizing Tkachenko, Ivan Leonidovich
And instead of all this, here he is, the rich husband of an unfaithful wife, a retired chamberlain who loves to eat, drink and easily scold the government when unbuttoned, a member of the Moscow English Club and everyone’s favorite member of Moscow society. For a long time he could not come to terms with the idea that he was the same retired Moscow chamberlain whose type he so deeply despised seven years ago.Sometimes he consoled himself with thoughts that this was the only way he was leading this life; but then he was horrified by another thought, that so far, how many people had already entered, like him, with all their teeth and hair, into this life and into this club, and left without one tooth and hair.
In moments of pride, when he thought about his position, it seemed to him that he was completely different, special from those retired chamberlains whom he had despised before, that they were vulgar and stupid, happy and reassured by their position, “and even now I am still dissatisfied “I still want to do something for humanity,” he said to himself in moments of pride. “Or maybe all those comrades of mine, just like me, struggled, were looking for some new, their own path in life, and just like me, by the force of the situation, society, breed, that elemental force against which there is no a powerful man, they were brought to the same place as I,” he said to himself in moments of modesty, and after living in Moscow for some time, he no longer despised, but began to love, respect and pity, as well as himself, his comrades by fate .
Pierre was not, as before, in moments of despair, melancholy and disgust for life; but the same illness, which had previously expressed itself in sharp attacks, was driven inside and did not leave him for a moment. "For what? For what? What is going on in the world?” he asked himself in bewilderment several times a day, involuntarily beginning to ponder the meaning of the phenomena of life; but knowing from experience that there were no answers to these questions, he hastily tried to turn away from them, took up a book, or hurried to the club, or to Apollo Nikolaevich to chat about city gossip.
“Elena Vasilievna, who has never loved anything except her body and is one of the stupidest women in the world,” thought Pierre, “seems to people to be the height of intelligence and sophistication, and they bow before her. Napoleon Bonaparte was despised by everyone as long as he was great, and since he became a pathetic comedian, Emperor Franz has been trying to offer him his daughter as an illegitimate wife. The Spaniards send up prayers to God through the Catholic clergy in gratitude for the fact that they defeated the French on June 14th, and the French send up prayers through the same Catholic clergy that they defeated the Spaniards on June 14th. My brother Masons swear on blood that they are ready to sacrifice everything for their neighbor, and do not pay one ruble each for the collection of the poor and intrigue Astraeus against the Seekers of Manna, and are busy about the real Scottish carpet and about an act, the meaning of which is not known even to those who wrote it, and which no one needs. We all profess the Christian law of forgiveness of insults and love for one’s neighbor - the law, as a result of which we erected forty forty churches in Moscow, and yesterday we whipped a fleeing man, and the servant of the same law of love and forgiveness, the priest, allowed the cross to be kissed by a soldier before execution.” . So thought Pierre, and this whole, common, universally recognized lie, no matter how accustomed he was to it, as if it were something new, amazed him every time. “I understand these lies and confusion,” he thought, “but how can I tell them everything that I understand? I tried and always found that deep down in their souls they understand the same thing as me, but they just try not to see it. So it must be so! But for me, where should I go?” thought Pierre. He experienced the unfortunate ability of many, especially Russian people - the ability to see and believe in the possibility of good and truth, and to see too clearly the evil and lies of life in order to be able to take a serious part in it. Every area of labor in his eyes was associated with evil and deception. Whatever he tried to be, whatever he undertook, evil and lies repulsed him and blocked all paths of activity for him. Meanwhile, I had to live, I had to be busy. It was too scary to be under the yoke of these insoluble questions of life, and he gave himself up to his first hobbies just to forget them. He traveled to all sorts of societies, drank a lot, bought paintings and built, and most importantly read.
He read and read everything that came to hand, and read so that, having arrived home, when the footmen were still undressing him, he, having already taken a book, read - and from reading he passed on to sleep, and from sleep to chatting in the drawing rooms and club, from chatter to revelry and women, from revelry back to chatter, reading and wine. Drinking wine became more and more a physical and at the same time a moral need for him. Despite the fact that the doctors told him that, given his corruption, wine was dangerous for him, he drank a lot. He felt quite good only when, without noticing how, having poured several glasses of wine into his large mouth, he experienced a pleasant warmth in his body, tenderness for all his neighbors and the readiness of his mind to respond superficially to every thought, without delving into its essence. Only after drinking a bottle and two wines did he vaguely realize that the tangled, terrible knot of life that had terrified him before was not as terrible as he thought. With a noise in his head, chatting, listening to conversations or reading after lunch and dinner, he constantly saw this knot, from some side of it. But only under the influence of wine did he say to himself: “It’s nothing. I will unravel this - so I have an explanation ready. But now there’s no time—I’ll think about all this later!” But this never came afterwards.
On an empty stomach, in the morning, all the previous questions seemed just as insoluble and terrible, and Pierre hastily grabbed the book and rejoiced when someone came to him.
Sometimes Pierre recalled a story he had heard about how in war soldiers, being under cover fire and having nothing to do, diligently find something to do in order to make it easier to endure danger. And to Pierre all people seemed to be such soldiers fleeing from life: some by ambition, some by cards, some by writing laws, some by women, some by toys, some by horses, some by politics, some by hunting, some by wine, some by state affairs. “Nothing is insignificant or important, it’s all the same: just to escape from it as best I can!” thought Pierre. - “Just don’t see her, this terrible one.”
At the beginning of winter, Prince Nikolai Andreich Bolkonsky and his daughter arrived in Moscow. Due to his past, his intelligence and originality, especially due to the weakening at that time of enthusiasm for the reign of Emperor Alexander, and due to the anti-French and patriotic trend that reigned in Moscow at that time, Prince Nikolai Andreich immediately became the subject of special respect from Muscovites and the center of Moscow opposition to the government.
The prince grew very old this year. Sharp signs of old age appeared in him: unexpected falling asleep, forgetfulness of immediate events and memory of long-standing ones, and the childish vanity with which he accepted the role of head of the Moscow opposition. Despite the fact that when the old man, especially in the evenings, came out to tea in his fur coat and powdered wig, and, touched by someone, began his abrupt stories about the past, or even more abrupt and harsh judgments about the present, he aroused in all his guests the same feeling of respectful respect. For visitors, this entire old house with huge dressing tables, pre-revolutionary furniture, these footmen in powder, and the cool and smart old man himself from the last century with his meek daughter and pretty French girl, who revered him, presented a majestically pleasant sight. But the visitors did not think that in addition to these two or three hours, during which they saw the owners, there were another 22 hours a day, during which the secret inner life of the house took place.
Recently in Moscow this inner life has become very difficult for Princess Marya. In Moscow she was deprived of those best joys - conversations with God's people and solitude - which refreshed her in Bald Mountains, and did not have any of the benefits and joys of metropolitan life. She did not go out into the world; everyone knew that her father would not let her go without him, and due to ill health he himself could not travel, and she was no longer invited to dinners and evenings. Princess Marya completely abandoned hope of marriage. She saw the coldness and bitterness with which Prince Nikolai Andreich received and sent away young people who could be suitors, who sometimes came to their house. Princess Marya had no friends: on this visit to Moscow she was disappointed in her two closest people. M lle Bourienne, with whom she had previously been unable to be completely frank, now became unpleasant to her and for some reason she began to move away from her. Julie, who was in Moscow and to whom Princess Marya wrote for five years in a row, turned out to be a complete stranger to her when Princess Marya again became acquainted with her in person. Julie at this time, having become one of the richest brides in Moscow on the occasion of the death of her brothers, was in the midst of social pleasures. She was surrounded by young people who, she thought, suddenly appreciated her merits. Julie was in that period of the aging society young lady who feels that her last chance for marriage has come, and now or never her fate must be decided. Princess Marya remembered with a sad smile on Thursdays that she now had no one to write to, since Julie, Julie, from whose presence she did not feel any joy, was here and saw her every week. She, like an old emigrant who refused to marry the lady with whom he spent his evenings for several years, regretted that Julie was here and she had no one to write to. Princess Marya had no one in Moscow to talk to, no one to confide in her grief, and much new grief had been added during this time. The time for Prince Andrei's return and his marriage was approaching, and his order to prepare his father for this was not only not fulfilled, but on the contrary, the matter seemed completely ruined, and the reminder of Countess Rostova infuriated the old prince, who was already out of sorts most of the time . A new grief that had recently increased for Princess Marya was the lessons that she gave to her six-year-old nephew. In her relationship with Nikolushka, she recognized with horror the irritability of her father. No matter how many times she told herself that she shouldn’t allow herself to get excited while teaching her nephew, almost every time she sat down with a pointer to learn the French alphabet, she so wanted to quickly and easily transfer her knowledge from herself into the child, who was already afraid that there was an aunt She would be angry that at the slightest inattention on the part of the boy she would flinch, hurry, get excited, raise her voice, sometimes pull him by the hand and put him in a corner. Having placed him in a corner, she herself began to cry over her evil, bad nature, and Nikolushka, imitating her sobs, came out of the corner without permission, approached her, pulled her wet hands away from her face, and consoled her. But what caused the princess more grief was her father’s irritability, which was always directed against his daughter and had recently reached the point of cruelty. If he had forced her to bow all night, if he had beaten her and forced her to carry firewood and water, it would never have occurred to her that her position was difficult; but this loving tormentor, the most cruel because he loved and tormented himself and her for that reason, deliberately knew how not only to insult and humiliate her, but also to prove to her that she was always to blame for everything. Lately, a new feature had appeared in him, one that tormented Princess Marya most of all - it was his greater rapprochement with m lle Bourienne. The thought that came to him, in the first minute after receiving news of his son’s intentions, that if Andrei marries, then he himself would marry Bourienne, apparently pleased him, and he stubbornly lately (as it seemed to Princess Marya) only in order to insult her, he showed special affection to m lle Bourienne and showed his dissatisfaction with his daughter by showing love for Bourienne.
