Back to the Library
Early Modern · c. 1672–1675
The Life Written by Himself
Avvakum Petrov · 1620/21–1682
Read elsewhere
What it is
An Old Believer priest's account of exile in Siberia, his wife stumbling in the mud and asking how long it will go on, and his refusal to accept Nikon's corrected books.
Why it lasted
The first Russian autobiography and the birth of Russian literary prose, written in an earth prison by a man burned alive eight years later.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
Read next