Testament of Memory A Siberian Life

A remarkably simple and yet profoundly deep narrative in which we are introduced to the remote world of the nineteenth century Altai. A mountainous region of southern Siberia, it has peaks rising to nearly fifteen thousand feet and possesses unique flora and fauna. Much of the present day region is incorporated within a UNESCO world heritage site known as ¿The Golden Mountains of Altai.¿ The native Altai tribesman Mikhail Chevalkov vividly describes the physical beauty of the region whilst chronicling many of the encounters which took place throughout his life as the population was transformed from competing nomadic pagan tribes to a settled and harmonious Orthodox Christian culture. Fr. Mikhail was one of the first native disciples of the Russian Orthodox missionary priest Makarii (Glukharev), who was glorified as a saint in 2000 AD. This vivid translation of his testament will both enrapture the reader with its directness and beauty and also provide invaluable insights for students of Christian mission, ethnography, geography and botany.

Mikhail Chevalkov was a pioneer both in his missionary work and in the establishment of the Altai language as a vehicle for literature. He served as a deacon and priest and his translations of the Bible, prayer books, religious songs, and service books were published in the 1840s. John Warden is a translator and a former lecturer in Russian and Soviet studies at the University of Coventry in central England.