Father Sergius is a short novel by Leo Tolstoy, published posthumously in 1911. It follows Stepan Kasatsky, a proud and ambitious imperial officer whose engagement collapses when he discovers his fiancée was once the Tsar's mistress. Disillusioned, he enters a monastery and becomes Father Sergius, renowned as a holy man. Yet beneath his ascetic exterior, he struggles with vanity and desire, famously thwarting a noblewoman's seduction by severing his own finger. Renouncing his fame, he wanders as a pilgrim and is exiled to Siberia, where he finally finds genuine faith through humility and humble service to others.
