What was the philosophy of Leo Tolstoy?

Leo Tolstoy is a very fascinating person to look at. While he was very much a partier in his younger years, he seems to have decided to turn his life around. Born into an aristocratic family, he seemed to flounder for many years. His mother died two years after he was born, and his father a couple of years after that. Since he and his brothers were raised by aunts and other family members, Tolstoy himself seems to have drifted for a while.

Later in life, he began to turn to the Church but decided that he was a Christian Anarchist. While he believed the Sermon of the Mount should be taken literally, he also believed that any government on earth should have no bearing on those who were living, as any judgment would be inherently wrong, because, in his view, that right was reserved for God alone.

He believed that all governments were evil and that they promoted violence only for their own gain. Although he had served in the military while he was younger, he was against violence of any kind and wrote several pieces on it. Because of his views on the Church and government, he was put under surveillance and watched for many years.