# The Holy Synod publishes its 20–22 February 1901 definition excluding Tolstoy from the Orthodox Church

Date: 1901

## The fact

On 24 February 1901 Church Gazette printed the Holy Synod’s definition of 20–22 February declaring that the Orthodox Church no longer counted Count Tolstoy as a member unless he repented. It is received in public English as excommunication.

It is one event.

## Context

He did not draft the Synod’s text. His 1880s–90s tracts are the prior public cause, stored separately. Britannica and [Tolstoy](/people/leo-tolstoy).ru independently print the 1901 act. Do not treat later Soviet anti-church policy as this edict.

Leo Tolstoy’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

Conventional years are 1828–1910. Surviving public files are later museum pages, collected-works sites, library catalogues, and encyclopedias. Tolstoy did not typeset those later pages.

Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers are the surviving public file.

## Evidence and sources

Britannica and Tolstoy.ru independently describe the February 1901 Synod definition.

Official or archival record: Britannica — Leo Tolstoy (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leo-Tolstoy; Encyclopaedia Britannica).

## Significance

Rights-harm path via church-state exclusion. High confidence on the publication date.

## What is established and what is not

Established: the Synod published the 1901 definition. Not established: that every later Orthodox penalty copies this file.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Leo Tolstoy.

They are not a public rating.

The driver `protection-of-minority-rights` is attached because the mechanism named in Significance follows from this instrument, not because a standing list of welfare headings needed another tick. Leo Tolstoy did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. A portrait or conventional bust is not this mechanism. Allegation, reconstruction, and established occurrence stay distinct. An edict is not a novel. Keep 1877 off this February date. Keep the carrier date of later English distinct from the received historical year stored in the date field. Do not read a later English edition as a recovered autograph of Leo Tolstoy.
The driver `protection-of-minority-rights` is attached because the mechanism named in Significance follows from this instrument, not because a standing list of welfare headings needed another tick. Leo Tolstoy did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. A portrait or conventional bust is not this mechanism. Allegation, reconstruction, and established occurrence stay distinct. An edict is not a novel. Keep 1877 off this February date. Keep the carrier date of later English distinct from the received historical year stored in the date field. Do not read a later English edition as a recovered autograph of Leo Tolstoy.

## People

- Leo Tolstoy: https://factrail.ai/people/leo-tolstoy

## Drivers

- Protection of Minority Rights: https://factrail.ai/drivers/protection-of-minority-rights

## Sources

- https://tolstoy.ru/
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leo-Tolstoy

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/lt-synod-1901