What is your new book, Atomic Shepherd, about?

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My new book, the novel "The Atomic Shepherd", is about a scientist, a nuclear physicist who changed his views on life and became a priest. Its discovery during the Cold War was on the verge of revolutionizing nuclear weapons technology. The minimum weight of an atomic warhead produced the maximum destructive effect due to the special way materials were placed. At the start of the tests, the scientist unexpectedly announced that he was withdrawing from the project, as he was preparing to become a priest. Management faced a flood of emotions, while colleagues and family felt misunderstood. Alexander faced intense pressure, but he didn't give in - his decision was firm and final. After becoming a priest, he continued to work in the laboratory as a junior employee, without access to the project. When the Chernobyl accident happened, Alexander and his team stepped up to help clean up. He and a friend, an active atheist, took measurements on the roof of the emergency block next door. They worked in a high-radiation environment. When his friend failed to return to safety, priest Alexander faced a tough choice. He chose to rescue him from the danger zone, even knowing it could be deadly for them both. This act decisively influenced the attitude of his colleagues and superiors towards him.

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What inspired you to write it?

 

As a FB blogger, I once uploaded a post about myself, a former scientist turned priest. I received a comment that said, "I wouldn't come to confession with such a fool!" The person thought only a "moron" would swap high science for the outdated role of an Orthodox shepherd. This comment inspired me to write an autobiographical novel, where I could explain myself through literature. The remarkable Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, along with the well-known preacher Archpriest Alexander Men - who was tragically murdered on his way to the temple - inspired the search for the main character. The character's living traits probably reflect my personal characteristics and my own views. His scientific achievements, however, are purely a product of the author's imagination. But the plot largely grew out of my own scientific practice. The characters of the novel's heroes were created by life itself.

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You went from being a senior engineer at the National Research Nuclear university, in Moscow, for Russia, to becoming an archpriest and obtaining a PhD in theology. Why? 

 

The beginning of perestroika and the "wild nineties" pushed many off the beaten track. I didn't escape a similar fate. At first, it seemed to me that free business was a kind of practical science. After reviewing the literature, I chose to start my own company. I wanted to apply the ideas I developed while writing my PhD dissertation in nuclear technology. After leaving the university and the department, I started this. However, the reality turned out to be different. To survive and pay salaries for a dozen company employees, what was needed at that time was not scientific ideas, but a real income. This could only be ensured by skilled trading, which inevitably caught the attention of mafia groups. Once I found myself in a situation where they held the power to shape my future and very life, I realized my paths with business had diverged. Academic science had become impoverished, making it pointless to return. Faith in God literally became my salvation. Theology then provided an opportunity for me to realize my scientific potential, which had not yet been lost during my time in business.

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In your story, there are mystical or dream images that help the main character visualize the results of a nuclear catastrophe, and as a result, influenced him to change his life. Did that happen to you?

 

One day, while still a student at a nuclear university, I got out of bed at home in my room and went to the window. It was an early summer morning, with the sun barely above the horizon. I sat down at my desk, opposite the window, and gazed into the distance for a long time. I felt filled with joy. I thought, "A new day and a new life begins." My window looked out over the Moscow River embankment, with a huge automobile plant on the other side. Suddenly, the phrase 'strategic site' popped into my mind. 'If a nuclear war were to break out with America, it would be the first target.' At that moment, like an answer, a nuclear 'mushroom' cloud began to form right before my eyes. It looked like a scene from a movie, with the rising sun behind it. I sat there for a while, feeling as if I was watching a disaster movie unfold. I remembered training videos from civil defense seminars. They shared stories about light radiation, blast waves, and penetrating radiation that follows an explosion. Meanwhile, the mushroom cloud grew, slowly blocking out the sun and absorbing the visible space. And it finally dawned on me that I was not in the lecture hall of a nuclear university, but at home. And everything that was happening before my eyes was a reality that would overtake me any minute. And, before I had time to be horrified, I woke up.

 

What was it like to transition from being a gifted nuclear scientist who worked on secret Soviet weapons that could kill people to joining a priesthood that is dedicated to protecting life?

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It's time to move from destruction to creation - a similar thought instantly struck me when the idea for a new novel emerged. Youth avoids pity and doesn’t know the taste of death. So, while your brain is racing, challenge it with new and tougher tasks! Decide and conquer the mountain of success that will leave you breathless. And now you're at the top. But, looking back, you'll see you're not surrounded by a crowd of fans eagerly looking up to catch the proud gaze of the winner. Instead, there are people down there living their own lives, who don't need your discoveries at all - in fact, quite the opposite. What you're doing so successfully threatens to disrupt their peaceful lives, collapsing all their plans and hopes. Ask yourself, why are you doing this, before it's too late... This may be what saves your future children from the darkness of oblivion. Countries threaten each other with secret weapons to solve global problems. What task is more important than life itself? Dostoevsky once said, "the happiness of the whole world is not worth one tear on the cheek of an innocent child." This reasoning helped me and my novel's hero shift from atomic science to the priesthood while keeping our faith in reason.

 

Your book is about the relationship between science and spirituality – and as Book Viral describes it, “how disaster not only touches the outward shell of a person but also the inner man. What is the relationship between science and spirituality?

 

Disasters happen every day. The Internet watches them, and we watch the Internet. Until what happens there affects us personally. Then we turn from observers into participants or victims, and there's a shift from the external person to the internal one. When someone becomes a disaster victim, they endure suffering. Their personality focuses on this, forgetting the external, and seeks relief within themselves. When a person dies, their external self disappears completely. If not spirituality, what will remain for them? Science is the product of reason, while disaster is the result of its absence. Spirituality regulates the mind, ensuring its presence, so that disaster does not occur. Therefore, there is a relationship between science and spirituality. This is not a guess or self-deception, but a natural necessity. The inner man gradually learns what spirituality is. This understanding often becomes clearer during times of crisis. Then, he compares his mind with spirituality. Afterwards, spirituality redirects his mind away from the force driving it towards disaster. Finally, science follows the path of creation, rather than destruction.

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In your book, was from a time when scientific discovery sought to shape the atom and harness its vast power for the benefit of humanity, to the Chernobyl disaster. So, is science a plus or a minus for the world?

 

When the Chernobyl tragedy happened, people wondered whether science helps or harms humanity. Today, we must ask this question in an even more urgent way. Science is building artificial intelligence. AI could shape the future of scientific progress. Can humans stop AI if it takes science down a path that destroys natural intelligence? Do we really need this kind of science? I’ve been exploring topics of science and spirituality, and I just finished a philosophical novel. I hope the answer is conveyed in an artistic way in this novel. We're discussing human consciousness, which cannot be transformed or transferred to AI. Consciousness will guide the human mind. It helps prevent our downfall and avoid conflict with AI. Our mind, not our consciousness, may be powerless against AI. However, it is too early to dot the “i” in such a question.

 

Your story’s protagonist questions not only the efforts of science not playing God, but also has complicity in its eventual downfall. How hard is it for an individual to judge him or herself?

 

The hero of my novel refuses to pursue the scientific direction already laid out for him. The tasks were not determined by him, but by the military structures above him and his boss. If he had chosen another area of science, I believe he could have balanced being a scientist and a priest. This wouldn't have clashed with his surroundings. Here is an example: Archbishop Luka Voino-Yasenetsky, a world-famous scientist-surgeon and priest, went through Stalin's camps and exile without giving up his scientific research and medical practice. The protagonist, Alexander, lived at a time when Soviet society was rediscovering its faith in God after seven decades of atheism. For him, like the novel's author, theology isn't about playing God. It's a science that requires research and uses reasoning and logic to reach conclusions. However, whether theology can be considered a science is a debate for another time. As long as one's consciousness is not dormant, anyone can form their own judgement without fear. This brings us back to the concept of spirituality.

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Your book morphs into a philosophical debate on purpose, blame, and redemption. Are these the things that have been swirling around in your head for decades?

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For some time, though not decades, these questions that bored the West occupied the minds of post-Soviet people, especially in the scientific community. My poor head did not escape this either. I cannot say that I suffered greatly from excessive attention to scholasticism. In fact, my mathematical mindset embraced the logic of the theory of redemption, even though it wasn't from Orthodox roots. Western scholasticism fitted more easily into my "scientific" idea of faith in God. Yet, the question of choosing a religious tradition never arose for me. Born in an Orthodox country, the Orthodox faith was naturally closest to me! However, I made a conscious choice, almost thirty years old. Since then, I have never doubted that I made the right choice. In the novel, my hero doesn't rush into confessions, but instead is determined from the start and, like the author, delves deeply into Bible study. I note that in Soviet times, the Bible cost a third of a monthly salary on the black market.

 

How would you describe your writing style?

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The novel's writing style is a mix of The Period Style and The Lyric Style. Since I lived through the post-Soviet period of perestroika and was actively involved in its ongoing processes, I'm very familiar with the characters and atmosphere of that time. Creating characters and placing them in situations I could have found myself in was easy. My goal was to make the novel engaging and easy to understand for today's readers. I believe this happened because the heroes revealed their true selves. Their actions are driven by deeper motivations, beyond just their surroundings. The spiritual and religious imagery, along with the novel's lyrical style, draw readers into the events. They help convey the main idea: Can someone with a more advanced mind still have spirituality and faith?

 

Where does the title of the novel come from?

 

The title of the novel emerged during the writing process. One of the characters, a thieving church warden who penned denunciations against priests, grumbled by calling Father Alexander "an atomic shepherd." These words sounded like mockery and lies coming from his lips, but later they became associated with the main character, albeit in a different context. Ultimately, his nickname was justified in Chernobyl. He volunteered to go with his colleagues, even though he hadn't been personally invited. They reminded him that by becoming a priest, he had betrayed science. He and a friend, also a colleague, volunteered to measure in a dangerous radiation zone. He acted just as his faith in Christ's sacrifice guided him.

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What challenges, if any, did you overcome in writing this book?

 

The plot and theme suggested that KGB officers would definitely feature in the novel. It's hard to picture major scientific research, especially in atomic fields, without their control. Could I describe their activities and characters accurately, even without a direct connection? This was a challenge for me. And I recalled the characters of some classmates and colleagues, who later became KGB officers. This helped me look at the secret agents in the novel in a different light. They are people who can distinguish between good and evil, not strangers to it. Each of them could express themselves in their own way through the work they were entrusted with. They had different approaches to monitoring a former secret physicist who had "lost his mind" and taken holy orders. The personality of the “atomic shepherd” and the disaster's atmosphere influenced them. This included the local priest and other heroes in Chernobyl.

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How did you come to draw the complex character of Father Alexander, a man ostracized but undaunted?

 

Father Alexander's character is greatly clarified through his relationships with his wife Anna and his parents. Perhaps my personal experiences have influenced this portrayal. Our hero's true nature is revealed in his conversations with Anna and his father. He inherited his fearlessness from his father, and his wife's character - a soft, kind, yet strong-willed woman - is reflected in his priestly ministry, as if mirrored. Once upon a time, I, like my hero, felt the need to decide my family's fate once and for all. The image of my father, a major Soviet-era leader, stood before me as a symbol of the socialist era, where faith in God was seen as an outdated prejudice. However, he took my intention favourably and didn't object, seeing it as my personal choice. By that time, perestroika was in full swing, and the strongest supporters of socialism had retreated into the shadows, revealing their inclination towards Orthodoxy. For instance, my supervisor, the head of all secret scientific councils at a nuclear university, referred to himself as an "Orthodox communist.”

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Were you pleasantly surprised to see that your book was shortlisted for the Dostoyevsky Literary Award?

 

My book was submitted for a literary prize by a prestigious publishing house that has long preserved the finest traditions of Russian and Soviet literature. With their significant influence in determining the winners, there was every chance the novel would emerge victorious. However, they opted for a different book, not entirely literary, but more a work of documentary art, which I believed was influenced by its sponsors. Nevertheless, being shortlisted for the award motivated me to intensify my creative efforts and strive to do my best.

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The potential for an accidental or international use of a nuclear facility or weapon to kill masses of people is ever-present in the world. How are we to live knowing the world could be destroyed at any time?

 

Once upon a time, I was deep in thought. If there is a God, then why did he allow the creation of weapons of mass destruction? The answer did not come to me soon, perhaps only at the time I wrote the novel. Local wars have replaced one another throughout the history of mankind. Warfare technologies developed rapidly, and the era of local wars came to an end. A world war began. It continued after a gap of twenty years. Again, a break, and then a continuation? It sounds like we're already on the brink of a third or fourth world war. I don't think it's about numbers. Having experienced global confrontation, the world once had a weapon that made it impossible for one side to achieve complete victory. Is intervention from above the answer? Now, more than ever, this thought comes to mind. Fighting on a global scale has lost all meaning. It's better to start locally, which benefits someone else. If only God had an argument to offer them! As long as someone threatens the world with global destruction, we live in a border era. However, to cross that line, you need power higher than life itself. There is no such power in the world.