The history of the creation of the “Righteous” cycle is as follows. Once N.S. Leskov was accused of seeing only nasty things and abominations in all his compatriots. Then the writer made a vow: to find among the “sinners” of this world a crystal clear person, a righteous man, to show the greatness of the Russian soul. And Leskov began to “look for the righteous” throughout the Russian land: in the capitals and in the wilderness, in ancient legends and in newspaper reports, among different classes and ways of life. And I found them - selfless eccentrics and self-taught masters, martyrs and sufferers, lovers of humanity and philosophers...