The Faithful Departed III: Arcadi R. Nebolsine

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Arcadi Nebolsine died last year on August 21 at the Westhampton Care Center  (Long Island) after a long illness. He was 87. For an obituary see HERE.

What can I say about Arcadi Rostislavovich Nebolsine? He was my dear friend for so many years. I first met him in the company of his own great friend, Thomas Molnar, in the early eighties. I visited him regularly every year after that – and even more frequently after I had moved back to the New York area in 2002.  I saw him the last time in 2020 in a nursing home out on Long Island shortly before he died.

His impressive, formidable appearance was certainly out of the ordinary. And Arcadi spoke with an accent all his own – a mélange of American, British and vaguely European. He may have been a character, yet he was no eccentric or pseudo-intellectual. Rather, he projected the image of a cultured European gentleman.  Indeed he could be quite the bon vivant when the occasion presented itself.  His own parties after Easter and Christmas (according to the Julian calendar, that is) always drew a crowd of guests from the Russian exile community and many others who know Arcadi well.  For Arcadi had an amazing army of friends who shared his passions for art and culture. And he would attend the gala Petrouschka ball of the Russian nobility society. 

The basis of his culture was a profound knowledge of Russian literature and philosophy. But no aspect of European culture and music was foreign to Arcadi. In particular, Arcadi was a great admirer and collector of the works of 20^th century English Catholic and Christian authors: G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Charles Williams, C.S. Lewis and T.S. Elliot. Next
to his Russian literary studies, it was, so to speak,  a second fundamental point of reference for him. Indeed, Arcadi very much regretted not having had the opportunity to get to know C.S. Lewis better when he studied at Oxford in the 1950’s. At the time, he had been put off from exploring the Christian alternative – insofar as it had any visibility – by the social climbing antics of the Catholic chaplain and the eccentricity of the local clerical leader of the Orthodox….

Over the years, Arcadi and I would often meet and dine together for an evening of wonderful conversation. Since Arcadi always had some difficulty in getting around, our excursions were restricted to places in the vicinity of his apartment on East 86th Street. One such spot was the Heidelberg restaurant – along with Schaller & Weber, the last remnant of German and Central European Yorkville. Arcadi would inevitably order a couple of Martinis – with plenty  of olives – and an immense Schweinshaxe. Then he would unfailingly request a side of preiselbeeren  – only to he told they only had available cranberries ( the same answer the waiter had given him for over twenty years.)

In our conversations we would inevitably go over his latest cause. For Arcadi was always campaigning for something. Let me give you a brief hint of the range of his interests.

He was a great champion of the preservation of traditional art, cities and landscapes  He was always highly critical of modem invasive restorations – such as the renovation of the Sistine chapel – which substituted aggressive, bright colors for the subdued palette of the past. For his spiritual homeland, Russia, he helped organize a society for the preservation of Russian art and monuments. In particular, the fate of St. Petersburg was of grave concern to  him.

For it was the baroque and neoclassical styles that were dearest to Arcadi’s heart. Now that may seem surprising – but, as Arcadi liked to point out, non-Russians generally know nothing about the classical element in Russian culture: the poetry of Pushkin or the neoclassical architecture of the St. Petersburg of 1800. Who outside of Russia knows, for example,  that the Kazan cathedral of that period in that city was conceived as variation on St. Peter’s in Rome? And it was Arcadi who revealed to me that Nikolai Gogol  – the most passionate protagonist of the pro-Russian, pro-Orthodox  tendency in Russian culture,  had also written the most sympathetic account of the city of Rome and of the Catholic culture that still survived there in the 1840’s. 

In his struggles for the preservation of culture he developed and applied the concept of an ecology of the beautiful – uniting in the landscape nature and the works of man ( architecture). St. Petersburg, situated in a flat landscape by the waters of the Neva river under a limitless Northern sky, was for him a cultural ideal. Again, contrary to the notions of outsiders, he saw the old imperial capital with its “Western” domes and spires as a Christian city reaching up to heaven. He worked with local activists to prevent its desecration by modern high rises.

Similarly, Arcadi’s enthusiasm for the Austrian baroque was boundless. In the United States, he was drawn to the beaux-arts tradition that had flourished before 1914. Arcadi had less use for certain other periods and styles – such as those of the Victorian Age or the imitation “Slavic” architecture or Nazarene style icons of the same period in Russia. For more recent innovations, he had no understanding at all.

A second country dear to him was Portugal, where he often spent part of the year. He often spoke of the wonderful Portuguese landscapes, architecture  and people, and of his friend the pretender to the  Portuguese throne. He knew Fatima and its message well and also wrote an essay about the Azores and its “enchanted” landscapes, villages and small towns.  (The Azores, 1996 (untranslated)).

On a subject that should be of interest to the readers of this blog, Arcadi had a keen understanding of the liturgy and could always make a quick comparison of the Latin  (Traditional Catholic, that is) and the Orthodox rites. I first heard from him criticism of the 1955 changes to the Easter Triduum in the Latin church. He had had years ago contacts in Europe with circles of supporters of Archbishop Lefebvre. Regarding the whole question of revising the liturgy,  the Russian Orthodox Church had gone through a stage after the Revolution  in which  liturgical experimentation was encouraged by the authorities (the so-called Living Church). It was quickly dropped even in Soviet times, and Arcadi regretted that in Russia any otherwise harmless adjustments to the liturgy were no longer possible given the association of such changes with Communism. 

There were amusing differences between us illustrating the contrast between the Orthodox and Catholic perspectives. I had commented to Arcadi that I had read that if the Patriarch of Moscow would ever propose Vatican II – style changes, he would be deposed. Not at all, said Arcadi – in Orthodoxy nobody would listen to him in the first place .

His knowledge of all things Catholic was great, but the Second Vatican Council and John Paul II were insuperable barriers to any further interest he may have had. Although Arcadi was of the opinion that very little separated (Traditional)Catholics and the Orthodox. A few minor things like the papacy and divorce, to give a couple of examples…

Towards the end of his life he was working hard on trying to find a doctrinal formula that could serve to unite West and East. As in his efforts for the preservation of monuments, the gigantic nature of such a task never deterred Arcadi.

His own written output was small but select. Aside from his remarkable dissertation on poshlost, Arcadi left us a series of essays published in Russia and, as far as I am aware, untranslated: On Silver (1995) On Gold(1995),Le Soleil Inconnu (1996-97) and On the Colors (1996). He summarized his thoughts in The Metaphysics of the Beautiful: an Introduction to the Ecology of Culture (2003, also untranslated) It is an audacious synthesis of theology, philosophy, liturgy, literary criticism, environmentalism, travelogue and art history- focusing naturally on Russia but including much else besides.

Arcadi only enjoyed limited professional success to the United
States as a teacher. After Communism started to disintegrate, however, he found congenial friends and allies and a warm reception in Russia itself. There, people more easily appreciate Arcadi’s attempt to find a great synthesis or summary of what otherwise seem unrelated movements and disciplines.

As for poshlost, that was his arch enemy. Drawing on the writings of
Gogol and Dostoevsky,  Arcadi characterizes with this term those who are
simultaneously cowardly, depraved, lukewarm and banal. In other words, very much in the mood of today and characteristic of 21st century man. Arcadi’s other foes were big business, technology and globalism.

It is tragic that in such a culture as that of today,  true gentlemen like Arcadi R. Nebolsine, Thomas Molnar and Helmut Rückriegel  have departed  without leaving, it seems, any heirs or successors – at least in the US.  But we know, just from a survey of recent publications of a rising generation,  that this perception is false.  Arcadi Nebolsine will always find disciples – inspired by his vision of culture and humanity. And I look forward to the day when, following Arcadi’s last wishes,  East and West Christendom will fully unite once more. May his memory be eternal!