2018 December Papa Panov's

[Lesle, Appalachain Bibliophile]

Papa Panov is an elderly cobbler who lives by himself in a small Russian village. His wife has passed and his children are all grown up. Alone on Christmas Eve in his shop, Papa Panov decides to open the old family Bible and reads the Christmas story about the birth of Jesus.

That night, he has a dream in which Jesus comes to him. Jesus says that he will visit Papa Panov in person tomorrow, but that he will have to pay special attention since the disguised Jesus will not reveal his identity. (16 pages)

[Trisha]

Thank you for choosing this! I hadn’t heard of it before, but read it today. I thought it was beautiful.

[Bernard]

I see it is by Tolstoy, interesting. Yes, a lovely story.

[Kathy]

This was a perfect Christmas story.

[Rosemarie, Northern Roaming Scholar]

This is a lovely story, I agree.

[Inese]

I wanted to read this in Russian but could not find it. Instead I found some reference that the story was written by somebody else in French and translated into English by Tolstoy. I could not find anything else, so I wonder, does anyone know more about the origins of this story?

[Lesle, Appalachain Bibliophile]

Inese, I did find this:

Leo Tolstoy, or Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (September 9 1828 – November 20 1910), was a Russian writer widely regarded as among the greatest of novelists. Tolstoy’s further talents as essayist, dramatist, and educational reformer made him the most influential member of the aristocratic Tolstoy family. Papa Panov’s Special Christmas was originally written in French by Ruben Saillens, and then translated into English by Tolstoy. This is a very thoughtful story, based on the Bible text ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me water’ which Jesus used to make us understand how we should serve him by serving each other. The story of Papa Panov is an excellent way to introduce young chldren to the principles of kindness.

[Lesle, Appalachain Bibliophile]

French author Ruben Saillens (was a French musician, author, and pastor who became one of the most influential evangelical Protestants in the French-speaking world.)

"Le Père Martin," the most famous of his fable stories, is a Christmas tale about a shoemaker.

[Lesle, Appalachain Bibliophile]

We read this last night. (Brayden, Landen and I) We took turns reading.
A very beautiful story. Papa is lonely and dreams a lovely dream.
He helps others without even a second thought.
The others? Remarkable giving of the heart.

I hope others include this Christmas Story with the other Christmas yearly reads.