April 02, 2023

Blame it On Adam


Blame it On Adam
The Flood of Noah and The Companions (Le déluge de Noe et les compagnons, c. 1911) Léon Comerre (Musée d'Arts de Nantes)

Alexander Kudryavtsev, director of the Russian Academy of Science's Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences said, while referring to a certain “graph from the Internet,” that people used to live for 900 years, but then life expectancy fell, due to “original sin.”

Kudryavtsev made his presentation in the middle of March, at the plenary session of the Third International Scientific and Theological Conference, "God - Man - World."

According to Kudryavtsev, human life expectancies only began to fall after the Biblical Flood. Further, the "scientist" and head of Russia's Institute of Genetics asserted that genetic mutations that cause human diseases originate from "original sin" – be it ancestral sin, original sin, or one's own personal sin, and that children carry the sins of their fathers down through seven generations.

Kudryavtsev also made comments about Russia's War on Ukraine, saying that the world wants to take control of Russia's resources, and thus the country must defend itself "militarily."

The presentation was reported in Komsomolskaya Pravda, and the article's author, Yevgeny Chernykh, went to great lengths to bolster Kudryavtsev's claims by explaining why "the first people lived so long." Chernykh reported that "the country's leading gerontologist," an academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences who is unnamed, allegedly stated that, in the Bible, "a month was considered a year," and that this is a "scientifically proven fact."

Another anonymous "respected gerontologist, geneticist, doctor of science" allegedly told Chernykh that the Bible had been translated into different languages and that there had been a "translation error." The original used the expression "lunar month," and the ancient translator used the word "year" instead. And thus, if one does the math, 900 months = 75 years. With this, Chernykh summarized that "the devil deceived the ancient translator" and that "it is possible to calmly close this journalistic investigation."

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955