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

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
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...
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
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. 
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

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