What I Believe (the title can also be translated as My Religion) is basically a research paper, where Tolstoy, already very famous, tries to find the way of living his life happily.

The essay was published in 1884, but Russian Imperial Bureau of Censorship immediately banned and confiscated the entire edition. In a short time all copies of the book were taken from the Bureau by its high-rank employees and other government officials.

On Feb. 24, 1901 Tolstoy was officially excommunicated from the Church.