Andrei Tarkovsky titled his diaries 'Martyrology'—a catalogue of suffering, once again emphasizing his concept of life as a path of cognition, inextricably linked to the earthly journey of man, tormented between spirit and flesh, life and death. He often repeated the phrase that 'we are not created for happiness, that there are things more important than happiness.' The search for truth proceeds through suffering, and learning to accept suffering, transforming it into cognition in our souls, is the only way to attain Truth itself.

The pages of the diaries are a unique testimony to the life of Andrei Tarkovsky, written in his own hand—a confession of an artist in search of the Path and creative freedom; A touching celebration of life, full of hope and faith, even in the face of death, since all his work, his ideal, his sacrifice are nothing more than the ultimate gesture of hope for Man.

This book is the second, revised and supplemented edition of the diaries of Andrei Arsenievich Tarkovsky, 'Martyrology,' the first edition of which in Russian has long been a bibliographic rarity. The book contains the complete texts of the diaries, which Tarkovsky began in 1970, up to the last entries shortly before his death in December 1986. Texts, drawings, and photographs are reproduced from documents from the Florentine archive of A. Tarkovsky, which includes all personal materials from Moscow, Rome, London, and Paris, collected by the Andrei Tarkovsky International Institute in Italy.