# The Brothers Karamazov, Father Ferapont

Братья Карамазовы · Fyodor Dostoevsky · Book IV — Lacerations

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b4-c1. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b4-c1.json.


Рано утром, еще до света, был пробужден Алеша.  
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Alyosha was woken.
> A passive that fronts its verb: «пробуждён» is the short-form past passive participle of perfective «пробудить» (to rouse), joined to «был» to state a result: 'Alyosha was roused'. Note the inversion — predicate first, subject «Алеша» last — which throws the new information onto the name.
> «до света» — before daylight: A fixed temporal phrase, literally 'before the light', i.e. before dawn. «свет» here is daylight rather than 'world' (its other sense), and «до» + genitive marks the time before which.

Старец проснулся и почувствовал себя весьма слабым, хотя и пожелал с постели пересесть в кресло.  
The elder had awoken and felt himself to be very weak, yet he wished to move from the bed into his armchair.
> «себя» + instrumental predicate: «почувствовать себя» (to feel oneself) takes the reflexive object pronoun «себя» plus an instrumental complement «слабым» (weak) describing the resulting state — the instrumental framing a felt condition rather than a permanent quality.
> Concessive «хотя и» + perfective wish: «хотя и» ('though, even though') concedes a point; the perfective «пожелал» (from «пожелать», to desire/wish) marks a single rise of will. The pairing — very weak, yet he willed to move — sets the elder's frailty against his resolve.
> «пожелать» — a bookish 'to wish': An elevated synonym of «захотеть», 'to desire, deign to'. Dostoevsky reserves it (and the still loftier «возжелал» below) for the dying elder, lending his small movements a solemn, willed dignity.

Он был в полной памяти; лицо же его было хотя и весьма утомленное, но ясное, почти радостное, а взгляд веселый, приветливый, зовущий.  
He was in full possession of his mind; and his face, though greatly worn, was clear, almost joyful, his gaze cheerful, kindly, beckoning.
> The particle «же» as a hinge: Here «же» is not 'same' but the contrastive-emphatic particle, shifting the topic: 'his face, for its part…'. It leans on the first stressed word «лицо» and gently pivots the description from mind to countenance.
> A present active participle: 'beckoning': «зовущий», from imperfective «звать» (to call), is a present active participle with adjective endings — 'calling, beckoning'. It caps a chain of predicate adjectives («веселый, приветливый») describing the elder's gaze, condensing 'a gaze that beckons' into one word.
> «утомлённый» — worn out: Past passive participle of «утомить» (to tire, exhaust), used adjectivally: 'wearied, worn'. Bookish and slightly elevated against the everyday «усталый».

«Может, и не переживу наступившего дня сего», — сказал он Алеше; затем возжелал исповедаться и причаститься немедленно.  
"I may not outlive this day that has come," he said to Alyosha; and then he desired to make confession and to receive communion at once.
> Perfective future + genitive object: «переживу» is the simple (perfective) future of «пережить» (to outlive, survive) — conjugated like a present, but meaning a completed future. Its object «наступившего дня» stands in the genitive, the article 'this day that has come' pulled into the genitive of the negated outlook.
> Archaic «сей» for 'this': «сего» is the genitive of «сей» ('this'), an archaic-bookish demonstrant that the modern language has replaced with «этот». Placed after its noun, «дня сего» rings with liturgical solemnity — the elder speaks in the register of Scripture.
> «возжелать» — solemnly desired: A Church-Slavonic-flavoured intensive of «желать», 'to conceive a desire'. Repeated for the elder throughout the chapter, it colours each of his last wishes as a willed, sacred act.

Духовником его всегда был отец Паисий.  
His confessor had always been Father Paisy.
> Instrumental predicate, fronted: With past «был», the role-noun goes in the instrumental: «духовником» ('confessor'). Russian fronts this instrumental complement and leaves the nominative subject «отец Паисий» last — 'his confessor had always been Father Paisy' — weighting the new name.

По совершении обоих таинств началось соборование.  
When both sacraments had been performed, the rite of unction began.
> «по» + prepositional = 'after': «по» with the prepositional of a verbal noun («совершении», 'the performing') means 'upon / after the completion of' — a compact, bookish 'when X had been done'. «обоих таинств» is the genitive governed by that noun.
> «таинство» — sacrament, mystery: Literally 'a mystery', this -ство noun is the church term for a sacrament. Genitive plural «таинств» (zero ending) here counts 'both sacraments' just named.

Собрались иеромонахи, келья мало-помалу наполнилась скитниками.  
The hieromonks gathered, and little by little the cell filled with the hermits of the monastery.
> Reflexive «-ся» + instrumental of filling: «наполнилась» (perfective, from «наполниться») is a reflexive 'became full / filled', intransitive. The filler stands in the instrumental: «скитниками» — the cell 'filled with hermits'.
> «мало-помалу» — little by little: A reduplicative adverbial idiom, 'bit by bit, gradually'. The folksy doubling gives the slow filling of the cell an unhurried, almost incantatory rhythm.

Наступил меж тем день.  
Meanwhile the day had come on.
> Verb-first with the day as new subject: The perfective «наступил» ('set in, came on') opens the clause, the subject «день» held to the end — a presentative word order that introduces the day as fresh information. «меж тем» ('meanwhile') is a bookish variant of «между тем».

Стали приходить и из монастыря.  
People began to come over from the monastery as well.
> Subjectless 'people began to come': No subject is expressed: «стали приходить» ('they began to come') runs in the impersonal plural, the 'people' understood. «и» here is the additive particle 'also', and «из монастыря» (genitive after «из») points from the main monastery toward the hermitage.
> «стать» + imperfective infinitive = inceptive: Perfective «стали» ('began to') plus an imperfective infinitive «приходить» (to come, repeatedly/multidirectional) marks the onset of an ongoing, repeated action. «приходить» is the prefixed multidirectional motion verb, fittingly imperfective.

Когда кончилась служба, старец со всеми возжелал проститься и всех целовал.  
When the service had ended, the elder wished to take leave of them all, and he kissed each one.
> Reflexive «-ся» of completion: «кончилась» (from «кончиться») is the intransitive reflexive 'came to an end' — the service ends of itself, with no agent. Compare the transitive «кончить» (to end something). «когда» opens the temporal subordinate clause.
> «проститься с» + instrumental: «проститься» (to take leave, say goodbye) is a reflexive verb governing «с» + instrumental: «со всеми» ('with everyone'). The form «со» (not «с») appears before the consonant cluster of «всеми».

По тесноте кельи, приходившие прежде выходили и уступали другим.  
The cell being cramped, those who had come earlier went out and gave place to others.
> Causal «по» + dative: «по» with the dative «тесноте» ('the cramped state') gives a causal 'owing to the cramped cell'. «кельи» is the genitive of «келья» modifying it. This terse causal-«по» is characteristic of formal, bookish narration.
> Past active participle as a noun: «приходившие» — past active participle of «приходить» — is used substantively, 'those who had come', the subject of the sentence. The two imperfective past verbs «выходили… уступали» picture the repeated, ongoing flow of people giving way.

Алеша стоял подле старца, который опять пересел в кресло.  
Alyosha stood beside the elder, who had again moved back into the armchair.
> Relative «который» in the nominative: «который» agrees with its antecedent «старца» in masculine singular but takes the case its own clause needs — here nominative, as subject of «пересел». The comma sets off the relative clause. «пересел в кресло» uses «в» + accusative for motion into the chair.

Он говорил и учил сколько мог, голос его, хоть и слабый, был еще довольно тверд.  
He spoke and taught as much as he could; his voice, though weak, was still fairly firm.
> Imperfective past of sustained effort: The two imperfective pasts «говорил… учил» ('spoke… taught') present durative, ongoing activity, not single acts. «сколько мог» — 'as much as he could' — measures that effort against his failing strength.
> Short adjective «тверд» as predicate: «тверд» is the masculine short form of «твёрдый» (firm), used predicatively after «был». The short form here states a current, qualified condition — 'firm enough still'. «хоть и слабый» ('though weak') is the concessive long form modifying «голос».

«Столько лет учил вас и, стало быть, столько лет вслух говорил, что как бы и привычку взял говорить, а говоря, вас учить, и до того сие, что молчать мне почти и труднее было бы, чем говорить, отцы и братия милые, даже и теперь при слабости моей», — пошутил он, умиленно взирая на толпившихся около него.  
"So many years I have taught you, and have therefore spoken aloud so many years, that I have all but formed the habit of speaking — and, speaking, of teaching you — so much so that to keep silent would be almost harder for me than to speak, fathers and dear brethren, even now in my weakness," he joked, gazing with tender feeling at those crowding about him.
> Dative experiencer + comparative + «бы»: The impersonal frame has no nominative subject: the experiencer «мне» (dative) governs the comparative predicate «труднее» ('harder'), with «бы» making it hypothetical — 'it would be harder for me to keep silent'. A textbook dative-subject construction.
> «как бы» — 'as it were': «как бы» softens the assertion to 'so to speak, all but' — the elder has 'as it were taken on the habit'. This hedging «как бы» recurs across the chapter, marking the tentative, self-qualifying texture of his speech.
> Imperfective gerund «говоря»: «говоря» is the present (imperfective) adverbial participle of «говорить» — 'while speaking' — sharing the subject of the main clause and naming the simultaneous circumstance. A hallmark of literary Russian.
> «братия» — the brotherhood: «братия» is a collective-singular noun for the assembled monks, 'the brethren', warmer and more churchly than plural «братья». «милые» ('dear') in postposition gives the address its tender, valedictory note.
> Gerund + participle pile-up: «взирая» is the imperfective gerund of the bookish «взирать» (to gaze), and «толпившихся» a past active participle of «толпиться» (to crowd) used as a noun, 'those crowding'. Such stacking of non-finite forms is the dense, period-elevated style flagged in the literary-archaic register.

Алеша упомнил потом кое-что из того, что он тогда сказал.  
Alyosha afterward recalled some of what he said then.
> Correlative «то, что»: «из того, что…» is the correlative construction: the demonstrative «того» (genitive after «из») is picked up by the relative «что», 'some of that which he said'. «кое-что» is the indefinite 'a few things, something'.
> «упомнить» — to retain in memory: A folk/colloquial perfective, 'to manage to remember, to keep in mind', narrower than «вспомнить» (to recall). Slightly archaic, it suits the framing of Alyosha's imperfect record of the elder's words.

Но хоть и внятно говорил, и хоть и голосом достаточно твердым, но речь его была довольно несвязна.  
But though he spoke distinctly, and in a voice firm enough, his speech was rather disjointed.
> Doubled concessive «хоть и… но»: Two «хоть и» clauses ('though… and though…') are answered by «но» ('yet'): a balanced concession-plus-reversal. «голосом… твердым» is an instrumental of manner, 'in a firm-enough voice'.

Говорил он о многом, казалось, хотел бы всё сказать, всё высказать еще раз, пред смертною минутой, изо всего недосказанного в жизни, и не поучения лишь одного ради, а как бы жаждая поделиться радостью и восторгом своим со всеми и вся, излиться еще раз в жизни сердцем своим…  
He spoke of many things, and it seemed he wished to say everything, to utter it all once more before the minute of his death, all that had been left unsaid in his life — and not for the sake of instruction alone, but as if thirsting to share his joy and rapture with all and everything, to pour out his heart once more in this life…
> Conditional «хотел бы» — 'would wish': Past «хотел» + «бы» builds the conditional/subjunctive, 'he would wish'. Inside reported perception («казалось, хотел бы»), it softens the elder's longing into something the narrator infers rather than asserts.
> Postposed «ради» + genitive: «ради» ('for the sake of') governs the genitive and, archaically, follows its noun: «поучения… ради» = 'for the sake of instruction'. The fronted «не… лишь одного» ('not solely') negates and restricts it.
> Gerund «жаждая» of «жаждать»: «жаждая» is the imperfective gerund of the elevated «жаждать» (to thirst, crave), 'as if thirsting'. It governs the perfective infinitive «поделиться» (to share, with «с» + instrumental «со всеми»).
> «всеми и вся» — one and all: A frozen pairing 'with all and everything', where «вся» is an archaic neuter-plural of «весь» surviving only in this set phrase (cf. «всё и вся»). It recurs as a refrain in the elder's teaching on universal guilt.
> «недосказанное» — the unsaid: A substantivized past passive participle with the privative prefix «недо-» ('under-, not fully'): 'that which was left unsaid'. The genitive «изо всего недосказанного» = 'out of all that had gone unsaid'.

«Любите друг друга, отцы, — учил старец (сколько запомнил потом Алеша).  
"Love one another, fathers," the elder taught (so far as Alyosha remembered afterward).
> Plural imperative + reciprocal «друг друга»: «Любите» is the plural/polite imperative of «любить» (to love). «друг друга» ('one another') is the invariable reciprocal pronoun — the first «друг» frozen, the second declining for case. An echo of John 13:34.
> «отцы» — fathers, as address: Here a respectful vocative-style address to the monks, 'fathers'. Russian no longer has a true vocative case, so the plain nominative plural does the work (contrast the old «отче» for a single elder).

 — Любите народ божий.  
"Love the people of God.

Не святее же мы мирских за то, что сюда пришли и в сих стенах затворились, а, напротив, всякий сюда пришедший, уже тем самым, что пришел сюда, познал про себя, что он хуже всех мирских и всех и вся на земле…  
We are no holier than those in the world for having come here and shut ourselves within these walls; on the contrary, every man who has come here, by that very coming, has acknowledged of himself that he is worse than all those in the world, and worse than all and everything on earth…
> Comparative + genitive of comparison: «святее» is the predicative comparative of «святой» (holy), 'holier'; the thing compared takes the bare genitive «мирских» — 'holier than the worldly'. The particle «же» insists, 'we are by no means holier'.
> Archaic «сих» + reflexive «затвориться»: «сих» is the prepositional/genitive plural of archaic «сей» ('these'). «затворились» is the perfective reflexive 'shut themselves in', the «-ся» turning «затворить» (to shut) inward upon the subject.
> Participle «пришедший» as a noun: «пришедший» — past active participle of «прийти» (to arrive) — substantivized with «всякий», 'everyone who has come here'. The perfective stem marks a completed arrival.
> «мирские» — worldly folk: Substantivized adjective from «мир» (the world): 'people of the world, laypeople' as opposed to monastics. A key opposition in the elder's homily — monk versus «мирской».

И чем долее потом будет жить инок в стенах своих, тем чувствительнее должен и сознавать сие.  
And the longer afterward a monk lives within his walls, the more keenly must he be aware of this.
> «чем… тем…» with comparatives: The correlative comparative frame 'the more… the more…': «чем долее» ('the longer') answered by «тем чувствительнее» ('the more keenly'). Both are predicative comparatives; «долее» is the bookish form of «дольше».
> «должен» + imperfective infinitive: «должен» ('must, ought') governs the imperfective infinitive «сознавать» (to be aware of, ongoingly) — a continuing duty, not a single act. «сие» is the archaic neuter 'this'.
> «инок» — a monk: An old, churchly word for monk, from «иной» ('other'): one who has chosen a life set apart. Loftier and more spiritual in flavour than the plain «монах», and central to the elder's discourse on «путь иноческий».

Ибо в противном случае незачем ему было и приходить сюда.  
For otherwise there was no reason for him to have come here at all.
> Impersonal «незачем» + dative: «незачем» ('there is no point / reason to') heads a subjectless construction; the person is dative «ему», the predicate the past «было», and the action an infinitive «приходить» — 'there was no reason for him to come'. The particle «и» adds 'even, at all'.
> «ибо» — for, because: An archaic-bookish causal conjunction, 'for', far loftier than «потому что». It opens several of the elder's sentences, marking his speech as scriptural and sermon-like.

Когда же познает, что не только он хуже всех мирских, но и пред всеми людьми за всех и за вся виноват, за все грехи людские, мировые и единоличные, то тогда лишь цель нашего единения достигнется.  
But when he comes to know that he is not only worse than all those in the world, but is also guilty before all people for all and for everything, for all human sins, the world's and each man's alone — only then is the aim of our communion attained.
> «когда… то тогда» correlative: The temporal «когда» clause is answered by the correlative «то тогда» ('then, only then') in the main clause — a balanced 'when… then' favoured in solemn prose. «же» after «когда» adds insistence.
> Reflexive passive «достигнется»: «достигнется» is a reflexive-passive perfective future, 'will be attained' — the «-ся» yields an agentless passive, the goal reaching itself. (A slightly non-standard form for «достигнется/будет достигнута», but characteristic of the elder's idiom.)
> «за всех и за вся» — for all and everything: The chapter's central refrain: guilt 'for all and for everything'. «вся» is again the archaic neuter-plural of «весь», alive only in this fixed Slavonic pairing, lending the doctrine its scriptural cadence.

Ибо знайте, милые, что каждый единый из нас виновен за всех и за вся на земле несомненно, не только по общей мировой вине, а единолично каждый за всех людей и за всякого человека на сей земле.  
For know, my dear ones, that each single one of us is beyond doubt guilty for all and for everything on earth — not only by the common guilt of the world, but each man singly for all people and for every man upon this earth.
> Imperative «знайте» of address: «знайте» — plural imperative of «знать» (to know) — opens a direct exhortation, 'know, my dear ones'. «милые» (substantivized 'dear ones') is the addressee in nominative-as-vocative.
> «единый» — every single one: An elevated «один/каждый», 'one, single, sole'. «каждый единый из нас» heightens 'each one of us' to 'each and every single one', a bookish reinforcement.
> «единолично» — singly, individually: An adverb 'individually, each on his own', set against «по общей мировой вине» (by the common guilt of the world). The contrast — collective versus personal guilt — is the doctrinal heart of the passage.

Сие сознание есть венец пути иноческого, да и всякого на земле человека.  
This knowledge is the crown of the monk's path, and indeed of every man's on earth.
> Overt copula «есть»: Modern Russian drops the present 'to be', but the elder keeps the archaic «есть» as copula: 'this knowledge IS the crown'. Retaining «есть» is a mark of solemn, scriptural style. «сие» is again archaic 'this'.
> «венец» — crown, culmination: «венец» literally 'a wreath/crown' (as worn at an Orthodox wedding), figuratively the crowning summit of a path. «иноческого» ('monastic'), from «инок», modifies «пути» (the monk's path).

Ибо иноки не иные суть человеки, а лишь только такие, какими и всем на земле людям быть надлежало бы.  
For monks are no different sort of men, but only such as all people on earth ought to be.
> Archaic plural copula «суть»: «суть» is the old third-person-plural present of 'to be', 'are' — a deeply bookish, Church-Slavonic survival. «человеки» is likewise the archaic plural of «человек» (modern «люди»). The whole clause breathes liturgical Russian.
> Impersonal «надлежало бы» + dative: «надлежало» ('it behoved, ought') is an impersonal predicate; the experiencer «всем… людям» is dative, the action infinitive «быть», and «бы» makes it counterfactual — 'such as all people ought to be'. «какими» is the instrumental predicate of «быть».

Тогда лишь и умилилось бы сердце наше в любовь бесконечную, вселенскую, не знающую насыщения.  
Only then would our heart be moved to a love that is boundless, universal, knowing no satiety.
> Conditional «умилилось бы»: Past «умилилось» + «бы» gives the counterfactual 'would be moved/softened'. The reflexive «умилиться» means to be touched to tenderness. Verb-first order with «бы» fronted to «тогда лишь и» ('only then') foregrounds the condition.
> Participle «знающую» + genitive of negation: «знающую» — present active participle of «знать», feminine accusative agreeing with «любовь» — 'knowing'. Under negation its object goes genitive: «насыщения» ('satiety'), the genitive of negation, 'knowing no satiety'.

Тогда каждый из вас будет в силах весь мир любовию приобрести и слезами своими мировые грехи омыть…  
Then each of you will have the power to win the whole world by love, and to wash away the world's sins with his tears…
> Compound future «будет» + infinitive: «будет в силах» ('will have the power') uses the future of «быть»; it then governs perfective infinitives «приобрести» (to win, acquire) and «омыть» (to wash away) — completed future acts. «в силах» is an idiom, 'able, capable'.
> Instrumental of means + archaic «-ию»: «любовию» and «слезами» are instrumentals of means, 'by love… with one's tears'. «любовию» shows the old, poetic instrumental ending «-ию» (for modern «любовью»), heightening the register. «своими» is the reflexive possessive 'one's own'.

Всяк ходи около сердца своего, всяк себе исповедайся неустанно.  
Let each man keep watch about his own heart; let each confess himself untiringly.
> Archaic «всяк» + imperative: «всяк» is the short, archaic form of «всякий» ('everyone'); paired with the singular imperative «ходи» it forms a distributive command, 'let each man walk/keep watch'. «около… своего» = 'about his own (heart)', genitive after «около».
> Imperative of «-ся» verb + dative «себе»: «исповедайся» is the imperative of reflexive «исповедаться» (to confess); «себе» (dative reflexive 'to oneself') reinforces the inwardness. «неустанно» ('untiringly') marks the ceaseless self-examination the elder enjoins.

Греха своего не бойтесь, даже и сознав его, лишь бы покаяние было, но условий с богом не делайте.  
Do not fear your own sin, even once you have acknowledged it, so long as there is repentance; but make no conditions with God.
> Genitive after «бояться» + negative imperative: «бояться» (to fear) governs the genitive: «греха своего» ('your own sin'). The negative imperative «не бойтесь» fronts its genitive object for emphasis — 'do not fear your sin'.
> Perfective gerund «сознав»: «сознав» is the perfective past gerund of «сознать» (to acknowledge), '-в' marking a prior, completed act: 'even having acknowledged it'. «даже и» adds 'even'.
> «лишь бы» — provided that: «лишь бы» ('so long as, if only') with the past-form «было» builds a conditional-of-sufficiency: 'provided there be repentance'. The «бы» here is the irrealis particle fused into the connective.

Паки говорю — не гордитесь.  
Again I say to you — be not proud.
> Negated imperative of «-ся» verb: «гордитесь» is the imperative of reflexive «гордиться» (to be proud, with instrumental object); negated, 'be not proud'. The imperfective imperative under «не» is the normal way to forbid an attitude or state.
> «паки» — again, anew: A purely Church-Slavonic adverb, 'again, once more', familiar from liturgy («паки и паки», 'again and again'). Its use here is unmistakably ecclesiastical, marking the elder's sermon-voice.

Не гордитесь пред малыми, не гордитесь и пред великими.  
Be not proud before the small, and be not proud before the great.
> Archaic «пред» + substantivized adjectives: «пред» is the bookish form of «перед» ('before, in front of'), here governing the instrumental. «малыми» and «великими» are substantivized adjectives, 'the small (lowly)' and 'the great', a biblical antithesis.

Не ненавидьте и отвергающих вас, позорящих вас, поносящих вас и на вас клевещущих.  
Hate not those who reject you, who shame you, who revile you and slander you.
> A chain of present active participles: Three present active participles in -щий («отвергающих, позорящих, поносящих»), all genitive-accusative agreeing with the animate object of «не ненавидьте» — 'those rejecting, shaming, reviling you'. Stacked participles compress three «который»-clauses into one rhetorical sweep.
> Participle «клевещущий» of «клеветать»: «клевещущих» is the present active participle of «клеветать» (to slander), governing «на» + accusative «на вас» ('against you'). The consonant alternation т→щ is regular in this verb's present stem.

Не ненавидьте атеистов, злоучителей, материалистов, даже злых из них, не токмо добрых, ибо и из них много добрых, наипаче в наше время.  
Hate not the atheists, the teachers of evil, the materialists — not even the wicked among them, let alone the good, for there are many good ones among them too, the more so in our time.
> Archaic «токмо» — only: «токмо» is the Church-Slavonic 'only' (modern «только»); «не токмо» here means 'not to say, let alone'. The construction 'even the wicked among them, let alone the good' turns on this archaic adverb.
> «наипаче» — all the more: A Slavonic superlative-comparative adverb, 'especially, all the more so'. From «паче» ('rather, more than'), itself archaic. 'The more so in our time' lands with sermon weight.

Поминайте их на молитве тако: спаси всех, господи, за кого некому помолиться, спаси и тех, кто не хочет тебе молиться.  
Remember them in prayer thus: save all, O Lord, for whom there is no one to pray; save also those who do not wish to pray to thee.
> Archaic «тако» — thus: «тако» is the Church-Slavonic 'so, thus' (modern «так»), introducing the very words of a prayer. «поминайте» is the imperative of «поминать» (to commemorate, esp. in prayer).
> Impersonal «некому» + dative-infinitive: «некому помолиться» is the negative-impersonal pattern: «некому» (dative 'there is no one to') + infinitive, 'for whom there is no one to pray'. The «-кому» is the negative counterpart built on «кто».
> «Господи» — O Lord (vocative): «Господи» is the surviving Church-Slavonic vocative of «Господь» (the Lord), used only in direct prayerful address. Likewise «тебе… молиться» uses «тебе», the intimate 'thee' proper to addressing God.

И прибавьте тут же: не по гордости моей молю о сем, господи, ибо и сам мерзок есмь паче всех и вся…  
And add this at once: it is not out of my pride that I pray for this, O Lord, for I too am viler than all and everything…
> Archaic 1sg copula «есмь»: «есмь» is the ancient first-person-singular present of 'to be', 'I am' — wholly liturgical, modern Russian dropping it entirely. With the short adjective «мерзок» (vile) and «паче всех» ('than all'), the line reads like a penitential prayer.
> «молить о» + archaic «сем»: «молю» (1sg of «молить», to pray/beseech) governs «о» + prepositional. «сем» is the archaic prepositional of «сей» ('this'), 'I pray about this' — the high «о сем» for everyday «об этом».

Народ божий любите, не отдавайте стада отбивать пришельцам, ибо если заснете в лени и в брезгливой гордости вашей, а пуще в корыстолюбии, то придут со всех стран и отобьют у вас стадо ваше.  
Love the people of God, do not let the flock be lured away by newcomers, for if you fall asleep in sloth and in your fastidious pride, and still more in covetousness, then they will come from every land and carry off your flock from you.
> Real conditional «если… то»: A real (not counterfactual) condition: perfective future «заснете» ('if you fall asleep') answered by «то придут» ('then they will come'). No «бы» — the outcome is presented as a genuine threat, not a hypothesis.
> Genitive of negation + double infinitive: Under the negated imperative «не отдавайте», the object «стада» appears in the genitive (genitive of negation), and «отбивать» (to lure/beat away) is a dependent infinitive of purpose — 'do not give the flock up to be lured away'.
> «пуще» and «корыстолюбие»: «пуще» is a folk-archaic 'more, worse, still more'; «корыстолюбие» ('love of gain, covetousness') is a compound abstract noun (корысть + любие). Both deepen the warning's old-Russian colouring.

Толкуйте народу Евангелие неустанно…  
Expound the Gospel to the people untiringly…
> Imperative with dative + accusative: «толкуйте» (imperative of «толковать», to expound, interpret) takes the dative addressee «народу» ('to the people') and accusative object «Евангелие'. A clean double-object frame: expound the Gospel to the people.

Не лихоимствуйте…  
Practice no usury…
> «лихоимствовать» — to practise usury: A heavy archaic verb from «лихоимство» ('usury, extortion, taking unlawful gain'), itself from «лихо» (evil) + «иметь» (to have). The negated imperative forbids the taking of dishonest profit — a sin much denounced in church teaching.

Сребра и золота не любите, не держите…  
Love not silver and gold, and keep none of it…
> Genitive of negation with the verbs of holding: Both objects stand in the genitive under the negated imperatives «не любите, не держите» — «сребра», «золота» (genitive of negation): 'love no silver and gold, keep none'. The bare genitive after negation here also carries a partitive 'none of it' force.
> «сребро» — Slavonic 'silver': «сребро» is the Church-Slavonic, non-pleophonic doublet of Russian «серебро» (silver) — like «град»/«город», «злато»/«золото». Pairing «сребра и злата/золота» evokes biblical injunctions against treasure.

Веруйте и знамя держите.  
Have faith, and hold fast the banner.
> Bookish «веровать» imperative: «веруйте» is the imperative of «веровать» (to have faith, believe in), the elevated, religious counterpart of everyday «верить». «знамя» ('banner') is a neuter -мя noun (gen. «знамени»), here accusative object of «держите».

Высоко возносите его…»  
Raise it on high…"
> Imperfective imperative «возносите»: «возносите» — imperative of «возносить» (to raise on high, elevate), a lofty verb also used of prayer 'raised up' to God. The imperfective stresses the continual lifting; «его» refers back to «знамя».

Старец, впрочем, говорил отрывочнее, чем здесь было изложено и как записал потом Алеша.  
The elder, however, spoke more brokenly than it is set down here and than Alyosha later recorded.
> Comparative «отрывочнее» + «чем»: «отрывочнее» is the predicative comparative of «отрывочный» (fragmentary), 'more brokenly'; the standard of comparison is a full clause introduced by «чем» ('than'). «было изложено» is a short past-passive periphrasis, 'was set out'.

Иногда он пресекал говорить совсем, как бы собираясь с силами, задыхался, но был как бы в восторге.  
At times he broke off speaking altogether, as if gathering his strength; he gasped for breath, yet he seemed to be in a state of rapture.
> Gerund «собираясь» + «как бы»: «собираясь» is the imperfective gerund of reflexive «собираться» (to gather oneself); «собираться с силами» is a set idiom 'to summon one's strength'. «как бы» ('as if') marks it as the narrator's surmise.
> «пресекать» — to cut short: «пресекать» (to break off, cut short, suppress) is a bookish, slightly formal verb; «пресекал говорить» = 'broke off speaking'. The imperfective past pictures the repeated breakings-off of the failing voice.
> «восторг» — rapture: «восторг» is ecstatic, exalted joy — 'rapture, transport', stronger than mere delight. The phrase «как бы в восторге» ('as if in rapture') keys the elder's dying state to the novel's recurring theme of spiritual ecstasy.

Слушали его с умилением, хотя многие и дивились словам его и видели в них темноту…  
They listened to him with deep emotion, though many marveled at his words and saw in them an obscurity…
> Subjectless imperfective + «с» + instrumental: «Слушали» ('they listened') is again subjectless plural, the brethren understood. The manner phrase «с умилением» uses «с» + instrumental, 'with tender emotion' — «умиление» being the soft, melting compunction prized in Orthodox piety.
> «дивиться» + dative: «дивиться» (to marvel, wonder at) governs the dative: «словам его» ('at his words'). The particle «и» here is 'even/also' — 'though many even marvelled'. A bookish synonym of «удивляться».
> «темнота» — obscurity: Beyond 'darkness', «темнота» here means obscurity or unclarity of meaning — the listeners 'saw an obscurity' in his words, an abstract sense carried by the same noun as physical dark.

Потом все эти слова вспомнили.  
Afterward all these words were remembered.
> Subjectless 'were remembered': Once more the subjectless impersonal-plural: «вспомнили» ('they remembered / were remembered'), the object «все эти слова» fronted as topic. Russian's agentless plural neatly renders an English passive without any passive form.

Когда Алеше случилось на минуту отлучиться из кельи, то он был поражен всеобщим волнением и ожиданием толпившейся в келье и около кельи братии.  
When Alyosha happened to step out of the cell for a moment, he was struck by the general agitation and expectancy of the brethren crowding within the cell and around it.
> Impersonal «случилось» + dative: «случилось» ('it happened') is impersonal; the person is dative «Алеше» and the event an infinitive «отлучиться» — 'when it happened to Alyosha to step out'. A classic dative-experiencer framing of chance.
> Short passive participle + instrumental cause: «поражён» is the short past-passive participle of «поразить» (to strike), with «был» — 'he was struck'. What struck him stands in the instrumental: «волнением и ожиданием» ('by the agitation and expectancy').
> Participle «толпившейся» + collective «братия»: «толпившейся» — past active participle of «толпиться» (to crowd), feminine genitive — modifies «братии», the collective-singular 'brotherhood'. Hence singular agreement for a plurality of monks: 'the brethren crowding…'.

Ожидание было между иными почти тревожное, у других торжественное.  
The expectancy was, among some, almost anxious, and among others solemn.
> «иные… другие» correlative: A balanced 'among some… among others': «между иными» (instrumental after «между») set against «у других» (genitive after «у»). «иные» here is the substantivized 'some (people)', not 'other' in the plain sense.
> Predicate adjectives without copula: The present-tense predication drops the copula: '[the expectancy was] almost anxious… solemn' — long-form adjectives «тревожное, торжественное» agreeing with «ожидание» (neuter). The zero-copula present is the Russian default.

Все ожидали чего-то немедленного и великого тотчас по успении старца.  
Everyone was waiting for something immediate and great the instant the elder passed away.
> «ожидать» + genitive; indefinite «-то»: «ожидать» (to await) governs the genitive of its object: «чего-то немедленного и великого» ('something immediate and great'). «что-то» with the particle «-то» marks a specific-but-unknown referent — the awaited 'something'.
> Temporal «по» + prepositional: «по» + prepositional «успении» again means 'after, upon' — 'the instant after the elder's repose'. «тотчас по» heightens the immediacy of the awaited miracle.

Ожидание это, с одной точки зрения, было почти как бы и легкомысленное, но даже и самые строгие старцы подвергались сему.  
This expectancy was, from one point of view, almost frivolous, and yet even the strictest of the elders were subject to it.
> «подвергаться» + dative; superlative «самые»: «подвергаться» (to be subject to, undergo) governs the dative «сему» (archaic 'this'). «самые строгие» is the periphrastic superlative with «самый» ('the strictest'), «самые» declining to agree with «старцы».
> Hedge-stacking «почти как бы и»: Three hedges in a row — «почти» (almost), «как бы» (as it were), «и» (even) — pile up before «легкомысленное» (frivolous), so that the narrator scarcely commits to the judgment. This cautious qualifying is a signature of the chapter's voice.

Всего строже было лицо старца иеромонаха Паисия.  
Sternest of all was the face of the hieromonk Father Paisy.
> Superlative comparative «всего строже»: «строже всего/всех» ('sternest of all') is the comparative «строже» raised to superlative by «всего» (genitive 'than everything'). Fronted for emphasis — 'sternest of all was the face…' — with verb-subject inversion.

Алеша отлучился из кельи лишь потому, что был таинственно вызван, чрез одного монаха, прибывшим из города Ракитиным со странным письмом к Алеше от госпожи Хохлаковой.  
Alyosha had stepped out of the cell only because he had been mysteriously summoned, through one of the monks, by Rakitin, who had come from the town with a strange letter for Alyosha from Madame Khokhlakova.
> Short passive + archaic «чрез»: «вызван» is the short past-passive participle of «вызвать» (to summon), with «был» — 'was summoned'. «чрез» is the bookish form of «через» ('through, by means of'), governing the accusative «одного монаха».
> Participle + instrumental agent: The passive's agent stands in the instrumental: «Ракитиным» ('by Rakitin'), modified by the past active participle «прибывшим» ('having arrived from the town'). The participle and noun agree in instrumental case.

Та сообщила Алеше одно любопытное, чрезвычайно кстати пришедшее известие.  
She had passed on to Alyosha a curious piece of news that came at an exceedingly opportune moment.
> Participle modifying its noun: 'a piece of news that came…': «пришедшее» — past active participle of «прийти», neuter — agrees with «известие» (news): 'news that had come exceedingly opportunely'. «кстати» ('aptly, at the right moment') modifies the participle. A compact attributive that English must unpack into a clause.
> Demonstrative «та» as topic-tracker: «Та» ('she, that one') is the far demonstrative «тот» used pronominally to pick up the antecedent «госпожа Хохлакова» from the previous sentence — a typical Russian device for tracking who-is-who across clauses without repeating the name.

Дело состояло в том, что вчера между верующими простонародными женщинами, приходившими поклониться старцу и благословиться у него, была одна городская старушка, Прохоровна, унтер-офицерская вдова.  
The matter was this: that on the previous day, among the believing women of the common people who had come to bow before the elder and receive his blessing, there had been one old townswoman, Prokhorovna, the widow of a non-commissioned officer.
> «состоять в том, что» — the matter was that: A fixed presentational frame: «дело состояло в том, что…» = 'the matter consisted in this, that…'. The correlative «в том» (prepositional after «в») is unpacked by the «что»-clause that follows.
> Participle + purpose infinitives: «приходившими» (past active participle, instrumental, agreeing with «женщинами») governs two purpose infinitives: «поклониться» (to bow before) and reflexive «благословиться» (to receive a blessing) — 'who had come to bow and be blessed'.
> «старушка» — dear little old woman: The diminutive of «старуха» (old woman), warm and affectionate — 'a little old lady'. The suffix «-ушк-» softens and endears, marking the narrator's tenderness toward the simple believer.

Спрашивала она старца: можно ли ей помянуть сыночка своего Васеньку, заехавшего по службе далеко в Сибирь, в Иркутск, и от которого она уже год не получала никакого известия, вместо покойника в церкви за упокой?  
She had asked the elder whether she might commemorate her little son Vasenka — who had gone far away on service into Siberia, to Irkutsk, and from whom she had received no news whatever for a year now — in church as one departed, for the repose of his soul, as though he were dead.
> Embedded «ли» = 'whether': In indirect question, «ли» means 'whether': «спрашивала… можно ли ей помянуть» = 'asked whether she might commemorate'. «можно… ей» is the impersonal permission frame with dative experiencer.
> Diminutive cascade: «сыночек», «Васенька»: Two affectionate diminutives heap up the mother's tenderness: «сыночек» (dear little son, from «сын») and «Васенька» (from Вася ← Василий). The endearing «-еньк-» suffix turns the boy into the object of her doting grief.
> Relative «который» + negative concord: «от которого» ('from whom', genitive after «от») opens the relative clause. Inside, negative concord operates: «никакого известия» (genitive of negation after negated «не получала») — 'received no news whatever', the ни-word and «не» reinforcing one negation.

На что старец ответил ей со строгостию, запретив и назвав такого рода поминание подобным колдовству.  
To which the elder had answered her with severity, forbidding it and calling commemoration of that sort akin to sorcery.
> Relative «на что» linking sentences: «На что» ('to which') is a sentence-connective relative carrying the verb's government («ответить на что-то») across the period boundary — 'to which the elder answered'. «со строгостию» shows the archaic instrumental «-ию» for «строгостью» (with severity).
> Two perfective gerunds: «запретив» (from «запретить», to forbid) and «назвав» (from «назвать», to call/name) are perfective past gerunds in -в, expressing acts accompanying the main verb: 'answered… forbidding it and calling…'. «назвав… подобным колдовству» uses an instrumental complement.
> «колдовство» — sorcery: «колдовство» is witchcraft, sorcery — folk magic condemned by the Church. To call a misdirected commemoration 'akin to «колдовство»' brands it as superstition crossing into the forbidden, the sharp edge of the elder's rebuke.

Но затем, простив ей по неведению, прибавил, «как бы смотря в книгу будущего» (выражалась госпожа Хохлакова в письме своем), и утешение, «что сын ее Вася жив несомненно, и что или сам приедет к ней вскорости, или письмо пришлет, и чтоб она шла в свой дом и ждала сего.  
But then, forgiving her on account of her ignorance, he had added, "as if looking into the book of the future" (so Madame Khokhlakova put it in her letter), this consolation: "that her son Vasya was certainly alive, and that he would either come to her soon himself or send a letter, and that she should go home and wait for it.
> Gerund «простив» + causal «по»: «простив» is the perfective gerund of «простить» (to forgive), 'having forgiven her'. «по неведению» — «по» + dative «неведению» ('ignorance') — gives the cause/grounds, 'on account of her ignorance'.
> «чтоб» + past form = indirect command: «чтоб» (reduced «чтобы») with past-tense verbs «шла… ждала» renders an indirect command/wish — 'that she should go… and wait'. The past form here is the irrealis demanded by «чтобы», not a real past. «свой дом» is the reflexive possessive 'her own home'.
> Gerund «смотря» of perception: «смотря» is the imperfective gerund of «смотреть» (to look); «как бы смотря в книгу будущего» = 'as if looking into the book of the future'. Khokhlakova's hedged simile, quoted within the narration.
> «вскорости» — before long: A folksy-archaic adverb 'soon, shortly', colloquial alongside the standard «вскоре». It belongs to the homely register of the old woman's hopeful tale.

И что же? — прибавляла в восторге госпожа Хохлакова, — пророчество совершилось даже буквально, и даже более того».  
And what do you think?" Madame Khokhlakova added in rapture. "The prophecy was fulfilled even to the letter, and indeed more than that."
> «что же?» — and what do you think?: «И что же?» is a rhetorical buttonholing of the listener — the particle «же» loading the bare «что?» ('what') with suspense, 'and what do you think happened?'. It captures Khokhlakova's breathless excitement.
> Reflexive «совершиться» of fulfilment: «совершилось» (perfective reflexive of «совершиться», to come to pass, be accomplished) — 'the prophecy was fulfilled'. The «-ся» makes it intransitive, the prophecy fulfilling itself. «даже буквально» heightens: 'even to the letter'.

Едва лишь старушка вернулась домой, как ей тотчас же передали уже ожидавшее ее письмо из Сибири.  
No sooner had the old woman returned home than a letter from Siberia, already awaiting her, was at once handed over.
> «едва… как» — no sooner than: The correlative «едва лишь… как» ('scarcely had… when / no sooner… than') links two events in immediate sequence. The main clause «ей… передали» is subjectless plural with dative «ей» — 'a letter was handed to her at once'.
> Participle «ожидавшее» in attribution: «ожидавшее» — past active participle of «ожидать» (to await), neuter — modifies «письмо»: 'the letter already awaiting her'. A nice irony: the inanimate letter is given the agency of 'awaiting'.

Но этого еще мало: в письме этом, писанном с дороги, из Екатеринбурга, Вася уведомлял свою мать, что едет сам в Россию, возвращается с одним чиновником и что недели чрез три по получении письма сего «он надеется обнять свою мать».  
But that was not all: in that letter, written on the road, from Yekaterinburg, Vasya informed his mother that he was himself on his way back to Russia, returning with a certain official, and that some three weeks after she received this letter "he hoped to embrace his mother."
> Short-form participle «писанном» as attribute: «писанном» is the (slightly archaic) past passive participle of «писать», prepositional, agreeing with «письме»: 'in that letter, written from the road'. The unprefixed «писанный» (vs «написанный») is an older, bookish form.
> Reported present + verbs of motion: After «уведомлял, что…» ('informed that…'), Russian keeps the present-tense «едет… возвращается» where English shifts to the past ('was on his way, returning'). «едет» (unidirectional «ехать») marks a single journey now under way.
> Approximation by inversion + archaic «чрез»: Putting the noun before the numeral — «недели чрез три» instead of «чрез три недели» — signals approximation, 'some three weeks'. «чрез» is bookish «через» (here 'after'), and «по получении… сего» again is «по» + prepositional with archaic «сего».

Госпожа Хохлакова настоятельно и горячо умоляла Алешу немедленно передать это свершившееся вновь «чудо предсказания» игумену и всей братии: «Это должно быть всем, всем известно!» — восклицала она, заключая письмо свое.  
Madame Khokhlakova earnestly and fervently implored Alyosha to report this freshly accomplished "miracle of prophecy" at once to the Father Superior and the whole brotherhood: "Everyone, everyone must know of it!" she exclaimed, closing her letter.
> Past active participle as modifier: «Свершившееся» is the past active participle of perfective «свершиться» ('to come to pass'), here declined as a neuter modifier of «чудо» — literally 'this miracle-of-prophecy that had just come to pass'. The participle packs a whole который-clause ('which had come to pass') into a single adjective, a hallmark of Dostoevsky's literary syntax.
> Gerund of attendant action: «Заключая» is the imperfective present gerund («деепричастие») of «заключать» ('to close, conclude'): 'closing her letter', an action simultaneous with «восклицала». Note «свое» (reflexive possessive 'her own'), agreeing with «письмо» and referring back to the clause's subject.

Письмо ее было писано наскоро, поспешно, волнение писавшей отзывалось в каждой строчке его.  
Her letter had been written in haste, hurriedly; the writer's agitation made itself felt in every line of it.
> Short-form passive participle: 'was written': «Было писано» is a periphrastic passive — neuter «было» plus the short-form passive participle «писано» (from «писать»), stating a result: 'the letter had been written'. The fuller modern form would be «написано»; the bare imperfective «писано» is bookish and 19th-century in flavour.
> Substantivized past participle 'the writer': «Писавшей» is the past active participle of «писать» used as a noun in the genitive feminine — 'of the [female] one who was writing', i.e. 'the writer's'. A participle standing in for a person is a compact literary device. «Отзывалось» carries reflexive «-ся» in its middle sense: 'made itself felt'.

Но Алеше уже и нечего было сообщать братии, ибо все уже всё знали: Ракитин, послав за ним монаха, поручил тому, кроме того, «почтительнейше донести и его высокопреподобию отцу Паисию, что имеет до него он, Ракитин, некое дело, но такой важности, что и минуты не смеет отложить для сообщения ему, за дерзость же свою земно просит простить его».  
But there was already nothing for Alyosha to report to the brethren, for they all knew everything already: Rakitin, having sent the monk for him, had charged him, besides this, "most respectfully to convey to His Reverence Father Paisy as well that he, Rakitin, had a certain matter to lay before him — but one of such importance that he dared not put off communicating it even for a minute, and that for his boldness he humbly begged, bowing to the ground, to be forgiven."
> Dative-subject impersonal with «нечего»: A subjectless construction: the experiencer «Алеше» stands in the dative, and «нечего... сообщать» ('there was nothing to report') is the negative impersonal predicate with «было». English needs a dummy subject ('there was nothing for Alyosha'); Russian frames it as something happening *to* Alyosha.
> «ибо» — bookish 'for, because': «Ибо» is an archaic, elevated conjunction meaning 'for, because', far more solemn than everyday «потому что». It belongs to the literary-archaic and ecclesiastical register that pervades the monastery chapters and recurs throughout Ferapont's world.
> Perfective gerund: 'having sent': «Послав» is the perfective past gerund of «послать» — a completed prior action, 'having sent [a monk] for him', setting up the main verb «поручил». The construction «послать за кем-то» ('to send for someone') uses «за» + instrumental «ним».
> «земно» — bowing to the ground: «Земно» means 'to the earth' — «земно кланяться / просить» is to make a full prostration, forehead to the floor, the deepest Orthodox gesture of supplication. Rakitin's 'humbly, bowing to the ground, begs forgiveness' is theatrically self-abasing, in keeping with his calculating character.

Так как отцу Паисию монашек сообщил просьбу Ракитина раньше, чем Алеше, то Алеше, придя на место, осталось лишь, прочтя письмецо, сообщить его тотчас же отцу Паисию в виде лишь документа.  
Since the little monk had conveyed Rakitin's request to Father Paisy before Alyosha, it remained for Alyosha, on arriving, only to read the note through and to hand it over at once to Father Paisy as a mere document.
> «так как... то...» correlative; dative of the affected: «Так как» ('since, because') opens the cause, picked up by correlative «то» before the main clause — a tidy bookish subordinating frame. The main clause is again impersonal: «Алеше осталось лишь...» ('it remained only for Alyosha to...'), the dative naming whom the task falls to.
> Two perfective gerunds in a row: «Придя» (from «прийти', 'to arrive') and «прочтя» (from «прочесть», 'to read through') are both perfective past gerunds, each naming a completed step prior to handing over the note. Stacking gerunds to compress a sequence of actions is characteristic of literary narration.
> «письмецо» — diminutive of «письмо»: «Письмецо» is the diminutive of «письмо» ('letter'). Here it conveys not affection so much as the small, slight, almost dismissive size of the note — a 'little letter' that Alyosha need only read out and pass along.

И вот даже этот суровый и недоверчивый человек, прочтя нахмурившись известие о «чуде», не мог удержать вполне некоторого внутреннего чувства своего.  
And even this stern and mistrustful man, reading the news of the "miracle" with a frown, could not entirely restrain a certain inward feeling of his own.
> Stacked gerunds of manner and sequence: Two gerunds qualify the main verb: «прочтя» (perfective, 'having read') marks the prior act, and «нахмурившись» (perfective reflexive, 'with a frown / having frowned') the manner accompanying it. The reflexive «-сь» on «нахмурившись» makes the verb intransitive — the man knits *his own* brow.
> Genitive of negation on the object: Under the negated «не мог удержать», the object slides from accusative into the genitive: «некоторого внутреннего чувства» ('a certain inward feeling'). This genitive-of-negation is especially natural with abstract, non-specific objects like a stirring of feeling.

Глаза его сверкнули, уста важно и проникновенно вдруг улыбнулись.  
His eyes flashed, and his lips suddenly broke into a grave and penetrating smile.
> Perfective verbs of sudden onset: Both verbs are perfective and instantaneous: «сверкнули» ('flashed', from the semelfactive «сверкнуть') and «улыбнулись» ('broke into a smile'). The perfective marks each as a single, completed flash of event against the surrounding description — note the reinforcing «вдруг» ('suddenly').
> «уста» — poetic/archaic 'lips, mouth': «Уста» (plural-only) is the elevated, Church-Slavonic-tinged word for 'lips/mouth', as against everyday «губы / рот». It lends Paisy's smile a solemn, scriptural dignity — the same high register the monastery chapters maintain throughout.

— То ли узрим? — как бы вырвалось у него вдруг.  
"Shall we yet behold even greater things?" seemed to escape him all at once.
> «узрим» — Church-Slavonic 'shall behold': «Узрим» is the perfective future of the archaic «узреть» ('to behold, perceive'), an elevated, scriptural verb for plain «увидим» ('we shall see'). Paisy's half-involuntary 'Shall we yet behold even greater things?' reaches instinctively for liturgical diction in a moment of awe.
> «как бы» + reflexive: 'seemed to escape him': «Вырвалось» is the perfective reflexive of «вырваться» ('to break/burst out'), here middle-voice: the exclamation escapes him of itself. The hedging particle «как бы» ('as if, as it were') softens it — the words half-escape his control, characteristic of Dostoevsky's narration of involuntary feeling.

— То ли еще узрим, то ли еще узрим! — повторили кругом монахи, но отец Паисий, снова нахмурившись, попросил всех хотя бы до времени вслух о сем не сообщать никому, «пока еще более подтвердится, ибо много в светских легкомыслия, да и случай сей мог произойти естественно», — прибавил он осторожно, как бы для очистки совести, но почти сам не веруя своей оговорке, что очень хорошо усмотрели и слушавшие.  
"Greater things shall we yet behold, greater things shall we yet behold!" the monks repeated around him; but Father Paisy, frowning again, asked them all not to speak of it aloud to anyone, at least for the time being, "until it is confirmed more fully, for there is much frivolity among worldly people, and besides, this case may have come about naturally," he added cautiously, as if to clear his conscience, yet scarcely believing his own reservation — which those listening saw very well.
> Negative concord with «никому»: Russian requires negative concord: the verb keeps «не» («не сообщать») even though the negative pronoun «никому» ('to no one') is present — two negatives, one meaning. «О сем» uses archaic «сей» ('this') in the prepositional, in keeping with the chapter's elevated register.
> «пока» clause with perfective future: «Пока» ('until') introduces a temporal clause whose verb «подтвердится» is a perfective reflexive future ('until it gets more fully confirmed'). The perfective marks the awaited confirmation as a single completed result that must come before speaking openly.
> «легкомыслие» — frivolity; partitive genitive: «Легкомыслие» (literally 'light-mindedness') is 'frivolity, thoughtlessness'. Note the quantity word «много» governing the genitive «легкомыслия» ('much frivolity'), and «в светских» = 'among worldly people', the laity as opposed to monks — a key social division in the novel.
> Gerund «веруя» from archaic «веровать»: «Веруя» is the present gerund of the bookish «веровать» ('to believe', especially religiously) rather than plain «верить» — 'scarcely himself believing his own reservation'. The negated gerund adds an attendant circumstance to the main verb «прибавил», exposing Paisy's inner skepticism beneath his cautious words.

В тот же час, конечно, «чудо» стало известно всему монастырю и многим даже пришедшим в монастырь к литургии светским.  
That same hour, of course, the "miracle" became known to the whole monastery, and even to many of the laypeople who had come to the monastery for the liturgy.
> Dative of the affected with «стать известным»: «Стало известно» ('became known') takes the dative for those to whom it became known: «всему монастырю» ('to the whole monastery'), «многим... светским» ('to many of the lay folk'). «Известно» is a short-form predicate adjective agreeing in the neuter with «чудо».
> Past participle in the dative: «Пришедшим» is the past active participle of «прийти» ('to come'), declined to agree with dative «светским» — 'to the lay people who had come to the monastery'. The participle replaces a который-clause and itself takes the dative its head noun requires.

Всех же более, казалось, был поражен совершившимся чудом вчерашний захожий в обитель монашек «от святого Сильвестра», из одной малой обители Обдорской на дальнем Севере.  
Most struck of all by the miracle that had occurred, it seemed, was a little monk who had arrived at the hermitage the day before "from Saint Sylvester's," from one of the small Obdorsk monasteries in the far North.
> Fronted superlative; instrumental of cause: Word order is rhetorically inverted: «всех же более... был поражен» ('most of all of them was struck') opens with the comparative for emphasis. The thing that strikes him stands in the instrumental — «совершившимся чудом» ('by the miracle that had occurred') — the instrumental marking cause/means with a passive participle «поражен».
> «обитель» dwelling; «захожий» wayfaring: «Обитель» is an elevated word for a monastery or hermitage, literally a 'dwelling'. «Захожий» ('one who has dropped in, a wayfarer') and the diminutive «монашек» ('little monk') together paint the visitor as a small, transient outsider — set against the great monastery he has wandered into.

Он поклонился вчера старцу, стоя около госпожи Хохлаковой, и, указывая ему на «исцелевшую» дочь этой дамы, проникновенно спросил его: «Как дерзаете вы делать такие дела?»  
He had bowed to the elder the day before, standing beside Madame Khokhlakova, and, pointing out to him that lady's "healed" daughter, had asked him with deep feeling: "How do you dare to do such things?"
> Imperfective gerunds of simultaneous action: «Стоя» (from «стоять») and «указывая» (from «указывать») are imperfective present gerunds describing what the monk was doing *while* he addressed the elder — 'standing beside... and pointing to...'. They share the subject of the main verbs «поклонился... спросил».
> «дерзать» — to dare, presume: «Дерзать» ('to dare, to presume') is a bookish, elevated verb carrying a note of audacity bordering on impiety. The monk's «Как дерзаете вы делать такие дела?» ('How do you dare to do such things?') treats Zosima's apparent miracle as a near-blasphemous overreach — the question that has thrown him into doubt.

Дело в том, что теперь он был уже в некотором недоумении и почти не знал, чему верить.  
The thing was that by now he was already in some perplexity and scarcely knew what to believe.
> «верить» governs the dative: «Верить» ('to believe, trust') takes its object in the dative: «чему верить» = 'what [dat.] to believe'. The interrogative «что» appears here as dative «чему». English 'believe what' hides this case marking entirely.
> «дело в том, что...» — 'the thing is...': A fixed framing phrase, «дело в том, что» ('the thing/point is that...'), used to introduce an explanation. Dostoevsky's narrator deploys it constantly to pivot from event to motive — here, to explain the source of the monk's perplexity.

Еще вчера ввечеру посетил он монастырского отца Ферапонта в особой келье его за пасекой и был поражен этою встречей, которая произвела на него чрезвычайное и ужасающее впечатление.  
Only the evening before he had visited the monastery's Father Ferapont in his separate cell beyond the apiary, and had been struck by that meeting, which made an extraordinary and appalling impression on him.
> «ввечеру» — archaic 'in the evening': «Ввечеру» is an old adverbial form for 'in the evening' (modern «вечером»), with the fused preposition «в-». Like «давеча» and «намедни», it gives the narration a slightly antique, folk-tinged colour.
> Relative «который» in the instrumental antecedent: «Который» heads the relative clause and agrees with feminine antecedent «встречей» in gender/number, while taking nominative case as the subject of its own clause ('which made an impression'). The idiom is «произвести впечатление на кого-то» — 'to make an impression on someone'.

Старец этот, отец Ферапонт, был тот самый престарелый монах, великий постник и молчальник, о котором мы уже и упоминали как о противнике старца Зосимы, и главное — старчества, которое и считал он вредным и легкомысленным новшеством.  
This elder, Father Ferapont, was that same aged monk, the great faster and keeper of silence, of whom we have already made mention as an opponent of the elder Zosima and, above all, of the institution of elders, which he held to be a harmful and frivolous innovation.
> «постник» faster, «молчальник» keeper of silence: A «постник» is one who fasts rigorously; a «молчальник» (from «молчать», 'to be silent') is a monk who has taken a vow of silence. Both are recognized ascetic vocations; the agent-noun suffix «-ник» turns the practice into an identity. These twin disciplines define Ferapont's whole reputation.
> «упоминать о» + prepositional: «Упоминать» ('to mention') governs «о» plus the prepositional: «о котором» ('of whom'). The relative «который» agrees with masculine «монах» but takes the prepositional case its own role demands. The added «и» ('even, indeed') stresses that he has indeed already been named.

Противник этот был чрезвычайно опасный, несмотря на то, что он, как молчальник, почти и не говорил ни с кем ни слова.  
This opponent was an exceedingly dangerous one, despite the fact that, as a keeper of silence, he hardly spoke a word to anyone.
> Piled-up negation: «не... ни... ни...»: A dense negative-concord cluster: «не говорил» plus «ни с кем» ('with no one') plus «ни слова' ('not a word'). «Ни» intensifies the «не» of the verb — 'spoke not a single word with anyone'. The negated object «ни слова» also shows the genitive of negation.
> «несмотря на то, что» — 'despite the fact that': A concessive subordinator: «несмотря на то, что» literally 'not looking at the fact that', i.e. 'although, despite that'. It opens a clause conceding a point against the main statement — here, that this near-silent monk is nonetheless dangerous.

Опасен же был он, главное, тем, что множество братии вполне сочувствовало ему, а из приходящих мирских очень многие чтили его как великого праведника и подвижника, несмотря на то, что видели в нем несомненно юродивого.  
He was dangerous chiefly in this, that a great number of the brethren fully sympathized with him, and among the laypeople who came many revered him as a great righteous man and ascetic, despite the fact that they saw in him, beyond doubt, a holy fool.
> Predicate «тем, что» — 'dangerous in that...': The instrumental demonstrative «тем» plus «что» forms 'in this, that...' — naming the respect in which he is dangerous. Note the fronted short adjective «опасен» and the particle «же» marking the resumption of the topic ('he was dangerous'), a typically Russian topic-comment opening.
> Present participle substantivized in genitive: «Приходящих» is the present active participle of «приходить» ('to come'), used substantivally with «мирских» ('lay people'): 'of the laypeople who kept coming'. The imperfective participle conveys habitual, repeated arrival — the steady stream of pilgrims.
> «праведник» righteous man, «подвижник» ascetic striver: A «праведник» is a righteous, holy person; a «подвижник» (from «подвиг», 'feat, spiritual exploit') is one who undertakes great ascetic 'labors' for God. Both are high terms of religious esteem — the very esteem that makes Ferapont, as a rival to Zosima, so dangerous.

Но юродство-то и пленяло.  
But it was precisely this holy folly that captivated them.
> Emphatic clitic «-то»: The hyphenated clitic «-то» on «юродство-то» highlights an already-known topic — 'it was the holy folly itself (the very thing) that captivated'. Combined with «и» ('precisely') it throws full focus onto «юродство». This is the topic-emphasizing «-то», distinct from the indefinite «-то» in «кто-то».

К старцу Зосиме этот отец Ферапонт никогда не ходил.  
This Father Ferapont never went to the elder Zosima.
> Multidirectional «ходить» for habit: «Ходил» is the multidirectional motion verb «ходить» (vs unidirectional «идти'), the right choice for a habitual, repeated going — here negated: 'never went [used to go]'. With «никогда не», the imperfective expresses the absence of an entire habit. Multidirectional verbs cover round trips and customary movement.

Хотя он и проживал в скиту, но его не очень-то беспокоили скитскими правилами, потому опять-таки, что держал он себя прямо юродивым.  
Although he lived in the hermitage, they did not trouble him much with the hermitage's rules, again for the reason that he bore himself outright as a holy fool.
> Indefinite-subject 'they'; instrumental of means: A subjectless 'they'-construction: the 3rd-person plural «беспокоили» ('they troubled') with no named subject means 'one didn't trouble him much'. «Скитскими правилами» is instrumental — the means by which they might have troubled him, 'with the hermitage rules'. The «-то» softens «не очень».

Было ему лет семьдесят пять, если не более, а проживал он за скитскою пасекой, в углу стены, в старой, почти развалившейся деревянной келье, поставленной тут еще в древнейшие времена, еще в прошлом столетии, для одного тоже величайшего постника и молчальника, отца Ионы, прожившего до ста пяти лет и о подвигах которого даже до сих пор ходили в монастыре и в окрестностях его многие любопытнейшие рассказы.  
He was about seventy-five years old, if not more, and he lived beyond the hermitage apiary, in a corner of the wall, in an old, almost tumbledown wooden cell that had been set up there long ago, back in the last century, for another exceedingly great faster and keeper of silence, Father Iona, who had lived to a hundred and five, and about whose feats many most curious tales were still told to this very day in the monastery and its surroundings.
> Dative of age; approximation by inversion: Age is expressed impersonally with the dative experiencer: «было ему... лет» = 'to him there were... years', i.e. 'he was... years old'. Inverting the numeral and noun — «лет семьдесят пять» instead of «семьдесят пять лет» — signals approximation: 'about seventy-five'.
> Two participles modifying «келье»: The cell is modified by both «развалившейся» (past active participle, 'having fallen apart, tumbledown') and «поставленной» (past passive participle, 'that had been set up'), each in the prepositional feminine to agree with «келье». Chains of participles compressed onto one noun are typical of Dostoevsky's descriptive sentences.
> Numeral phrase declined after a preposition: «До ста пяти лет» ('to a hundred and five years') shows the whole numeral phrase re-declined in the genitive after «до»: «ста» (gen. of «сто'), «пяти» (gen. of «пять'). «Прожившего» is a past participle agreeing with «отца Ионы» — 'who had lived to 105'.
> «подвиг» feat; superlative «любопытнейшие»: «Подвиг» here means an ascetic 'feat' or spiritual exploit, not a battle deed. «Любопытнейшие» is the bookish superlative in «-ейший» ('most curious'), and «ходили рассказы» is the idiom 'tales went about / circulated'. The elevated forms befit the legend of a 105-year-old ascetic.

Отец Ферапонт добился того, что и его наконец поселили, лет семь тому назад, в этой самой уединенной келейке, то есть просто в избе, но которая весьма похожа была на часовню, ибо заключала в себе чрезвычайно много жертвованных образов с теплившимися вековечно пред ними жертвованными лампадками, как бы смотреть за которыми и возжигать их и приставлен был отец Ферапонт.  
Father Ferapont had at last contrived to be settled, some seven years before, in this very same secluded little cell — that is, simply in a hut, though one that closely resembled a chapel, for it held within it an extraordinary number of donated icons, with donated lamps that burned everlastingly before them, to tend which and to light which Father Ferapont had been appointed.
> «добиться того, что...» + indefinite 'they': «Добиться» ('to attain, contrive') governs the genitive «того», resumed by «что» — 'he attained this, that...'. The subordinate verb «поселили» ('they settled [him]') is again a subjectless 3rd-plural, so English uses a passive: 'he contrived to be settled'.
> Cell, hut, chapel: «Келейка» is the affectionate diminutive of «келья» (a little cell); the narrator glosses it bluntly as «изба», a plain peasant log-hut. Yet it resembles a «часовня» (a small chapel) because of all its icons — the squalid and the sacred fused, a very Dostoevskian image of Ferapont's holiness.

Ел он, как говорили (да оно и правда было), всего лишь по два фунта хлеба в три дня, не более; приносил ему их каждые три дня живший тут же на пасеке пасечник, но даже и с этим прислуживавшим ему пасечником отец Ферапонт тоже редко когда молвил слово.  
He ate, as people said (and it was the truth), no more than two pounds of bread in three days; the beekeeper who lived right there at the apiary brought him these every three days, but even with this beekeeper who waited on him Father Ferapont too rarely ever exchanged a word.
> Distributive «по» + accusative: «По два фунта» uses distributive «по» to mean 'at the rate of two pounds each [period]'. With «два» the noun «фунта» stands in the genitive singular as numerals 2–4 require. «В три дня» = 'in/per three days' — the rationing that defines Ferapont's extreme fast.
> Past participle modifying «пасечник»: «Живший» is the past active participle of «жить» ('to live'), agreeing with «пасечник» — 'the beekeeper who lived right there at the apiary'. Word order tucks the whole participial phrase before the noun, German-style, condensing a relative clause.
> Archaic «молвить»; perfective for the rare event: «Молвил» is the perfective past of the archaic «молвить» ('to utter, say'), bookish for «сказал». The perfective with «редко когда» ('rarely ever') frames each utterance as a single, exceptional event punctuating his silence.

Эти четыре фунта хлеба, вместе с воскресною просвиркой, после поздней обедни аккуратно присылаемой блаженному игуменом, и составляли всё его недельное пропитание.  
These four pounds of bread, together with the Sunday communion-loaf punctually sent to the blessed one by the Father Superior after the late liturgy, made up the whole of his weekly sustenance.
> Present passive participle; agent in instrumental: «Присылаемой» is the rare present passive participle in «-ем-» (from «присылать», 'to send'), agreeing with «просвиркой' — 'the communion-loaf [regularly] sent'. Its agent stands in the instrumental, «игуменом» ('by the Father Superior'), and the recipient in the dative, «блаженному» ('to the blessed one').

Воду же в кружке переменяли ему на каждый день.  
The water in his jug, however, was changed for him every day.
> Fronted object; indefinite 'they': The object «воду» (accusative) is fronted for topic, picked up by the particle «же» ('as for the water...'). The verb «переменяли» is again subjectless 3rd-plural ('they changed it for him'), rendered in English with a passive. The free word order lets the given topic come first, the action last.

У обедни он редко появлялся.  
He rarely appeared at the liturgy.
> Imperfective of habit; «у» + genitive of attendance: «Появлялся» is imperfective, naming a (non-)habit — 'he rarely appeared/used to appear'. «У обедни» ('at the liturgy') uses «у» + genitive in the sense of being present at a service. The fronted prepositional phrase sets the scene as topic before the comment.

Приходившие поклонники видели, как он простаивал иногда весь день на молитве, не вставая с колен и не озираясь.  
Worshippers who came saw how he would sometimes stand at prayer the whole day long, without rising from his knees and without looking about him.
> Imperfective duration; negated gerunds: «Простаивал» is imperfective with the prefix «про-» of spent duration — 'he would stand [the whole day] through'. The two negated gerunds «не вставая» ('without rising') and «не озираясь' ('without looking about') describe the manner that persists throughout, both sharing the subject «он».

Если же и вступал когда с ними в беседу, то был краток, отрывист, странен и всегда почти груб.  
And if he ever did enter into conversation with them, he was curt, abrupt, strange, and almost always rude.
> Conditional-habitual «если... то»; short adjectives: «Если... то» here is not a one-off condition but a habitual 'whenever': imperfective «вступал» = 'if/whenever he did enter into talk'. The predicates are short-form adjectives — «краток, отрывист, странен, груб» — bookish and characterizing a recurrent state, the clipped quality of his rare speech.

Бывали, однако, очень редкие случаи, что и он разговорится с прибывшими, но большею частию произносил одно лишь какое-нибудь странное слово, задававшее всегда посетителю большую загадку, и затем уже, несмотря ни на какие просьбы, не произносил ничего в объяснение.  
There were, however, very rare occasions when he too would fall into talk with those who came, but for the most part he would utter only some single strange word, which always set the visitor a great riddle, and after that, in spite of any entreaties, he would say nothing whatever in explanation.
> Perfective «разговориться»; substantivized participle: «Разговорится» is the perfective of «разговориться» ('to get to talking, warm to conversation'), the «раз-...-ся» pattern marking the onset of an absorbing activity. «С прибывшими» is the past participle of «прибыть» used as a noun — 'with those who had arrived'.
> Participle «задававшее» modifying «слово»: «Задававшее» is the past active participle of «задавать» ('to set, pose'), neuter to agree with «слово» — 'a word that always set the visitor a great riddle'. «Какое-нибудь» ('some... or other') uses «-нибудь» for a non-specific 'any single' word.
> Negative concord across the sentence: Two negatives reinforce one meaning: «ни на какие просьбы» ('in spite of any entreaties whatever') and «не произносил ничего» ('uttered nothing'). The «ни»-words do not cancel the «не» of the verb but intensify it — Russian negative concord at full stretch.

Чина священнического не имел, был простой лишь монах.  
He held no priestly rank; he was only a simple monk.
> Genitive of negation; fronted object: Under negated «не имел» ('did not hold'), the object «чин... священнический» appears in the genitive: «чина священнического» — the genitive of negation. Fronting the object before the verb, with no subject pronoun, gives the clipped, list-like rhythm of the character sketch.

Ходил очень странный слух, между самыми, впрочем, темными людьми, что отец Ферапонт имеет сообщение с небесными духами и с ними только ведет беседу, вот почему с людьми и молчит.  
A very strange rumor went about, among the most simple-minded folk, however, that Father Ferapont was in communication with heavenly spirits and held converse with them alone — and that this was why he kept silent with people.
> Instrumental of accompaniment with «с»: «С небесными духами» and «с ними» use «с» + instrumental for accompaniment — 'with heavenly spirits', 'with them'. The fronted «с ними только» ('with them alone') is emphatic word order: it is *them* alone he talks to, hence his silence toward people.
> «тёмные люди» — the unenlightened: «Тёмный» literally 'dark', but of people means 'ignorant, unenlightened, simple'. «Самые тёмные люди» ('the most benighted folk') gently distances the narrator from the credulous peasants who spread the rumor of Ferapont's converse with spirits — a false friend for English 'dark'.

Обдорский монашек, пробравшись на пасеку по указанию пасечника, тоже весьма молчаливого и угрюмого монаха, пошел в уголок, где стояла келейка отца Ферапонта.  
The Obdorsk monk, having made his way to the apiary by the directions of the beekeeper — himself a very taciturn and morose monk — went into the corner where Father Ferapont's little cell stood.
> Perfective gerund + perfective main verb: «Пробравшись» is the perfective past gerund of «пробраться» ('to make/pick one's way'), a completed prior action — 'having made his way' — before the main perfective «пошёл» ('set off'). «Пошёл» is the prefixed perfective of «идти», marking the start of motion into the corner.
> «по» + dative of means; appositive in genitive: «По указанию» ('by the directions') uses «по» + dative in the sense 'according to, following'. «Пасечника, тоже весьма молчаливого и угрюмого монаха» is an appositive in the genitive, restating the beekeeper as 'himself a very taciturn and morose monk'.

«Может, и заговорит, как с пришельцем, а может, и ничего от него не добьешься», — предупредил его пасечник.  
"Maybe he'll speak to you, since you're a newcomer; but maybe you'll get nothing out of him at all," the beekeeper had warned him.
> Generalizing 2nd-person; genitive of negation: «Не добьёшься» is a 2nd-person singular used impersonally/generically — 'you won't get [anything]', i.e. 'one can't get'. Under negation the object goes genitive: «ничего» (gen. of «ничто»), which also feeds the negative concord with «не».
> «пришелец» — newcomer, stranger: A «пришелец» (from «прийти», 'to come') is a newcomer or stranger from elsewhere — here in the instrumental «как с пришельцем», 'as with a newcomer'. The beekeeper hints Ferapont may deign to speak precisely *because* the monk is an outsider, not one of the resident brethren.

Подходил монашек, как и сам передавал он потом, с величайшим страхом.  
The monk approached, as he himself related afterward, in the greatest fear.
> Intensifier «сам»; narrator's source-marking: «Сам» ('himself') intensifies the subject — 'as he himself related afterward' — flagging that the narrator's source is the monk's own later account. «Передавал» is imperfective, of repeated retelling. The inserted clause is a typical Dostoevskian gesture of citing hearsay.

Час был уже довольно поздний.  
The hour was already rather late.

Отец Ферапонт сидел в этот раз у дверей келейки, на низенькой скамеечке.  
Father Ferapont was sitting this time by the door of his little cell, on a low bench.
> Double diminutives «низенькой скамеечке»: Both words are diminutive: «низенькой» (from «низкий», 'low') with the endearing «-еньк-», and «скамеечка» (from «скамья/скамейка», 'bench'). The piled-up smallness paints a humble, almost cozy scene — the towering ascetic perched on a tiny low bench.

Над ним слегка шумел огромный старый вяз.  
Above him a huge old elm rustled faintly.
> Verb-first inversion for scene-setting: The verb «шумел» ('rustled') precedes its subject «вяз» ('elm'), with the locative «над ним» fronted: 'Above him rustled a huge old elm'. This presentative, verb-leading order introduces a new element of the scene — the comment (the new elm) following the established topic.

Набегал вечерний холодок.  
The evening chill was coming on.
> Verb-first; imperfective of gradual onset: Again verb-first («набегал... холодок»), presenting a new sensation. The imperfective «набегал» (from «набегать») with prefix «на-» gives the sense of something gradually creeping/coming on — 'the evening chill was setting in'. «Холодок» is a diminutive, 'a slight chill'.

Обдорский монашек повергся ниц пред блаженным и попросил благословения.  
The Obdorsk monk prostrated himself face-down before the blessed one and asked for his blessing.
> Perfective reflexive «повергся»; archaic «пред»: «Повергся» is the perfective reflexive of «повергнуться» ('to throw oneself down'), the «-ся» making it intransitive — he casts *himself* down. «Ниц» is an archaic adverb 'face-downward', and «пред» the bookish form of «перед» ('before'), with «блаженным» (instrumental) — the whole phrase liturgically solemn.

— Хочешь, чтоб и я пред тобой, монах, ниц упал? — проговорил отец Ферапонт. — Восстани!  
"Do you want me to fall face-down before you too, monk?" said Father Ferapont. "Arise!"
> «чтоб» + past form for the wished-for action: «Хочешь, чтоб... упал» uses «чтобы» (shortened «чтоб») governing the past-form irrealis «упал» — the standard pattern after verbs of wishing: 'do you want that I (should) fall...'. The subject of the чтобы-clause («я») differs from that of «хочешь» («ты»), which is exactly when чтобы + past is required.
> Archaic Church Slavonic imperative: «Восстани» ("Arise!", here "Get up!") is an Old Church Slavonic imperative form, not the modern Russian «встань». Father Ferapont speaks throughout in deliberately archaic, liturgical Russian (also «ясти» 'to eat', «глаголет» 'says', «словеса» 'words') — which marks him as an old-style holy man. We keep this register in English by reaching for biblical-sounding diction ("Arise!", "behold") rather than flattening it into plain modern speech.

Монашек встал.  
The monk rose.

— Благословляя да благословишися, садись подле. Откулева занесло?  
"Blessing, you shall be blessed. Sit down beside me. Where have you blown in from?"
> Church-Slavonic gerund + «да»-jussive passive: A Scriptural turn (echoing Genesis): «благословляя» (gerund, 'blessing') plus «да благословишися» — the particle «да» forming a 3rd/2nd-person jussive ('may you be blessed') on a Church-Slavonic passive in «-шися». Both register and form are deliberately liturgical, marking Ferapont's archaic speech.
> «откулева» — dialectal 'whence'; impersonal «занесло»: «Откулева» is a folksy/dialectal form of «откуда» ('from where'). «Занесло» is an impersonal perfective ('what brought/blew [you] here?'), with no subject — literally 'from where did [it] carry [you] in?'. The rustic idiom suits Ferapont's blunt, untutored manner.
> Imperative «садись»; archaic «подле»: «Садись» is the imperfective imperative of «садиться» ('sit down'), the imperfective fitting an invitation/welcome. «Подле» ('beside, near') is an archaic, bookish preposition (governing the genitive, here with object understood) for modern «рядом», continuing the elder's old-fashioned diction.

Что всего более поразило бедного монашка, так это то, что отец Ферапонт, при несомненном великом постничестве его и будучи в столь преклонных летах, был еще на вид старик сильный, высокий, державший себя прямо, несогбенно, с лицом свежим, хоть и худым, но здоровым.  
What struck the poor monk most of all was this: that Father Ferapont, for all his undoubtedly great fasting and despite being of such advanced years, was to look at still a vigorous old man, tall, holding himself erect, unbowed, with a fresh face, lean though it was, but healthy.
> Concessive «при» + gerund «будучи»: Two concessive devices yoked together: «при... постничестве» ('for all his... fasting', «при» + prepositional of attendant circumstance) and «будучи» — the gerund of «быть» ('being'), 'despite being of such advanced years'. «Будучи» is the standard, slightly bookish present gerund of 'to be'.
> Participle «державший» with reflexive «себя»: «Державший» is the past active participle of «держать» ('to hold'), with the reflexive object pronoun «себя» — the idiom «держать себя» = 'to carry/bear oneself'. «Несогбенно» ('unbowed, unstooped') is a literary adverb from the archaic «согбенный» ('bent'), painting his erect bearing.
> Cleft sentence «что..., так это то, что...»: A cleft construction for emphasis: «Что более всего поразило..., так это то, что...» = 'What struck him most was this: that...'. The fronted «что»-clause names the topic, «так это то, что» the comment, foregrounding the surprising fact that follows. It mirrors English clefting closely.

Несомненно тоже сохранилась в нем еще и значительная сила.  
Beyond doubt a considerable strength still remained in him as well.
> Verb-before-subject; reflexive «сохранилась»: The subject «значительная сила» comes last, after the reflexive verb «сохранилась» ('was preserved, still remained') — verb-first presentative order introducing new information. «-ся» here is middle-voice intransitive: the strength 'kept itself', i.e. persisted.

Сложения же был атлетического.  
He was of an athletic build.
> Genitive of quality; split for emphasis: 'Of athletic build' is a genitive-of-quality predicate: «сложения... атлетического» (gen. of «сложение», 'build'). The noun and its adjective are split around «же был», throwing «атлетического» to the rhetorical end — an inversion that lends weight to the surprising vigor of the great faster.

Несмотря на столь великие лета его, был он даже и не вполне сед, с весьма еще густыми, прежде совсем черными волосами на голове и бороде.  
Despite his very great age, he was not even entirely gray, with hair on his head and beard still very thick, and formerly quite black.
> Short adjective «сед» as predicate: «Сед» is the short-form predicate adjective from «седой» ('gray-haired') — 'he was not even entirely gray'. Short forms can only predicate, and they suit this clipped catalogue of bodily description; the long form «седой» would feel heavier and more attributive.
> Instrumental of description with «с»: «С... густыми... волосами» uses «с» + instrumental to describe an attribute — 'with very thick hair'. The inserted «прежде совсем чёрными» ('formerly quite black') is a second instrumental adjective phrase folded in, a typical compression of background detail into the noun phrase.

Глаза его были серые, большие, светящиеся, но чрезвычайно вылупившиеся, что даже поражало.  
His eyes were gray, large, luminous, but so extraordinarily protuberant that they were almost startling.
> Past participle «вылупившиеся»; result clause: «Вылупившиеся» is the past active participle of «вылупиться» ('to bulge, pop out'), agreeing with «глаза» — 'extraordinarily protuberant eyes'. The trailing «что даже поражало» ('so that it was even startling') is a result clause, «что» here introducing consequence rather than a relative.

Говорил с сильным ударением на о.  
He spoke with a strong stress on the 'o'.

Одет же был в рыжеватый длинный армяк, грубого арестантского, по прежнему именованию, сукна и подпоясан толстою веревкой.  
He was dressed in a long, reddish peasant coat of coarse cloth — convict's cloth, by the old name for it — and was girded with a thick rope.
> «армяк» — a coarse peasant coat: An «армяк» is a long, loose outer coat of coarse cloth, traditional peasant and laborer's wear. Ferapont's reddish «армяк» of «арестантское сукно» ('convict's cloth') deliberately clothes him as the lowliest of men — a sartorial sign of his rejection of all worldly and even monastic comfort.
> Short passive participles as predicate: «Одет» and «подпоясан» are short-form past passive participles ('was dressed', 'was girded'), the standard way to state a resultant state of being clothed. The agent/means «толстою веревкой» ('with a thick rope') stands in the instrumental. Note the bookish instrumental ending «-ою» for «-ой».

Шея и грудь обнажены.  
His neck and chest were bare.
> Short participle, copula dropped: «Обнажены» is the short-form past passive participle of «обнажить» ('to bare'), plural to agree with «шея и грудь» — 'neck and chest [were] bared'. In the present-tense vividness here the copula «были» is simply dropped, leaving the bare predicate participle, a terse descriptive stroke.

Толстейшего холста почти совсем почерневшая рубаха, по месяцам не снимавшаяся, выглядывала из-под армяка.  
A shirt of the coarsest sackcloth, almost wholly blackened, unchanged for months on end, showed from beneath the coat.
> Genitive of material; reflexive participle: «Толстейшего холста» is a genitive of material with superlative «-ейший» ('of the coarsest sackcloth'). «Не снимавшаяся» is the past active participle of reflexive «сниматься», negated — 'that had not been taken off [for months]', the «-ся» giving a passive-ish 'was not removed' sense.
> Distributive «по» + dative plural: «По месяцам» ('for months on end') uses distributive «по» with the dative plural «месяцам» to express extended, repeated duration. The construction stresses how long the filthy shirt went unchanged — another mark of Ferapont's mortification of the flesh.

Говорили, что носит он на себе под армяком тридцатифунтовые вериги.  
It was said that under his coat he wore, against his body, ascetic chains weighing thirty pounds.
> Indefinite «говорили»; «носить» multidirectional: «Говорили» ('they said / it was said') is the subjectless 3rd-plural of rumor. «Носит» is the multidirectional/habitual partner of «нести» — the verb for 'to wear (regularly)' as opposed to carrying once. «На себе» = 'on his own body', the reflexive «себя» pointing back to the wearer.

Обут же был в старые почти развалившиеся башмаки на босу ногу.  
On his feet he wore old, almost tumbledown shoes over his bare feet.
> Short passive participle «обут»: «Обут» is the short-form past passive participle of «обуть» ('to shoe, put footwear on'), predicating a state — 'was shod in...'. Russian has a dedicated verb for putting on footwear (vs «одеть» for clothes), and «на босу ногу» ('on bare feet') uses the old short-adjective accusative «босу».

— Из малой Обдорской обители, от святого Селивестра, — смиренно ответил захожий монашек, быстрыми, любопытными своими глазками, хотя несколько и испуганными, наблюдая отшельника.  
"From the small Obdorsk monastery, from Saint Selivester's," the visiting monk answered humbly, watching the hermit with his quick, curious little eyes, though somewhat frightened ones.
> Imperfective gerund; instrumental of means: «Наблюдая» is the present gerund of «наблюдать» ('to observe'), an action simultaneous with «ответил» — 'watching the hermit while answering'. The means by which he watches stands in the instrumental: «быстрыми, любопытными своими глазками» ('with his quick, curious little eyes').
> «глазки» — diminutive 'little eyes': «Глазки» is the diminutive of «глаза» ('eyes'), here conveying not just smallness but the darting, mousy, slightly comic quality of the timid little monk's gaze — affection mixed with a faint condescension, very characteristic of Dostoevsky's portraiture.

— Бывал у твоего Селивестра. Живал. Здоров ли Селивестр-от?  
"I've been to your Selivester's. I lived there. Is Selivester keeping well?"
> Iterative «бывал», «живал»: «Бывал» and «живал» are iterative-habitual past forms (from «бывать», 'to frequent/visit', and the folk iterative «живать») meaning 'I used to go there, I used to live there'. The clipped, subjectless sentences and these frequentative verbs give Ferapont's speech its terse, old-peasant cadence.
> Question particle «ли»; northern «-от»: «Здоров ли» fronts the short predicate adjective «здоров» ('well, healthy') and adds the interrogative «ли» — a literary yes/no question, 'Is Selivester well?'. The suffix «-от» on «Селивестр-от» is a northern dialectal definite-like particle ('that Selivester [we know of]'), again coloring his speech as rustic.

Монашек замялся.  
The monk faltered.
> «замяться» — to falter, grow flustered: «Замялся» is the perfective reflexive of «замяться» ('to hesitate, become flustered, mumble awkwardly'). The «за-» prefix marks the onset of the state — the monk suddenly doesn't know how to answer Ferapont's odd question about Selivester's health, and stumbles.

— Бестолковые вы человеки! Како соблюдаете пост?  
"You're a senseless lot, you men! How do you keep the fast?"
> Archaic plural «человеки»: «Человеки» is an archaic, Church-Slavonic-flavored plural of «человек» ('man'); modern Russian uses the suppletive «люди'. Ferapont's biblical 'You senseless men!' («бестолковые... человеки») rings like a prophet's rebuke, fitting his self-styled role as a scourge of the lax.
> Church-Slavonic «како»: «Како» is the Old Church Slavonic form of «как» ('how'). Ferapont reaches for the liturgical interrogative — 'How keep ye the fast?' — part of the sustained archaic register that marks his every utterance as that of an old-style ascetic.

— Трапезник наш по древлему скитскому тако устроен: о четыредесятнице в понедельник, в среду и пяток трапезы не поставляют. Во вторник и четверток на братию хлебы белые, взвар с медом, ягода морошка или капуста соленая да толокно мешано. В субботу шти белые, лапша гороховая, каша соковая, всё с маслом. В неделю ко штям сухая рыба да каша. В страстную же седмицу от понедельника даже до субботнего вечера, дней шесть, хлеб с водою точию ясти и зелие не варено, и се с воздержанием; аще есть можно и не на всяк день приимати, но, яко же речено бысть, о первой седмице. Во святый же великий пяток ничесо же ясти, такожде и великую субботу поститися нам до третиего часа и тогда вкусити мало хлеба с водой и по единой чаше вина испити. Во святый же великий четверток ядим варения без масла, пием же вино и ино сухоядением. Ибо иже в Лаодикии собор о велицем четвертке тако глаголет: «Яко не достоит в четыредесятницу последней недели четверток разрешити и всю четыредесятницу бесчестити». Вот как у нас. Но что сие сравнительно с вами, великий отче, — ободрившись, прибавил монашек, — ибо и круглый год, даже и во святую пасху, лишь хлебом с водою питаетесь, и что у нас хлеба на два дня, то у вас на всю седмицу идет. Воистину дивно таковое великое воздержание ваше.  
"Our refectory is ordered after the old hermitage rule: during the Great Lent, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays no meal is set out. On Tuesdays and Thursdays the brethren get white bread, fruit stewed with honey, cloudberries or salted cabbage, and mixed oat-meal. On Saturdays, white cabbage soup, pea noodles, kasha boiled in juice, all with oil. On Sundays, dried fish with the cabbage soup, and kasha. In Holy Week, from the Monday right up to the Saturday evening, six days, only bread with water is to be eaten, and uncooked greens, and even that with restraint; if it is possible to eat not every day, then so, as it was said concerning the first week. But on Good Friday nothing whatever is to be eaten, and likewise on Holy Saturday we are to fast until the third hour and then taste a little bread with water and drink a single cup of wine. But on Holy Thursday we eat boiled food without oil, and we drink wine and otherwise keep to dry eating. For the Council of Laodicea speaks thus concerning Holy Thursday: 'It is not fitting on the Thursday of the last week of Lent to break the fast and thereby dishonor the whole of Lent.' That is how it is with us. But what is this compared with you, great father," the monk added, taking heart, "for the whole year round, even at Holy Easter, you nourish yourself on bread and water alone, and what lasts us two days lasts you the whole week. Truly your great abstinence is a marvel."
> Church-Slavonic vocabulary: The monk's recital of the fasting rule is steeped in Church Slavonic: «тако» ('thus'), «точию» ('only'), «аще» ('if'), «яко же» ('as'), «речено бысть» ('it was said/spoken', an aorist passive). He is quoting a monastic typikon, so the language is that of the liturgical books themselves.
> Infinitive of prescription; archaic «ясти»: «Ясти» is the Old Church Slavonic infinitive of 'to eat' (modern «есть»). The bare infinitive used for a rule or prescription — «хлеб с водою точию ясти» ('only bread with water is to be eaten') — is the impersonal, normative voice of a monastic statute, like English 'one is to eat'.
> «воистину», «дивно», «таковое»: The monk closes in high style: «воистину» ('truly, verily', the very word of the Paschal greeting), the short predicate «дивно» ('is marvelous'), and the archaic demonstrative «таковое» ('such'). His flattery of Ferapont's «воздержание» ('abstinence') is couched in the same solemn register he has used throughout — wide-eyed reverence.

— А грузди? — спросил вдруг отец Ферапонт, произнося букву г придыхательно, почти как хер.  
"And milk-mushrooms?" Father Ferapont suddenly asked, pronouncing the 'g' with a breath, almost like an 'h'.
> «груздь» — the milk-mushroom: A «груздь» (pl. «грузди») is the milk-cap mushroom, a prized salted/pickled mushroom of Russian peasant cookery. Ferapont's abrupt 'And milk-mushrooms?' deflates the monk's solemn recitation of the fasting rule with a sly, concrete question about whether even *those* are permitted — earthy humor cutting through the liturgical talk.

— Грузди? — переспросил удивленный монашек.  
"Milk-mushrooms?" the astonished monk asked again.
> «пере-» of repetition; past passive participle as adjective: «Переспросил» uses the prefix «пере-» in its sense of doing over/again — 'asked again, asked back'. «Удивлённый» is a past passive participle ('astonished') used attributively like an adjective. The little monk, baffled, simply echoes the word back.

— То-то. Я-то от их хлеба уйду, не нуждаясь в нем вовсе, хотя бы и в лес, и там груздем проживу или ягодой, а они здесь не уйдут от своего хлеба, стало быть, черту связаны. Ныне поганцы рекут, что поститься столь нечего. Надменное и поганое, сие есть рассуждение их.  
"Just so. I'll go away from their bread, having no need of it whatever — even into the forest, if it comes to it — and live there on mushrooms or berries; but they won't go away from their bread here, and so they are bound to the devil. Nowadays the unclean ones say there's no need to fast so. Arrogant and foul, that reasoning of theirs is."
> Emphatic «я-то»; contrastive «а»; «свой»: «Я-то» pits the speaker against the others with the topic-emphasizing clitic «-то» ('I, for one...'), answered by contrastive «а» ('whereas they...'). «Уйду» / «не уйдут» are perfective futures of «уйти» ('to go away'). Note «своего хлеба' (reflexive possessive, 'their own bread') against «их хлеба' ('their[others'] bread') two lines apart — a deliberate play.
> Negated gerund; «нуждаться в» + prepositional: «Нуждаясь» is the present gerund of reflexive «нуждаться» ('to need'), which governs «в» + prepositional («в нём», 'in it'). Negated as «не нуждаясь... вовсе» ('having no need of it whatever'), it adds the attendant circumstance to «уйду» — he can leave the bread because he doesn't need it at all.
> «поганый», «рекут», «сие»: Ferapont's diatribe is pure archaism: «поганцы/поганый» ('the unclean ones / foul', originally 'pagan', from Latin paganus), «рекут» (Church-Slavonic 'they say', from «речь»), and «сие есть» with the bookish demonstrative «сей» ('this is'). He damns the lax modern monks in the cadences of a furious Old Testament prophet.
> «стало быть»; dative «черту» with «связаны»: «Стало быть» is a fixed parenthetical, 'and so, consequently'. «Связаны» is a short passive participle ('are bound'), and «черту» is the dative of «чёрт» ('the devil') — bound *to* the devil. Ferapont's logic: clinging to bread is bondage to the Evil One.

— Ох, правда, — вздохнул монашек.  
"Oh, that is true," sighed the little monk.
> «монашек» — the little monk: A diminutive of «монах» (monk), formed with the affectionate-belittling suffix -ек. Dostoevsky uses it throughout this scene to make the Obdorsk visitor small and timid beside the towering Father Ferapont; it is gently condescending rather than literal about his size.
> Perfective past «вздохнул»: The perfective «вздохнул» (from «вздохнуть», to give a sigh) frames the sigh as a single, complete gesture punctuating the speech — the typical perfective of a momentary act in dialogue tags. Its imperfective partner «вздыхать» would picture repeated or drawn-out sighing.

— А чертей у тех видел? — спросил отец Ферапонт.  
"And among those did you see any devils?" asked Father Ferapont.
> Genitive-accusative of «черти»: «Чертей» is the accusative of animate «черти» (devils), which borrows the genitive-plural ending -ей because devils count as animate beings. The same animacy rule that makes «вижу брата» also makes «видел чертей».
> «у тех» — 'among those (people)': The preposition «у» + genitive of the demonstrative «те» (those) locates the devils 'on / about those people' — the «у»-of-possession-or-vicinity construction, here pointing back to the pilgrims Ferapont has been describing. The bare demonstrative stands in for the omitted noun.

— У кого же у тех? — робко осведомился монашек.  
"Among whom — among those?" the little monk inquired timidly.
> Particle «же» of insistent questioning: The modal particle «же» presses the question — 'but among WHOM, among those?' — conveying the monk's flustered need to pin down Ferapont's vague «у тех». English has to reach for stress or 'on earth' to render this tiny word.
> Reflexive «осведомиться» — to inquire: A bookish perfective verb «осведомиться» (to make inquiry, to ascertain); its non-reflexive base «осведомить» ('to inform someone') exists, so this is its -ся derivative, not a verb existing solely in -ся. The clitic -ся here marks an intransitive, inherently reflexive verb rather than a true 'self' action — Dostoevsky favors it for the monk's polite, deferential questioning.

— Я к игумену прошлого года во святую пятидесятницу восходил, а с тех пор и не был. Видел, у которого на персях сидит, под рясу прячется, токмо рожки выглядывают; у которого из кармана высматривает, глаза быстрые, меня-то боится; у которого во чреве поселился, в самом нечистом брюхе его, а у некоего так на шее висит, уцепился, так и носит, а его не видит.  
"I went up to the Father Superior last year at Pentecost, and since then I have not been back. I saw one perched on a man's chest, hiding under his cassock, only its little horns poking out; on another, peeping from his pocket, with quick eyes — afraid of me, that one; on another it had settled in his very belly, in the foulest of his guts; and on a certain one it hung from his neck, clinging fast, carried about while the man never saw it."
> «Пятидесятница» — Pentecost: «Пятидесятница» (literally 'the fiftieth [day]') is the Orthodox feast of Pentecost, fifty days after Easter. The phrase «во святую» uses the Church-Slavonic preposition «во» (for «в») before a consonant cluster, lending the time-reference a liturgical solemnity.
> Church-Slavonic «восходил» — went up: «Восходить» (to ascend, go up) is an elevated, Slavonic-flavored verb of motion for plain «ходить»; Ferapont 'went up' to the Father Superior's quarters. The imperfective past here reports the single past visit as a bare fact, contrasted with «и не был» (and have not been [since]).
> «перси» — bosom, chest (archaic): «Перси» is an archaic, Church-Slavonic word for the breast or chest, used only in the locative plural here («на персях»). It belongs to the solemn lexical layer — alongside «чрево» and «руце» in this scene — that colors Ferapont's speech as that of an old ascetic steeped in liturgy.
> «ряса» — the monastic cassock: The «ряса» is the long, loose black outer robe of an Orthodox monk or priest. The devil hiding «под рясу» (under the cassock) is a vivid, homely detail of monastic dress.
> «токмо» + diminutive «рожки»: «Токмо» is an archaic/Slavonic word for «только» (only). «Рожки» is the affectionate diminutive of «рога» (horns) — 'little horns' — the suffix shrinking the devil to something almost comic. The pairing of solemn «токмо» with cozy «рожки» is pure Ferapont.
> Distributive «у которого… у некоего»: Ferapont strings «у которого» ('on one [man]') in parallel to mean 'on this one… on that one…', a distributive use of the relative «который» as if a demonstrative; «у некоего» ('on a certain one') closes the list with the bookish indefinite «некий». The «у» + genitive throughout locates each devil on its host.
> «чрево» (lofty) vs «брюхо» (coarse): Ferapont yokes the elevated «чрево» (womb, belly — a Scriptural word) to the crude, animal «брюхо» (guts, paunch) in one breath: 'in his very belly, in the foulest of his guts.' The clash of sacred and gross registers is exactly the grotesque texture of his vision.
> Vivid present in past narration: Though recounting a past sighting, Ferapont slips into the imperfective present («сидит» sits, «прячется» hides, «высматривает» peers out) — the 'historic present' that makes the scene play before the eyes. It heightens the hallucinatory immediacy of what he claims to see.

— Вы… видите? — осведомился монашек.  
"You… see them?" the little monk asked.
> Polite «вы» from monk to elder: The monk addresses Ferapont with the deferential plural «вы», proper to a revered ascetic, while Ferapont answers him with the familiar «ты» (e.g. «тебе лишь… открываю») — an asymmetry of address that quietly marks their difference in standing.

— Говорю — вижу, наскрозь вижу. Как стал от игумена выходить, смотрю — один за дверь от меня прячется, да матерой такой, аршина в полтора али больше росту, хвостище же толстый, бурый, длинный, да концом хвоста в щель дверную и попади, а я не будь глуп, дверь-то вдруг и прихлопнул, да хвост-то ему и защемил. Как завизжит, начал биться, а я его крестным знамением, да трижды — и закрестил. Тут и подох, как паук давленый. Теперь надоть быть погнил в углу-то, смердит, а они-то не видят, не чухают. Год не хожу. Тебе лишь, как иностранцу, открываю.  
"I tell you, I see them — I see clean through. As I was leaving the Father Superior, I look — one is hiding behind the door from me, and a hulking one too, an arshin and a half tall, or more, with a thick tail, brown and long; and the tip of its tail happened to fall in the crack of the door, and I, being no fool, suddenly slammed the door shut and pinched its tail in it. How it squealed and began to thrash — and I made the sign of the cross over it three times, and so signed it. It dropped dead on the spot, like a crushed spider. By now it must have rotted there in the corner, it stinks, but they neither see it nor catch the smell. A year I have not gone in. To you alone, as to a foreigner, I reveal it."
> «наскрозь» — dialectal 'right through': A folk/dialectal form of «насквозь» (clean through, all the way). Ferapont 'sees right through' the devils. The non-standard spelling marks his peasant, untutored speech, set against the bookish words he also commands.
> «хвостище» — augmentative tail: The suffix -ище is augmentative-pejorative: «хвостище» is a great ugly tail, far bigger and coarser than a neutral «хвост». Russian's expressive suffixes can magnify as well as shrink, and here they make the devil's tail monstrous.
> «али» — folk 'or': «Али» is a colloquial, folksy variant of «или» (or): 'an arshin and a half tall, or more.' It is another marker of Ferapont's peasant idiom.
> Imperative form «попади» as sudden past: «Попади» looks like an imperative but here is the colloquial 'sudden-action' use of the perfective imperative to narrate an unexpected past event — 'the tail's tip just happened to land in the crack.' This vivid folk-narrative device (often paired with «и» / «да») recurs in «дверь-то… и прихлопнул, да хвост-то… и защемил».
> Imperative «не будь» for 'being no fool': Another idiomatic imperative-as-narration: «я не будь глуп» literally 'I, don't-be-a-fool', i.e. 'I, being no fool', describes the speaker's quick reaction in the past. «Глуп» is the short-form predicate adjective demanded after «будь».
> The topic-marking clitic «-то»: The hyphenated «-то» tags a known, foregrounded topic: «дверь-то» (the door, you know), «хвост-то» (its tail, mind you), «они-то» (they, for their part). It is colloquial highlighting, not the indefinite «-то» of «кто-то», and it pulses through Ferapont's whole tale.
> «Как» + perfective future for sudden onset: «Как завизжит» uses «как» plus the perfective future form to express an abrupt, dramatic past action — 'how it squealed!' This expressive construction conveys the suddenness and intensity of the devil's shriek; the present-tense ending carries past meaning by idiom.
> «подох» — died (of an animal): «Подохнуть» is the verb used for the death of beasts and vermin, contemptuous when applied to people; the devil 'croaked' like a «паук давленый» (a crushed spider). «давленый» (squashed) — a full-form verbal adjective (single -н-), not a short form (which would be «давлен») and not strictly a participle — intensifies the squalid, verminous image.
> «надоть» and «чухать» — peasant speech: «Надоть» is a dialectal «надо» (must / it must be), and «чухать» is coarse folk for 'to catch a smell, sense' (they 'don't even smell it'). Both confirm the rustic, non-bookish layer of Ferapont's voice.

— Страшные словеса ваши! А что, великий и блаженный отче, — осмеливался всё больше и больше монашек, — правда ли, про вас великая слава идет, даже до отдаленных земель, будто со святым духом беспрерывное общение имеете?  
"Fearful are your words! But tell me, great and blessed father," — the little monk grew bolder and bolder — "is it true, as the great fame of you spreads even to distant lands, that you hold unbroken communion with the Holy Spirit?"
> «словеса» — Slavonic plural of 'word': «Словеса» is the archaic, Church-Slavonic plural of «слово» (word), used for solemn or prophetic utterance: 'fearful are your words.' Its old neuter-collective ending marks the monk's deliberate shift into a reverent, liturgical register when addressing the ascetic.
> Vocative «отче»: «Отче» is the surviving Church-Slavonic vocative of «отец» (father) — the special case-form of direct address, as in the Lord's Prayer «Отче наш». Modern Russian has otherwise lost the vocative, so its use here is markedly ecclesiastical and reverent.
> Interrogative particle «ли»: «Правда ли…?» ('is it true that…?') uses the enclitic «ли», which fronts the focused word and turns it into a yes/no question. More formal than mere question intonation, «ли» suits the monk's careful, deferential probing.
> Imperfective «осмеливался» — growing bolder: The imperfective past «осмеливался» (from «осмеливаться», to dare) with «всё больше и больше» (more and more) pictures a gradual, ongoing process — the monk's courage building across the conversation. The imperfective is exactly the aspect for such incremental change.

— Слетает. Бывает.  
"It flies down. It happens."
> Subjectless impersonal verbs: Ferapont answers in two bare verbs with no stated subject: «слетает» (it flies down) and «бывает» (it happens / it does occur). «Бывает» is the iterative of «быть», naming a recurring fact. The clipped, subjectless replies make him oracular and withholding.

— Как же слетает? В каком же виде?  
"How does it fly down? In what form?"
> «в… виде» — prepositional of form: «В каком виде?» ('in what form?') uses «в» + prepositional «виде» (from «вид», form, appearance) to ask the manner of appearing. The particle «же» again gives the question its insistent, follow-up edge.

— Птицею.  
"As a bird."
> Instrumental of manner «птицею»: The single-word answer «птицею» ('as a bird') is the instrumental of «птица», expressing the form in which the Spirit descends — the instrumental of transformation/manner. The archaic ending -ею (for modern -ей) heightens the solemn tone.

— Святый дух в виде голубине?  
"The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove?"

— То святый дух, а то Святодух. Святодух иное, тот может и другою птицею снизойти: ино ласточкой, ино щеглом, а ино и синицею.  
"There is the Holy Spirit, and there is the Holy-Spirit. The Holy-Spirit is another thing; it may descend in some other bird as well: now as a swallow, now as a goldfinch, and now as a titmouse."
> «ино… ино…» — 'now… now…': The archaic distributive «ино» (a folk/Slavonic 'sometimes, now') lists the birds the Holy-Spirit may become: «ласточкой» (swallow), «щеглом» (goldfinch), «синицею» (titmouse) — each in the instrumental of transformation. The homely Russian songbirds ground the cosmic claim in the village world.
> Instrumental «другою птицею» + «снизойти»: «Снизойти» (to descend, condescend) is an elevated perfective verb of motion; what it descends 'as' stands in the instrumental — «другою птицею» (as another bird), with the bookish ending -ою for -ой. The whole construction mirrors «птицею» above.

— Как же вы узнаете его от синицы-то?  
"And how do you tell it from a real titmouse?"
> «узнать от» — to tell apart from: Here «узнать… от…» means 'to distinguish X from Y' (a usage closer to «отличить от»): how do you tell the Spirit from an ordinary titmouse? The clitic «-то» on «синицы-то» foregrounds the real bird as the known point of contrast.

— Говорит.  
"It speaks."
> One-word reply «Говорит»: Ferapont's whole answer is a single imperfective present verb, subject dropped: 'It speaks.' The verb ending alone (-ит) carries third-person singular, so no pronoun is needed — Russian's pro-drop at its most laconic, fitting his oracular manner.

— Как же говорит, каким языком?  
"How does it speak — in what language?"
> Instrumental of means «каким языком»: 'In what language?' is rendered with the bare instrumental «каким языком» — the instrumental of the means or instrument by which the speaking is done, with no preposition needed. Adjective «каким» agrees with «языком» in the instrumental.

— Человечьим.  
"In a human one."
> Instrumental «человечьим» — 'in a human one': The reply «человечьим» ('[in] a human [tongue]') is the instrumental of «человечий» (human, of man), agreeing with the elided «языком». «Человечий», with its possessive-adjective suffix -ий, is more folk-coloured than the neutral «человеческий».

— А что же он вам говорит?  
"And what does it say to you?"
> Topic-shift «а» + insistent «же»: The contrastive «а» opens a new turn ('and what, then…'), and «же» again presses the question. «Вам» is the polite dative of the indirect object — 'what does it say to you?' — combining the deferential «вы» with the particle's nudge.

— Вот сегодня возвестил, что дурак посетит и спрашивать будет негожее. Много, инок, знать хочеши.  
"This very day it announced that a fool would visit and ask unseemly things. Much you wish to know, monk."
> Compound future «будет спрашивать»: «Спрашивать будет» is the imperfective compound future (future of «быть» + imperfective infinitive) — the Spirit foretold that the fool 'will ask' unseemly things, viewed as an ongoing/repeated activity. «Негожее» is a neuter substantivized adjective, 'what is unfitting'.
> «инок» — monk (solemn): «Инок» is an elevated, somewhat archaic word for a monk (literally 'one who lives otherwise / apart'), more sacral than the everyday «монах». Ferapont uses it to address the visitor with a touch of grave, ecclesiastical weight.
> Archaic ending «хочеши»: «Хочеши» is the Church-Slavonic 2nd-person singular present of «хотеть» (modern «хочешь»), 'thou wishest'. The old -ши ending gives Ferapont's reproof — 'much thou wouldst know, monk' — a biblical, oracular ring.

— Ужасны словеса ваши, блаженнейший и святейший отче, — качал головою монашек. В пугливых глазках его завиделась, впрочем, и недоверчивость.  
"Terrible are your words, most blessed and most holy father," — the little monk shook his head. In his timorous little eyes, however, a touch of distrust had also appeared.
> Superlative «-ейший» + vocative «отче»: «Блаженнейший» (most blessed) and «святейший» (most holy) are bookish synthetic superlatives in -ейший, again capped by the Slavonic vocative «отче». The piling of superlatives in direct address is florid, liturgical flattery.
> Reflexive «завиделась» + inverted word order: The reflexive-middle «завиделась» (came into view, began to show) takes «недоверчивость» (distrust) as its grammatical subject, placed last for emphasis — the new, telling information ends the sentence. «Глазках» is the diminutive 'little eyes', keeping the monk small and meek even as doubt stirs.

— А видишь ли древо сие? — спросил, помолчав, отец Ферапонт.  
"And do you see this tree here?" asked Father Ferapont after a silence.
> Archaic «древо сие»: «Древо» is the Church-Slavonic word for «дерево» (tree), and «сие» the archaic neuter demonstrative for «это» (this) — both placed after the noun in elevated style: 'this tree here'. The particle «ли» turns it into the formal question 'dost thou see…?'
> Past gerund «помолчав»: «Помолчав» is the perfective past gerund («деепричастие») of «помолчать» (to be silent a while): 'having paused, he asked.' It compresses a prior, completed action into one indeclinable form sharing the main subject — a hallmark of literary narration.

— Вижу, блаженнейший отче.  
"I see it, most blessed father."
> Vocative address repeated: The monk's reply again ends in the Slavonic vocative «отче» under a superlative «блаженнейший» — a refrain of reverence that structures the whole dialogue and keeps its tone liturgical.

— По-твоему, вяз, а по-моему, иная картина.  
"To your eyes it is an elm, but to mine it is a different picture."
> «по-твоему / по-моему» — 'to your / my mind': These adverbs, formed with «по-» + the possessive (-ему), mean 'in your opinion' and 'in my opinion'. Ferapont sets the monk's ordinary sight against his own visionary one: 'to you an elm, to me a different picture.' The pattern parallels «по-русски» (in Russian).
> «вяз» — elm: «Вяз» is the elm tree. The plain, concrete name of an ordinary tree is exactly what Ferapont's mystical 'different picture' will transfigure into a vision of Christ in the next exchange.

— Какая же? — помолчал в тщетном ожидании монашек.  
"And what is that?" the little monk fell silent in vain expectation.
> Perfective «помолчал» — fell silent: «Помолчал» (perfective, from «помолчать») frames the silence as a bounded interval — the monk 'kept silent a while' in «тщетном ожидании» (vain expectation). The prefix по- here delimits a small quantity of the action ('for a bit').

— Бывает в нощи. Видишь сии два сука? В нощи же и се Христос руце ко мне простирает и руками теми ищет меня, явно вижу и трепещу. Страшно, о страшно!  
"It comes by night. Do you see those two boughs? By night it is so: behold, Christ stretches out His arms to me and with those arms seeks me — plainly I see it and I tremble. It is dreadful, oh, dreadful!"
> Archaic locative «в нощи»: «Нощь» is the Church-Slavonic form of «ночь» (night); «в нощи» is its old prepositional 'in the night'. The Slavonic phonetics (-щ- for -ч-) lift the line into a visionary, scriptural register.
> Archaic «сии» + genitive after «два»: «Сии» is the plural archaic demonstrative ('these', for «эти»), and «сука» is the genitive singular of «сук» (bough) required after «два» — two governs the genitive singular. So «два сука» = 'two boughs', the visionary 'arms' of the tree.
> «се» and «руце» — biblical archaisms: «Се» is the archaic 'behold!', and «руце» the Church-Slavonic dual/old plural of «рука» (hands) — 'Christ stretches out His arms'. The vision is voiced in pure Scripture-language, fusing the elm's two boughs with the crucified Christ's outstretched arms.
> Present «вижу… трепещу» of the vision: Ferapont reports the recurring vision in the imperfective present — 'plainly I see and tremble' — making it a standing, repeated reality rather than a one-off past event. «Трепещу» (from «трепетать», to tremble in awe) is itself an elevated, scriptural verb.

— Что же страшного, коли сам бы Христос?  
"But what is dreadful in it, if it is Christ Himself?"
> «коли» + conditional «бы»: «Коли» is a folk/archaic 'if' (for «если»), and «бы» makes the clause hypothetical: 'what is dreadful, if it were Christ Himself?' The particle «бы» here softens to a supposition, and the intensifier «сам» stresses 'Christ in person'.

— А захватит и вознесет.  
"He will seize me and bear me up on high."
> Perfective futures «захватит… вознесет»: Two perfective verbs in the simple future — «захватит» (will seize) and «вознесёт» (will bear up on high) — predict single completed acts. «Вознести» is the same elevated verb used of Christ's Ascension («Вознесение»), giving the threat a numinous charge.

— Живого-то?  
"Alive?"
> One-word question «Живого-то?»: The monk's whole reply is the accusative «живого» (the animate-masculine object 'alive', borrowing the genitive form) plus the topic clitic «-то»: 'Alive, you mean?' The animacy ending and the clipped clitic-question pack startled disbelief into two syllables.

— А в духе и славе Илии, не слыхал, что ли? обымет и унесет…  
"In the spirit and glory of Elijah — have you not heard of it? He will embrace me and carry me away…"
> «что ли» — tag question: «Что ли» is a colloquial tag turning a statement into an incredulous question — 'haven't you heard, or what?' It mixes the bookish «ли» with casual «что» for a folksy, faintly challenging tone.
> Archaic «обымет» — will embrace: «Обымет» is the old form of «обнимет» (will embrace, from «обнять»), paired with «унесёт» (will carry away). Both perfective futures, in elevated diction, complete Ferapont's vision of rapture into heaven.

Хотя обдорский монашек после сего разговора воротился в указанную ему келейку, у одного из братии, даже в довольно сильном недоумении, но сердце его несомненно всё же лежало больше к отцу Ферапонту, чем к отцу Зосиме.  
Although the little monk from Obdorsk, after this conversation, returned to the cell that had been assigned to him with one of the brothers, even in considerable perplexity, his heart nonetheless inclined far more toward Father Ferapont than toward Father Zosima.
> Archaic genitive «сего»: «Сего» is the archaic genitive of «сей» (this) — 'after this conversation'. The narrator's own voice slips into bookish 19th-century diction here, mirroring the elevated speech of the scene it reports.
> «келейка» — little cell: A double diminutive of «келья» (a monk's cell): «келейка» is a cozy 'little cell'. The suffix lends warmth to the modest quarters assigned to the visiting monk.
> Idiom «сердце лежит к» + comparative «больше»: «Сердце лежит к кому-то» idiomatically means 'one's heart inclines toward someone'; «лежало больше… чем» uses the comparative «больше» to weigh Ferapont against Zosima. The dative-governing «к» fixes both objects of the heart's leaning.

Монашек обдорский был прежде всего за пост, а такому великому постнику, как отец Ферапонт, не дивно было и «чудная видети».  
The monk from Obdorsk was above all a man for fasting, and to so great a faster as Father Ferapont it was no wonder that "marvels should be vouchsafed to see."
> «постник» — a faster: A «постник» is one devoted to «пост» (fasting) — an ascetic faster. The word, paired with «за пост» ('all for fasting'), pins the Obdorsk monk's whole piety on rigorous abstinence, the very virtue he admires in Ferapont.
> Impersonal «не дивно было» + infinitive «видети»: An impersonal construction: «(кому) не дивно было…» 'it was no wonder (for him) that…'. «Видети» is the Church-Slavonic infinitive of «видеть» (to see), and «чудная» a substantivized neuter plural 'marvels' — a quoted scriptural phrase 'to behold marvels'.

Слова его, конечно, были как бы и нелепые, но ведь господь знает, что в них заключалось-то, в этих словах, а у всех Христа ради юродивых и не такие еще бывают слова и поступки.  
His words were, to be sure, as though absurd, but the Lord knows what lay hidden in them, in these words, and among all the holy fools for Christ's sake words and deeds even stranger than these are wont to occur.
> Hedging «как бы»: «Как бы» ('as it were, as though') hedges the judgment — the words were 'as if absurd', the narrator declining to call them flatly so. This softening «как бы», built on the irrealis «бы», is a characteristic Dostoevskian tentativeness.
> Appealing particle «ведь»: «Ведь» appeals to shared understanding — 'but the Lord knows, after all, what lay in them'. The narrator leans on the reader's assent, a hallmark of the gossipy, confiding chronicler's voice in this novel.

Защемленному же чертову хвосту он не только в иносказательном, но и в прямом смысле душевно и с удовольствием готов был поверить.  
As for the pinched devil's tail, he was wholeheartedly and with pleasure ready to believe in it not only in a figurative but in a literal sense as well.
> Dative object «хвосту» fronted for emphasis: «Поверить (чему)» governs the dative, so 'the pinched devil's tail' appears as the dative «защемлённому… хвосту» — and is fronted to the very head of the sentence for topical weight. «Защемлённому» is a past passive participle ('pinched') agreeing in the dative.
> Correlative «не только… но и»: «Не только в иносказательном, но и в прямом смысле» ('not only in a figurative but in a literal sense') is the standard correlative pair for 'not only… but also'. It marks the comic point: the monk believes the tail literally, not just as a parable.

Кроме сего, он и прежде, еще до прихода в монастырь, был в большом предубеждении против старчества, которое знал доселе лишь по рассказам и принимал его вслед за многими другими решительно за вредное новшество.  
Besides this, even before his arrival at the monastery he had been deeply prejudiced against the institution of elders, which he knew until now only from hearsay and which, following many others, he resolutely took to be a harmful novelty.
> Relative «которое» + archaic «доселе»: «Которое» (neuter, agreeing with «старчество») heads a relative clause but takes accusative as its own object: 'which he knew until now only by hearsay'. «Доселе» is the bookish 'until now', and «по рассказам» ('by accounts') uses «по» + dative of source.

Ободняв уже в монастыре, успел отметить и тайный ропот некоторых легкомысленных и несогласных на старчество братии.  
Having spent but a day in the monastery, he had already managed to note the secret murmuring of certain frivolous brothers who were not reconciled to the eldership.
> Past gerund «ободняв»: «Ободняв» is the perfective past gerund of the rare «ободнять» ('to spend the day, pass a day'): 'having been but a day in the monastery'. The gerund opens the sentence with the prior circumstance, sharing the main clause's subject, in dense literary style.
> «ропот» — murmuring, grumbling: «Ропот» is a low, discontented murmur — the «тайный ропот» (secret grumbling) of monks who resent the eldership. The word carries a biblical resonance (the Israelites' murmuring in the wilderness), apt for monastic dissent.

Был он к тому же по натуре своей инок шныряющий и проворный, с превеликим ко всему любопытством.  
He was, moreover, by his very nature a prying and nimble monk, with an enormous curiosity about everything.
> Present active participle «шныряющий»: «Шныряющий» (darting about, snooping) is a present active participle from «шнырять», used attributively like an adjective: 'a prying, nimble monk'. It condenses 'a monk who is always darting around' into one vivid modifier.
> Intensive prefix «пре-» in «превеликий»: «Превеликий» = «пре-» (very, exceedingly) + «великий» (great): 'an enormous curiosity'. The Slavonic-flavored intensifier «пре-» piles superlative force onto the adjective, a bookish heightening common in the narrator's portraiture.

Вот почему великое известие о новом «чуде», совершенном старцем Зосимою, повергло его в чрезвычайное недоумение.  
That is why the great news of the new "miracle" worked by the elder Zosima threw him into the utmost perplexity.
> Past passive participle + agent in instrumental: «Совершённом» is a past passive participle ('worked, accomplished') agreeing with «чуде»; its agent, «старцем Зосимою», stands in the instrumental — the case that names the doer in a passive. So: 'the miracle worked BY the elder Zosima.'
> Idiom «повергнуть в» — to plunge into: «Повергнуть кого в (что)» is an elevated idiom 'to cast / plunge someone into (a state)': the news 'threw him into the utmost perplexity'. «Чрезвычайное» (extraordinary, utmost) intensifies «недоумение» (bewilderment), a key word repeated across these paragraphs.

Алеша припомнил потом, как в числе теснившихся к старцу и около кельи его иноков мелькала много раз пред ним шныряющая везде по всем кучкам фигурка любопытного обдорского гостя, ко всему прислушивающегося и всех вопрошающего.  
Alyosha recalled afterward how, among the monks pressing close to the elder and around his cell, the little figure of the inquisitive Obdorsk guest had flickered before him many times, darting everywhere among all the clusters, listening to everything and questioning everyone.
> Past active participle «теснившихся»: «Теснившихся» is the genitive-plural past active participle of reflexive «тесниться» (to crowd, press): 'of the monks pressing close to the elder'. The participle, agreeing with «иноков», replaces a «которые теснились» clause and stacks with the present participles that follow.
> A chain of present active participles: Three present active participles describe the Obdorsk guest's figure: «шныряющая» (darting), «прислушивающегося» (listening), «вопрошающего» (questioning — the archaic «вопрошать» for «спрашивать»). Such participial chains are the connective tissue of dense literary description.
> «фигурка» — little figure: Diminutive of «фигура»: the 'little figure' of the curious guest. The suffix keeps him diminished and faintly ridiculous, consistent with «монашек» and «глазках» elsewhere in the scene.

Но тогда он мало обратил внимания на него и только потом всё припомнил…  
But at the time he had paid him little heed, and only later did he recall it all…
> Genitive «внимания» in a negated-quantity idiom: «Обратить внимание на» ('to pay attention to') takes «внимание» in the genitive «внимания» here under «мало» (little) — a partitive/quantity genitive. «Мало… только потом» contrasts his slight notice then with his full recall later.

Да и не до того ему было: старец Зосима, почувствовавший вновь усталость и улегшийся опять в постель, вдруг, заводя уже очи, вспомнил о нем и потребовал его к себе.  
Nor had he leisure for it: the elder Zosima, feeling weary once more and having lain down again in his bed, suddenly, his eyes already closing, remembered him and asked that he be brought to him.
> Impersonal «не до того» + dative: «(Кому) не до (чего)» is an idiomatic impersonal: 'X has no time/mind for Y'. The dative «ему» names the one affected and «того» (genitive after «до») the thing he can't attend to — 'he had no leisure for it'. A textbook dative-experiencer construction.
> Two past active participles describing Zosima: «Почувствовавший» (having felt) and «улегшийся» (having lain down) are perfective past active participles, paired to give the elder's prior actions before the main verbs «вспомнил» and «потребовал». «Улегшийся» is reflexive («улечься», to settle down to rest).
> «очи» — eyes (poetic) + gerund «заводя»: «Очи» is the poetic/Church-Slavonic plural for «глаза» (eyes), apt for the dying elder. «Заводя» is the present gerund of «заводить» here meaning 'rolling up / closing' the eyes — 'his eyes already closing', a simultaneous attendant action.

Алеша немедленно прибежал.  
Alyosha came running at once.
> Prefixed motion verb «прибежал»: «Прибежать» (perfective: to come running, arrive at a run) is «при-» (arrival) + «бежать». The directional prefix turns the motion verb into a plain perfective of arrival — Alyosha 'came running at once'.

Около старца находились тогда всего лишь отец Паисий, отец иеромонах Иосиф да Порфирий-послушник.  
Around the elder at that moment there were only Father Paissy, the hieromonk Father Joseph, and Porfiry the novice.
> Connective «да» — 'and': «Да» here is the folksy/older coordinating 'and' (= «и»), linking the last name to the list: '…Father Joseph AND Porfiry the novice'. It gives a faintly archaic, oral cadence to the enumeration.

Старец, раскрыв утомленные очи и пристально глянув на Алешу, вдруг спросил его:  
The elder, opening his weary eyes and gazing intently at Alyosha, suddenly asked him:
> Paired past gerunds «раскрыв… глянув»: Two perfective past gerunds — «раскрыв» (having opened) and «глянув» (having glanced) — set the elder's preliminary actions before the main «спросил» (asked). Both share his subject and compress the moment into a single flowing sentence.
> «очи» again — the weary eyes: The poetic «очи» recurs in «утомлённые очи» (weary eyes), keeping the elder's failing body in an elevated, almost iconic register as he turns his gaze on Alyosha.

— Ждут ли тебя твои, сынок?  
"Are your own people waiting for you, my son?"
> «ли» question + substantivized «твои»: «Ждут ли тебя твои?» uses «ли» for the yes/no question, and «твои» ('your [people]') is a substantivized possessive standing for one's family or household — 'are your own waiting for you?' The verb «ждать» takes its object «тебя» in the accusative.
> «сынок» — affectionate 'my son': Diminutive of «сын» (son): «сынок», 'dear son, my boy'. The elder's tender address to Alyosha, repeated through the farewell, carries paternal warmth — the emotional opposite of Ferapont's grim oracles.

Алеша замялся.  
Alyosha faltered.
> Reflexive «замяться» — to falter: «Замяться» (perfective, -ся only) means to grow flustered, to hesitate awkwardly. The clitic -ся here forms an intransitive verb of inner state — Alyosha 'faltered'. The prefix за- marks the sudden onset of the hesitation.

— Не имеют ли нужды в тебе? Обещал ли кому вчера на сегодня быти?  
"Have they no need of you? Did you promise anyone yesterday that you would come today?"
> Genitive of negation «нужды»: Under negation, the object of «иметь нужду» shifts to the genitive: «не имеют… нужды» ('have they no need…'), with «ли» making it a question. «В тебе» ('of you') follows «нужда в ком-то», need of someone.
> Archaic infinitive «быти»: «Быти» is the Church-Slavonic infinitive of «быть» (to be), here meaning 'to be [there], to come': 'did you promise anyone to be [there] today?' The old -ти infinitive gives the elder's speech a grave, scriptural cast; «кому» is the dative 'to someone'.

— Обещался… отцу… братьям… другим тоже…  
"I promised… my father… my brothers… others too…"
> Reflexive «обещался» + dative objects: «Обещаться» (the -ся variant of «обещать», to promise) takes the dative of the person promised: «отцу» (to my father), «братьям» (to my brothers). Alyosha's broken, dative-strung reply mirrors his faltering emotion.

— Видишь. Непременно иди. Не печалься. Знай, что не умру без того, чтобы не сказать при тебе последнее мое на земле слово. Тебе скажу это слово, сынок, тебе и завещаю его. Тебе, сынок милый, ибо любишь меня. А теперь пока иди к тем, кому обещал.  
"You see. By all means go. Do not grieve. Know that I shall not die without speaking, in your presence, my last word on earth. To you I shall say that word, my son, and to you I bequeath it. To you, my dear son, for you love me. But for now go to those to whom you promised."
> Imperatives «иди» / «не печалься»: Two imperatives close together: the affirmative «иди» (go) and the negated reflexive «не печалься» (don't grieve, from «печалиться»). Russian regularly pairs an imperfective imperative with «не» for prohibitions of state — 'do not be grieving'.
> Double negation with «чтобы… не»: A characteristically Russian double negative: 'I shall not die without [it being the case] that I not say…' = 'I shall not die without saying'. «Чтобы не сказать» pairs the irrealis «чтобы» with «не» — the second negative does not cancel the first but is required by the construction.
> «завещать» and causal «ибо»: «Завещать» is to bequeath, leave as a legacy or testament — the elder's last word is willed to Alyosha like an inheritance. «Ибо» ('for, because') is the bookish/Scriptural conjunction giving the reason: 'for you love me.' The whole speech is testamentary in tone.
> Fronted dative «тебе» for emphasis: The dative «тебе» ('to you') is repeated and fronted again and again, foregrounding the recipient before the verb in each clause — a topic-comment ordering that pours the elder's whole attention onto Alyosha. Russian's free word order makes this incantatory stress possible.

Алеша немедленно покорился, хотя и тяжело ему было уходить.  
Alyosha submitted at once, though it was hard for him to leave.
> Impersonal «тяжело ему было» + concessive «хотя»: «Тяжело ему было» is a dative-experiencer impersonal — 'it was hard FOR HIM' — with «ему» in the dative and the predicate the invariable «тяжело». «Хотя и» ('although') concedes the difficulty against his obedient submission.
> «покориться» — to submit, obey: «Покориться» (perfective, -ся) is to submit, yield, render obedience — the cardinal monastic virtue of «послушание» (obedience). Alyosha 'submitted at once' to the elder's will, even against his own wish to stay.

Но обещание слышать последнее слово его на земле и, главное, как бы ему, Алеше, завещанное, потрясло его душу восторгом.  
But the promise that he would hear the elder's last word on earth — and, above all, that it would be as though bequeathed to him, to Alyosha — shook his soul with rapture.
> Short past passive participle «завещанное»: «Завещанное» is the past passive participle of «завещать» ('bequeathed'), here neuter agreeing with «слово»: the word 'as though bequeathed to him'. The dative «ему, Алеше» names the beneficiary, and «как бы» again hedges it to 'as if'.
> «восторг» — rapture; instrumental of means: «Восторг» is exalted rapture or ecstasy. «Потрясло… восторгом» ('shook [his soul] with rapture') puts the emotion in the instrumental as the means by which the soul was shaken — a strong, almost religious word for Alyosha's joy.

Он заспешил, чтоб, окончив всё в городе, поскорей воротиться.  
He hurried, so that, having finished everything in town, he might return all the sooner.
> Purpose «чтоб» + gerund «окончив»: «Чтоб» (shortened «чтобы») opens a purpose clause with an infinitive «воротиться» (to return). Inside it, the perfective gerund «окончив» ('having finished') marks the prior step, and «поскорей» ('all the sooner') voices his eagerness.

Как раз и отец Паисий молвил ему напутственное слово, произведшее на него весьма сильное и неожиданное впечатление.  
And just then Father Paissy too spoke to him a parting word, which produced upon him a very strong and unexpected impression.
> Past active participle «произведшее»: «Произведшее» is the past active participle of «произвести» (to produce), agreeing with neuter «слово»: 'a word which produced… an impression'. It replaces a «которое произвело» clause, packing the result into the noun phrase.
> «напутственное слово» — a parting word: A «напутствие» is words of guidance given to someone setting out on a journey or a course of life; the adjective «напутственное» marks Father Paissy's 'parting word' to Alyosha as a charge for the road into the world.

Это когда уже они оба вышли из кельи старца.  
This was when the two of them had already come out of the elder's cell.
> Prefixed motion «вышли» (perfective): «Выйти» (perfective: to go/come out) is «вы-» (out) + «-йти». The directional prefix yields a completed motion — 'the two of them had come out of the cell'. «Оба» ('both') agrees with the masculine pair.

— Помни, юный, неустанно, — так прямо и безо всякого предисловия начал отец Паисий, — что мирская наука, соединившись в великую силу, разобрала, в последний век особенно, всё, что завещано в книгах святых нам небесного, и после жестокого анализа у ученых мира сего не осталось изо всей прежней святыни решительно ничего.  
"Remember, young man, unceasingly," — thus, plainly and without any preamble, Father Paissy began — "that worldly science, having combined itself into a great force, has examined, in the last age especially, everything bequeathed to us of the heavenly in the holy books, and after the cruel analysis of the scholars of this world there has remained, of all the former sacred things, absolutely nothing.
> Imperative «помни» + substantivized «юный»: «Помни» is the singular imperative of «помнить» (remember). «Юный» ('young [one]') is a substantivized adjective used as a vocative-like address — 'remember, young man'. The bookish «неустанно» ('unceasingly') opens Paissy's elevated exhortation.
> Reflexive past gerund «соединившись»: «Соединившись» is the perfective past gerund of reflexive «соединиться» (to combine, unite): 'worldly science, having combined into a great force…'. The -сь (after a vowel, for -ся) marks the reflexive; the gerund states the prior condition for the main verb «разобрала».
> Short passive participle «завещано» + genitive «небесного»: «Завещано» is the short past passive participle ('[that which] is bequeathed'), neuter, in a result-stating predicate. «Небесного» ('of the heavenly') is a partitive genitive — 'all of the heavenly that is bequeathed to us in the holy books'.
> «мира сего» — 'of this world': «Мира сего» (genitive of «мир сей», 'this world') is a fixed Scriptural phrase for the secular, fallen order, opposed to the heavenly. «Ученые мира сего» — 'the scholars of this world' — frames secular science as belonging to a lower realm than the «святыня» it dissects.

Но разбирали они по частям, а целое просмотрели, и даже удивления достойно, до какой слепоты.  
But they examined it piece by piece and overlooked the whole — and to a degree even astonishing, to such blindness.
> Aspect contrast «разбирали» / «просмотрели»: The imperfective «разбирали» (kept examining, piece by piece) sets the drawn-out process against the perfective «просмотрели» (overlooked, missed entirely) — a single completed failure. The aspect pairing itself carries Paissy's point: detailed analysis, total blindness to the whole.
> «достойно» + genitive «удивления»: «Достойно (чего)» ('worthy of') governs the genitive: «удивления достойно» = 'it is worthy of astonishment, it is astonishing'. The short-form predicative «достойно» with a fronted genitive object is a compact, bookish turn.

Тогда как целое стоит пред их же глазами незыблемо, как и прежде, и врата адовы не одолеют его.  
Whereas the whole stands before their very eyes, immovable as before, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
> «тогда как» — 'whereas' + adverb «незыблемо»: «Тогда как» is the bookish subordinator 'whereas, while', drawing the contrast: the whole stands «незыблемо» (unshakably, immovably). The adverb «незыблемо», from «незыблемый» (unshakable), is repeated as a keynote of Paissy's argument for Christianity's permanence.

Разве не жило оно девятнадцать веков, разве не живет и теперь, в движениях единичных душ и в движениях народных масс?  
Has it not lived nineteen centuries, does it not live even now, in the stirrings of individual souls and in the stirrings of the masses of the people?
> Rhetorical «разве не» + neuter «оно»: «Разве не…?» frames an emphatic rhetorical question expecting 'yes, of course it did' — 'has it not lived…? does it not live…?'. The subject «оно» (it) is neuter, referring back to «целое» (the whole); aspect shifts from past «жило» to present «живёт» to span the centuries.
> «девятнадцать веков» — nineteen centuries: 'Nineteen centuries' situates the speech in the 1800s, counting from Christ. «Веков» is the genitive plural of «век» (century, age), required after a numeral of five or more — here «девятнадцать» governs the genitive plural.

Даже в движениях душ тех же самых, всё разрушивших атеистов живет оно, как прежде, незыблемо!  
Even in the stirrings of the souls of those very atheists who have destroyed everything, it lives on, immovable as before!
> Past active participle «разрушивших»: «Разрушивших» is the genitive-plural past active participle of «разрушить» (to destroy): 'of those atheists who have destroyed everything'. The participle modifies «атеистов», and «всё» ('everything') is its object — a tightly packed attributive in place of a relative clause.

Ибо и отрекшиеся от христианства и бунтующие против него в существе своем сами того же самого Христова облика суть, таковыми же и остались, ибо до сих пор ни мудрость их, ни жар сердца их не в силах были создать иного высшего образа человеку и достоинству его, как образ, указанный древле Христом.  
For even those who have renounced Christianity and rebel against it are in their very essence themselves of that same image of Christ, and such they have remained, since to this day neither their wisdom nor the ardor of their hearts has had the power to create for man and for his dignity any other, higher image than the image set forth of old by Christ.
> Causal «ибо» + participle pair as subject: «Ибо» ('for, because') opens the reason. Its subject is two substantivized participles: «отрекшиеся» (those who have renounced — past active, reflexive) and «бунтующие» (those rebelling — present active). The participles, used as nouns, stand for 'the renouncers and rebels'.
> Archaic copula «суть» + Slavonic «Христова»: «Суть» is the archaic 3rd-person-plural present of «быть» (are) — almost never used in modern Russian, here lending biblical gravity: they 'are of that same image of Christ'. «Христова» is the possessive adjective 'of Christ'; «облика» is the genitive of «облик» (image, likeness).
> Idiom «не в силах» + agent in instrumental: «Не в силах (что-то сделать)» means 'unable, powerless to do'. The closing «образ, указанный… Христом» pairs a past passive participle «указанный» (set forth) with its agent «Христом» in the instrumental, and «древле» is the archaic 'of old, anciently'.

А что было попыток, то выходили одни лишь уродливости.  
And what attempts there have been yielded nothing but monstrosities.
> Genitive «попыток» in a quantity construction: «Что было попыток» — 'whatever attempts there were' — puts «попыток» (genitive plural of «попытка», attempt) after a quantifying «что было», a partitive-genitive pattern of existential quantity. «Уродливости» (monstrosities, deformities) names the result.

Запомни сие особенно, юный, ибо в мир назначаешься отходящим старцем твоим.  
Remember this especially, young man, for you are being sent out into the world by your departing elder.
> Imperative «запомни» + archaic «сие»: «Запомни» (perfective imperative: commit to memory, remember once and for all) closes the exhortation as it opened, framing it as a charge. «Сие» is the archaic neuter 'this', the bookish demonstrative of Paissy's whole solemn register.
> Passive «-ся» + agent in instrumental: «Назначаешься» ('you are appointed / sent') is an imperfective passive in -ся, whose agent stands in the instrumental: «отходящим старцем твоим» — 'by your departing elder'. «Отходящим» is a present active participle ('departing', i.e. dying), agreeing in the instrumental with «старцем».

Может, вспоминая сей день великий, не забудешь и слов моих, ради сердечного тебе напутствия данных, ибо млад еси, а соблазны в мире тяжелые и не твоим силам вынести их.  
Perhaps, recalling this great day, you will not forget my words either, given to you for the sake of a heartfelt parting counsel, for you are young, and the temptations in the world are heavy, and beyond your strength to bear.
> Archaic «сей» for «этот»: «Сей» (this) is the bookish, period-elevated demonstrative that 19th-century literary and ecclesiastical Russian uses where ordinary speech says «этот». Father Paissy's whole farewell is pitched in this solemn register.
> Gerund «вспоминая» — 'while recalling': «Вспоминая» is an imperfective present gerund («деепричастие») in -я: it sets a simultaneous attendant circumstance — 'while/as you recall this great day' — and shares the subject of «не забудешь». Such gerunds open many a Dostoevsky sentence.
> Perfective future «не забудешь»: «Забудешь» is the perfective verb «забыть» conjugated with present-tense endings, which yields a single completed future — 'you will (not) forget'. Negated by «не», it is a gentle prediction, almost an entreaty.
> Genitive object after negation, and inverted order: Under the negated «не забудешь», the object «слова мои» shifts from accusative to the genitive «слов моих» — the genitive of negation. The possessive following its noun («слов моих», not «моих слов») is a further mark of elevated, archaic word order.
> Church-Slavonic «еси» (thou art) + short adjective: «Еси» is the archaic Church-Slavonic 2nd-person-singular of 'to be' — 'thou art' — which modern Russian has dropped entirely (present 'to be' is normally zero). It governs the short-form adjective «млад» (= «молод», young), the predicative form proper to such bookish speech.
> «ибо» — 'for, because': «Ибо» is the bookish, biblical conjunction for 'for / because', far more solemn than the everyday «потому что». It is one of the surest signals that a speaker has shifted into scriptural register.
> Dative of the (unequal) capacity: «Не твоим силам вынести их» frames an impersonal incapacity: the dative «твоим силам» ('for your strength') names what is unequal to the task, with «вынести» (to bear) as a bare infinitive — 'and beyond your strength to bear them'. This experiencer-in-the-dative pattern is characteristically Russian.

Ну теперь ступай, сирота.  
Well, now go, orphan.
> Imperative «ступай» — 'go': «Ступай» is the imperative of «ступать», a slightly folksy, old-fashioned 'go / be off'. Built on the present stem with the -й ending after a vowel, it is warmer and more colloquial than the neutral «иди».
> «сирота» — 'orphan' as a form of address: «Сирота» (orphan) is here a vocative-like term of tender address: Alyosha has just lost his spiritual father, the elder Zosima. Though grammatically feminine in form, «сирота» applies to either sex, and the word carries pity and protectiveness.

С этим словом отец Паисий благословил его.  
With these words Father Paissy blessed him.
> Instrumental after «с» — 'with these words': «С этим словом» is the preposition «с» governing the instrumental case to express accompaniment — literally 'with this word'. Russian here uses the singular «словом» where English idiom prefers a plural, 'with these words'.

Выходя из монастыря и обдумывая все эти внезапные слова, Алеша вдруг понял, что в этом строгом и суровом доселе к нему монахе он встречает теперь нового неожиданного друга и горячо любящего его нового руководителя, — точно как бы старец Зосима завещал ему его умирая.  
As he was leaving the monastery and turning over all these sudden words, Alyosha suddenly understood that in this monk, until now stern and severe toward him, he now met a new and unexpected friend and a new guide who loved him ardently — exactly as though the elder Zosima had bequeathed him to him as he lay dying.
> Paired gerunds open the sentence: Two imperfective present gerunds, «выходя» (going out) and «обдумывая» (turning over), set the simultaneous circumstances against which the main clause unfolds. Both share Alyosha as subject — the indeclinable «деепричастие» is a workhorse of Dostoevsky's long sentences.
> Perfective «понял» — the sudden realization: «Понял» is perfective past: a single, completed event of understanding ('suddenly understood'), reinforced by «вдруг» (suddenly). Against the imperfective gerunds' ongoing background, this perfective verb is the one that moves the narrative forward.
> Heavy adjective stack in the prepositional: «В этом строгом и суровом… монахе» (in this stern and severe monk) shows the prepositional case after «в»: the adjectives «строгом, суровом» agree with «монахе» in case, gender, and number, with the adverb «доселе» ('until now') wedged inside the noun phrase for rhetorical weight.
> «доселе» — 'hitherto, until now': «Доселе» is an archaic, bookish adverb meaning 'up to this point in time'. Like «сей» and «ибо», it belongs to the elevated literary register Dostoevsky reaches for in this solemn chapter.
> Present active participle «любящего»: «Любящего» is a present active participle from «любить» (-ящ- type), 'who loves / loving', declined into the accusative to agree with «руководителя». It packs a whole relative clause — 'a new guide who loves him ardently' — into one modifier, the bookish alternative to a «который»-clause.
> «как бы» — the hypothetical 'as though': «Точно как бы… завещал» uses the irrealis particle «бы» with a past-tense verb to build an 'as if' comparison — 'exactly as though the elder had bequeathed him'. «Бы» plus the past form is Russia's one device for the hypothetical and the conditional.
> Gerund «умирая» — 'as he lay dying': The clause closes on another imperfective gerund, «умирая» (dying), expressing the circumstance under which Zosima 'bequeathed' Alyosha — 'as he lay dying'. Note the two pronouns «ему его»: 'bequeathed him (Alyosha) to him (Paissy)'.

«А может быть, так оно и впрямь между ними произошло», — подумал вдруг Алеша.  
"And perhaps that is indeed just how it came about between them," Alyosha suddenly thought.
> Topic-shifting «а» plus «может быть»: The sentence opens with the mild contrastive «а», which marks a turn of thought rather than real opposition — untranslatable here except as the swing into Alyosha's inner voice. «Может быть» ('perhaps, maybe') frames the whole thought as a tentative supposition.
> Expletive «оно» and emphatic «и»: «Оно» here is a dummy neuter pronoun, not a real subject — 'that is indeed just how it came about'. The particle «и» before «впрямь» intensifies ('indeed, really'), and «произошло» is perfective past, the single completed event Alyosha is wondering about.
> «впрямь» — 'indeed, truly': «Впрямь» is a colloquial-emphatic adverb meaning 'really, indeed, sure enough'. It lends the free indirect thought a spoken, intimate texture, as if we overhear Alyosha confirming the idea to himself.

Неожиданное же и ученое рассуждение его, которое он сейчас выслушал, именно это, а не другое какое-нибудь, свидетельствовало лишь о горячности сердца отца Паисия: он уже спешил как можно скорее вооружить юный ум для борьбы с соблазнами и огородить юную душу, ему завещанную, оградой, какой крепче и сам не мог представить себе.  
As for the unexpected and learned argument he had just heard, this one precisely, and not some other, bore witness only to the warmth of Father Paissy's heart: he was already hastening, as quickly as possible, to arm the young mind for the struggle against temptations, and to fence in the young soul, bequeathed to him, with a rampart stronger than any he could himself imagine.
> Emphatic «же» and a fronted topic: The modal particle «же» here picks up and sets off the new topic — 'As for the unexpected and learned argument…'. The whole heavy noun phrase «рассуждение его» is fronted as topic before the comment arrives, the possessive «его» trailing its noun in the bookish order.
> Relative «которое» in its own case: «Которое» agrees with its antecedent «рассуждение» in neuter gender and singular number but takes the accusative as the object of «выслушал» — 'which he had just heard out'. The comma-set «который»-clause is the standard relative construction.
> «свидетельствовать о» + prepositional: The imperfective «свидетельствовало» (bore witness, was evidence) governs «о» plus the prepositional «о горячности» — 'bore witness only to the warmth (of heart)'. The imperfective past states an ongoing, characterizing truth rather than a single event.
> Imperfective «спешил» governing perfective infinitives: The imperfective past «спешил» (was hastening) describes Paissy's standing impulse, while the two perfective infinitives «вооружить» (to arm) and «огородить» (to fence in) name the completed goals he was hurrying toward — a neat aspectual division of labour.
> Past passive participle «завещанную»: «Завещанную» is a past passive participle from perfective «завещать», declined into the accusative to agree with «душу» — 'the young soul, bequeathed to him'. «ему» ('to him') is the dative recipient/beneficiary of «завещать» (to bequeath TO someone), not the agent — a passive participle's agent would stand in the instrumental; the participle follows its noun for weight.
> «ограда» — a 'rampart, enclosure': «Оградой» (instrumental of «ограда») is the means of the fencing-in — a wall or enclosure, here a spiritual bulwark against temptation. The word shares its root with «огородить» (to fence in) in the same clause, knitting the image tight.
> Comparative «крепче» and reflexive «себе»: «Крепче» is the suppletive-style comparative of «крепкий» (stronger) in its invariable predicative form. «Себе» is the reflexive pronoun pointing back to Paissy ('imagine to himself'), and «сам» intensifies — 'a rampart stronger than he himself could imagine'.
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Source text: public domain (Fyodor Dostoevsky, d. 1881; Russian from the Nauka academic edition via ru.wikisource). English translation: original, © 1732 Studios (2026); rendered freshly from the public-domain Russian, not derived from any prior English translation. Sentence-aligned by 1732 Studios.