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Russian · Book VI — The Russian Monk

III. Из бесед и поучений старца Зосимы

Conversations and Exhortations of Father Zossima

252 sentences · 578 notes

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  1. 1

    Fathers and teachers, what is a monk?

    ОтцыFathersотец · noun, nominative, masculine, pluralvocative address, coordinated with учители
    иandи · conjunctionlinks the coordination
    учителиteachersучитель · noun, nominative, masculine, pluralcoordinated with Отцы
    чтоwhatчто · pronoun, nominative, neuter, singularpredicate complement of есть
    естьisбыть · verb, present, indicative, active, third, singular, imperfectivemain verb of the question
    инокa monkинок · noun, nominative, masculine, singularsubject of есть
  2. 2

    In the enlightened world this word is in our day pronounced by some already with a sneer, and by others even as an insult.

  3. 3

    And the further it goes, the more so.

  4. 4

    True, oh true, there are many even in monkhood who are idlers, gluttons of the flesh, voluptuaries, and brazen vagabonds.

  5. 5

    To this the educated, worldly people point: "You," they say, "are loafers and useless members of society, you live off the labor of others, you shameless beggars."

  6. 6

    And yet how many in monkhood are humble and meek, thirsting for solitude and for fervent prayer in the silence.

  7. 7

    To these fewer point, and indeed they pass them over in silence altogether; and how astonished they would be were I to say that from these meek ones who thirst for solitary prayer there may yet come, perhaps once again, the salvation of the Russian land!

  8. 8

    For in truth they are made ready in the silence "for the day and the hour, and the month and the year."

  9. 9

    For now they keep the image of Christ in their solitude, comely and unmarred, in the purity of God's truth, handed down from the most ancient fathers, the apostles, and the martyrs; and when it must be, they will show it forth to the wavering truth of the world.

  10. 10

    This is a great thought.

  11. 11

    From the east this star shall shine forth.

  12. 12

    So I think of the monk; and is it false, can it be arrogant?

  13. 13

    Look at the worldly, and at the whole world that exalts itself above the people of God — has not the face of God been distorted in it, and his truth?

  14. 14

    They have science, and in science only that which is subject to the senses.

  15. 15

    But the spiritual world, the higher half of man's being, is rejected outright, cast out with a kind of triumph, even with hatred.

  16. 16

    The world has proclaimed freedom, in recent times especially, and what do we see in this freedom of theirs: nothing but slavery and self-destruction!

  17. 17

    For the world says: "You have needs, and so satisfy them, for you have rights as good as those of the noblest and the richest of men. Do not be afraid to satisfy them, but even multiply them" — such is the present teaching of the world.

  18. 18

    In this they see freedom.

  19. 19

    And what comes of this right to the multiplication of needs?

  20. 20

    Among the rich, isolation and spiritual self-destruction; among the poor, envy and murder — for the rights were granted, but the means to satisfy the needs have not yet been pointed out.

  21. 21

    They assure us that the world, the further it goes, the more it unites, that it draws together into brotherly communion by shortening distances and conveying thoughts through the air.

  22. 22

    Alas, do not believe in such a uniting of people.

  23. 23

    Understanding freedom as the multiplication and swift gratification of needs, they distort their own nature, for they breed in themselves a host of senseless and foolish desires, habits, and the most absurd inventions.

  24. 24

    They live only to envy one another, for gratification of the flesh and for vainglory.

  25. 25

    To have dinners, equipages, carriages, rank, and slaves to wait upon them is reckoned by now such a necessity that for its sake men sacrifice even life, honor, and the love of mankind, in order to satisfy that necessity, and they even kill themselves if they cannot satisfy it.

  26. 26

    Among those who are not rich we see the very same thing, while among the poor the unsatisfied needs and the envy are for now drowned in drink.

  27. 27

    But soon, in place of wine, they will get drunk on blood — to that they are being led.

  28. 28

    I ask you: is such a man free?

  29. 29

    I once knew a certain "fighter for an idea" who himself told me that when, in prison, they deprived him of tobacco, he was so tormented by that deprivation that he very nearly went and betrayed his "idea," if only they would give him tobacco.

  30. 30

    And yet a man like that says: "I go to fight for humanity."

  31. 31

    Well, where will such a man go, and what is he capable of?

  32. 32

    Of some quick act, perhaps, but he will not hold out for long.

  33. 33

    And it is no wonder that instead of freedom they have fallen into slavery, and that instead of serving brotherly love and human union they have fallen, on the contrary, into separation and isolation, as my mysterious visitor and teacher told me in my youth.

  34. 34

    And so in the world the thought of serving humanity, of the brotherhood and wholeness of men, fades more and more, and in truth this thought is met now even with a sneer; for how is one to give up one's habits, where will this bondsman go if he has grown so used to satisfying the countless needs that he himself has invented?

  35. 35

    He is in isolation, and what does he care for the whole.

  36. 36

    And they have come to this: they have heaped up more goods, and there is less joy.

  37. 37

    The monastic path is a different matter.

  38. 38

    At obedience, fasting, and prayer they even laugh, and yet in these alone lies the path to true, genuine freedom: I cut away from myself the needs that are excessive and unnecessary, I humble and scourge by obedience my self-loving and prideful will, and thereby attain, with God's help, freedom of spirit, and with it the gladness of the spirit too!

  39. 39

    Which of them, then, is the more able to raise up a great thought and go to serve it — the isolated rich man, or this one, freed from the tyranny of goods and habits?

  40. 40

    The monk is reproached for his isolation: "You have shut yourself away to save your own soul within the monastery walls, and have forgotten the brotherly service of mankind."

  41. 41

    But let us see yet which of the two will do more for brotherly love.

  42. 42

    For the isolation is not on our side, but on theirs, though they do not see it.

  43. 43

    And from among us, even from of old, leaders of the people came forth; why, then, can there not be such now as well?

  44. 44

    Those same humble and meek fasters and keepers of silence will rise up and go forth to the great work.

  45. 45

    From the people comes the salvation of Russia.

  46. 46

    And the Russian monastery has from time immemorial been with the people.

  47. 47

    And if the people are in isolation, then we too are in isolation.

  48. 48

    The people believe as we do, and an unbelieving doer will accomplish nothing here in Russia, even were he sincere of heart and a genius in mind.

  49. 49

    Remember this.

  50. 50

    The people will meet the atheist and overcome him, and a single Orthodox Russia will arise.

  51. 51

    Cherish, then, the people, and guard their heart.

  52. 52

    In the silence bring them up.

  53. 53

    This is your monastic labor, for this people is a God-bearing one.

  54. 54

    God knows — who will deny it — there is sin among the people too.

  55. 55

    And the flame of corruption is multiplying even visibly, hour by hour, coming down from above.

  56. 56

    Isolation is setting in among the people too: there appear the fist-handed grasping men and the world-devourers; already the merchant longs more and more for honors, strives to show himself educated, having no education at all, and to this end he basely scorns the ancient custom and is even ashamed of the faith of his fathers.

  57. 57

    He drives off to visit princes, and yet he is no more than a spoiled peasant himself.

  58. 58

    The people have rotted away with drink and can no longer break free of it.

  59. 59

    And how much cruelty toward the family, toward the wife, toward the children even; it all comes from drink.

  60. 60

    I have seen in the factories children even ten years old: sickly, stunted, bent over, and already depraved.

  61. 61

    A stifling workroom, a clattering machine, work the whole of God's day, foul words and wine, wine — but is that what the soul of so small a child still needs?

  62. 62

    It needs sunlight, children's games, everywhere a bright example, and at least a drop of love toward it.

  63. 63

    Let this not be, monks, let there be no torturing of children; rise up and preach this, swiftly, swiftly.

  64. 64

    But God will save Russia, for though the common man is depraved and can no longer deny himself the foul sin, he yet knows that his foul sin is cursed by God and that he does ill in sinning.

  65. 65

    So that our people still believe unceasingly in righteousness, acknowledge God, and weep with tenderness.

  66. 66

    It is not so among the higher classes.

  67. 67

    Following science, they want to order themselves justly by their own reason alone, but now without Christ, as they once did with him, and they have already proclaimed that there is no crime, that there is no longer any sin.

  68. 68

    And indeed, by their reckoning that is right: for if you have no God, then what crime can there be?

  69. 69

    In Europe the people are rising against the rich, already by force, and the popular leaders everywhere are driving them to blood and teaching that their wrath is just.

  70. 70

    But "cursed be their wrath, for it is fierce."

  71. 71

    Yet Russia the Lord will save, as he has saved her many times before.

  72. 72

    From the people the salvation will come, from their faith and their humility.

  73. 73

    Fathers and teachers, cherish the faith of the people, and this is no fancy: all my life I have been struck, in our great people, by their dignity, comely and true; I have seen it myself, I can myself bear witness, I have seen it and marveled, I have seen it despite even the stench of sins and the beggarly look of our people.

  74. 74

    He is not servile, and this after two centuries of serfdom.

  75. 75

    He is free in bearing and in manner, yet without any taking of offense.

  76. 76

    And he is neither vindictive nor envious.

  77. 77

    "You are well-born, you are rich, you are clever and gifted — so be it, may God bless you. I honor you, but I know that I too am a man. In that I honor you without envy, in that very thing I show before you my human dignity."

  78. 78

    In truth, even if they do not say this (for they do not yet know how to say it), then they so act — I have seen it myself, I have experienced it myself, and would you believe it: the poorer and lowlier our Russian man, the more noticeable in him is this comely righteousness; for the rich among them, the grasping fists and world-devourers, are in their multitude already corrupted, and much, much of this has come out of our neglect and inattention!

  79. 79

    But God will save his people, for Russia is great in her humility.

  80. 80

    I dream of seeing, and seem already to see clearly, our future: for it will come to pass that even the most corrupted of our rich men will end by being ashamed of his wealth before the poor man, and the poor man, seeing this humility, will understand and yield to him with gladness, and answer with kindness his comely shame.

  81. 81

    Believe that it will end thus: things are moving toward it.

  82. 82

    Equality lies in human spiritual dignity alone, and this will be understood only among us.

  83. 83

    Were there brothers, there would be brotherhood too; but before brotherhood they will never divide things up.

  84. 84

    We keep the image of Christ, and it shall shine forth like a precious diamond to all the world… So be it, so be it!

  85. 85

    Fathers and teachers, a touching thing once happened to me.

  86. 86

    In my wanderings I once met, in the provincial town of K., my former orderly Afanasy, and by then eight years had already passed since I had parted from him.

  87. 87

    By chance he caught sight of me at the market, recognized me, ran up to me, and — God! — how overjoyed he was, he fairly flung himself at me: "Master, sir, is it you? Can it really be you that I see?"

  88. 88

    He led me to his home.

  89. 89

    He had already left the service, had married, and had already fathered two small children.

  90. 90

    He made his living with his wife by petty trade, from a stall in the market.

  91. 91

    His little room was poor, but clean and cheerful.

  92. 92

    He seated me, set the samovar going, sent for his wife, as though I had given him some holiday by appearing at his house.

  93. 93

    He brought his little ones to me: "Bless them, Father."

  94. 94

    "Is it for me to bless them," I answer him, "a simple and humble monk that I am; I shall pray to God for them, and for you, Afanasy Pavlovich, I have always prayed, every single day, ever since that very day, for from you," I say, "it all came to be."

  95. 95

    And I explained this to him as best I could.

  96. 96

    And what does the man do: he looks at me and still cannot grasp that I, his former master, an officer, now stand before him in such a guise and in such garments; he even wept.

  97. 97

    "Why do you weep," I say to him, "you unforgettable man; rather be glad in your soul for my sake, dear one, for joyful and bright is my path."

  98. 98

    He said little, only kept sighing and shaking his head at me with tenderness.

  99. 99

    "Where, then," he asks, "is your fortune?"

  100. 100

    I answer him: "I gave it to the monastery, and we live in community."

  101. 101

    After tea I began to take my leave of them, and suddenly he brought out half a ruble for me, an offering for the monastery, and another half-ruble, I see, he is thrusting into my hand, hurrying: "This is for you," he says, "a wandering, traveling man; it may come in useful to you, Father."

  102. 102

    I took his half-ruble, bowed to him and to his wife, and went away gladdened, thinking along the road: "Here we both are now, he at his own home and I on my way, and we sigh, no doubt, and smile to ourselves with joy, in the gladness of our hearts, nodding our heads and remembering how God brought us to meet."

  103. 103

    And after that I never saw him again.

  104. 104

    I had been his master and he my servant, but now, when we kissed each other lovingly and in spiritual tenderness, a great human union came to pass between us.

  105. 105

    I have thought much about this, and now I think thus: can it really be so beyond the mind's reach that this great and simple-hearted union might in its own season come to pass everywhere among our Russian people?

  106. 106

    I believe that it will come to pass, and that the time is near.

  107. 107

    And about servants I will add the following: in my youth I used to grow angry with servants often: "the cook served it too hot, the orderly did not brush the clothes."

  108. 108

    But then a thought of my dear brother's suddenly lit up within me, one I had heard from him in my childhood: "Am I worth it, even all of me, that another should serve me, and that I, for his poverty and ignorance, should order him about?"

  109. 109

    And I marveled then how the very simplest thoughts, plain to the very eye, appear so late in our minds.

  110. 110

    Without servants it is impossible in the world, but so act that your servant be freer in spirit than if he were not a servant.

  111. 111

    And why can I not be a servant to my servant, and so that he even sees it, and with no pride at all on my part, and no unbelief on his?

  112. 112

    Why should my servant not be as one of my own kin, so that at last I take him into my family and rejoice in it?

  113. 113

    Even now this is so achievable, but it will serve as the foundation for that future, already magnificent union of men, when man will no longer seek servants for himself nor wish to turn his fellow men into servants, as now, but, on the contrary, will wish with all his might to become himself the servant of all, according to the Gospel.

  114. 114

    And is it really a fancy that in the end man should find his joys only in deeds of enlightenment and mercy, and not in cruel joys, as now — in gluttony, lechery, vainglory, boasting, and the envious lording of one man over another?

  115. 115

    I firmly believe that it is not, and that the time is near.

  116. 116

    They laugh and ask: when, then, will this time come, and does it even look as though it will come?

  117. 117

    But I think that we, together with Christ, will settle this great matter.

  118. 118

    And how many ideas there have been upon the earth, in the history of mankind, which even ten years before were unthinkable, and which suddenly appeared when their mysterious season came for them, and swept across the whole earth?

  119. 119

    So it will be with us too, and our people shall shine forth to the world, and all men shall say: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner."

  120. 120

    And the scoffers should themselves be asked: if ours is a fancy, then when will you raise up your own edifice and order yourselves justly by your reason alone, without Christ?

  121. 121

    And if they themselves insist that, on the contrary, it is they who are moving toward union, then truly only the most simple-hearted among them believe it — so much so that one may even marvel at such simplicity.

  122. 122

    Truly there is more dreamy fantasy in them than in us.

  123. 123

    They suppose they will order things justly, but, having rejected Christ, they will end by drenching the world in blood, for blood calls to blood, and he who has drawn the sword shall perish by the sword.

  124. 124

    And were it not for the promise of Christ, they would go on destroying one another until the last two men were left on the earth.

  125. 125

    And even these last two would not be able, in their pride, to hold each other back, so that the last would destroy the next-to-last, and then himself as well.

  126. 126

    And so it would come to pass, were it not for the promise of Christ that for the sake of the meek and the humble this matter shall be cut short.

  127. 127

    It was then, still in my officer's uniform, after my duel, that I began speaking in company about the servants, and they all, I remember, looked at me in astonishment: "What are we to do," they said, "sit a servant down on the sofa and bring him his tea?"

  128. 128

    And I answered them then: "Why not, at least now and again?"

  129. 129

    Everyone laughed then.

  130. 130

    Their question was frivolous and my answer unclear, but I think there was a certain truth in it.

  131. 131

    Young man, do not forget to pray.

  132. 132

    Each time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, some new feeling will flash up in it, and in that feeling a new thought as well, one you did not know before, which will hearten you afresh; and you will understand that prayer is an education.

  133. 133

    Remember this too: every day, and whenever you can, repeat to yourself, "Lord, have mercy on all who have come before Thee this day."

  134. 134

    For in every hour and every instant thousands of people quit their life upon this earth, and their souls stand before the Lord — and how many of them have parted from the earth in isolation, unknown to anyone, in grief and anguish that no one will mourn for them or even know of them at all: whether they lived or not.

  135. 135

    And behold, perhaps from the other end of the earth your prayer too will rise up to the Lord for the repose of his soul, though you never knew him at all, nor he you.

  136. 136

    How moving it is to his soul, standing in awe before the Lord, to feel in that instant that there is one who prays for him too, that there remains upon the earth a human being who loves him.

  137. 137

    And God will look more mercifully upon you both, for if you have so pitied him, how much more will He pity him, He who is infinitely more merciful and loving than you.

  138. 138

    And He will forgive him for your sake.

  139. 139

    Brothers, do not be afraid of the sin of men; love a man even in his sin, for this is already the likeness of divine love and is the highest love on earth.

  140. 140

    Love all of God's creation, both the whole of it and every grain of sand.

  141. 141

    Love every leaf, every ray of God's light.

  142. 142

    Love the animals, love the plants, love every thing.

  143. 143

    If you love every thing, you will perceive the mystery of God in things.

  144. 144

    Once you perceive it, you will begin without ceasing to know it ever more fully and deeply, day after day.

  145. 145

    And in the end you will come to love the whole world with an all-embracing, universal love.

  146. 146

    Love the animals: God has given them the beginnings of thought and an untroubled joy.

  147. 147

    Do not disturb that joy, do not torment them, do not take their gladness from them, do not set yourself against God's design.

  148. 148

    Man, do not exalt yourself above the animals: they are without sin, while you, for all your grandeur, foul the earth by your coming upon it and leave your festering trail behind you — alas, nearly every one of us does!

  149. 149

    Love children especially, for they too are without sin, like the angels, and they live to soften our hearts, to cleanse our hearts, and as a kind of guidance to us.

  150. 150

    Woe to him who offends a little child.

  151. 151

    Father Anfim taught me to love children: he, gentle and silent on our wanderings, would buy them gingerbread and sweets with the few coins given us as alms, and hand them out; he could not pass a child without an inward stirring of the soul — such was the man.

  152. 152

    Before some thought you will stand perplexed, especially at the sight of men's sin, and you will ask yourself: "Shall I take it by force, or by humble love?"

  153. 153

    Always decide: "I will take it by humble love."

  154. 154

    Resolve on this once and for all, and you can conquer the whole world.

  155. 155

    Loving humility is a fearsome force, the mightiest of all, and there is nothing else like it.

  156. 156

    Every day and hour, every minute, walk about yourself and watch over yourself, that your bearing may be seemly.

  157. 157

    You have just passed a small child — passed him spiteful, with a foul word, with a wrathful soul; you perhaps did not even notice the child, but he saw you, and your image, unsightly and impious, may have lodged in his defenseless little heart.

  158. 158

    You did not know it, yet perhaps by that very act you have already cast an evil seed into him, and it may grow — and all because you did not guard yourself before the child, because you had not nurtured in yourself a watchful, active love.

  159. 159

    Brothers, love is a teacher, but one must know how to win it, for it is hard to win, dearly bought, through long labor and over a long span of time, since one must love not for a chance moment only, but for the whole span.

  160. 160

    By chance anyone can love, even a villain can love.

  161. 161

    My young brother begged forgiveness of the birds: it seems almost senseless, and yet it is true, for everything is like an ocean, everything flows and is connected; touch it in one place and it resounds at the other end of the world.

  162. 162

    Let it be madness to beg forgiveness of the birds — yet it would be easier both for the birds, and for the child, and for every animal near you, if you yourself were more seemly than you are now, even if only by a single drop.

  163. 163

    Everything is like an ocean, I tell you.

  164. 164

    Then you would begin to pray even to the birds, tormented by an all-embracing love, as if in some rapture, and would entreat them to forgive you your sin as well.

  165. 165

    Cherish that rapture, however senseless it may seem to people.

  166. 166

    My friends, ask God for gladness.

  167. 167

    Be glad as children, as the birds of heaven.

  168. 168

    And let not the sin of men trouble you in your work; do not fear that it will smother your work and keep it from being accomplished; do not say, "Sin is strong, ungodliness is strong, the vile surroundings are strong, and we are alone and powerless; the vile surroundings will smother us and will not let the good work be accomplished."

  169. 169

    Flee, children, from this despondency!

  170. 170

    There is but one rescue for you here: take yourself, and make yourself answerable for all the sin of mankind.

  171. 171

    Friend, this is truly so, for the moment you sincerely make yourself answerable for everything and everyone, you will see at once that it really is so, and that you yourself are guilty for everyone and for all things.

  172. 172

    But by shifting your own laziness and impotence onto others, you will end by sharing in a satanic pride and by murmuring against God.

  173. 173

    Of satanic pride I think thus: it is hard for us on earth even to grasp it, and therefore how easy it is to fall into the error and share in it, all the while supposing that we are doing something great and beautiful.

  174. 174

    And much, too, of the strongest feelings and impulses of our nature we cannot yet grasp while on earth; do not be led astray by this either, and do not imagine that it can serve you in any way as a justification, for the eternal judge will require of you what you were able to grasp, not what you could not — you will be convinced of this yourself, for then you will see everything aright and will no longer dispute.

  175. 175

    On earth we truly wander, as it were, and were the precious image of Christ not before us, we would perish and lose our way altogether, like the human race before the flood.

  176. 176

    Much on earth is hidden from us, but in exchange we have been granted a secret, hidden sense of our living bond with another world, with a world on high and exalted; and indeed the roots of our thoughts and feelings are not here but in other worlds.

  177. 177

    That is why the philosophers say that the essence of things cannot be grasped on earth.

  178. 178

    God took seeds from other worlds and sowed them on this earth and raised up His garden, and everything came up that could come up; but what is raised lives and is alive only through the sense of its contact with mysterious other worlds; if this sense weakens or is destroyed within you, then what was raised within you dies as well.

  179. 179

    Then you will grow indifferent to life and even come to hate it.

  180. 180

    So I think.

  181. 181

    Remember above all that you cannot be the judge of anyone.

  182. 182

    For there can be no judge of a criminal on earth until that judge himself knows that he too is just such a criminal as the one standing before him, and that he himself is perhaps guilty before all others for the crime of the one who stands before him.

  183. 183

    Once he grasps this, then he will be able to become a judge as well.

  184. 184

    However mad it may appear, this is the truth.

  185. 185

    For were I myself righteous, perhaps there would be no criminal standing before me at all.

  186. 186

    If you can take upon yourself the crime of the criminal standing before you and judged by your heart, then take it upon yourself at once and suffer for him yourself, and let him go without reproach.

  187. 187

    And even if the law itself has appointed you his judge, then so far as you can, act even then in this same spirit, for he will go away and condemn himself more harshly than your judgment.

  188. 188

    But if he departs unfeeling under your kiss, mocking you, then do not be led astray by this either: it means his time has not yet come, but it will come in due season; and if it does not come, no matter: if not he, then another will know on his behalf, and will suffer, and condemn, and accuse himself, and the truth will be fulfilled.

  189. 189

    Believe this, believe it without doubt, for in this very thing lies all the hope and all the faith of the saints.

  190. 190

    Work without ceasing.

  191. 191

    If you remember in the night, as you are going to sleep, "I did not do what I ought to have done," then rise at once and do it.

  192. 192

    If the people around you are spiteful and unfeeling and will not hear you, then fall down before them and beg their forgiveness, for truly you too are guilty in that they will not hear you.

  193. 193

    And if you can no longer speak with the embittered, then serve them in silence and in self-abasement, never losing hope.

  194. 194

    And if all forsake you and drive you out by force, then, left alone, fall to the earth and kiss it, water it with your tears, and the earth will bring forth fruit from your tears, though no one saw or heard you in your solitude.

  195. 195

    Believe to the end, even should it come to pass that all on earth are led astray and you alone remain faithful: bring your offering even then and praise God, you who alone remain.

  196. 196

    And if two such as you should come together, then here already is the whole world, a world of living love; embrace one another in tenderness and praise the Lord: for though it be only in the two of you, His truth has been fulfilled.

  197. 197

    If you yourself sin and grieve even unto death over your sins or over some sudden sin of yours, then rejoice for another, rejoice for the righteous one, rejoice that if you have sinned, he by contrast is righteous and has not sinned.

  198. 198

    But if the wickedness of men stirs you to indignation and to a grief now past bearing, even to a desire for vengeance upon the wicked, then fear that feeling above all else; go at once and seek out suffering for yourself, as though you yourself were guilty of that wickedness of men.

  199. 199

    Accept this suffering and endure it, and your heart will be eased, and you will understand that you too are guilty, for you might have shone for the wicked even as the one sinless man, and you did not shine.

  200. 200

    Had you shone, with your light you would have lit the way for others too, and the one who committed the wickedness might perhaps not have committed it in your light.

  201. 201

    And even if you did shine, yet see that people are not saved even by your light, then stand firm and do not doubt the power of the heavenly light; believe that if they are not saved now, they will be saved later.

  202. 202

    And if they are not saved later either, then their sons will be saved, for your light will not die, even though you yourself have already died.

  203. 203

    The righteous man departs, but his light remains.

  204. 204

    And men are saved always after the death of the one who saves them.

  205. 205

    The human race does not receive its prophets and strikes them down, yet people love their martyrs and venerate those whom they have tormented to death.

  206. 206

    But you labor for the whole, you work for what is to come.

  207. 207

    Never seek a reward, for great is your reward already on this earth, even without it: your spiritual gladness, which only the righteous man attains.

  208. 208

    Fear neither the highborn nor the powerful, but be wise and ever seemly.

  209. 209

    Know measure, know the right times; learn this.

  210. 210

    And when you are left in solitude, pray.

  211. 211

    Love to fall down upon the earth and kiss it.

  212. 212

    Kiss the earth and love it tirelessly, insatiably; love everyone, love everything, seek this rapture and ecstasy.

  213. 213

    Water the earth with the tears of your gladness, and love those tears of yours.

  214. 214

    And do not be ashamed of this ecstasy; cherish it, for it is a gift of God, a great one, and it is not given to many, but to the chosen.

  215. 215

    Fathers and teachers, I ask myself: "What is hell?" And I reason thus: "It is the suffering of being no longer able to love."

  216. 216

    Once, in the infinite being immeasurable by either time or space, the power was given to a certain spiritual creature, by its coming into being upon the earth, to say to itself: "I am, and I love."

  217. 217

    Once, only once, a moment of active, ''living'' love was given to it, and for that purpose was earthly life given, and with it times and seasons; and what then? This happy creature rejected the priceless gift, did not prize it, did not love it, but looked on it mockingly and remained unfeeling.

  218. 218

    Such a one, having already departed from the earth, sees Abraham's bosom and converses with Abraham, as is shown us in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and beholds paradise, and can ascend to the Lord — but by this very thing he is tormented: that he will go up to the Lord, he who did not love, will come into contact with those who loved while he disdained their love.

  219. 219

    For he sees clearly and says to himself now: "Now I have knowledge, and though I have thirsted to love, there will be no exploit in my love, nor any sacrifice, for earthly life is ended, and Abraham will not come with even a drop of living water (that is, with the renewed gift of an earthly life, the former and active one) to cool the flame of the thirst for spiritual love with which I now burn, having disdained it on earth; there is no more life, and there will be no more time! Though I would gladly give my own life for others, it is no longer possible, for that life is past in which it was possible to bring my life as a sacrifice of love, and now there is an abyss between that life and this being."

  220. 220

    They speak of a material hellfire: I do not probe this mystery, and I fear it, but I think that if there were a material flame, they would truly rejoice in it, for, so I imagine, in material torment the far more terrible spiritual torment would for an instant be forgotten by them.

  221. 221

    And it is impossible to take that spiritual torment from them, for this torment is not outward but within them.

  222. 222

    And were it even possible to take it away, then, I think, they would only become the more wretched for it.

  223. 223

    For though the righteous in paradise might forgive them, beholding their torments, and might call them to themselves, loving them infinitely, yet by that very act they would only multiply their torments the more, for they would rouse in them still more strongly the flame of thirst for a responding, active, and grateful love which is now impossible.

  224. 224

    In the timidity of my heart, however, I think that the very awareness of this impossibility would in the end serve also to ease them, for, accepting the love of the righteous along with the impossibility of repaying it, in this submission and in this act of humility they would at last attain, as it were, a kind of image of that active love which they disdained on earth, and a kind of action akin to it…

  225. 225

    I am sorry, brothers and friends of mine, that I cannot say this clearly.

  226. 226

    But woe to those who have destroyed themselves on earth, woe to the suicides!

  227. 227

    I think there can be no one more wretched than they.

  228. 228

    It is a sin, we are told, to pray to God for them, and the Church outwardly seems to reject them, but in the secret of my soul I think that one might pray for them too.

  229. 229

    Christ surely will not be angered at love.

  230. 230

    For such as these I have prayed inwardly all my life, I confess it to you, fathers and teachers, and I pray for them even now, every day.

  231. 231

    Oh, there are some even in hell who have remained proud and fierce, despite their now indisputable knowledge and their contemplation of irrefutable truth; there are dreadful ones who have wholly joined themselves to Satan and his proud spirit.

  232. 232

    For these, hell is now voluntary and insatiable; they are martyrs by their own will.

  233. 233

    For they have cursed themselves, cursing God and life.

  234. 234

    They feed upon their own spiteful pride, as if a starving man in the desert had begun to suck his own blood out of his own body.

  235. 235

    But they are insatiable unto ages of ages, and they reject forgiveness; they curse God, who calls to them; they cannot behold the living God without hatred, and they demand that there be no God of life, that God destroy Himself and all His creation.

  236. 236

    And they will burn in the fire of their own wrath forever, thirsting for death and for nonexistence.

  237. 237

    But they will not receive death.

  238. 238

    Here ends the manuscript of Alexei Fyodorovich Karamazov.

  239. 239

    I repeat: it is incomplete and fragmentary.

  240. 240

    The biographical particulars, for instance, embrace only the elder's early youth.

  241. 241

    From his teachings and opinions there has been gathered together, as into a single whole, what was evidently spoken on different occasions and prompted by various causes.

  242. 242

    Yet what the elder uttered, properly speaking, in these last hours of his life is not set down with any exactness; only a notion of the spirit and character of that conversation has been given, if one compares it with what Alexei Fyodorovich has recorded in his manuscript from the earlier teachings.

  243. 243

    The elder's death, however, came to pass truly and altogether unexpectedly.

  244. 244

    For although all who had gathered to him on that last evening understood full well that his death was near, still it was impossible to imagine that it would come on so suddenly; on the contrary, his friends, as I have already remarked above, seeing him that night so seemingly cheerful and talkative, were even convinced that some noticeable improvement had set in for his health, if only for a little while.

  245. 245

    Even five minutes before the end, as people afterward related with astonishment, nothing could yet be foreseen.

  246. 246

    He suddenly felt what seemed a violent pain in his chest, grew pale, and pressed his hands hard against his heart.

  247. 247

    All then rose from their seats and rushed toward him; but he, though suffering, yet still gazing at them with a smile, lowered himself quietly from his armchair to the floor and knelt, then bowed down with his face to the earth, stretched out his arms, and, as though in joyful rapture, kissing the ground and praying (as he himself had taught), quietly and joyfully gave up his soul to God.

  248. 248

    Word of his death spread at once through the hermitage and reached the monastery.

  249. 249

    Those nearest to the newly departed, and those whose office it was, set about laying out his body according to the ancient rite, while all the brotherhood assembled in the cathedral church.

  250. 250

    And before dawn yet, as was afterward related by rumor, news of the newly departed reached the town.

  251. 251

    By morning nearly the whole town was speaking of the event, and a multitude of townspeople streamed to the monastery.

  252. 252

    But of this we shall speak in the next book, and for now will only add in advance that not even a day had passed before something came to pass so unexpected for all, and, by the impression it produced within the monastery and in the town, so strange, troubling, and bewildering, as it were, that to this very day, after so many years, there is preserved in our town the liveliest memory of that day so troubling for many…

The particulars

The text
Братья Карамазовы, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Book VI — The Russian Monk.
Translation
Public-domain Russian (Dostoevsky, d. 1881). Translation © 2026 1732 Studios.
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Every word of the text, by letter.
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Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.