# The Brothers Karamazov, The Breath of Corruption

Братья Карамазовы · Fyodor Dostoevsky · Book VII — Alyosha

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b7-c1. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b7-c1.json.


Тело усопшего иеросхимонаха отца Зосимы приготовили к погребению по установленному чину.  
The body of the departed hieroschemamonk, Father Zossima, was made ready for burial according to the established rite.
> «усопший» — the reposed: A solemn, Church-Slavonic word for the dead, literally "the one who has fallen asleep" (from «успение», the "falling-asleep" of the Mother of God). It is the reverent register used of monks and saints, far above the neutral «умерший».
> «иеросхимонах» — hieroschemamonk: A compound Greek loan: a monk who is both an ordained priest («иеро-») and has taken the highest, strictest monastic vows, the Great Schema («схима»). Zossima's rank is the loftiest in this monastic world, which is why the Gospel, not the Psalter, will be read over him.
> Subjectless "they": The 3rd-person plural perfective past «приготовили» ("they prepared") has no stated subject — an unnamed, indefinite "they" doing the ritual. The perfective frames it as a single completed act, against which the chapter's description unfolds.

Умерших монахов и схимников, как известно, не омывают.  
As is known, the bodies of dead monks and schemamonks are not washed.
> Subjectless habitual "one does not": «Не омывают» is a 3rd-plural imperfective with no subject — the impersonal "they do not wash / one does not wash," stating a general rule. The imperfective fits a timeless custom rather than a single event.
> «как известно» — as is known: A set parenthetical, "as is known / as everyone knows," by which Dostoevsky's chronicler-narrator leans on shared communal knowledge, drawing the reader into the small-town "we" that runs through the book.

«Егда кто от монахов ко господу отыдет (сказано в большом требнике), то учиненный монах (то есть для сего назначенный) отирает тело его теплою водой, творя прежде губою (то есть греческою губкой) крест на челе скончавшегося, на персех, на руках и на ногах и на коленах, вящше же ничто же».  
"When one of the monks departeth unto the Lord (so it is said in the Great Book of Needs), then the appointed monk (that is, the one designated for this) wipes his body with warm water, first tracing with a sponge (that is, a Greek sponge) a cross upon the brow of the deceased, upon his breast, upon his hands and feet and knees, and nothing more."
> «Егда» — Church-Slavonic "when": The quotation from the service book opens in pure Church Slavonic. «Егда» is the Slavonic for "when" (modern «когда»), instantly marking the liturgical voice of the Great Book of Needs.
> Archaic verb «отыдет»: «Отыдет» ("departs, goes away") is an archaic Slavonic perfective future where modern Russian would say «отойдёт». Set with «ко господу» ("unto the Lord"), it is the liturgical idiom for dying.
> Gerund «творя» — "making (the sign)": «Творя» is an imperfective present gerund («деепричастие») from «творить», expressing the action accompanying «отирает» — wiping the body "while making" the sign of the cross. The gerund stacks a second, simultaneous action onto the main verb.
> «чело», «перси» — brow and breast: The body is named in Slavonic words: «чело» (brow, modern «лоб»), «перси» (breast, modern «грудь»). These full, sacred terms turn the washing of the corpse into a liturgical act traced across the body.
> «вящше же ничто же» — "and nothing more": A wholly archaic close: «вящше» ("more, further") plus the Slavonic «ничто же» ("nothing at all"), the particle «же» reinforcing each word. The phrase rings with the cadence of an old rubric forbidding any further handling of the body.

Всё это и исполнил над усопшим сам отец Паисий.  
All this Father Paissy himself performed over the departed.
> Fronted object + emphatic «и»: The object «всё это» ("all this") is moved to the front and picked up by the emphatic particle «и» ("this very thing he carried out"), throwing the weight onto the completed totality of the rite. Free word order lets Russian foreground the object before the verb.

После отирания одел его в монашеское одеяние и обвил мантиею; для чего, по правилу, несколько разрезал ее, чтоб обвить крестообразно.  
After the wiping he clothed him in the monastic garb and wrapped him in the mantle; for which, according to the rule, he slit it in several places, so as to wrap it crosswise.
> Bookish ending «-ею»: «Мантиею» is the instrumental of «мантия» with the elevated literary ending «-ею» rather than the everyday «-ей». This older instrumental singular gives the prose its solemn, period flavour.
> Purpose clause with «чтоб» + infinitive: «Чтоб обвить» is a purpose clause (a clipped «чтобы») with an infinitive — "so as to wrap." When the purpose shares the main subject, Russian uses «чтобы» plus an infinitive rather than a finite verb.

На голову надел ему куколь с осьмиконечным крестом.  
On his head he set the cowl with the eight-pointed cross.
> Archaic «осьми-»: «Осьмиконечный» uses the old «осьм-» for "eight" (modern «восьми-»). The pre-modern numeral form belongs to the church-and-old-book texture the narrator keeps in religious passages.

Куколь оставлен был открытым, лик же усопшего закрыли черным возду́хом.  
The cowl was left open, but the face of the departed was covered with the black veil.
> Periphrastic passive + instrumental predicate: «Оставлен был» is a short passive participle with «был» — "the cowl was left" — and «открытым» is the instrumental predicate of the resulting state ("left [in an] open [condition]"). After such verbs the result-adjective takes the instrumental, not the nominative.
> Contrastive «же»: The particle «же» here is not emphatic but contrastive — "the cowl was left open, the face, on the other hand, was covered." Placed after the topic word, «же» quietly pivots the sentence from one thing to its counterpart.
> «воздух» — the liturgical veil: Not "air": the «во́здух» (here in its older stress, «возду́хом») is the large embroidered cloth that in the liturgy covers the chalice and paten. Laid over the dead monk's face, it is a specific Orthodox burial object — note «лик», the icon-word for a holy face.

В руки ему положили икону Спасителя.  
Into his hands they laid an icon of the Saviour.
> Dative possessor «ему»: «В руки ему» — literally "into the hands to him" — uses the dative «ему» where English says "into his hands." Russian routinely marks the affected possessor with a dative pronoun rather than a possessive.

В таком виде к утру переложили его во гроб (уже прежде давно заготовленный).  
In this state, toward morning, they transferred him into the coffin (long since made ready beforehand).
> Archaic «во гроб» + accusative of motion: «Во гроб» shows the old, fuller preposition «во» before «гроб» and the accusative of motion-into. «Гроб» here keeps its archaic sense "coffin" (in modern Russian it has narrowed; the older word also meant "grave").
> Past passive participle «заготовленный»: «Заготовленный» ("prepared in advance") is a past passive participle from the perfective «заготовить», used attributively in the parenthetical — "the long-since-made-ready coffin." Such participles compress a whole relative clause into one word.

Гроб же вознамерились оставить в келье (в первой большой комнате, в той самой, в которой покойный старец принимал братию и мирских) на весь день.  
The coffin they resolved to leave in the cell (in the first, large room, the very one in which the late elder had received both the brethren and the laity) for the whole day.
> «братия» vs «мирские»: «Братия» is the collective "brethren" of a monastery (a feminine singular collective noun); «мирские» are "the worldly," lay people from outside the cloister. The pair sets the monastery against the «мир», the secular world.
> Fronted object + subjectless verb: «Гроб» is fronted as the topic (with contrastive «же»), and «вознамерились» ("[they] resolved") again has an unnamed plural subject. The bookish «вознамериться» ("to form an intention") belongs to the elevated narration.

Так как усопший по чину был иеросхимонах, то над ним следовало иеромонахам же и иеродиаконам читать не Псалтирь, а Евангелие.  
Since by his rank the departed was a hieroschemamonk, it was fitting that hieromonks and hierodeacons should read over him not the Psalter but the Gospel.
> Causal «так как… то»: «Так как» ("since, because") opens a causal subordinate clause, answered by the resumptive «то» ("then") at the head of the main clause. This «так как… то» frame is a hallmark of careful, bookish argumentation.
> Impersonal «следовало» + infinitive: «Следовало читать» is an impersonal construction — "it was fitting/proper to read," with no nominative subject and the readers («иеромонахам же и иеродиаконам») in the dative. The dative names who is obliged; the neuter «следовало» carries the modality.

Начал чтение, сейчас после панихиды, отец Иосиф; отец же Паисий, сам пожелавший читать потом весь день и всю ночь, пока еще был очень занят и озабочен, вместе с отцом настоятелем скита, ибо вдруг стало обнаруживаться, и чем далее, тем более, и в монастырской братии, и в прибывавших из монастырских гостиниц и из города толпами мирских нечто необычайное, какое-то неслыханное и «неподобающее» даже волнение и нетерпеливое ожидание.  
The reading was begun, immediately after the requiem, by Father Iosif; while Father Paissy, who himself wished to read afterward through the whole day and the whole night, was for the time being still very busy and preoccupied together with the Father Superior of the hermitage, for there had suddenly begun to make itself felt — and the further it went, the more so — both among the monastery brethren and among the laity who were arriving in crowds from the monastery guest-houses and from the town, something extraordinary, a kind of unheard-of and "unseemly" agitation and impatient expectation.
> «настоятель», «скит» — superior and hermitage: The «настоятель» is the father superior; the «скит» is the secluded hermitage, a smaller, stricter community set apart from the main monastery, where the elders live. Zossima belonged to the skete.
> Past active participle «пожелавший»: «Сам пожелавший читать» ("who himself had wished to read") is a past active participle from perfective «пожелать», standing in for a «который»-clause about Father Paissy. Dostoevsky packs such participial modifiers into his long sentences.
> Ingressive «стало» + reflexive imperfective: «Стало обнаруживаться» = "began to make itself felt," with «стало» (perfective "began") plus the imperfective reflexive infinitive «обнаруживаться». The -ся makes the verb middle/passive — the disquiet reveals itself, no agent named.
> «неподобающее» — "unseemly": Set in quotation marks, «неподобающее» ("improper, unbecoming") is the monks' own censorious word for the excitement — a slightly elevated, churchly term the narrator flags as borrowed from their lips. It returns in Father Paissy's rebuke below.

И настоятель, и отец Паисий прилагали все старания по возможности успокоить столь суетливо волнующихся.  
Both the Superior and Father Paissy made every effort to calm, so far as they could, those who were so fussily worked up.
> Substantivised present participle: «Волнующихся» is a present active participle («those getting agitated») used as a noun and put in the accusative as the object of «успокоить». Russian freely turns a participle into the very person it describes.
> «прилагать старания» — to make every effort: A bookish set phrase, "to apply [one's] efforts," i.e. to do one's utmost. «Столь» ("so") for «так» is likewise an elevated literary touch throughout this passage.

Когда уже достаточно ободняло, то из города начали прибывать некоторые даже такие, кои захватили с собою больных своих, особенно детей, — точно ждали для сего нарочно сей минуты, видимо уповая на немедленную силу исцеления, какая, по вере их, не могла замедлить обнаружиться.  
When the day had already grown light enough, some from the town even began to arrive who had brought their sick along with them, especially children — as if they had been waiting on purpose precisely for this moment, evidently trusting in an immediate power of healing that, by their faith, could not be slow to reveal itself.
> «ободняло» — the day grew light: An impersonal verb meaning "day broke / it grew fully light," from «день». «Когда уже достаточно ободняло» = "when it had become day enough" — a colloquial-narrative impersonal of natural process.
> Archaic relative «кои»: «Кои» is the bookish/archaic relative pronoun (modern «которые»), "who/which." It recurs in this chapter («коих», «коих») and is a clear marker of the chronicler's elevated 19th-century style.
> «точно» + «сей» — "as if" with archaic demonstrative: «Точно» here means "as if, as though" (introducing a comparison), and «сей минуты» / «для сего» use the archaic demonstrative «сей» ("this") for modern «этот». «Сей» pervades the narrator's solemn idiom.
> Gerund «уповая» — "trusting": «Уповая» is an imperfective gerund from the elevated «уповать» ("to hope, to trust in"), expressing the attitude attending the action — they came "trusting" in an immediate healing. The verb itself is a religious, hope-in-God word.

И вот тут только обнаружилось, до какой степени все у нас приобыкли считать усопшего старца еще при жизни его за несомненного и великого святого.  
And it was only then that it came to light to what degree everyone among us had grown accustomed, even during his lifetime, to regard the departed elder as an unquestionable and great saint.
> «приобыкли» — had grown accustomed: An archaic, intensified form of «привыкли» ("got used to"), with the doubled prefix «при-об-». It heightens the sense of a long-settled habit of revering Zossima as a saint.
> «до какой степени» — degree clause: «Обнаружилось, до какой степени…» ("it came to light to what degree…") opens an embedded exclamative-degree clause. The chronicler's «у нас» ("among us") keeps the collective small-town narrator present.

И между прибывающими были далеко не из одного лишь простонародья.  
And among those arriving were by no means people of the common folk alone.
> Genitive after «из» + emphatic negation: «Из… простонародья» puts the noun in the genitive after «из» ("from among"), and «далеко не» ("by no means") is an emphatic negator, "far from only." The double restriction «одного лишь» ("only, alone") sharpens the point.
> «простонародье» — the common folk: A collective noun for the lower, uneducated classes, "the simple people." The narrator notes that the crowd's miracle-hunger was not confined to them — educated people were caught up in it too.

Это великое ожидание верующих, столь поспешно и обнаженно выказываемое и даже с нетерпением и чуть не с требованием, казалось отцу Паисию несомненным соблазном, и хотя еще и задолго им предчувствованным, но на самом деле превысившим его ожидания.  
This great expectation of the faithful, displayed so hastily and so nakedly, even with impatience and almost with insistence, struck Father Paissy as an unquestionable temptation, one that, though he had long foreseen it, in actual fact exceeded his expectations.
> Present passive participle «выказываемое»: «Столь поспешно и обнаженно выказываемое» ("displayed so hastily and nakedly") is a present passive participle in «-емое», agreeing with «ожидание». This rare, bookish participle type names the thing being acted upon and is markedly literary.
> Dative experiencer with «казаться»: «Казалось отцу Паисию соблазном» — "seemed to Father Paissy a temptation." The one to whom it seems stands in the dative («отцу Паисию»), and the predicate «соблазном» takes the instrumental after «казаться».
> Past active participle «превысившим»: «Превысившим его ожидания» ("which exceeded his expectations") is a past active participle in the instrumental, agreeing with «соблазном». Russian piles such participles in series; here it modifies the same noun as «предчувствованным».

Встречаясь со взволнованными из иноков, отец Паисий стал даже выговаривать им: «Таковое и столь немедленное ожидание чего-то великого, — говорил он, — есть легкомыслие, возможное лишь между светскими, нам же неподобающее».  
Meeting some of the agitated monks, Father Paissy even began to admonish them: "Such an expectation, and so immediate, of something great," he said, "is a frivolity possible only among worldly people, but unseemly in us."
> Gerund «встречаясь» — attendant circumstance: «Встречаясь» is an imperfective reflexive gerund ("meeting, as he met"), setting the recurring circumstance under which Paissy began to admonish the monks. The -ся here marks the reciprocal/encounter sense of «встречаться».
> «инок» — monk: «Инок» is an elevated, somewhat archaic word for a monk (one who lives "otherwise," «иначе», than the world). It is the chronicler's preferred term throughout this monastery chapter, alongside «монах».
> «таковое» + dative «нам неподобающее»: Paissy's reproach uses the archaic «таковое» ("such") and ends with a dative-of-reference: «нам неподобающее» — "unseemly for us [monks]." The dative names those for whom the levity is improper, against «между светскими» (the worldly).

Но его мало слушали, и отец Паисий с беспокойством замечал это, несмотря на то, что даже и сам (если уж всё вспоминать правдиво), хотя и возмущался слишком нетерпеливыми ожиданиями и находил в них легкомыслие и суету, но потаенно, про себя, в глубине души своей, ждал почти того же, чего и сии взволнованные, в чем сам себе не мог не сознаться.  
But they paid him little heed, and Father Paissy noted this with uneasiness, notwithstanding that even he himself (if everything is to be recalled truthfully), though he was indignant at expectations so excessively impatient and found in them a frivolity and vanity, yet secretly, within himself, in the depths of his own soul, awaited very nearly the same thing as these agitated ones did — something he could not but confess to himself.
> Genitive object + subjectless verb: «Его мало слушали» — "[they] heeded him little." The verb «слушаться»/«слушать» here governs «его» (the monks paid him little heed), with an unnamed plural subject; «мало» quantifies the attention given.
> Double negation «не мог не»: «Не мог не сознаться» = "could not but confess" — two negatives making an emphatic positive (he was bound to admit it). This «не мочь не + infinitive» is a standard, forceful Russian litotes.
> «потаенно» — secretly within: «Потаенно» ("secretly, in concealment") with «про себя» ("to himself, inwardly") opens Paissy's hidden inner life: even he, in the depths of his soul («в глубине души своей»), awaited the very miracle he rebuked — a classic Dostoevskian self-division.
> Genitive object of «ждать» + archaic «сии»: «Ждал почти того же, чего и сии взволнованные» — «ждать» takes the genitive of an awaited thing («того же», «чего»), and «сии» is the archaic plural "these." The genitive after "to await" is one of that case's regular jobs.

Тем не менее ему особенно неприятны были иные встречи, возбуждавшие в нем, по некоему предчувствию, большие сомнения.  
Nonetheless, certain encounters were especially unpleasant to him, rousing in him, by some presentiment, grave misgivings.
> Dative + short adjective predicate: «Ему… неприятны были иные встречи» — the experiencer «ему» is dative, and «неприятны» is a short-form adjective predicate ("were unpleasant") agreeing with the plural subject «встречи». Short adjectives carry such predicative, often momentary states.
> Past active participle «возбуждавшие»: «Возбуждавшие в нем… большие сомнения» ("rousing in him grave doubts") is an imperfective past active participle modifying «встречи». «По некоему предчувствию» ("by some presentiment") uses the archaic «некий» — "a certain."

В теснившейся в келье усопшего толпе заметил он с отвращением душевным (за которое сам себя тут же и попрекнул) присутствие, например, Ракитина, или далекого гостя — обдорского инока, всё еще пребывавшего в монастыре, и обоих их отец Паисий вдруг почему-то счел подозрительными — хотя и не их одних можно было заметить в этом же смысле.  
In the crowd pressing within the departed one's cell he noticed, with an inward revulsion (for which he at once reproached himself), the presence, for instance, of Rakitin, or of a distant guest — the monk from Obdorsk, who was still lingering in the monastery — and both of these Father Paissy for some reason suddenly took to be suspect, though they were not the only ones who might be marked in that same sense.
> Pre-posed participle «теснившейся»: «В теснившейся в келье усопшего толпе» — "in the crowd pressing in the cell" — packs a reflexive past active participle before its noun «толпе», all in the prepositional after «в». Russian can stack a participle and its own complements ahead of the head noun.
> The monk from Obdorsk: «Обдорский инок» — a monk from Obdorsk, a remote far-northern Siberian outpost (now Salekhard). The geographic tag marks him as an outsider; his restless meddling makes Paissy uneasy.
> Concessive «хотя и» + impersonal «можно было»: «Хотя и не их одних можно было заметить» = "though it was not they alone who could be noticed." «Хотя и» is concessive ("although"), and «можно было заметить» is an impersonal modal — no subject, the potential observer left unstated.

Инок обдорский изо всех волновавшихся выдавался наиболее суетящимся; заметить его можно было всюду, во всех местах: везде он расспрашивал, везде прислушивался, везде шептался с каким-то особенным таинственным видом.  
Of all the agitated, the monk from Obdorsk stood out as the most restless; he could be spotted everywhere, in every spot: everywhere he was questioning, everywhere listening in, everywhere whispering with some peculiar, mysterious air.
> Superlative + instrumental predicate: «Выдавался наиболее суетящимся» — "stood out as the most fussing." «Наиболее» builds the superlative, «суетящимся» is a present participle used as the instrumental predicate after «выдаваться», and «изо всех волновавшихся» is the genitive-of-the-set after «из».
> Anaphoric «везде»: The triple «везде он расспрашивал, везде прислушивался, везде шептался» hammers the adverb "everywhere" at the head of three parallel imperfective clauses, painting the Obdorsk monk's ceaseless, habitual snooping.
> «суета», «суетиться» — fuss and vanity: The root «суета» means both "bustle" and, in church language, "vanity" (cf. "vanity of vanities"). «Суетящийся» is thus both literally "bustling about" and morally tinged — empty, worldly agitation, exactly what Paissy condemns.

Выражение же лица имел самое нетерпеливое и как бы уже раздраженное тем, что ожидаемое столь долго не совершается.  
The expression of his face, moreover, was of the utmost impatience, and as though already irritated that what was awaited so long was not coming to pass.
> Fronted object, dropped subject, «же»: The object «выражение лица» is fronted (with topic-shifting «же»), the subject "he" is dropped, and «самое нетерпеливое» uses «самый» to form the superlative "the most impatient." Free order lets the description lead and the verb «имел» fall mid-clause.
> «как бы» + correlative «тем, что»: «Как бы… раздраженное» softens the participle to "as if irritated," and «тем, что ожидаемое… не совершается» is the instrumental correlative «тем» pointing forward to a «что»-clause — "irritated by the fact that what was awaited is not coming to pass."

А что до Ракитина, то тот, как оказалось потом, очутился столь рано в ските по особливому поручению госпожи Хохлаковой.  
As for Rakitin, he, as it turned out afterward, had found himself in the hermitage so early upon a special errand from Madame Khokhlakova.
> «что до… то» topicalising frame: «А что до Ракитина, то тот…» = "And as for Rakitin, he…" — a set topic-marking frame: «что до X» raises the topic, «то тот» resumes it with the demonstrative «тот» as subject. The opening «а» gives the gentle contrastive shift.
> «особливый» — archaic "special": «Особливый» is the older form of «особый» ("special, particular"). «По особливому поручению госпожи Хохлаковой» — "on a special errand from Madame Khokhlakova" — keeps the period flavour while introducing Rakitin's mercenary mission.

Сия добрая, но бесхарактерная женщина, которая сама не могла быть допущена в скит, чуть лишь проснулась и узнала о преставившемся, вдруг прониклась столь стремительным любопытством, что немедленно отрядила вместо себя в скит Ракитина, с тем чтобы тот всё наблюдал и немедленно доносил ей письменно, примерно в каждые полчаса, о ''всем, что произойдет''.  
This kind but spineless woman, who could not herself be admitted into the hermitage, had no sooner woken and learned of the elder's passing than she was suddenly seized by so impetuous a curiosity that she at once dispatched Rakitin to the hermitage in her place, charging him to observe everything and to report to her in writing without delay, roughly every half-hour, about "everything that might happen."
> Archaic «сия»: «Сия» is the archaic feminine "this" (modern «эта»), opening the sentence in the chronicler's bookish voice. The «но» joins two contrasting epithets — "kind but spineless."
> «бесхарактерный» — spineless: Literally "without character," i.e. weak-willed, lacking firmness. The narrator's tart label for Madame Khokhlakova, whose impulsive curiosity drives her to plant Rakitin as a spy.
> «преставиться» — to pass away: «Преставившемся» (a substantivised participle, "of the one who had passed away") is from «преставиться», the reverent Church-Slavonic verb for a holy person's death — "to be translated" out of this life. It echoes «усопший» from the chapter's opening.
> «чуть лишь» — "no sooner than": «Чуть лишь проснулась и узнала… вдруг прониклась» = "no sooner had she woken and learned… than she was at once seized." «Чуть лишь» sets up the "hardly… when" temporal correlation; the chain of perfectives drives the swift sequence.
> Purpose «с тем чтобы» + past-form irrealis: «С тем чтобы… наблюдал и… доносил» is a purpose clause; because «чтобы» commands a willed outcome, the verbs take the past form (the irrealis born of «бы» inside «чтобы»). The agent is a different subject («тот»), so a finite clause is used, not an infinitive.

Ракитина же считала она за самого благочестивого и верующего молодого человека — до того он умел со всеми обойтись и каждому представиться сообразно с желанием того, если только усматривал в сем малейшую для себя выгоду.  
Rakitin she took to be a most pious and believing young man — so well did he know how to get on with everyone and present himself to each according to that person's wishes, provided only that he discerned in it the slightest advantage for himself.
> «считать за» + fronted object: «Считать за самого благочестивого… человека» = "to take/reckon for a most pious man," the older «считать за» (with accusative) for modern «считать кем-то». The object «Ракитина» is fronted and the subject «она» follows the verb.
> «до того… [что]» — degree of result: «До того он умел… обойтись и… представиться» = "so well did he know how to…" — «до того» (lit. "to that [point]") signals a result-degree clause, with the dash standing for the implied «что». The imperfective «умел» states his habitual skill.
> Rakitin's chameleon art: «Обойтись со всеми» ("to handle/get on with everyone") and «представиться сообразно с желанием того» ("present himself in accord with each one's wish") sketch Rakitin's calculating adaptability — sincerity for hire, «если только усматривал… выгоду» (if only he spied a profit).

День был ясный и светлый, и из прибывших богомольцев многие толпились около скитских могил, наиболее скученных кругом храма, равно как и рассыпанных по всему скиту.  
The day was clear and bright, and of the pilgrims who had arrived many crowded about the hermitage graves, which were clustered most densely around the church, though also scattered throughout the whole hermitage.
> «богомолец» — pilgrim: A «богомолец» is one who comes "to pray to God" — a pilgrim to the monastery. The word frames the crowd as devout seekers, the very people whose miracle-hunger drives the chapter.
> Paired past passive participles: «Скученных кругом храма» and «рассыпанных по всему скиту» are two past passive participles ("clustered" / "scattered") in the genitive, agreeing with «могил» and joined by «равно как и» ("as well as"). The participles compress where the graves stand.

Обходя скит, отец Паисий вдруг вспомянул об Алеше и о том, что давно он его не видел, с самой почти ночи.  
As he went about the hermitage, Father Paissy suddenly remembered Alyosha, and that he had not seen him for a long while — since nearly the night itself.
> Gerund «обходя» — "as he went about": «Обходя скит» is an imperfective gerund ("going round / making the rounds of the hermitage"), the attendant action during which Paissy remembers Alyosha. It shares the main verb's subject, as every gerund must.
> «вспомянул» — bookish "recalled": «Вспомянул» is the elevated, slightly archaic variant of «вспомнил» ("remembered"), with the older «-мянул» stem. It suits the narrator's solemn register; note the everyday «вспомнил» reappears in the next sentence.
> «Алёша» — the affectionate Alexei: «Алёша» is the warm diminutive of «Алексей» (Alyosha for Alexei Karamazov). Throughout the book this familiar form, rather than the formal name-and-patronymic, signals the love everyone feels for the youngest brother.

И только что вспомнил о нем, как тотчас же и приметил его в самом отдаленном углу скита, у ограды, сидящего на могильном камне одного древле почившего и знаменитого по подвигам своим инока.  
And no sooner had he thought of him than he caught sight of him at once, in the most remote corner of the hermitage, by the wall, sitting on the gravestone of a certain monk who had reposed in days of old and was renowned for his ascetic feats.
> «только что… как» — "no sooner… than": «Только что вспомнил… как тотчас же и приметил» = "no sooner had he remembered… than he at once caught sight." The «только что… как» pairing yokes two perfectives into an instantaneous sequence, with «и» reinforcing the suddenness.
> Present participle «сидящего» as object complement: «Приметил его… сидящего на могильном камне» — "noticed him sitting on the gravestone." «Сидящего» is a present active participle in the accusative, agreeing with «его», describing his posture when seen.
> «древле почивший» — reposed in days of old: «Древле» is the Slavonic adverb "anciently, in days of old"; «почивший» ("who has reposed") is the reverent participle for a dead holy person. Together they describe the long-dead, ascetically renowned monk whose grave Alyosha sits on.
> «подвиг» — ascetic feat: In monastic language a «подвиг» is a spiritual labour or ascetic feat (fasting, vigil, prayer), not a battlefield "exploit." The monk was "renowned for his podvigi" — his struggles of holiness.

Он сидел спиной к скиту, лицом к ограде и как бы прятался за памятник.  
He sat with his back to the hermitage, his face toward the wall, and as if hiding behind the monument.
> Instrumental of bodily orientation: «Спиной к скиту, лицом к ограде» — "with his back to the hermitage, his face to the wall." These instrumentals («спиной», «лицом») are the standard way Russian states how a body is turned, the instrumental of manner/orientation.
> «как бы» + reflexive «прятался»: «Как бы прятался» = "as if hiding himself." «Как бы» softens the observation to a seeming, and the -ся of «прятаться» makes it true reflexive — he hides himself behind the monument.

Подойдя вплоть, отец Паисий увидел, что он, закрыв обеими ладонями лицо, хотя и безгласно, но горько плачет, сотрясаясь всем телом своим от рыданий.  
Coming right up to him, Father Paissy saw that he, covering his face with both palms, was weeping — soundlessly, yet bitterly — his whole body shaking with sobs.
> Perfective gerund «подойдя»: «Подойдя вплоть» ("having come right up") is a perfective past gerund — a prior, completed action setting the stage for the main verb «увидел». Perfective gerunds in «-я/-в» mark "having done X, [then] Y."
> Gerund «закрыв» + instrumental of means: «Закрыв обеими ладонями лицо» — "having covered his face with both palms." «Закрыв» is a perfective gerund; «обеими ладонями» is the instrumental of the means by which he covers it.
> Gerund «сотрясаясь» + reflexive «свой»: «Сотрясаясь всем телом своим» ("shaking with his whole body") is an imperfective reflexive gerund of simultaneous action; «всем телом» is instrumental, and «своим» is the reflexive possessive, correctly pointing back to Alyosha as the clause's subject.

Отец Паисий постоял над ним несколько.  
Father Paissy stood over him for a little while.
> «постоял» + «несколько» — stood a while: The prefix «по-» on «постоял» gives a delimitative perfective — "stood for a [short] while." «Несколько» here is adverbial, "somewhat, a little," not the numeral "several."

— Полно, сыне милый, полно, друг, — прочувствованно произнес он наконец, — чего ты? Радуйся, а не плачь. Или не знаешь, что сей день есть величайший из дней ''его''? Где он теперь, в минуту сию, вспомни-ка лишь о том!  
"Enough, dear son, enough, friend," he uttered at last, with feeling, "what ails you? Rejoice, do not weep. Or do you not know that this day is the greatest of his days? Where is he now, at this very minute — only call that to mind!"
> Vocative «сыне»: «Сыне» is the old Church-Slavonic vocative of «сын» ("O son"), the solemn, tender form of address Paissy uses. Modern Russian has lost the vocative case, but it survives in just such religious and affectionate speech.
> Imperatives «радуйся / плачь»: Two imperatives: «радуйся» (reflexive, "rejoice," from «радоваться») and the negated «не плачь» ("do not weep"). The contrastive «а» pivots between them — "rejoice, rather than weep."
> Imperative softened by «-ка»: «Вспомни-ка» is the imperative «вспомни» ("recall") with the coaxing clitic «-ка», which gently urges or softens a command — "just call it to mind, won't you." It lends Paissy's exhortation warmth.
> Bookish «есть» + superlative «-айший»: «Сей день есть величайший из дней» keeps the explicit copula «есть» (normally dropped in the present) for solemnity, the archaic «сей» for "this," and the bookish superlative «величайший» ("greatest") in «-айший». A triply elevated, almost liturgical line.

Алеша взглянул было на него, открыв свое распухшее от слез, как у малого ребенка, лицо, но тотчас же, ни слова не вымолвив, отвернулся и снова закрылся обеими ладонями.  
Alyosha glanced up at him, uncovering his face, swollen with tears like a small child's, but at once, without a word, turned away and again hid behind both palms.
> The particle «было»: «Взглянул было» uses the particle «было», which marks an action begun and then aborted or reversed — "he glanced up (but)…". Here it perfectly catches Alyosha's half-movement, immediately undone as he turns away again.
> Chained gerunds + negative concord: Two perfective gerunds («открыв… вымолвив») bracket the main verbs. «Ни слова не вымолвив» shows negative concord — «ни слова» (genitive "not a word") together with «не» — "without uttering a single word."
> Participle «распухшее» + «как у»: «Распухшее от слёз… лицо» is a past active participle ("swollen from tears") modifying «лицо», and «как у малого ребёнка» ("as with a small child") uses «у» + genitive for comparison — the face swollen "as a small child's [is]."

— А пожалуй что и так, — произнес отец Паисий вдумчиво, — пожалуй, и плачь, Христос тебе эти слезы послал.  
"Well, perhaps that is as it should be," said Father Paissy thoughtfully, "perhaps; then weep — Christ has sent you these tears."
> «пожалуй» + «и так» — concessive musing: «А пожалуй что и так» = "well, perhaps that's even so / as it should be." «Пожалуй» concedes a possibility, «и так» affirms "yes, that way too," and the opening «а» gives the reflective turn of Paissy's thought.
> Imperative «плачь» + dative «тебе»: The imperative «плачь» ("weep") now permits the tears, and «Христос тебе… послал» puts the recipient in the dative «тебе» — "Christ has sent you these tears." The dative names the one to whom the gift comes.

«Умилительные слезки твои лишь отдых душевный и к веселию сердца твоего милого послужат», — прибавил он уже про себя, отходя от Алеши и любовно о нем думая.  
"These tender little tears of yours will serve only as a rest for your soul and to gladden your dear heart," he added, now to himself, as he moved off from Alyosha, thinking of him with love.
> «слёзки», «умилительные» — tender little tears: «Слёзки» is the diminutive of «слёзы» ("tears"), and «умилительный» means "moving to tender emotion," from «умиление» — the soft, melting compunction prized in Orthodox spirituality. The whole phrase drips with affectionate piety.
> Bookish «-ие» noun + dative-of-purpose: «К веселию сердца» uses the Church-Slavonic noun «веселие» ("gladness," in «-ие» for modern «веселье»), and «послужат… к веселию» is "will serve toward gladness" — «к» + dative naming the end served.
> Gerund «отходя» — to himself: «Отходя от Алеши и любовно о нем думая» strings two imperfective gerunds ("moving off… and thinking lovingly") onto «прибавил». «Про себя» means "to himself, inwardly" — the prayerful line is spoken silently.

Отошел он, впрочем, поскорее, ибо почувствовал, что и сам, пожалуй, глядя на него, заплачет.  
He moved off, however, as quickly as he could, for he felt that he himself, perhaps, looking at the boy, would burst into tears.
> «ибо» + ingressive «заплачет»: «Ибо» is the bookish "for, because" (modern «потому что»). «Заплачет» is a perfective future with the inceptive prefix «за-» — "would burst into tears, start crying"; the «за-» marks the onset of the weeping.
> Intensifier «сам» + gerund «глядя»: «И сам… глядя на него, заплачет» — «сам» ("he himself") intensifies the subject, and «глядя на него» is an imperfective gerund of attendant circumstance, "looking at him." The point is that even Paissy is on the verge of tears.

Время между тем шло, монастырские службы и панихиды по усопшем продолжались в порядке.  
Meanwhile time was passing; the monastery services and the requiems for the departed continued in due order.
> Imperfective background tense: «Шло» and «продолжались» are imperfective pasts ("was passing," "continued") painting the steady backdrop of time and services — against which the perfective shock of the corruption will soon break. This is aspect doing narrative work.
> «по усопшем» — prepositional of mourning: «Панихиды по усопшем» — "requiems for the departed." In this commemorative sense «по» takes the prepositional case («усопшем»), an older government that marks services or grief on behalf of the dead.

Отец Паисий снова заменил отца Иосифа у гроба и снова принял от него чтение Евангелия.  
Father Paissy again relieved Father Iosif at the coffin and again took over from him the reading of the Gospel.
> Anaphoric «снова» + perfective relay: The repeated «снова» ("again") and the perfectives «заменил»/«принял» frame the orderly relay of duty: Paissy "again relieved" Iosif and "again took over" the Gospel reading — completed handovers, one after another.

Но еще не минуло и трех часов пополудни, как совершилось нечто, о чем упомянул я еще в конце прошлой книги, нечто, до того никем у нас не ожиданное и до того вразрез всеобщему упованию, что, повторяю, подробная и суетная повесть о сем происшествии даже до сих пор с чрезвычайною живостию вспоминается в нашем городе и по всей нашей окрестности.  
But not yet three o'clock in the afternoon had passed when there came to pass something of which I made mention back at the close of the previous book — something so wholly unexpected by us, and so against the common hope, that, I repeat, the detailed and trivial tale of this incident is even to this day recalled with extraordinary vividness in our town and throughout all our district.
> Genitive subject of negated «минуло»: «Не минуло и трёх часов» — "not even three o'clock had passed." Under negation the subject of «минуть» falls into the genitive («трёх часов»), and «и» means "even": the existential-negative genitive at work.
> «о чем» relative + chronicler's «я»: «Нечто, о чём упомянул я…» uses «что» (in «о чём») as a relative after the indefinite «нечто», and the inverted «упомянул я» foregrounds the narrating "I." Dostoevsky's chronicler steps forward, cross-referencing his own earlier book.
> Result-degree «до того… что»: «До того… не ожиданное и до того вразрез… что…» builds a result clause: "so unexpected and so against [the hope]… that…". The doubled «до того» piles up the degree before discharging it into the «что»-clause.

Тут прибавлю еще раз от себя лично: мне почти противно вспоминать об этом суетном и соблазнительном событии, в сущности же самом пустом и естественном, и я, конечно, выпустил бы его в рассказе моем вовсе без упоминовения, если бы не повлияло оно сильнейшим и известным образом на душу и сердце главного, ''хотя и будущего'' героя рассказа моего, Алеши, составив в душе его как бы перелом и переворот, потрясший, но и укрепивший его разум уже окончательно, на всю жизнь и к известной цели.  
Here I will add once more, on my own personal account: it is almost repugnant to me to recall this fussy and scandalous occurrence, in essence the emptiest and most natural of things, and I should certainly have left it out of my narrative altogether, without any mention, had it not exerted a most powerful and definite influence upon the soul and heart of the chief — though only future — hero of my story, Alyosha, working in his soul as it were a fracture and an upheaval, one that shook but also strengthened his mind, now finally, for the whole of his life and toward a definite goal.
> Counterfactual conditional with «бы»: «Выпустил бы… если бы не повлияло» is a full irrealis conditional: past-form verbs plus «бы» in both clauses — "I should have left it out… had it not influenced." This «если бы… бы» pairing is Russian's contrary-to-fact construction.
> «перелом», «переворот» — fracture and upheaval: Two strong metaphors for a turning-point: «перелом» (a "break, fracture") and «переворот» (an "overturning, revolution") of the soul. The narrator marks this scandal as the crisis that decisively reshapes Alyosha for life.
> Antithetical past active participles: «Потрясший, но и укрепивший» are two perfective past active participles — "which shook, but also strengthened" — set antithetically by «но и» and both modifying «перелом и переворот». A compact paradox of the spiritual crisis.

Итак, к рассказу.  
And so, to the story.
> Verbless «к рассказу»: «Итак, к рассказу» ("And so, to the story") is a verbless, elliptical command to self — «к» + dative, with the implied "let us turn." «Итак» is the bookish resumptive "and so, thus," steering the narration back on course.

Когда еще до свету положили уготованное к погребению тело старца во гроб и вынесли его в первую, бывшую приемную комнату, то возник было между находившимися у гроба вопрос: надо ли отворить в комнате окна?  
When, while it was still before daybreak, they had laid the elder's body, prepared for burial, into the coffin and carried it out into the first room, the former reception room, a question arose among those standing by the coffin: ought the windows in the room to be opened?
> «когда… то» temporal frame: «Когда… положили… и вынесли, то возник… вопрос» — the temporal «когда» clause is answered by the resumptive «то». «До свету» ("before light") uses an old genitive «-у» form for "before daybreak."
> Inceptive «возник было»: «Возник было… вопрос» again uses the particle «было» — a question "arose (but came to nothing)." It foreshadows that the question of opening the windows will be raised and then left unanswered.
> Slavonic participle «уготованное»: «Уготованное к погребению» is a Church-Slavonic-flavoured past passive participle ("prepared for burial"), from the elevated «уготовать» rather than plain «приготовить». The sacred register clings to the body of the elder.

Но вопрос сей, высказанный кем-то мимоходом и мельком, остался без ответа и почти незамеченным — разве лишь заметили его, да и то про себя, некоторые из присутствующих лишь в том смысле, что ожидание тления и тлетворного духа от тела такого почившего есть сущая нелепость, достойная даже сожаления (если не усмешки) относительно малой веры и легкомыслия изрекшего вопрос сей.  
But this question, voiced by someone in passing and offhandedly, was left without an answer and went almost unnoticed — except that some of those present did mark it, and even then only to themselves, in the sense that to expect putrefaction and a breath of corruption from the body of such a departed one was sheer absurdity, deserving even of pity (if not of a sneer) toward the small faith and frivolity of the one who had uttered the question.
> Post-posed «сей» + passive participle: «Вопрос сей» places the archaic «сей» after its noun for rhetorical weight, and «высказанный кем-то» is a past passive participle ("voiced by someone") with the agent «кем-то» in the instrumental — the regular passive agent marking.
> «тление», «тлетворный дух» — decay and the breath of corruption: «Тление» is putrefaction, bodily decay; «тлетворный дух» ("corruption-bearing breath/odour") is the title-phrase of the chapter — the stench of decomposition. Whether such a stench would rise from a saint's body is the whole crisis.
> Genitive after «достойный»: «Достойная сожаления (если не усмешки)» — "deserving of pity (if not of a sneer)." The adjective «достойный» governs the genitive of what is merited («сожаления», «усмешки»).

Ибо ждали совершенно противоположного.  
For they expected the very opposite.
> «ибо» + genitive object of «ждать»: «Ибо ждали… противоположного» — the archaic «ибо» ("for") opens the clause, the subject is dropped ("they expected"), and «противоположного» is the genitive that «ждать» governs for an awaited thing: "they expected the very opposite."

И вот вскорости после полудня началось нечто, сначала принимаемое входившими и выходившими лишь молча и про себя и даже с видимою боязнью каждого сообщить кому-либо начинающуюся мысль свою, но к трем часам пополудни обнаружившееся уже столь ясно и неопровержимо, что известие о сем мигом облетело весь скит и всех богомольцев — посетителей скита, тотчас же проникло и в монастырь и повергло в удивление всех монастырских, а наконец, чрез самый малый срок, достигло и города и взволновало в нем всех, и верующих и неверующих.  
And then, shortly after noon, something began that was at first taken in by those coming and going only in silence and to themselves, and even with a visible dread on each one's part of confiding to anyone the thought that was dawning on him; but by three o'clock in the afternoon it had revealed itself already so plainly and incontestably that word of it flew in an instant through the whole hermitage and among all the pilgrims — the hermitage's visitors — at once penetrated the monastery as well and threw all the monastery folk into amazement, and at last, after the very shortest span, reached the town too and stirred up everyone in it, believers and unbelievers alike.
> Paired participles around «нечто»: «Нечто» ("something") is described by two participles in tension: the present passive «принимаемое» ("being taken in") and the past active «обнаружившееся» ("which had revealed itself"). Russian can pile such modifiers onto one indefinite pronoun across a long arc.
> Substantivised participles «входившими/выходившими»: «Входившими и выходившими» — "by those coming in and going out" — are two past active participles used as nouns, in the instrumental as the agent of «принимаемое». They name the anonymous flow of people without a head noun.
> Perfective cascade: A chain of perfective pasts — «облетело, проникло, повергло, достигло, взволновало» — drives the news outward stage by stage (hermitage → monastery → town). Perfectives moving the story forward in rapid, discrete leaps.

Неверующие возрадовались, а что до верующих, то нашлись иные из них возрадовавшиеся даже более самих неверующих, ибо «любят люди падение праведного и позор его», как изрек сам покойный старец в одном из поучений своих.  
The unbelievers rejoiced, and as for the believers, there proved to be some among them who rejoiced even more than the unbelievers themselves, for "men love the fall of the righteous and his disgrace," as the late elder himself had said in one of his homilies.
> Participle «возрадовавшиеся» + comparative «более»: «Возрадовавшиеся даже более самих неверующих» — a past active participle ("who rejoiced") with the comparative «более… [чем]», here "even more than the unbelievers themselves." The Slavonic-tinged «возрадоваться» ("to rejoice greatly") sharpens the bitter irony.
> Zossima's saying quoted: The narrator quotes the late elder's own homily: "men love the fall of the righteous and his disgrace." «Праведный» is "the righteous one"; «изрек» (next clause) is the solemn "uttered, pronounced." The line frames the whole scandal as a known truth of fallen human nature.
> «поучение» — homily, instruction: A «поучение» is a teaching or homily; the elder's spiritual instructions are gathered in the previous book. The reflexive «своих» correctly ties them to the elder as the clause's subject.

Дело в том, что от гроба стал исходить мало-помалу, но чем далее, тем более замечаемый тлетворный дух, к трем же часам пополудни уже слишком явственно обнаружившийся и всё постепенно усиливавшийся.  
The thing was that there began to issue from the coffin, little by little, but ever more perceptibly the further it went, a breath of corruption, which by three o'clock in the afternoon was already too plainly manifest and was steadily growing stronger.
> Ingressive «стал исходить» + imperfective: «Стал исходить» = "began to issue," «стать» + imperfective infinitive marking the onset of a process. «Мало-помалу» ("little by little") and the imperfective stress the gradual, creeping spread of the odour.
> «чем… тем» correlative + participle: «Чем далее, тем более замечаемый» — "the further [it went], the more noticeable" — the «чем… тем» comparative correlative, modifying the present passive participle «замечаемый» ("being noticed"). A compact way to render an intensifying tendency.
> «дело в том, что» — the thing is that: A common explanatory formula, "the thing is that / the point is that," by which the narrator finally states plainly what the whole crowd had been dreading — the breath of corruption rising from Zossima's coffin.

И давно уже не бывало и даже припомнить невозможно было из всей прошлой жизни монастыря нашего такого соблазна, грубо разнузданного, а в другом каком случае так даже и невозможного, какой обнаружился тотчас же вслед за сим событием между самими даже иноками.  
And for a long time there had not been — indeed it was impossible even to recall, out of the whole past life of our monastery — such a scandal, so crudely unbridled and in any other case so utterly impossible, as the one that broke out immediately following this event among the very monks themselves.
> Genitive of the absent subject: «Не бывало… такого соблазна» — "there had not been such a scandal." Under the negated existential «не бывало», the subject «соблазна» stands in the genitive — the genitive of negation governing absence.
> Impersonal «невозможно было» + infinitive: «Припомнить невозможно было» is an impersonal modal — "it was impossible to recall," no nominative subject, the infinitive carrying the action. Such subjectless modal frames are pervasive in the narrator's reflective passages.
> «разнузданный» — unbridled: «Разнузданный» literally means "unbridled, unreined" (from «узда», a bridle) — hence wild, dissolute, out of control. «Грубо разнузданного» paints the monks' scandalous behaviour as coarsely unrestrained.

Потом уже, и после многих даже лет, иные разумные иноки наши, припоминая весь тот день в подробности, удивлялись и ужасались тому, каким это образом соблазн мог достигнуть тогда такой степени.  
Afterward, even after many years, certain sensible monks of ours, recalling that whole day in detail, would marvel and be horrified at the manner in which the scandal could then have reached such a pitch.
> Gerund «припоминая» + reflexive verbs: «Припоминая… удивлялись и ужасались» — the imperfective gerund «припоминая» ("recalling") sets the circumstance, and both main verbs carry -ся: «ужасались» ("were horrified") exists only in the reflexive form, a verb of inner state.
> «каким образом» — embedded "how": «Удивлялись… каким образом соблазн мог достигнуть такой степени» — «каким образом» (instrumental, "in what manner = how") introduces the embedded question. The deictic «это» is interjected colloquially, as the chronicler's own wondering aside.

Ибо и прежде сего случалось, что умирали иноки весьма праведной жизни и праведность коих была у всех на виду, старцы богобоязненные, а между тем и от их смиренных гробов исходил дух тлетворный, естественно, как и у всех мертвецов, появившийся, но сие не производило же соблазна и даже малейшего какого-либо волнения.  
For even before this it had happened that monks of a most righteous life would die — monks whose righteousness was plain for all to see, God-fearing elders — and yet from their humble coffins too there had issued a breath of corruption, appearing naturally, as it does with all the dead; but this had produced neither scandal nor even the slightest agitation of any kind.
> Impersonal «случалось, что» + imperfective: «Случалось, что умирали иноки» — "it happened that monks would die." The impersonal «случалось» governs a «что»-clause, and the imperfective «умирали» renders a recurring, habitual past — deaths that happened from time to time.
> Archaic relative «коих»: «Коих» is the archaic genitive plural relative ("whose," modern «которых»): "monks whose righteousness was plain for all to see." «У всех на виду» is the idiom "in plain sight of all."
> Genitive of negation + archaic «сие»: «Не производило… соблазна» puts the negated object «соблазна» in the genitive (genitive of negation), with the neuter archaic «сие» ("this") as subject. «Же» here adds a quiet contrastive insistence — yet this caused no scandal.
> «богобоязненный» — God-fearing: A transparent compound, «бога» (God) + «бояться» (to fear), "God-fearing" — the standard epithet of devout reverence. It places these earlier elders firmly among the righteous, sharpening the puzzle of Zossima's case.

Конечно, были некие и у нас из древле преставившихся, воспоминание о коих сохранилось еще живо в монастыре, и останки коих, по преданию, не обнаружили тления, что умилительно и таинственно повлияло на братию и сохранилось в памяти ее как нечто благолепное и чудесное и как обетование в будущем еще большей славы от их гробниц, если только волею божией придет тому время.  
Of course, there had been certain ones among us, too, from those who reposed in days of old, the memory of whom was still living in the monastery, and whose remains, according to tradition, had shown no decay — which had moved the brethren tenderly and mysteriously, and was preserved in their memory as something beautiful and miraculous, and as a promise of yet greater glory in the future from their tombs, if only, by God's will, the time for that should come.
> «благолепный», «обетование» — beautiful, a promise: Two Church-Slavonic words: «благолепный» ("of holy beauty, comely," from «благо» + «лепота») and «обетование» ("promise, covenant-promise," the biblical word). They cast the memory in a sacred, scriptural light.
> «волею божией» — instrumental of will: «Волею божией» ("by God's will") is the instrumental of means/cause, with the elevated ending «-ею». «Придёт тому время» inverts to "the time for it shall come," the dative «тому» naming what the time is for.

Из таковых особенно сохранялась память о дожившем до ста пяти лет старце Иове, знаменитом подвижнике, великом постнике и молчальнике, преставившемся уже давно, еще в десятых годах нынешнего столетия, и могилу которого с особым и чрезвычайным уважением показывали всем впервые прибывающим богомольцам, таинственно упоминая при сем о некиих великих надеждах.  
Among such, the memory was especially preserved of the elder Iov, who had lived to a hundred and five, a renowned ascetic, a great faster and keeper of silence, who had reposed long ago, back in the eighteen-tens, and whose grave was shown to all newly arriving pilgrims with a particular and extraordinary reverence, with mysterious allusions, on that occasion, to certain great hopes.
> Participle «дожившем» + genitive numeral: «О дожившем до ста пяти лет старце» — a past active participle ("who lived to…") modifying «старце», with «до ста пяти лет» in the genitive after «до». The numeral phrase «ста пяти» is itself declined into the genitive.
> Ascetic titles: «подвижник, постник, молчальник»: Three monastic vocations heaped up: «подвижник» (ascetic, spiritual athlete), «постник» (great faster), «молчальник» (one who keeps the discipline of silence). The triad portrays the elder Iov as a heroic ascetic.
> «в десятых годах» — the eighteen-tens: "In the tens of the present century" = the 1810s. «Нынешнее столетие» ("the present century") is the 19th, dating the chronicle to the author's own era and giving the long-dead elder a concrete historical reach.
> Imperfective habitual + dative recipients: «Показывали… богомольцам» is an imperfective habitual past ("they would show… to pilgrims"), with the indirect-object pilgrims in the dative. «Впервые прибывающим» is a present participle, "to those arriving for the first time."

(Это та самая могила, на которой отец Паисий застал утром сидящим Алешу).  
(This is the very grave on which Father Paissy had found Alyosha sitting that morning.)
> «тот самый» + «который» + instrumental complement: «Та самая могила, на которой… застал… сидящим Алешу» — «та самая» ("the very same") plus a «который»-relative in the prepositional «на которой». «Застал… сидящим» = "found [him] sitting," the participle «сидящим» in the instrumental as the state-complement of «застать».

Кроме сего древле почившего старца, жива была таковая же память и о преставившемся сравнительно уже недавно великом отце иеросхимонахе, старце Варсонофии — том самом, от которого отец Зосима и принял старчество и которого, при жизни его, все приходившие в монастырь богомольцы считали прямо за юродивого.  
Besides this elder who had reposed in days of old, just such a memory was alive also of one who had passed away comparatively not long ago, the great Father hieroschemamonk, the elder Varsonofy — the very one from whom Father Zossima had received the eldership, and whom, during his lifetime, all the pilgrims who came to the monastery regarded outright as a holy fool.
> Substantivised participle «преставившемся»: «О преставившемся… старце» — the reverent participle «преставившийся» ("who has passed away," cf. s25) heads a long appositive chain naming the elder Varsonofy. The Slavonic verb keeps the holy register over the second incorrupt elder.

О сих обоих сохранилось в предании, что лежали они в гробах своих как живые и погребены были совсем нетленными и что даже лики их как бы просветлели в гробу.  
Of both these it was preserved in tradition that they had lain in their coffins as though living, and had been buried wholly incorrupt, and that even their faces had as it were grown luminous in the coffin.
> Archaic «сих обоих» + impersonal «сохранилось»: «О сих обоих» uses the archaic «сей» in the genitive plural ("of these two"). «Сохранилось в предании, что…» is an impersonal reflexive — "it was preserved in tradition that…" — with the -ся giving a passive, agentless sense.
> Short passive + instrumental predicate «нетленными»: «Погребены были… нетленными» — short passive participle «погребены» ("were buried") plus the instrumental predicate «нетленными» ("incorrupt"), the state in which they were buried. The instrumental marks the resulting condition.
> «лик», «просветлеть» — luminous faces: «Лик» is the icon-word for a holy face (vs. ordinary «лицо»), and «просветлеть» means "to grow light/radiant." The faces of the incorrupt elders "grew luminous" in the coffin — a sign of sanctity, against which Zossima's stench is a scandal.

А некие так даже вспоминали настоятельно, что от телес их осязалось явственно благоухание.  
And some even insisted in their recollections that from their bodies a fragrance had been distinctly perceptible.
> «телеса», «благоухание» — bodies and fragrance: «Телес» is the archaic/Slavonic genitive plural of «тело» ("bodies"). «Благоухание» is "sweet fragrance" — the "odour of sanctity" said to rise from holy relics, the exact opposite of the «тлетворный дух» now issuing from Zossima.
> Reflexive passive «осязалось»: «Осязалось благоухание» — "a fragrance was perceptible/was sensed," the -ся giving an agentless imperfective passive (the fragrance "made itself felt"). «Явственно» ("distinctly") intensifies the claim the recollectors press.

Но несмотря даже и на столь внушительные воспоминания сии, всё же трудно было бы объяснить ту прямую причину, по которой у гроба старца Зосимы могло произойти столь легкомысленное, нелепое и злобное явление.  
But despite even such impressive recollections as these, it would still be difficult to explain the direct cause for which, at the coffin of the elder Zossima, so frivolous, absurd, and malicious a phenomenon could have come about.
> Impersonal «трудно было бы» + «бы»: «Трудно было бы объяснить» is an impersonal modal with the conditional particle «бы» — "it would be difficult to explain." No subject; «бы» softens the assertion to a hypothetical difficulty.
> Relative «по которой» — the cause for which: «Ту прямую причину, по которой… могло произойти… явление» — a «который»-relative in «по которой» ("the cause for which"). «Столь легкомысленное, нелепое и злобное явление» heaps three adjectives, all agreeing with neuter «явление».

Что до меня лично, то полагаю, что тут одновременно сошлось и много другого, много разных причин, заодно повлиявших.  
As for me personally, I suppose that many different things converged here at once, many varied causes acting together.
> «что до меня… то» + dropped «я»: «Что до меня лично, то полагаю» — the topicalising frame «что до X, то…» ("as for X") raises the narrator himself; the subject «я» is dropped before «полагаю» ("I suppose"). The chronicler steps forward to offer his own theory.
> «много» + genitive + neuter agreement: «Сошлось много другого, много разных причин» — the quantifier «много» governs the genitive («другого», «разных причин»), and the verb «сошлось» takes default neuter-singular agreement, as quantified subjects regularly do.
> Past active participle «повлиявших»: «Заодно повлиявших» ("acting together / that influenced jointly") is a past active participle in the genitive plural, agreeing with «причин» — "many causes that worked together." «Заодно» = "in concert, at once."

Из таковых, например, была даже самая эта закоренелая вражда к старчеству, как к зловредному новшеству, глубоко таившаяся в монастыре в умах еще многих иноков.  
Among such, for instance, was even that very deep-rooted enmity toward the eldership, as toward a pernicious innovation, that lay hidden in the monastery in the minds of many monks still.
> Reflexive participle «таившаяся»: «Глубоко таившаяся… вражда» is a reflexive past active participle ("the enmity that lay hidden"), from «таиться» (-ся, "to conceal oneself, lurk"). It modifies «вражда», compressing a relative clause about the buried hostility.
> «зловредный», «новшество» — pernicious novelty: «Зловредный» is "harmful, pernicious" («зло» evil + «вред» harm), and «новшество» is a (here pejorative) "innovation, newfangled thing." The conservative monks brand eldership a dangerous modern intrusion on old monastic ways.

А потом, конечно, и главное, была зависть к святости усопшего, столь сильно установившейся при жизни его, что и возражать как будто было воспрещено.  
And then, of course, and chief of all, there was envy of the departed one's holiness, which had been established so firmly during his lifetime that to gainsay it had seemed almost forbidden.
> «усопший» — the departed: A solemn, Church-Slavonic word for the dead person, literally 'the one who has fallen asleep' (cf. Eng. 'the deceased'). It belongs to the funeral and liturgical register, far more elevated than the plain «умерший», and recurs throughout this chapter for the dead elder.
> Dative «к святости» + genitive «усопшего»: «к святости» is dative (governed by «к»), and «усопшего» is the genitive depending on it ('the holiness of the departed') — a dative + genitive, not two stacked genitives; «зависть к…» ('envy toward') takes the dative. The endings, not the order, keep the relations clear.
> Reflexive past participle «установившейся»: A past active participle of the reflexive «установиться» (to become established), here in feminine genitive to agree with «святости». The -ся makes it a middle/change-of-state verb — the holiness established itself — and the participle compresses a который-clause into one bookish word.
> «столь» — bookish 'so': An elevated, literary equivalent of «так» ('so'), pairing here with «что» to mean 'so strongly… that'. It signals the formal narrative voice; in everyday speech one would simply say «так сильно».
> Impersonal predicate «было воспрещено»: A subjectless construction: the short passive participle «воспрещено» ('forbidden') plus «было» states a result, with the infinitive «возражать» as logical subject — 'to object was as it were forbidden'. There is no nominative; the impersonal frame is typical of bookish narration.

Ибо хотя покойный старец и привлек к себе многих, и не столько чудесами, сколько любовью, и воздвиг кругом себя как бы целый мир его любящих, тем не менее, и даже тем более, сим же самым породил к себе и завистников, а вслед за тем и ожесточенных врагов, и явных и тайных, и не только между монастырскими, но даже и между светскими.  
For although the late elder had drawn many to himself — and not so much by miracles as by love — and had raised up around himself as it were a whole world of those who loved him, nonetheless, and even all the more for that very reason, by that same thing he had bred for himself enviers as well, and in their train bitter enemies too, both open and secret, and not only among the monastery folk but even among the laity.
> «Ибо» — 'for, because': A bookish, archaic causal conjunction ('for'), heavy with biblical and homiletic flavor, far more solemn than the neutral «потому что». It opens many of the narrator's reflective sentences here and colors the whole passage as elevated, sermon-like prose.
> Instrumental of means + «не столько…сколько»: «чудесами» and «любовью» are instrumental, naming the means by which he drew people — 'by miracles… by love'. The correlative «не столько… сколько» ('not so much… as') weighs one means against the other.
> «воздвиг» — raised up: An elevated, Slavonic-flavored verb ('raised up, erected'), used here metaphorically of building a 'whole world' of devotees around himself. Its biblical resonance lifts the sentence above the plain «создал» or «построил».
> Archaic «сим» — 'by this very thing': «сим» is the instrumental of «сей», the bookish 19th-century demonstrative 'this'; with «же самым» it intensifies to 'by this very same thing'. «сей/сия/сие» pervades this chapter as a marker of period-elevated narration.
> Reflexive «себе» pointing back to the subject: «к себе» ('to/for himself') is the reflexive pronoun referring to the clause's subject (the elder), repeated through the sentence. It has no nominative and keeps the focus on the one who, by his very virtue, bred his own enviers.

Никому-то, например, он не сделал вреда, но вот: «Зачем-де его считают столь святым?»  
He had done no harm to anyone, for instance, and yet there was this: "Why is it that they hold him to be so holy?"
> Negative concord + genitive of negation: «Никому… не сделал» pairs the ни-pronoun with «не» on the verb — Russian's obligatory double negation. The object «вреда» ('harm') stands in the genitive rather than accusative because the verb is negated — the genitive of negation.
> Emphatic clitic «-то»: The hyphenated «-то» here is the emphatic/topic particle, not the indefinite one: it underlines the contrast — 'he'd done harm to no one, and yet…'. It lends a colloquial, insistent coloring to the narrator's voice.
> Reportative particle «-де»: «-де» is an old quotative particle marking reported speech ('they say', 'so it's said'), here flagging the muttered grievance as hearsay. It is archaic and folksy, much like «мол», and stages the malice as anonymous gossip.

И один лишь сей вопрос, повторяясь постепенно, породил наконец целую бездну самой ненасытимой злобы.  
And this one question alone, repeating itself little by little, at last bred a whole abyss of the most insatiable malice.
> Archaic demonstrative «сей»: «сей» ('this') is the bookish 19th-century demonstrative, declining like an adjective and agreeing here masculine nominative with «вопрос». A speaker would say «этот вопрос»; «сей» marks the elevated narrative register pervasive in this chapter.
> Imperfective gerund «повторяясь»: A present (imperfective) деепричастие in -ясь from the reflexive «повторяться» — 'repeating itself'. It names an action attendant on the main verb «породил», sharing its subject (the question), and is a hallmark of literary narration.
> «ненасытимый» — insatiable: A bookish adjective 'that cannot be sated', built on «насытить» (to satiate) with the negative «не-» and the passive-potential suffix -им-. Modifying «злобы» (genitive after «бездну», abyss) it gives the malice a bottomless, almost theological hunger.

Вот почему и думаю я, что многие, заслышав тлетворный дух от тела его, да еще в такой скорости — ибо не прошло еще и дня со смерти его, были безмерно обрадованы; равно как из преданных старцу и доселе чтивших его нашлись тотчас же таковые, что были сим событием чуть не оскорблены и обижены лично.  
That is why I think, too, that many, on catching the breath of corruption from his body — and so quickly at that, for not even a day had passed since his death — were immeasurably gladdened; just as, among those devoted to the elder and who had revered him until now, there were found at once such as were almost offended and personally aggrieved by this event.
> «тлетворный дух» — the breath of corruption: The chapter's title phrase: «тлетворный» ('corruption-breeding', from «тлен», decay) plus «дух», here in its older sense of 'smell, odor'. It denotes the stench of decay rising from the dead elder's body — the scandal that there should be no such smell from a saint.
> Perfective gerund «заслышав»: A past (perfective) деепричастие in -в from «заслышать» ('to catch/begin to hear or smell'), naming a completed action prior to the main verb — 'having caught the breath…, they were gladdened'. The prefix за- adds an inceptive 'begin to' nuance.
> Genitive subject under negation: In the negated existential «не прошло… и дня», the logical subject «дня» stands in the genitive ('not even a day had passed'). The verb is fixed in neuter singular «прошло», a classic genitive-of-negation pattern with «и» adding 'even'.
> «доселе» — until now; «чтить» — to revere: «доселе» is an archaic adverb 'up to now', and «чтивших» is the past active participle of «чтить» (to honor, venerate), genitive plural agreeing with «преданных». Both belong to the solemn, slightly antique register of the narrator.
> Correlative «таковые, что»: «таковые» ('such ones') sets up a correlative clause with «что» functioning as a relative — 'there were found such as were offended'. «таковые» is the bookish form of «такие», keeping the elevated tone, and «нашлись» is the reflexive 'were found/turned up'.

Постепенность же дела происходила следующим образом.  
The gradual course of the affair came about in the following manner.
> Particle «же» in second position: Here «же» is the connective/contrastive particle, not emphatic-rhetorical: leaning on the first word «постепенность», it links back and shifts the topic — roughly 'Now, the gradual course of the affair…'. This second-position «же» is a quiet narrative hinge.

Лишь только начало обнаруживаться тление, то уже по одному виду входивших в келью усопшего иноков можно было заключить, зачем они приходят.  
As soon as the decay began to make itself felt, one could tell, merely from the look of the monks who entered the departed one's cell, why they were coming.
> «Лишь только» + inceptive reflexive infinitive: «Лишь только» means 'as soon as'. «начало обнаруживаться» pairs the neuter past «начало» (agreeing with «тление», decay) with the reflexive infinitive «обнаруживаться» (to begin to show itself) — the -ся making it intransitive/middle.
> Past active participle «входивших»: A past active participle of imperfective «входить», genitive plural agreeing with «иноков» — 'of the monks who were entering'. It condenses a который-clause and, being imperfective, keeps the entering ongoing/repeated.

Войдет, постоит недолго и выходит подтвердить скорее весть другим, толпою ожидающим извне.  
One would come in, stand for a short while, and go out to confirm the news the sooner to the others, who were waiting in a crowd outside.
> Perfective 'present' for habitual action: «Войдёт… постоит… выходит» mixes perfective present-tense forms (which normally read as future) with one imperfective — but here they describe a typical, repeated scene: 'one would come in, stand a while, and go out'. This iterative use of the perfective is a vivid narrative device.
> Instrumental of manner + present participle: «толпою» is instrumental 'in a crowd' (manner), and «ожидающим» a present active participle ('waiting') in dative agreeing with «другим», 'the others waiting outside'. «извне» is the bookish adverb 'from without'.

Иные из сих ожидавших скорбно покивали главами, но другие даже и скрывать уже не хотели своей радости, явно сиявшей в озлобленных взорах их.  
Some of those waiting shook their heads in sorrow, but others would not even hide their joy now, which shone openly in their malevolent gazes.
> «покивать главами» — shook their heads: «главами» is the Church-Slavonic word for 'heads' («глава» vs. plain «голова»), a non-pleophonic doublet. The whole phrase 'nodded/shook with their heads' has a biblical-archaic ring, fitting a gesture of mourning.
> Substantivized participle «ожидавших»: «ожидавших» is a past active participle used as a noun — 'those who had been waiting' — in genitive after «иные из». «сих» is the archaic «сей» in genitive plural ('these'), agreeing with it.
> Past active participle «сиявшей»: «сиявшей» (past active participle of «сиять», to shine) is feminine instrumental/prepositional agreeing with «радости» ('joy… shining'). «озлобленных» is itself a past passive participle ('embittered, malevolent'), and «взорах» the bookish word for 'gazes'.

И никто-то их не укорял более, никто-то доброго гласа не подымал, что было даже и чудно, ибо преданных усопшему старцу было в монастыре всё же большинство; но уж, видно, сам господь допустил, чтобы на сей раз меньшинство временно одержало верх.  
And no one reproached them any longer, no one raised a kindly voice — which was indeed strange, for those devoted to the departed elder were after all the majority in the monastery; but the Lord himself, evidently, had allowed that on this occasion the minority should for a time gain the upper hand.
> Repeated negative concord: Twice «никто… не» yokes the negative pronoun to a negated verb. «доброго гласа не подымал» also shows the genitive of negation on the object «гласа» ('did not raise a kindly voice'). «-то» again adds plaintive emphasis.
> «глас» — voice (Slavonic): «глас» is the Church-Slavonic doublet of «голос» ('voice'), with the non-pleophonic -ла- where Russian has -оло-. It lends solemnity — 'no one raised a kindly voice' rings almost scriptural.
> «чтобы» + past-form irrealis: After «допустил» ('allowed'), «чтобы» introduces a willed/permitted outcome and obligatorily takes the past form «одержало» — the fused бы inside «чтобы» making it irrealis, not a plain report.

Вскорости стали являться в келью такими же соглядатаями и светские, более из образованных посетителей.  
Soon laymen too, the more educated of the visitors, began to appear in the cell as the same sort of spies.
> «соглядатай» — spy, scout: An archaic, biblical word for a spy or secret observer (it names the scouts Moses sent into Canaan). Calling the curious lay visitors «соглядатаи» casts them as covert agents come to verify the scandal, not pilgrims.
> Instrumental of the predicate: After «являться» ('to appear/show up as'), the predicate «соглядатаями» takes the instrumental, not the nominative — 'began to appear as the same sort of spies'. This predicate instrumental is standard with such linking verbs.

Простого же народу входило мало, хотя и столпилось много его у ворот скитских.  
Of the common folk, however, few came in, though many of them had crowded at the hermitage gates.
> Partitive genitive «народу»: «народу» is a partitive genitive (with the old masculine -у ending) governed by «мало» ('few/little of the common folk'). The verb «входило» stays neuter singular — there is no nominative subject, a quantity-impersonal pattern.

Несомненно то, что именно после трех часов прилив посетителей светских весьма усилился, и именно вследствие соблазнительного известия.  
It is beyond doubt that it was precisely after three o'clock that the influx of lay visitors increased greatly, and precisely in consequence of the scandalous news.
> Correlative «то, что»: «то» is a placeholder demonstrative ('that thing') resumed by the «что»-clause — 'It is beyond doubt that…'. The neuter «то» anchors the impersonal predicate «несомненно» before the content clause unfolds.
> «соблазн» — scandal, temptation: «соблазнительный» derives from «соблазн», which means both 'temptation' and 'scandal' in a moral-religious sense. The 'scandalous news' is thus also a spiritual snare — the corruption-stench tempting weak faith into doubt.

Те, кои бы, может, и не прибыли в сей день вовсе и не располагали прибыть, теперь нарочно приехали, между ними некоторые значительного чина особы.  
Those who might, perhaps, not have come that day at all and had not meant to come, now drove out on purpose, among them some persons of considerable rank.
> Archaic relative «кои» + conditional «бы»: «кои» is the bookish/archaic relative pronoun 'who/which' (= «которые»). With «бы… не прибыли» it forms a past-form conditional — 'those who might not have come' — the irrealis particle «бы» turning the past tense hypothetical.

Впрочем, благочиние наружно еще не нарушалось, и отец Паисий твердо и раздельно, с лицом строгим, продолжал читать Евангелие в голос, как бы не замечая совершавшегося, хотя давно уже заметил нечто необычайное.  
Outward decorum, however, was as yet still unbroken, and Father Paissy went on reading the Gospel aloud, firmly and distinctly, with a stern face, as though not noticing what was taking place, though he had long since noticed that something extraordinary was afoot.
> Gerund + substantivized participle: «не замечая» is an imperfective gerund ('as though not noticing'), simultaneous with «продолжал читать». Its object «совершавшегося» is a reflexive past active participle used as a noun in genitive — 'that which was taking place'.
> «благочиние» — decorum, good order: A formal compound ('благо' good + 'чин' order/rank) meaning the proper, dignified order of conduct, especially in church. Its repeated 'breaking' in this chapter measures the collapse of monastic discipline as the scandal spreads.

Но вот и до него стали достигать голоса, сперва весьма тихие, но постепенно твердевшие и ободрявшиеся.  
But now voices began to reach even him — at first quite low, but gradually hardening and growing bolder.
> Inversion: subject «голоса» last: The new information — «голоса» (voices) — is held to the end, after «до него стали достигать» ('began to reach even him'). This topic–comment ordering, with the given (Paissy) first and the news last, drives the sentence's suspense.
> Past active participles «твердевшие… ободрявшиеся»: Two past active participles (from «твердеть», to harden, and reflexive «ободряться», to grow bolder) agree with «голоса». Imperfective, they paint the voices as gradually, progressively stiffening — the menace mounting.

«Знать, суд-то божий не то, что человеческий!» — заслышал вдруг отец Паисий.  
"So God's judgment, it seems, is not the same as man's!" Father Paissy suddenly heard.
> Parenthetical «знать» — 'evidently': Not the verb 'to know' here but a folksy modal particle meaning 'it seems, apparently, evidently'. It marks the overheard remark as colloquial peasant-monk speech, an inference dressed as casual certainty.
> Topic clitic «-то» + zero copula: «-то» tags «суд» as the known topic ('the judgment, now…'). The clause has no copula — 'God's judgment [is] not the same as man's' — Russian's present-tense 'to be' being silent. «человеческий» elliptically stands for «суд человеческий».

Вымолвил сие первее всех один светский, городской чиновник, человек уже пожилой и, сколь известно было о нем, весьма набожный, но, вымолвив вслух, повторил лишь то, что давно промеж себя повторяли иноки друг другу на ухо.  
The first of all to utter this was one layman, a town official, a man already elderly and, so far as was known of him, very devout; but, having spoken it aloud, he was only repeating what the monks had long been repeating among themselves, into one another's ears.
> «вымолвить» — to utter: A perfective verb meaning to bring out a word, to utter (often with effort or significance), more marked than plain «сказать». The prefix вы- ('out') stresses the word being let out into the open — fitting, since the layman voices aloud what was whispered.
> Perfective gerund «вымолвив»: A perfective past деепричастие ('having uttered it aloud'), naming a completed action just before the main verb «повторил». It shares the subject (the official) and gives the prose its layered, participial 19th-century texture.
> «промеж» — archaic 'among': «промеж» is a folk/archaic preposition for «между» ('among, between'), here with the reflexive «себя» — 'among themselves'. It and «на ухо» ('into the ear') give the line its earthy, whispering quality.

Те давно уже вымолвили сие безнадежное слово, и хуже всего было то, что с каждою почти минутой обнаруживалось и возрастало при этом слове некое торжество.  
They had long since uttered this hopeless word, and the worst of it was that with almost every passing minute a certain triumph revealed itself and grew at this word.
> «безнадёжное слово» — the hopeless word: Literally 'the hopeless/despairing word' — the muttered verdict that the elder's swift decay proves God's judgment against him. Calling it «слово» elevates the whispered phrase into a charged, almost fated utterance.
> Instrumental of time «с каждою минутой»: «с каждою… минутой» uses «с» + instrumental to mean 'with every passing minute' — a temporal-progressive phrase. The two imperfective past verbs «обнаруживалось… возрастало» (reflexive 'revealed itself' and 'grew') keep the triumph swelling in process.

Вскоре, однако, и самое даже благочиние начало нарушаться, и вот точно все почувствовали себя в каком-то даже праве его нарушить.  
Soon, however, even decorum itself began to be broken, and it was just as if everyone felt himself somehow even entitled to break it.
> Reflexive «себя» + indefinite «каком-то»: «почувствовали себя… в праве» ('felt themselves… entitled') uses the reflexive object «себя». «каком-то» is the indefinite 'some kind of', its «-то» marking a real but vague right — everyone felt vaguely licensed to break decorum.
> Emphatic «самое» + reflexive passive: «самое… благочиние» ('decorum itself'), with «даже» heightening it, is the subject; «нарушаться» is the reflexive used as an imperfective passive — 'began to be broken'. The -ся spares the need to name who breaks it.

«И почему бы ''сие'' могло случиться, — говорили некоторые из иноков, сначала как бы и сожалея, — тело имел невеликое, сухое, к костям приросшее, откуда бы тут духу быть?»  
"And why should this have happened," some of the monks said, at first as if even with regret, "his body was not large, dried up, shrunk to the bones — where could the smell come from here?"
> Conditional «бы» of speculation: «почему бы… могло случиться» uses past «могло» + «бы» for a hypothetical, wondering tone — 'why should this have been able to happen?'. The бы softens the question into musing speculation rather than a flat 'why did it happen'.
> «к костям приросшее» — shrunk to the bones: «приросшее» is a past active participle of «прирасти» ('to grow onto/adhere'), neuter agreeing with «тело» — flesh 'grown fast to the bones'. The grim image argues that so dried-up a body should yield no stench.
> Genitive «духу» in a «бы»-infinitive question: An idiomatic dative-subject-flavored construction: «духу быть» with the infinitive 'to be' and «бы» — 'where could there be smell?'. «духу» stands in the dative-subject inevitability construction «(быть) духу» ('where could there be any smell?'); there is no negation here (the genitive of negation appears in s94, «духу не было»).

— «Значит, нарочно хотел бог указать», — поспешно прибавляли другие, и мнение их принималось бесспорно и тотчас же, ибо опять-таки указывали, что если б и быть духу естественно, как от всякого усопшего грешного, то всё же изошел бы позднее, не с такою столь явною поспешностью, по крайности чрез сутки бы, а «этот естество предупредил», стало быть, тут никто как бог и нарочитый перст его.  
"It means that God meant on purpose to give a sign," others hastily added, and their opinion was accepted without dispute and at once; for they pointed out, again, that even were the smell natural, as from every departed sinner, it would still have come later, not with such overly plain haste — at the least after a day's time — whereas "this one has forestalled nature," so it must be that here was none but God and his special finger.
> Counterfactual «если б… то… бы»: A full irrealis conditional: «если б… естественно» ('even if the smell were natural') paired with the apodosis «изошёл бы позднее» ('it would have come later'). Both halves lean on the particle бы to mark the whole as contrary-to-fact reasoning.
> «чрез» and «сутки»: «чрез» is the archaic, contracted form of «через» ('after, through'). «сутки» is the distinctively Russian noun for a full 24-hour day-and-night, a plurale tantum — 'after a day's full round' the smell might naturally be expected.

Указать хотел.  
He had meant to give a sign.
> Inverted object–verb for emphasis: A terse two-word sentence echoing the monks' verdict: the infinitive object «указать» ('to give a sign') is fronted before «хотел» ('[God] meant'). The clipped inversion lends finality, like a refrain settling the matter.

Суждение сие поражало неотразимо.  
This judgment struck home irresistibly.
> Postposed archaic «сие»: «сие» ('this') is the neuter of archaic «сей», placed after its noun «суждение» — a bookish inversion ('this judgment'). The imperfective «поражало» ('kept striking home') with «неотразимо» ('irresistibly') stresses the verdict's relentless force.

Кроткий отец иеромонах Иосиф, библиотекарь, любимец покойного, стал было возражать некоторым из злословников, что «не везде ведь это и так» и что не догмат же какой в православии сия необходимость нетления телес праведников, а лишь мнение, и что в самых даже православных странах, на Афоне например, духом тлетворным не столь смущаются, и не нетление телесное считается там главным признаком прославления спасенных, а цвет костей их, когда телеса их полежат уже многие годы в земле и даже истлеют в ней, «и если обрящутся кости желты́, как воск, то вот и главнейший знак, что прославил господь усопшего праведного; если же не желты́, а черны́ обрящутся, то значит не удостоил такого господь славы, — вот как на Афоне, месте великом, где издревле нерушимо и в светлейшей чистоте сохраняется православие», — заключил отец Иосиф.  
The gentle Father hieromonk Iosif, the librarian, the late elder's favorite, tried to object to some of the slanderers, that "it is not so everywhere, after all," and that this necessity of the incorruption of the righteous one's body was no dogma of Orthodoxy but merely an opinion, and that even in the most Orthodox lands, on Mount Athos for instance, they are not so troubled by a breath of corruption, and that there it is not bodily incorruption that is held to be the chief sign of the glorification of the saved, but the color of their bones, after their bodies have lain already many years in the earth and even decayed in it — "and if the bones be found yellow as wax, then there is the chief sign that the Lord has glorified the departed righteous one; but if they be found not yellow but black, it means the Lord has not deemed such a one worthy of glory — that is how it is on Athos, that great place where from of old Orthodoxy is preserved inviolate and in the brightest purity," Father Iosif concluded.
> «обрящутся» — shall be found (Slavonic): An archaic Church-Slavonic future/aorist of «обрести» (to find) — 'if the bones be found…'. Quoting it gives Iosif's speech a scriptural authority. The same root survives in the saying «толцыте, и отверзется… ищите, и обрящете» (knock and it shall be opened).
> «телеса»; short adjectives «желты/черны»: «телеса» is the Slavonic plural of «тело» ('bodies'), solemn beside everyday «тела». «желты́» and «черны́» are predicative short adjectives ('[are] yellow… black'), the bookish form proper to such elevated, almost liturgical statement.
> «издревле» — from of old: «издревле» ('from ancient times') and «нерушимо» ('inviolately') are elevated adverbs; «сохраняется» is the reflexive used as a passive ('is preserved'). The chain crowns Athos as the place where Orthodoxy is kept pure 'from of old'.

Но речи смиренного отца пронеслись без внушения и даже вызвали отпор насмешливый: «Это всё ученость и новшества, нечего и слушать», — порешили про себя иноки.  
But the humble Father's words carried no weight and even provoked a mocking rebuff: "That is all learning and innovations, no need even to listen," the monks decided to themselves.
> «без внушения» — carrying no weight: «внушение» normally means 'suggestion, instilling'; here «без внушения» means the words 'made no impression, carried no persuasive force'. «пронеслись» ('swept past') suggests the gentle speech blew by the hardened monks without taking hold.
> Perfective «порешили» + «про себя»: «порешили» is a folksy perfective of «решить» (to decide), with the prefix по- giving a settled, colloquial finality. «про себя» ('to themselves, inwardly', with reflexive «себя») marks an unspoken inner verdict.

«У нас по-старому; мало ли новшеств теперь выходит, всем и подражать?» — прибавляли другие.  
"With us it is in the old way; few enough are the innovations cropping up nowadays — are we to ape them all?" others added.
> «по-старому» — in the old way: The adverb «по-старому» ('the old way') with «у нас» ('with us, in our place') voices the monks' defensive traditionalism — at our monastery we keep the old ways, unlike foreign novelty. It captures the insular pride driving the scene.
> «мало ли» — no end of: «мало ли» is an idiom meaning 'plenty, no end of, any number of' (despite the literal 'few'), with the particle «ли». 'No end of innovations crop up these days — are we to ape them all?' — dismissive rhetorical scorn.

«У нас не менее ихнего святых отцов было. Они там под туркой сидят и всё перезабыли. У них и православие давно замутилось, да и колоколов у них нет», — присоединяли самые насмешливые.  
"We have had no fewer holy fathers than they have. There they sit under the Turk and have forgotten everything. Their Orthodoxy went muddy long ago, and they have no bells either," the most mocking of them put in.
> Substandard «ихнего»: «ихний» is a colloquial, non-standard possessive 'their' (the standard «их» being indeclinable). Its use ('no fewer than theirs') paints these monks as coarse and uneducated, in pointed contrast to the learned Iosif they are mocking.

Отец Иосиф отошел с горестию, тем более что и сам-то высказал свое мнение не весьма твердо, а как бы и сам ему мало веруя.  
Father Iosif withdrew in grief, all the more since he had not voiced his own opinion very firmly, but as though he himself had little faith in it.
> «с горестию» — in grief (archaic ending): «горесть» ('grief, sorrow') here in the instrumental with the archaic/bookish ending -ию instead of -ью — a literary flourish. «отошёл» (a prefixed motion verb, 'withdrew, stepped away') captures Iosif's quiet, defeated retreat.
> Emphatic «-то» + «сам»: «сам-то» pairs the intensifier «сам» ('himself') with the topic clitic «-то» — 'he himself, for his part'. It quietly excuses Iosif: he had spoken his opinion none too firmly, as if half-doubting it himself.
> Imperfective gerund «веруя»: «веруя» is the present деепричастие of the bookish «веровать» (to believe, have faith), governing the dative «ему» — 'as if himself little believing in it'. The gerund, simultaneous with «высказал», colors the manner of his speaking.

Но со смущением провидел, что начинается нечто очень неблаговидное и что возвышает главу даже самое непослушание.  
But with dismay he foresaw that something very unseemly was beginning, and that even outright insubordination was raising its head.
> «провидеть» — to foresee: An elevated verb 'to foresee, discern in advance' (про- 'through/ahead' + «видеть»), with a near-prophetic shading suited to a monk. Iosif 'foresaw with dismay' the unseemly thing beginning — sensing the spiritual disorder before it fully broke out.
> «возвышать главу» — to raise its head: An idiom 'to lift up the head', i.e. to grow bold/rebellious, with the Slavonic «глава» for 'head'. The subject «непослушание» ('disobedience') comes last for emphasis — even outright insubordination was rearing up.

Мало-помалу, вслед за отцом Иосифом, затихли и все голоса рассудительные.  
Little by little, in Father Iosif's wake, all the reasonable voices fell silent too.
> «мало-помалу» — little by little: A fixed reduplicative phrase 'little by little, by degrees', stressing gradual process — the same incremental drift («постепенность») the chapter keeps tracing as the reasonable voices fall silent one after another.
> Postposed adjective + inverted subject: «голоса рассудительные» places the adjective after the noun (bookish inversion), and the whole subject follows the verb «затихли» ('fell silent'). The perfective marks the completed hush settling over the dissenters.

И как-то так сошлось, что все любившие покойного старца и с умиленным послушанием принимавшие установление старчества страшно чего-то вдруг испугались и, встречаясь друг с другом, робко лишь заглядывали один другому в лицо.  
And it somehow so came about that all those who had loved the late elder, and who with tender obedience had embraced the institution of the eldership, suddenly took a terrible fright at something, and, meeting one another, would only peer timidly into each other's faces.
> Chained substantivized participles: Two past active participles, «любившие» (who had loved) and «принимавшие» (who had embraced), stand as the compound subject before the verb «испугались» ('took fright'). Stacking participles to carry whole relative clauses is the signature density of this prose.
> Genitive object of «испугаться» + «чего-то»: «испугаться» (a -ся verb 'to take fright') governs the genitive of what is feared; «чего-то» is the indefinite 'something' in genitive — they feared 'something', vague and unnamed. The «-то» marks a real but unidentified object of dread.

Враги же старчества, яко новшества, гордо подняли голову.  
The enemies of the eldership, as of an innovation, proudly lifted their heads.
> «яко» — Slavonic 'as, like': «яко» is the Church-Slavonic conjunction 'as, like, inasmuch as', here 'as [though it were] an innovation'. Its archaic, liturgical ring marks the narrator's solemn idiom and recurs in the monks' more sanctimonious speech.
> Contrastive «же» + idiom: Second-position «же» sets the enemies against the cowed faithful of the prior sentence — 'The enemies, on the other hand…'. «подняли голову» ('raised their heads') is the same boldness idiom as in s90, now realized in the perfective.

«От покойного старца Варсонофия не только духу не было, но точилось благоухание, — злорадно напоминали они, — но не старчеством заслужил, а тем, что и сам праведен был».  
"From the late elder Varsonofy there came not only no smell, but a fragrance was distilled," they recalled gloatingly, "but he earned it not by the eldership, but by the fact that he was himself a righteous man."
> «благоухание» вs «тлетворный дух»: «благоухание» is fragrance, a 'sweet savor' (благо- 'good' + 'breath'), the holy counter-sign to the «тлетворный дух» of decay. «точилось» ('was distilled/exuded', reflexive imperfective) makes the fragrance seep forth — the mark of a true saint's body.
> Genitive of negation «духу не было»: «духу не было» is the negated existential with the subject «духу» in the genitive ('there was no smell'), here with the old partitive -у. The «не только… но» frame swings from absence (genitive) to the positive fragrance that followed.

А вслед за сим на новопреставившегося старца посыпались уже осуждения и самые даже обвинения: «Несправедливо учил; учил, что жизнь есть великая радость, а не смирение слезное», — говорили одни, из наиболее бестолковых.  
And in the wake of this, upon the newly departed elder there now rained down condemnations and even outright accusations: "He taught wrongly; he taught that life is a great joy and not a tearful humility," said some, of the most muddle-headed.
> «новопреставившийся» — newly departed: A solemn liturgical compound: «ново-» (newly) + «преставиться» (to pass away, lit. 'to be transferred [to God]'), in past active participle, genitive — 'the newly departed elder'. It belongs to the language of memorial prayers for the recently dead.
> Reflexive «посыпались» — 'rained down': «посыпаться» (-ся, perfective) means to pour/rain down in a sudden shower; with the prefix по- it marks the onset. The condemnations 'began raining down' on the dead elder — a vivid middle-voice image, subject «осуждения» following the verb.
> Rare overt copula «есть»: Russian normally drops the present 'to be', but here «есть» is kept — 'life IS a great joy' — for solemn, definitional emphasis, as in a creed or maxim. It quotes Zossima's teaching in lapidary form, the better to indict it.

«По-модному веровал, огня материального во аде не признавал», — присоединяли другие еще тех бестолковее.  
"He believed in the fashionable way; he did not acknowledge a material fire in hell," others added, more muddle-headed still.
> «по-модному» — in the fashionable way: The adverb «по-модному» ('fashionably, in the modish way') turns 'fashion' into a slur against the elder's faith — believing as the worldly do. It pairs with «веровал» (bookish 'believed') to accuse Zossima of trendy, watered-down doctrine.
> Comparative «бестолковее»: «бестолковее» is the predicative comparative of «бестолковый» ('muddle-headed') — 'more muddle-headed'. «еще тех» ('still than those [former ones]') makes it a chained comparison, ranking each new speaker below the last in stupidity.

«К посту был не строг, сладости себе разрешал, варение вишневое ел с чаем, очень любил, барыни ему присылали. Схимнику ли чаи распивать?» — слышалось от иных завиствующих.  
"He was not strict in his fasting, he allowed himself sweets, ate cherry preserve with his tea, was very fond of it, the ladies sent it to him. Is it for a schemamonk to be drinking tea?" came from some of the envious.
> Dative + «ли» + infinitive: rhetorical impropriety: A dative-subject construction with the particle «ли»: «схимнику… распивать?» — 'is it for a schemamonk to drink tea?'. The dative names the person, the infinitive the (un)fitting act, and «ли» frames it as an indignant rhetorical question.
> «завиствующий» — the envious: A present active participle of the archaic «завиствовать» (to envy), used as a noun in genitive — 'from some of the envious'. The bookish verb and participle keep the narrator's elevated tone even when reporting petty spite.

«Возгордясь сидел, — с жестокостью припоминали самые злорадные, — за святого себя почитал, на коленки пред ним повергались, яко должное ему принимал».  
"He sat there grown proud," the most gloating recalled with cruelty, "he reckoned himself a saint, people fell on their knees before him, and he took it as his due."
> Perfective gerund «возгордясь»: «возгордясь» is a perfective past деепричастие of «возгордиться» ('to grow proud', a -ся verb), prior to «сидел» — 'having grown proud, he sat'. The Slavonic prefix воз- (= 'up') and the gerund both lift the jeer into mock-solemn diction.
> «повергаться» — to prostrate oneself: «повергаться» (-ся) is the elevated 'to throw oneself down, prostrate'; «пред» is the archaic «перед» ('before'). People 'fell on their knees before him' — the very veneration the elder is now blamed for accepting «яко должное» ('as his due').
> «яко должное» — as his due: «яко» (Slavonic 'as') with «должное» ('what is owed, due') — he 'took it as his due'. The substantivized neuter adjective «должное» and the archaic «яко» together sharpen the accusation of spiritual pride.

— «Таинством исповеди злоупотреблял», — злобным шепотом прибавляли самые ярые противники старчества, и это даже из самых старейших и суровых в богомолье своем иноков, истинных постников и молчальников, замолчавших при жизни усопшего, но вдруг теперь отверзших уста свои, что было уже ужасно, ибо сильно влияли словеса их на молодых и еще не установившихся иноков.  
"He abused the sacrament of confession," the most rabid opponents of the eldership added in a malicious whisper — and this even from among the very oldest and most austere monks in their devotions, true keepers of fasts and silence, who had held their tongues during the departed one's lifetime but now suddenly unsealed their lips, which was already dreadful, for their words had a powerful influence on the young and not yet settled monks.
> Instrumental governed by «злоупотреблять»: «злоупотреблять» ('to abuse, misuse') governs the instrumental, so «таинством исповеди» stands in that case — 'abused the sacrament of confession'. The verb's case-government, not word order, fixes the relation.
> «отверзть уста» — to open one's lips (Slavonic): «отверзших» is the past active participle of «отверзть» ('to open', archaic/Slavonic), and «уста» the bookish word for 'mouth, lips'. 'Who had now unsealed their lips' — solemn, scriptural phrasing for monks breaking their long silence.
> «словеса» — words (Slavonic plural): «словеса» is the archaic, Church-Slavonic plural of «слово» ('words'), in place of «слова». It dignifies — ironically — the harmful 'words' of the austere monks, whose influence on the young is 'dreadful'.

Весьма выслушивал сие и обдорский гость, монашек от святого Сильвестра, глубоко воздыхая и покивая главою: «Нет, видно, отец-то Ферапонт справедливо вчера судил», — подумывал он про себя, а тут как раз и показался отец Ферапонт; как бы именно чтоб усугубить потрясение вышел.  
All this the Obdorsk guest, too, the little monk from Saint Sylvester's, listened to attentively, sighing deeply and nodding his head: "No, it seems Father Ferapont judged rightly yesterday," he kept thinking to himself — and just then, as it happened, Father Ferapont appeared, as if precisely to deepen the shock, he had come out.
> Diminutive «монашек»: «монашек» is a diminutive of «монах» ('monk'), here conveying smallness and a faintly condescending, affectionate tinge — 'the little monk'. The suffix paints the Obdorsk guest as a minor, eager, slightly comic figure.
> Paired Slavonic gerunds: Two imperfective gerunds — «воздыхая» (Slavonic 'sighing', for «вздыхая») and «покивая главою» ('nodding his head', with Slavonic «глава» in instrumental) — describe his manner while listening. The archaic verb and noun forms heighten the pious posturing.
> Topic clitic «-то» in inner speech: «отец-то Ферапонт» tags Ferapont as the topic of the guest's reflection — 'Father Ferapont, now, judged rightly'. This conversational «-то» renders the texture of the little monk's silent, colloquial musing.

Упомянул уже я прежде, что выходил он из своей деревянной келейки на пасеке редко, даже в церковь подолгу не являлся, и что попущали ему это якобы юродивому, не связывая его правилом, общим для всех.  
I have mentioned before that he rarely came out of his little wooden cell by the apiary, that even at church he would for long stretches fail to appear, and that this was indulged in him as in a supposed holy fool, no one binding him by the rule common to all.
> «келейка» — little cell; «пасека» — apiary: «келейка» is the affectionate diminutive of «келья» (cell), and «пасека» is a beekeeping yard/apiary. Ferapont's tiny wooden cell by the monastery's beehives sets him apart in rustic, ascetic seclusion.
> Dative «ему» + gerund «не связывая»: «попущать» ('to indulge, permit') governs the dative «ему» ('to him'). The negated imperfective gerund «не связывая… правилом» ('not binding him by the rule', instrumental of means) describes the attendant leniency.

Но если сказать по всей правде, то попущалось ему всё сие даже и по некоторой необходимости.  
But to tell the whole truth, all this was indulged in him even out of a certain necessity.
> Impersonal reflexive «попущалось»: «попущалось» is the reflexive used as an impersonal passive ('it was indulged'), with no nominative actor — the dative «ему» names who benefits, «всё сие» ('all this') the thing permitted. The agent dissolves into the monastery's collective practice.
> «всё сие» — all this (archaic): «сие» is again the neuter of bookish «сей» ('this'), with «всё» — 'all this'. The narrator's persistent «сей/сие» for 'this' keeps the whole retrospective passage in its measured, antique key.

Ибо столь великого постника и молчальника, дни и ночи молящегося (даже и засыпал, на коленках стоя), как-то даже и зазорно было настоятельно обременять общим уставом, если он сам не хотел подчиниться.  
For to burden insistently with the common rule so great a faster and keeper of silence, one who prayed day and night (he even fell asleep on his knees), seemed somehow even shameful, if he himself did not wish to submit.
> «постник» and «молчальник»: «постник» is one who fasts rigorously (from «пост», fast); «молчальник» one who keeps a vow of silence (from «молчать»). These ascetic 'specialist' nouns define Ferapont's reputation — a great faster and keeper of silence — earning him his license.
> Present active participle «молящегося»: «молящегося» is a present active reflexive participle of «молиться» (to pray), genitive masculine agreeing with «постника» — 'praying day and night'. «дни и ночи» is the accusative of duration ('for days and nights').
> Impersonal predicate «зазорно было»: «зазорно было… обременять» is a subjectless predicate ('it was shameful to burden'), the infinitive as logical subject, no nominative. «подчиниться» (-ся, 'to submit') closes the conditional — they would not force one unwilling to submit.

«Он и всех-то нас святее и исполняет труднейшее, чем по уставу, — сказали бы тогда иноки, — а что в церковь не ходит, то значит, сам знает, когда ему ходить, у него свой устав».  
"He is holier than all of us, and fulfills more than the rule demands," the monks would have said then, "and as for his not going to church, that means he himself knows when he is to go; he has a rule of his own."
> Comparative «святее» + genitive of comparison: «святее» is the predicative comparative of «святой» ('holier'), and «всех нас» the genitive object of comparison — 'holier than all of us'. «-то» again adds colloquial emphasis to the monks' imagined defense.
> Conditional «сказали бы»: «сказали бы» is the past form + «бы» giving a hypothetical — 'the monks would have said'. The narrator imagines their reaction had the rule been forced on Ferapont; the бы flags the whole quoted defense as counterfactual.

Ради сего-то вероятного ропота и соблазна и оставляли отца Ферапонта в покое.  
It was for the sake of this probable murmuring and scandal that they left Father Ferapont in peace.
> Archaic «сего» + «ради»: «ради» ('for the sake of') governs the genitive «сего ропота», with «сего» the genitive of bookish «сей» ('this'). «-то» lends quiet emphasis. Russian usually puts «ради» after its noun (Бога ради), so the preposed «ради сего» is itself bookish.
> «ропот» — murmuring: «ропот» is grumbling, murmured discontent — the same word as the biblical 'murmuring' of the Israelites. Paired with «соблазн» (scandal/temptation), it names what the leniency toward Ferapont was meant to forestall: collective complaint and stumbling.

Старца Зосиму, как уже и всем известно было сие, не любил отец Ферапонт чрезвычайно; и вот и к нему, в его келейку, донеслась вдруг весть о том, что «суд-то божий, значит, не тот, что у человеков, и что естество даже предупредил».  
The elder Zossima, Father Ferapont disliked exceedingly, as was already known to everyone; and now to him, in his little cell, there suddenly came the news that "God's judgment, then, is not the same as men's, and that this one has even forestalled nature."
> Object-first inversion: The accusative object «старца Зосиму» (animate, so genitive-shaped) is fronted before subject and verb for thematic weight — 'The elder Zossima, Father Ferapont disliked exceedingly'. The free word order, licensed by case endings, foregrounds the hated object.
> Reflexive «донестись» — to reach: «донеслась» (-ся, perfective) means the news 'carried/reached as far as' him. The reflexive turns the verb intransitive — the rumor travels of itself to Ferapont's cell, subject «весть» trailing the verb for arrival-effect.

Надо полагать, что из первых сбегал ему передать известие обдорский гость, вчера посещавший его и в ужасе от него вчера отшедший.  
One must suppose that among the first to run and convey the news to him was the Obdorsk guest, who had visited him the day before and gone away from him in horror.
> Impersonal «надо полагать»: «надо полагать» is a subjectless modal idiom 'one must suppose, presumably', with «надо» ('must') and the infinitive «полагать». It introduces the narrator's careful conjecture — no nominative subject, the impersonal hallmark.
> «сбегать» — to run and (do): «сбегал» here is the colloquial perfective 'to make a quick round trip' (run there and back), pairing with the infinitive of purpose «передать» ('to convey') — 'ran to deliver the news'. The prefix с- + the round-trip stem give a brisk there-and-back sense.
> «отшедший» — Slavonic 'departed': «отшедший» is an archaic/Slavonic past active participle of «отойти» ('having gone away'), beside the modern «отошедший». The old stem heightens the register — the guest who 'had departed in horror' the day before.

Упомянул я тоже, что отец Паисий, твердо и незыблемо стоявший и читавший над гробом, хотя и не мог слышать и видеть, что происходило вне кельи, но в сердце своем всё главное безошибочно предугадал, ибо знал среду свою насквозь.  
I have mentioned, too, that Father Paissy, standing firm and unshakable as he read over the coffin, though he could not hear or see what was going on outside the cell, yet in his heart unerringly divined all the main of it, for he knew his world through and through.
> Paired past participles of state: Two imperfective past active participles, «стоявший» (standing) and «читавший» (reading), modify Father Paissy — 'who stood firm and read over the coffin'. Imperfective, they hold his vigil in ongoing background against the unfolding crisis.
> «насквозь» — through and through: «насквозь» literally 'right through', here figuratively 'thoroughly, inside out' — Paissy 'knew his world (his milieu, «среда») through and through'. The idiom underlines his unerring read of the monks' hearts though he sees nothing.

Смущен же не был, а ожидал всего, что еще могло произойти, без страха, пронзающим взглядом следя за будущим исходом волнения, уже представлявшимся умственному взору его.  
Nor was he dismayed, but awaited everything that might still come to pass, without fear, following with a piercing gaze the coming outcome of the agitation, which already presented itself to his mind's eye.
> Short adjective «смущён» as predicate: «смущён» is the predicative short form (here a short passive participle of «смутить») 'troubled, dismayed'. With «не был» — 'he was not dismayed'. The fronted predicate plus second-position «же» contrasts him with the frightened faithful.
> Gerund «следя» + present participle: «следя за…» is an imperfective gerund ('following with… gaze'), simultaneous with «ожидал». «пронзающим» is a present active participle ('piercing') in instrumental agreeing with «взглядом» — the instrumental of means by which he watches.
> Reflexive participle + dative: «представлявшимся» is a past active reflexive participle ('which presented itself'), agreeing with «исходом» in instrumental, and governing the dative «умственному взору» ('to his mind's eye'). The outcome already 'showed itself' to his inner vision.

Как вдруг необычайный и уже явно нарушавший благочиние шум в сенях поразил слух его.  
When suddenly an extraordinary noise in the entryway, already plainly breaking the decorum, struck his ear.
> Participial phrase before its noun: The whole participial phrase «уже явно нарушавший благочиние» ('already plainly breaking decorum', present active participle «нарушавший» with its object) precedes and modifies «шум» ('noise'). Packing a relative clause ahead of the noun is a bookish, weighty construction.
> «сени» — the entry passage: «сени» (plurale tantum) is the unheated entry hall or vestibule of a Russian dwelling, between door and inner rooms. The disruptive noise comes 'in the сени' — at the very threshold of the cell where the coffin lies.

Дверь отворилась настежь, и на пороге показался отец Ферапонт.  
The door was flung wide open, and on the threshold appeared Father Ferapont.
> Reflexive «отвориться» — the door opened: «отворилась» (-ся, perfective) is the intransitive/middle 'opened' — the door opened (of itself), no agent named. «настежь» ('wide open') is a fixed adverb. The same reflexive pattern recurs at s115 and s117 as Ferapont bursts in.
> Locative-first, subject last: The setting «на пороге» ('on the threshold') opens the clause and the subject «отец Ферапонт» lands last — the dramatic new arrival. This given-before-news ordering stages his entrance theatrically.

За ним, как примечалось, и даже ясно было видно из кельи, столпилось внизу у крылечка много монахов, сопровождавших его, а между ними и светских.  
Behind him, as could be observed — and it was even plainly visible from the cell — many monks who had accompanied him had crowded below by the little porch, and among them laymen too.
> Impersonal «примечалось / было видно»: Two subjectless constructions: «примечалось» (reflexive impersonal, 'as was observed') and «ясно было видно» ('it was clearly visible'). Neither has a nominative actor — the perceiving is generalized, the scene simply 'was to be seen'.
> Diminutive «крылечко»: «крылечко» is the diminutive of «крыльцо» ('porch, front steps') — 'the little porch'. The diminutive, like «келейка» and «лесенка» nearby, gives the hermitage its small, homely physical scale.

Сопровождавшие, однако, не вошли и на крылечко не поднялись, но, остановясь, ждали, что скажет и сделает отец Ферапонт далее, ибо предчувствовали они, и даже с некоторым страхом, несмотря на всё дерзновение свое, что пришел он недаром.  
Those accompanying him, however, did not come in and did not mount the porch, but, halting, waited to see what Father Ferapont would say and do next, for they had a presentiment, and even with a certain dread, despite all their boldness, that he had come for no idle purpose.
> Gerund «остановясь» + embedded question: «остановясь» is a perfective gerund ('having halted'), prior to «ждали». The «что скажет и сделает» is an indirect question ('waited [to see] what he would say and do'), the perfective futures expressing the anticipated next acts.
> «недаром» — not for nothing: «недаром» means 'not in vain, not without reason, for a purpose'. 'He had come недаром' — they sensed his arrival was deliberate and ominous. «дерзновение» ('boldness, daring') in the same sentence is itself an elevated, near-spiritual word.

Остановясь на пороге, отец Ферапонт воздел руки, и из-под правой руки его выглянули острые и любопытные глазки обдорского гостя, единого не утерпевшего и взбежавшего вослед отцу Ферапонту по лесенке из-за превеликого своего любопытства.  
Halting on the threshold, Father Ferapont raised his arms, and from beneath his right arm peered the sharp, inquisitive little eyes of the Obdorsk guest, the only one who could not contain himself and had run up the little stairway after Father Ferapont, out of his vast curiosity.
> «воздеть руки» — to raise the arms (Slavonic): «воздеть» is an archaic/Slavonic verb 'to raise up, lift on high', used almost only of raising the hands in prayer or invocation. Ferapont 'raised his arms' in a deliberately liturgical, prophetic gesture as he prepares to exorcize.
> Diminutives «глазки», «лесенка»: «глазки» ('little eyes') and «лесенка» ('little stairway') are diminutives sharpening the comic-vivid picture of the Obdorsk guest peeping out under Ferapont's arm. «единого» is the bookish «единый» ('the one/only'), and «взбежавшего» a past participle ('who had run up').
> «вослед»; intensive «пре-»: «вослед» is the archaic 'after, following' (= «вслед»). «превеликого» uses the intensifying Slavonic prefix «пре-» ('exceedingly great') — 'out of his vast curiosity'. Both forms keep the narrative's elevated-yet-amused tone.

Прочие же, кроме него, только что с шумом отворилась настежь дверь, напротив, потеснились еще более назад от внезапного страха.  
The rest, save for him, the moment the door was flung noisily wide, on the contrary pressed themselves still further back from a sudden fear.
> Reflexive «потесниться» + genitive of cause: «потеснились» (-ся, perfective) is the reciprocal/middle 'pressed/crowded themselves [back]'. «от внезапного страха» uses «от» + genitive to mark the cause — 'from sudden fear'. «еще более» ('still more') is a comparative of degree.
> «только что» — the very moment: «только что» here means 'the instant that, as soon as', introducing a time clause — 'the moment the door was flung wide'. «напротив» ('on the contrary') then pivots the rest back from the brave guest to the cowering crowd.

Подняв руки горе, отец Ферапонт вдруг завопил:  
Lifting his arms aloft, Father Ferapont suddenly cried out:
> «горе» — aloft (Slavonic adverb): Not «го́ре» ('grief') but «горе́», the Church-Slavonic adverb 'upward, on high, heavenward' (from the liturgy's «Горе имеим сердца» — 'Let us lift up our hearts'). 'Raising his arms aloft' casts Ferapont's gesture in sacred, liturgical light.
> Perfective gerund «подняв»: «подняв» is a perfective past gerund ('having raised'), the completed gesture immediately before «завопил» ('suddenly bellowed'). «за-» on «вопить» marks the sudden onset of the cry — a typical perfective-of-onset.

— Извергая извергну! — и тотчас же начал, обращаясь во все четыре стороны попеременно, крестить стены и все четыре угла кельи рукой.  
"Casting out, I cast out!" — and at once he began, turning in turn toward all four directions, to make the sign of the cross over the walls and all four corners of the cell with his hand.
> «Извергая извергну» — a Hebraism: A figura etymologica — gerund + future of «изврещи/извергнуть» ('to cast out') — 'Casting out, I shall cast out!'. It imitates the Semitic emphatic-infinitive of Scripture (cf. KJV 'I will utterly cast out'), giving Ferapont's exorcism a thunderous biblical cadence.

Это действие отца Ферапонта тотчас же поняли сопровождавшие его; ибо знали, что и всегда так делал, куда ни входил, и что и не сядет и слова не скажет, прежде чем не изгонит нечистую силу.  
This action of Father Ferapont's was at once understood by those who accompanied him; for they knew that he always did so, wherever he went, and that he would neither sit down nor speak a word before he had driven out the unclean spirit.
> Concessive «куда ни» — wherever: «куда ни входил» means 'wherever he went in' — the «ни» here is not negation but the concessive 'no matter where'. Russian forms 'wherever/whoever/whatever' clauses with interrogative + «ни» + verb.
> «прежде чем» + perfective future: «прежде чем не изгонит» ('before he had cast out') uses a temporal conjunction with a perfective future-form «изгонит» and an expletive «не» (common in such 'before' clauses). «нечистая сила» ('the unclean power') is the standard folk name for demons.

— Сатана, изыди, сатана, изыди! — повторял он с каждым крестом. — Извергая извергну! — возопил он опять.  
"Satan, get thee gone, Satan, get thee gone!" he kept repeating with each sign of the cross. "Casting out, I cast out!" he cried out again.
> «изыди» — 'get thee gone' (Slavonic imperative): «изыди» is the Church-Slavonic imperative of «изыти» ('to go out') — 'depart!', the very words of Christ's «Отойди от Меня, сатана». Ferapont addresses Satan directly in the archaic exorcistic imperative, the language of ritual command.
> «возопить» — to cry out (Slavonic): «возопил» is an elevated, Slavonic-flavored 'cried out, wailed aloud' (voz- + the root of «вопить»), grander than the «завопил» of s116. The shift up to «возопил» intensifies the repeated exorcistic shout.

Был он в своей грубой рясе, подпоясанной вервием.  
He was in his coarse cassock, girded with a rope.
> Passive participle + instrumental of means: «подпоясанной» is a past passive participle ('girded'), feminine instrumental agreeing with «рясе». «вервием» stands in the instrumental as the means — 'girded WITH a rope', the standard instrumental of the thing one is bound with.

Из-под посконной рубахи выглядывала обнаженная грудь его, обросшая седыми волосами.  
From beneath the coarse hempen shirt his bare chest showed, overgrown with grey hair.
> A peasant's hempen shirt: «Посконь» is the male hemp plant, and «посконная рубаха» is a coarse undyed shirt of homespun hemp-cloth — the cheapest, roughest garment a peasant could wear. The word marks Ferapont's ostentatious asceticism and his peasant world.
> Past active participle modifying «грудь»: «Обросшая» is a past active participle from perfective «обрасти» (to become overgrown), agreeing with feminine «грудь». It compresses a который-clause — 'the chest, which had become overgrown with grey hair' — into one bookish modifier, typical of Dostoevsky's descriptive prose.
> Instrumental of the overgrowing matter: «Волосами» stands in the instrumental: the hair is the stuff with which the chest is overgrown, the instrumental of means after «обрасти». The agreeing adjective «седыми» makes the case visible.

Ноги же совсем были босы.  
His feet were altogether bare.
> Short adjective «босы» as predicate: «Босы» is the short (predicative) form of «босой» (barefoot), agreeing with plural «ноги». Short adjectives can only predicate, never attribute, and lend a terse, bookish finality to the description.
> The particle «же» as a quiet 'and as for': Here «же» is not the emphatic 'on earth' of questions but a soft topic-shifting particle — 'and his feet, for their part…'. It threads the narrative forward, picking up a new body-part after the chest of the previous sentence.

Как только стал он махать руками, стали сотрясаться и звенеть жестокие вериги, которые носил он под рясой.  
The moment he began to wave his arms, the cruel chains he wore beneath his cassock started to shake and clank.
> «Вериги» — ascetic chains: «Вериги» are the heavy iron chains worn next to the skin by Orthodox ascetics as a mortification of the flesh. That Ferapont wears them under his cassock and lets them clank is part of his self-displaying holiness, which Dostoevsky views with deep suspicion.
> «стать» + infinitive: ingressive 'began to': «Стать» plus an imperfective infinitive («стал махать», «стали сотрясаться») means 'began to / set about' an action — its commonest non-copular use. Note the inversion «стал он», fronting the verb for narrative momentum.
> Relative «который» in the accusative: «Которые» agrees with its antecedent «вериги» in gender and number (plural), but takes the accusative as the direct object of «носил» within its own clause. The pre-reform feel is heightened by the inversion «носил он».

Отец Паисий прервал чтение, выступил вперед и стал пред ним в ожидании.  
Father Paisy broke off his reading, stepped forward, and stood before him, waiting.
> A chain of perfective past verbs: Three perfective verbs in a row — «прервал», «выступил», «стал» — narrate three completed, sequential events that move the action forward step by step, the standard perfective 'event-line' against imperfective background description.
> Archaic «пред» for «перед»: «Пред» is the bookish/Church-Slavonic short form of the preposition «перед» (before, in front of), governing the instrumental «ним». It lends the narration a solemn, scriptural color fitting the monastic setting.

— Почто пришел, честный отче? Почто благочиние нарушаешь? Почто стадо смиренное возмущаешь? — проговорил он наконец, строго смотря на него.  
"Wherefore hast thou come, honored father? Wherefore dost thou break our good order? Wherefore dost thou trouble the humble flock?" he said at last, looking at him sternly.
> «Почто» — archaic 'wherefore': «Почто» is an old, Church-Slavonic-flavored 'why / for what', three times anaphorically here. It instantly marks Ferapont's speech as deliberately archaic, prophetic, set apart from ordinary Russian — the diction of an Old-Believer-style zealot.
> Vocative «отче»: «Отче» is the surviving Church-Slavonic vocative of «отец» (father) — a true case-form, used only in address and prayer. It recurs throughout the confrontation as the monks address one another with solemn formality.
> «Благочиние» — good order, decorum: A bookish ecclesiastical noun (literally 'good-arranging') meaning the proper, decorous order of monastery life and worship. Ferapont is accused of disrupting the seemliness of the vigil over Zosima's body.
> «Стадо» — the humble flock: «Стадо» literally 'herd/flock', here the Christian flock of the faithful — pastoral imagery for the monks and pilgrims. The postposed adjective «смиренное» (humble, meek) gives the phrase a liturgical cadence.
> Gerund «смотря» — manner of speaking: «Смотря» is an imperfective present деепричастие (adverbial participle) from «смотреть»: 'looking at him', describing the simultaneous manner in which Paisy spoke. It shares the main subject and is a hallmark of literary narration.

— Чесо ради пришел еси? Чесо просиши? Како веруеши? — прокричал отец Ферапонт, юродствуя. — Притек здешних ваших гостей изгонять, чертей поганых. Смотрю, много ль их без меня накопили. Веником их березовым выметать хочу.  
"For what cause art thou come? What dost thou seek? How dost thou believe?" cried Father Ferapont, playing the holy fool. "I have hastened hither to drive out these guests of yours, the foul devils. I look to see how many of them you have gathered up without me. With a birch besom I would sweep them out."
> Pure Church Slavonic catechism: Ferapont answers in undiluted Slavonic: «чесо» (genitive of «что'), «ради» (for the sake of), «еси» (the old 2nd-person 'art'), «просиши/веруеши» with Slavonic -ши endings, «како» (how). These are the very words of the Orthodox catechism and liturgy, a torrent of sacred archaism.
> Old perfect with auxiliary «еси»: «Пришел еси» is the archaic Slavonic perfect: past participle «пришел» plus the second-person auxiliary «еси» ('thou art come'). Modern Russian dropped the auxiliary entirely, leaving only «пришёл», so its presence is a deliberate liturgical fossil.
> «Юродствуя» — playing the holy fool: The gerund of «юродствовать», to act as a «юродивый» — the 'holy fool' or 'fool-for-Christ', a venerated Russian type who feigns madness to speak harsh truths. The narrator's word-choice frames Ferapont as performing this role rather than truly being a holy fool.
> «Притек» — Slavonic 'came running': An archaic perfective past of «притечь» (lit. 'flowed/hastened hither'), a Church-Slavonic verb of motion meaning 'I have come quickly'. It belongs to the same elevated register as «изыди» and «грядёт» elsewhere in the scene.
> «Поганый» — unclean, heathen: «Поганый» originally meant 'heathen' (from Latin paganus) and came to mean foul, unclean, contemptible. Paired with «черти» (devils), it is the coarse, folk-demonological vocabulary Ferapont relishes — devils he proposes to sweep out with a birch broom.
> Enclitic «ль» and genitive «их»: «Ль» is the reduced interrogative particle «ли», folding the clause into an indirect question ('how many of them they've piled up'). «Их» is genitive after the quantity word «много», and «без меня» takes genitive after «без».
> The birch besom: A «веник» is the bundled birch broom used in the Russian bathhouse and for sweeping; Ferapont means to literally 'sweep out' devils with one. The homely peasant image, set against his liturgical Slavonic, is part of his grotesque self-presentation.

— Нечистого изгоняешь, а может, сам ему же и служишь, — безбоязненно продолжал отец Паисий, — и кто про себя сказать может: «свят есмь»? Не ты ли, отче?  
"Thou drivest out the unclean one, yet perhaps thou thyself art serving him," Father Paisy went on without fear, "and who can say of himself, 'I am holy'? Canst thou, father?"
> «Нечистый» — the Unclean One: Substantivized adjective 'the Unclean One', a common Russian euphemism for the devil (one avoids naming him directly). Paisy turns Ferapont's own demon-hunting against him: the exorcist may himself serve the very Unclean One.
> Emphatic «сам» + intensifying «же»: «Сам» ('thyself') stresses the subject of «служишь», while «же» after «ему» drives home the irony — 'thou thyself art serving that very one'. The piled-up particles give the rebuke its biting edge.
> «Свят есмь» — 'I am holy': Short adjective «свят» (holy) plus the archaic first-person auxiliary «есмь» ('I am'), modern Russian's lost copula. The whole phrase is a scriptural formula; no one, Paisy implies, can claim it of himself.
> «ли» forming a pointed yes/no question: Fronting «не ты» and following it with «ли» builds a rhetorical yes/no question — 'Is it perhaps thou, father?'. The «ли» question is more formal and literary than mere intonation, sharpening Paisy's challenge.

— Поган есмь, а не свят. В кресла не сяду и не восхощу себе аки идолу поклонения! — загремел отец Ферапонт. — Ныне людие веру святую губят. Покойник, святой-то ваш, — обернулся он к толпе, указывая перстом на гроб, — чертей отвергал. Пурганцу от чертей давал. Вот они и развелись у вас, как пауки по углам. А днесь и сам провонял. В сем указание господне великое видим.  
"Foul am I, not holy. I will not sit in the elder's chair, nor will I have men bow down to me as to an idol!" thundered Father Ferapont. "In these days the people are destroying the holy faith. The dead man, this saint of yours," he turned to the crowd, pointing his finger at the coffin, "denied the devils. He gave out a purge against the devils. And so they have bred among you, like spiders in the corners. And now today he himself has stunk. In this we behold a great sign from the Lord."
> Short adjectives and contrastive «а»: Two short-form predicate adjectives, «поган» and «свят», hinge on the contrastive conjunction «а» — 'foul am I, and not holy'. «А» marks the gentle opposition/topic-shift that English flattens into 'but/and', and «есмь» again supplies the archaic copula.
> «восхощу» and «аки» — high Slavonic: «Восхощу» is the Slavonic future of «восхотеть» (to desire), and «аки» is the archaic 'as, like'. Ferapont refuses to be bowed to «аки идолу» — like an idol — in the dative of the one bowed to, all in deliberately scriptural diction.
> «Ныне» and «людие» — archaic 'now' and 'people': «Ныне» is bookish 'now, in these days', and «людие» is the old Slavonic plural of «люди» (people). The phrasing rings like a prophet denouncing his age.
> «Пурганец» — a purgative against devils: «Пурганец» (from 'purgo', to purge) is a folk word for a laxative/purgative medicine. Ferapont's grotesque charge is that Zosima 'dispensed a purge against the devils' — treating the spiritual as bodily — a parody of medicine that links to s132's «лекарство».
> «Днесь» and the crude «провонял»: «Днесь» is solemn Slavonic 'today' (cf. 'this day' in the Lord's Prayer), jarringly yoked to the crude colloquial «провонял» ('has stunk, gone putrid'). The clash of registers — liturgical 'this day' with a vulgar verb — is the whole sting of Ferapont's mockery of the corrupting corpse.
> Archaic demonstrative «сем»: «Сем» is the prepositional of «сей» ('this'), the bookish 19th-century demonstrative that pervades this scene in place of «этот». «В сем… видим» — 'in this we behold' — has the cadence of a sermon.

А это и действительно однажды так случилось при жизни отца Зосимы.  
And indeed it once happened just so, in the lifetime of Father Zosima.
> Narrative «а» plus emphatic «и действительно»: The narrator breaks in with «а» (here a soft 'and now, as for that') and «и действительно» ('and indeed in fact'), confirming Ferapont's slander had a kernel of truth. «Случилось» is the perfective past of «случиться» — a single completed past event introducing the embedded anecdote.

Единому от иноков стала сниться, а под конец и наяву представляться нечистая сила.  
An unclean power began to appear to one of the monks, first in dreams and at last in his waking hours as well.
> Archaic «единому от иноков» (dative + «от»): Bookish Slavonic syntax: «единому» (dative of «единый», 'to one') governs the experiencer, and 'of the monks' is rendered with «от» + genitive rather than the plain genitive «иноков» modern Russian would use. «Иноки» is itself an archaic word for monks (lit. 'other-living ones').
> Impersonal «сниться» with a dative experiencer: «Сниться» (to appear in a dream) is a -ся verb that takes the dreamer in the dative («единому») while the thing dreamt, «нечистая сила», is the nominative subject. It is the dative-experiencer pattern so characteristic of Russian's inner life.
> «Нечистая сила» — the unclean power: A fixed folk-religious phrase for demonic, devilish force ('the unclean power'). It keeps the whole anecdote in the popular-Orthodox imagination of devils that Ferapont exploits.

Когда же он, в величайшем страхе, открыл сие старцу, тот посоветовал ему непрерывную молитву и усиленный пост.  
When at last, in the greatest terror, he disclosed this to the elder, the elder counseled him to unceasing prayer and a stricter fast.
> Archaic «сие» as direct object: «Сие» is the neuter of the bookish demonstrative «сей» ('this thing'), here the accusative object of «открыл» (disclosed). «Старцу» is the dative of the indirect object — he disclosed this to the elder.
> Unceasing prayer and intensified fast: The remedies the elder prescribes — «непрерывная молитва» (ceaseless prayer) and «усиленный пост» (a strengthened/stricter fast) — are the classic ascetic disciplines of Orthodox monasticism. The contrast with the later 'medicine' is the point of the anecdote.

Но когда и это не помогло, посоветовал, не оставляя поста и молитвы, принять одного лекарства.  
But when even this did not help, he advised him, without giving up the fast and the prayer, to take a certain medicine.
> Gerund «не оставляя» + genitive of negation: «Не оставляя» is a negated imperfective gerund ('without abandoning'), and its objects «поста и молитвы» stand in the genitive — the genitive of negation that a negated verb commonly imposes on its object.
> Partitive/genitive object «одного лекарства»: «Принять» (to take) governs «одного лекарства» in the genitive — 'a certain medicine', a single dose. The genitive after «принять» gives the partitive sense of taking some of a substance.

О сем многие тогда соблазнялись и говорили меж собой, покивая главами, — пуще же всех отец Ферапонт, которому тотчас же тогда поспешили передать некоторые хулители о сем «необычайном» в таком особливом случае распоряжении старца.  
Many were scandalized at this then, and spoke of it among themselves, shaking their heads — and none more than Father Ferapont, to whom certain slanderers at once hastened to report this "extraordinary" disposition of the elder's in so singular a case.
> «Соблазняться» — to be scandalized: «Соблазняться» (here imperfective, reflexive) is the key spiritual verb of this chapter: 'to be led into temptation / scandalized / to take offense'. The whole crisis is that the brothers are «соблазнились» by the elder's premature corruption — their faith stumbles.
> Gerund «покивая» + Slavonic «главами»: «Покивая» is an imperfective gerund ('shaking, wagging'), describing the simultaneous gesture, and «главами» is the Slavonic instrumental plural of «глава» (head) — the elevated doublet of «голова». 'Wagging their heads' echoes the Gospel mockery at the cross.
> «Пуще» — folk 'more, most of all': «Пуще» is a colloquial/archaic comparative meaning 'more, worse, all the more', here superlative with «всех»: 'most of all'. Reinforced by emphatic «же», it singles out Ferapont as the chief grumbler.
> «Хулители» — slanderers, revilers: «Хулитель» (from «хулить», to revile/blaspheme) is a bookish word for one who maligns or slanders — the same root as «хула» (blasphemy). It frames those who carried the gossip to Ferapont as malicious detractors of the elder.
> «Особливый» — archaic 'special, peculiar': «Особливый» is the older form of «особый/особенный» (special, singular), recurring in this chapter («особливо» in s152–153). It tints the narration with period diction, here describing the elder's unusual «распоряжение» (instruction).

— Изыди, отче! — повелительно произнес отец Паисий, — не человеки судят, а бог. Может, здесь «указание» видим такое, коего не в силах понять ни ты, ни я и никто. Изыди, отче, и стадо не возмущай! — повторил он настойчиво.  
"Depart, father!" Father Paisy pronounced commandingly. "It is not men who judge, but God. Perhaps it is some 'sign' that we behold here, such a one as neither thou, nor I, nor any man has power to understand. Depart, father, and trouble not the flock!" he repeated insistently.
> «Изыди» — 'Depart!' (Scriptural imperative): «Изыди» is the Church-Slavonic imperative of «изыти/изойти» (to go forth), echoing Christ's «изыди, сатано» ('get thee hence, Satan'). Paisy hurls Ferapont's own register back at him with this commanding, exorcistic word.
> Archaic plural «человеки» and contrastive «а»: «Человеки» is the old Slavonic nominative plural of «человек» (modern Russian uses «люди»). The structure «не X, а Y» — 'not men but God' — is the standard corrective contrast built on «а».
> Relative «коего» and «ни… ни» negation: «Коего» is the archaic genitive of «кой» (= «который»), object of «понять». The clause stacks negation: «ни ты, ни я и никто… не в силах» — 'neither thou, nor I, nor anyone is able' — the negative concord that Russian requires.
> Negated imperative «не возмущай»: «Не возмущай» is a negated imperfective imperative ('do not stir up / trouble'). The imperfective is the normal aspect for a negative command — prohibiting an ongoing or repeated action — as opposed to the perfective for positive single requests.

— Постов не содержал по чину схимы своей, потому и указание вышло. Сие ясно есть, а скрывать грех! — не унимался расходившийся во рвении своем не по разуму изувер. — Конфетою прельщался, барыни ему в карманах привозили, чаем сладобился, чреву жертвовал, сладостями его наполняя, а ум помышлением надменным… Посему и срам потерпел…  
"He kept not the fasts according to the rule of his schema, and therefore the sign has come forth. This is plain, and to hide it is a sin!" the zealot would not be calmed, carried away in a fervor that was not according to reason. "By sweetmeats was he seduced; the ladies brought them to him in their pockets; on tea he made himself dainty, he served his belly, filling it with delicacies, while his mind he filled with arrogant thoughts… And for this he has suffered shame…"
> Genitive of negation «постов»: Under negation the object of «содержать» (to keep) shifts to the genitive plural «постов» rather than accusative — the genitive of negation, fronted for emphasis: 'the fasts he kept not'.
> «Изувер» — fanatic, bigot: The narrator names Ferapont an «изувер» — a fanatic, a bigot of cruel, benighted zeal. The label, with «расходившийся… не по разуму» (carried away, against all reason), is Dostoevsky's clear judgment on this false asceticism.
> «Сие… есть» — bookish copula retained: «Сие ясно есть» keeps the archaic third-person copula «есть» ('this is plain'), normally dropped in modern Russian. The bare infinitive «скрывать грех» — 'to conceal [it is a] sin' — is a terse impersonal predication.
> Instrumental of the means of temptation: «Прельщался конфетою» and «сладобился чаем» put the seductive luxuries — a sweet, tea — in the instrumental, the means by which he was tempted. «Сладобиться» (to indulge in sweets) is a rare expressive coinage; «чрево» (belly), «чрево жертвовал» continue the catalogue of gluttony.

— Легкомысленны словеса твои, отче! — возвысил голос и отец Паисий, — посту и подвижничеству твоему удивляюсь, но легкомысленны словеса твои, якобы изрек юноша в миру, непостоянный и младоумный. Изыди же, отче, повелеваю тебе, — прогремел в заключение отец Паисий.  
"Frivolous are thy words, father!" Father Paisy too raised his voice. "At thy fasting and thy ascetic labor I marvel, but frivolous are thy words, as though some youth in the world had uttered them, fickle and childish of mind. Depart, then, father, I command thee," Father Paisy thundered in conclusion.
> Fronted short adjective and Slavonic «словеса»: «Легкомысленны» is a short-form predicate adjective ('frivolous are'), fronted for rhetorical weight before its subject «словеса» — the Slavonic plural of «слово» (words). The inversion gives the rebuke a prophetic ring, repeated for emphasis.
> «Удивляться» governs the dative: «Удивляться» (to marvel at) takes its object in the dative, here «посту и подвижничеству» — 'at thy fasting and ascetic labor I marvel'. Note too that the verb is reflexive in -ся, a fixed deponent-style pattern.
> «Якобы», «изрек», «младоумный»: A cluster of archaisms: «якобы» (as if, as though), «изрек» (the Slavonic perfective 'uttered/spake'), and the bookish compound «младоумный» (young-minded, childish in understanding). Paisy answers Ferapont in his own elevated idiom while charging him with juvenile folly.
> «Повелевать» + dative: «Повелеваю тебе» — 'I command thee' — uses «повелевать» with the dative of the person commanded. The solemn first-person present, capped by «прогремел» (thundered), marks Paisy's final assertion of authority.

— Я-то изыду! — проговорил отец Ферапонт, как бы несколько и смутившись, но не покидая озлобления своего, — ученые вы! От большого разума вознеслись над моим ничтожеством. Притек я сюда малограмотен, а здесь, что и знал, забыл, сам господь бог от премудрости вашей меня, маленького, защитил…  
"I shall depart!" said Father Ferapont, somewhat abashed, as it were, yet not abandoning his rancor. "You learned ones! In your great wisdom you have set yourselves up above my nothingness. I came hither barely lettered, and here I have forgotten even what I knew; the Lord God Himself has protected me, the little one, from your great learning…"
> Emphatic clitic «-то»: The hyphenated «-то» here is the topic-emphasizing clitic, not the indefinite suffix: «я-то» means 'I, for my part / I'll be the one to'. It throws stress onto «я» — 'depart I shall' — with a tinge of wounded pride.
> «Вознестись над» + instrumental: «Вознеслись над моим ничтожеством» — 'you have exalted yourselves over my nothingness' — uses «над» governing the instrumental «ничтожеством». «От большого разума» ('out of great intellect') is genitive of cause after «от».
> «Притек» and «малограмотен»: Ferapont reprises the Slavonic «притек» ('I came hastening') and adds the short adjective «малограмотен» (barely literate). His self-abasement — 'the little one' (маленького), protected by God from your learning — is the holy fool's inverted boast.

Отец Паисий стоял над ним и ждал с твердостью.  
Father Paisy stood over him and waited firmly.
> Imperfective past for sustained stance: Both «стоял» and «ждал» are imperfective past, presenting Paisy's standing and waiting as an enduring state — the steady background against which the perfective verbs of action stand out. «С твердостью» is instrumental of manner.

Отец Ферапонт помолчал и вдруг, пригорюнившись и приложив правую ладонь к щеке, произнес нараспев, взирая на гроб усопшего старца:  
Father Ferapont fell silent, and suddenly, growing mournful and pressing his right palm to his cheek, pronounced in a chanting voice, gazing at the coffin of the departed elder:
> Two perfective past gerunds: «Пригорюнившись» (having grown mournful) and «приложив» (having pressed) are perfective past деепричастия in -вши/-в, naming prior completed actions that set up the main verb «произнес». They stack attendant circumstance into one sweeping period.
> «Нараспев» — in a chant: «Нараспев» means 'in a sing-song, chanting voice' — the liturgical intonation in which Ferapont delivers his lament, suiting the church hymns he is about to name.
> «Усопший» — the reposed (deceased): «Усопший» is the solemn ecclesiastical word for the dead (lit. 'fallen asleep', cf. 'dormition'), as opposed to plain «умерший». It is the dignified term proper to a departed elder lying in his coffin.

— Над ним заутра «Помощника и покровителя» станут петь — канон преславный, а надо мною, когда подохну, всего-то лишь «Кая житейская сладость» — стихирчик малый, — проговорил он слезно и сожалительно.  
"Over him tomorrow they will sing 'The Helper and Defender' — a most glorious canon — but over me, when I croak, only 'What earthly sweetness' — a paltry little hymn," he said tearfully and pityingly.
> Crude «подохнуть» for self-deprecation: «Подохнуть» is a coarse, contemptuous verb for dying, normally used of animals ('to croak, to die like a beast'). Ferapont applies it to himself — «когда подохну» — in mock-humble self-abasement, jarring against the sacred hymns he names.
> Diminutive «стихирчик» as emotional signal: The diminutive suffix on «стихирчик» (from «стихира») and the postposed «малый» work together to belittle and self-pity — 'just a wee little hymn'. Russian diminutives carry exactly this affective coloring, here mingling pathos with theatricality.

Возгордились и вознеслись, пусто место сие! — завопил он вдруг как безумный и, махнув рукой, быстро повернулся и быстро сошел по ступенькам с крылечка вниз.  
"You have grown proud and exalted yourselves; this place is empty!" he suddenly screamed like a madman and, with a sweep of his hand, turned swiftly and went swiftly down the steps from the little porch.
> Archaic «сие» and short adjective «пусто»: «Сие» is again the bookish 'this' (modifying «место»), and «пусто» is a short-form predicate ('empty is this place'). The subjectless «возгордились и вознеслись» ('they have grown proud and exalted themselves') leaves the rebuked 'you' implied — a curse pronounced like a verdict.
> Perfective gerund + chain of perfectives: «Махнув» (having waved) is a perfective gerund setting up the rapid perfective verbs «повернулся» and «сошел», whose repetition of «быстро» and the prefix «с-» (down/off) drives the abrupt, headlong exit down the steps.

Ожидавшая внизу толпа заколебалась; иные пошли за ним тотчас же, но иные замедлили, ибо келья всё еще была отперта, а отец Паисий, выйдя вслед за отцом Ферапонтом на крылечко, стоя наблюдал.  
The crowd that had been waiting below wavered; some followed him at once, but others lingered, for the cell was still open, and Father Paisy, having come out onto the porch after Father Ferapont, stood and watched.
> Past active participle «ожидавшая»: «Ожидавшая» is a past active participle from imperfective «ожидать», agreeing with «толпа' — 'the crowd that had been waiting below'. The imperfective stem gives the ongoing, durative sense, compressing a который-clause into a single adjective.
> Correlative «иные… иные» with «но»: «Иные… иные» ('some… others') sets up a balanced antithesis, hinged by «но». Both verbs are perfective («пошли», «замедлили»), marking the two completed reactions of the divided crowd.
> «Ибо» — bookish 'for, because': «Ибо» is the elevated, archaic causal conjunction 'for, because', far more literary than «потому что». «Келья» is the monk's cell (here Zosima's), and «отперта» is a short passive participle ('was unlocked/open').
> Perfective gerund «выйдя»: «Выйдя» is the perfective past gerund of «выйти' (having gone out), describing Paisy's prior action before he 'stood and watched' («стоя наблюдал», with imperfective gerund «стоя» for the simultaneous posture).

Но расходившийся старик еще не окончил всего: отойдя шагов двадцать, он вдруг обратился в сторону заходящего солнца, воздел над собою обе руки и — как бы кто подкосил его — рухнулся на землю с превеликим криком:  
But the old man, in his frenzy, had not yet finished it all: having gone some twenty paces, he suddenly turned toward the setting sun, raised both arms above himself, and — as though someone had cut him down — collapsed to the ground with a tremendous cry:
> Past active participle «расходившийся»: «Расходившийся» (past active participle of reflexive «расходиться») describes the old man 'who had worked himself into a frenzy / let himself go'. The -ся participle plus imperfective stem captures the building, uncontrolled excitement.
> Gerund «отойдя» and approximate-quantity inversion: «Отойдя» is a perfective gerund ('having gone off'). «Шагов двадцать» — genitive plural «шагов» before the numeral «двадцать» — is the inverted word order that signals approximation: 'some twenty paces'.
> Hypothetical comparison «как бы»: «Как бы кто подкосил его» — 'as though someone had cut him down' — uses «как бы» plus a past-form verb to frame an unreal comparison. The «бы» is the irrealis particle; «подкосил» is the perfective hypothetical of the imagined felling.
> «Превеликий» — intensive prefix «пре-»: «Превеликий» (from «пре-» + «великий») is the archaic-emphatic 'most great, tremendous', a Slavonic-flavored intensifier. With «рухнулся» (collapsed) it heightens the theatrical violence of Ferapont's fall.

— Мой господь победил! Христос победил заходящу солнцу! — неистово прокричал он, воздевая к солнцу руки, и, пав лицом ниц на землю, зарыдал в голос как малое дитя, весь сотрясаясь от слез своих и распростирая по земле руки.  
"My Lord has conquered! Christ has conquered, as the sun goes down!" he cried frenziedly, lifting his arms toward the sun, and, falling face down to the earth, he sobbed aloud like a little child, his whole body shaking with his tears, his arms spread out across the ground.
> Archaic dative «заходящу солнцу»: «Заходящу солнцу» is a fossilized Slavonic dative absolute construction — 'at/with the setting of the sun' — preserving the old short participle dative «заходящу». It echoes the Orthodox vespers hymn of light, lending Ferapont's cry a liturgical resonance.
> Gerund «пав» and archaic «ниц»: «Пав» is the perfective gerund of «пасть» ('having fallen'); «ниц» is the archaic adverb 'face-downward, prostrate'. Together — 'having fallen face down' — they describe the prostration before he begins to sob.
> Twin imperfective gerunds for simultaneity: «Сотрясаясь» (shaking) and «распростирая» (spreading out) are imperfective present gerunds painting the ongoing physical accompaniment of his sobbing — his whole body trembling, his arms flung across the ground.
> «Дитя» — child (archaic neuter): «Дитя» is the elevated/archaic word for child (modern Russian prefers «ребёнок»), a neuter noun. 'Sobbing like a little child' completes the swing from thunderous prophet to weeping infant that defines Ferapont's performance.

Тут уж все бросились к нему, раздались восклицания, ответное рыдание… Исступление какое-то всех обуяло.  
Now everyone rushed to him; exclamations broke out, answering sobs… A kind of frenzy seized them all.
> Perfective verbs for the sudden surge: «Бросились» and «раздались» are perfective past, each a single completed burst — the crowd's rush and the outbreak of cries — driving the scene's eruption forward.
> «Исступление» and «обуять» — frenzy seizing all: «Исступление» is ecstatic frenzy, a state of being beside oneself; «обуять» (here «обуяло») is an archaic verb 'to seize, take possession of'. The phrase — 'a frenzy seized them all' — names the dangerous mass hysteria Paisy fears.

— Вот кто свят! вот кто праведен! — раздавались возгласы уже не боязненно, — вот кому в старцах сидеть, — прибавляли другие уже озлобленно.  
"There is one who is holy! There is one who is righteous!" cried voices, no longer fearful. "It is he who ought to sit among the elders," others added, now spitefully.
> Correlative «вот кто» + short adjectives: «Вот кто свят» — 'there is one who is holy' — uses «вот кто» pointing to the man, with short-form predicate adjectives «свят» and «праведен» (holy, righteous). The short forms give the acclamation a ringing, absolute quality.
> Dative «кому» of obligation + infinitive: «Вот кому… сидеть» is a dative-plus-infinitive of fittingness/obligation: 'here is the one who ought to sit'. The dative «кому» names the person destined for the role — the impersonal modal pattern. «В старцах» means 'among the elders'.

— Не сядет он в старцах… Сам отвергнет… не послужит проклятому новшеству… не станет ихним дурачествам подражать, — тотчас же подхватили другие голоса, и до чего бы это дошло, трудно и представить себе, но как раз ударил в ту минуту колокол, призывая к службе.  
"He will not sit among the elders… He himself will refuse it… he will not serve the accursed innovation… he will not ape their foolishness," other voices took up at once, and it is hard to imagine how far this might have gone, had not the bell struck at that very minute, summoning them to the service.
> Perfective futures of refusal: A volley of perfective simple futures — «отвергнет», «послужит», «станет» — each conjugated like a present but meaning a completed future act ('he will reject', 'will not serve'). «Сам» emphasizes 'he himself' will do the refusing.
> Conditional «бы» of the unrealized outcome: «До чего бы это дошло» — 'how far this might have gone' — is a conditional with «бы» naming a hypothetical that the bell's striking forestalls. The «но как раз» ('but just then') introduces the perfective event «ударил» that cuts it short.
> Substandard «ихний» and «дурачество»: «Ихним» is the colloquial, substandard possessive 'their' (proper Russian uses invariable «их»), marking the crowd's uneducated voice. «Дурачество» is 'foolery, tomfoolery' — their contemptuous word for the elders' practices.

Все вдруг стали креститься.  
Everyone suddenly began to cross themselves.
> «Креститься» — reflexive 'to cross oneself': «Креститься» is a -ся verb meaning 'to make the sign of the cross over oneself' (the reflexive marks the action turned back on the agent). «Стали креститься» — 'began to cross themselves' — uses the ingressive «стать» + imperfective infinitive.

Поднялся и отец Ферапонт и, ограждая себя крестным знамением, пошел к своей келье, не оглядываясь, всё еще продолжая восклицать, но уже нечто совсем несвязное.  
Father Ferapont too rose and, guarding himself with the sign of the cross, went off toward his cell without looking back, still going on with his exclamations, but now something altogether incoherent.
> Gerund + reflexive «себя» + instrumental of means: «Ограждая себя крестным знамением» packs three points: the imperfective gerund «ограждая» (guarding), the reflexive object pronoun «себя» (himself), and the instrumental «знамением» — the sign of the cross as the means of self-protection.
> Stacked gerunds of attendant manner: «Не оглядываясь» (without looking back) and «продолжая восклицать» (still going on exclaiming) are imperfective gerunds describing how he walked off — simultaneous, ongoing accompaniments to the main verb «пошел».

За ним потекли было некоторые, в малом числе, но большинство стало расходиться, поспешая к службе.  
A few, in small number, made to trail after him, but the greater part began to disperse, hurrying to the service.
> The particle «было» of an interrupted action: «Потекли было» uses the special particle «было», which marks an action begun or about to happen but then checked or reversed: 'a few started to trail after him [but didn't really]'. «Потекли» (lit. 'flowed') is a vivid metaphor for the crowd's drift.
> Ingressive «стало» + gerund «поспешая»: «Стало расходиться» ('began to disperse', ingressive «стать» + imperfective) is accompanied by the imperfective gerund «поспешая» (hurrying), describing the manner of the dispersal toward the service.

Отец Паисий передал чтение отцу Иосифу и сошел вниз.  
Father Paisy handed the reading over to Father Iosif and went down.
> Two perfectives closing the scene: «Передал» (handed over) and «сошел» (went down) are perfective past, two completed acts that quietly close the confrontation and turn the narrative to Paisy's inner state. «Чтение» (the reading) is the reading of the Gospel over the body.

Исступленными кликами изуверов он поколебаться не мог, но сердце его вдруг загрустило и затосковало о чем-то особливо, и он почувствовал это.  
The frenzied cries of the zealots could not shake him, yet his heart suddenly grew heavy and ached over something in particular, and he felt it.
> Instrumental of cause «исступленными кликами»: «Исступленными кликами» stands in the instrumental as the means/cause by which he could not be shaken. Fronted before the subject «он», it is a topic-comment inversion stressing what failed to move him. «Клики» is the bookish plural for 'cries, clamor'.
> Inchoative prefix «за-»: «Загрустило» and «затосковало» both carry the perfective prefix «за-», which marks the onset of a state — 'began to grieve, began to ache with longing'. The pair captures the sudden welling-up of Paisy's sorrow.
> «Тосковать» — to ache, to yearn: «Тосковать о чём-то» is to feel «тоска» — that untranslatable Russian ache, longing, melancholy — over something. With «особливо» (especially, particularly) it points to a specific yet half-grasped cause, which the next sentence unfolds.

Он остановился и вдруг спросил себя: «Отчего сия грусть моя даже до упадка духа?» — и с удивлением постиг тотчас же, что сия внезапная грусть его происходит, по-видимому, от самой малой и особливой причины: дело в том, что в толпе, теснившейся сейчас у входа в келью, заприметил он между прочими волнующимися и Алешу и вспомнил он, что, увидав его, тотчас же почувствовал тогда в сердце своем как бы некую боль.  
He stopped and suddenly asked himself: "Why does this sadness of mine reach even to a faltering of the spirit?" — and to his astonishment he grasped at once that this sudden sadness of his arose, apparently, from a cause most small and particular: the matter was that, in the crowd which had been pressing just now at the entrance to the cell, he had noticed, among the others who were agitated, Alyosha as well, and he remembered that, on catching sight of him, he had felt at that moment in his heart something like a pain.
> Archaic «сия» in inner speech: Even Paisy's silent self-questioning is in elevated register: «сия грусть» ('this sadness') uses the bookish feminine demonstrative «сия». «Отчего» is 'why, from what', and «до упадка духа» means 'to the point of a faltering of spirit'.
> Past active participle «теснившейся»: «Теснившейся» is a reflexive past active participle from «тесниться» (to crowd, press together), agreeing with «толпе» in the prepositional — 'the crowd that had been pressing'. It compresses a relative clause into the noun phrase, dense literary syntax.
> Perfective gerund «увидав» + «как бы»: «Увидав» is the perfective past gerund 'on catching sight of', the prior action before «почувствовал». «Как бы некую боль» — 'something like a pain' — softens the feeling with the hedging «как бы» and the bookish indefinite «некий» (a certain).

«Да неужто же сей младый столь много значит ныне в сердце моем?» — вдруг с удивлением вопросил он себя.  
"Can it be that this young one means so much now to my heart?" he suddenly asked himself in astonishment.
> Particle cluster «да… неужто же»: A dense stack of modal particles: «да» (emphatic opener), «неужто» (surely not? can it be?), and intensifying «же». Together they voice astonished, half-incredulous self-interrogation — the texture of Dostoevsky's inner monologue.
> «Младый» — Slavonic 'young (one)': «Младый» is the Church-Slavonic full-vowel doublet of «молодой» (young), substantivized as 'this young one' (Alyosha). Paired with «сей» ('this'), it keeps even Paisy's astonishment in solemn, elevated diction. «Вопросил» (asked) is likewise the bookish perfective.

В эту минуту Алеша как раз проходил мимо него, как бы поспешая куда-то, но не в сторону храма.  
At that very minute Alyosha happened to be passing by him, as though hurrying somewhere, but not in the direction of the church.
> Imperfective «проходил» for the passing moment: «Проходил» is imperfective past — Alyosha was in the act of passing by just then («как раз»). The imperfective frames the ongoing motion that coincides with Paisy's thought. «Мимо него» governs the genitive after «мимо».
> Gerund «поспешая» + indefinite «куда-то»: «Как бы поспешая» — 'as though hurrying' — is an imperfective gerund hedged by «как бы». «Куда-то» ('to somewhere', specific but unknown) uses the -то suffix marking a definite-but-unidentified destination.

Взоры их встретились.  
Their eyes met.
> «Взоры» — gazes (bookish plural): «Взор» is the elevated, poetic word for 'gaze, look' (vs. plain «взгляд»); the plural «взоры… встретились» — 'their gazes met' — has a literary loftiness fitting the charged moment between Paisy and Alyosha.

Алеша быстро отвел свои глаза и опустил их в землю, и уже по одному виду юноши отец Паисий догадался, какая в минуту сию происходит в нем сильная перемена.  
Alyosha quickly looked away and dropped his eyes to the ground, and from the young man's very look alone Father Paisy guessed what a powerful change was taking place in him at that moment.
> «По» + dative «виду» of basis: «По одному виду» — 'from the look alone' — uses «по» governing the dative «виду» to express the basis of an inference. «Одному» here intensifies: by his very appearance alone. «Догадался» is perfective: he guessed (in one stroke).
> Embedded question with «какая»: The interrogative-relative «какая» ('what kind of') opens an indirect question after «догадался»: 'guessed what a powerful change was taking place in him'. The present «происходит» inside past narration renders the change as vivid and ongoing at that moment.

— Или и ты соблазнился? — воскликнул вдруг отец Паисий, — да неужто же и ты с маловерными! — прибавил он горестно.  
"Have you too been scandalized?" Father Paisy suddenly exclaimed. "Can it be that you too are with the men of little faith!" he added grievously.
> «Соблазниться» turned on Alyosha: Paisy now aims the chapter's central verb «соблазниться» (to be scandalized, made to stumble in faith) at Alyosha himself — 'Have you too been scandalized?'. The «и ты» ('you too') links Alyosha to the wavering crowd. «Или» opens the anxious question.
> «Маловерные» — the men of little faith: «Маловерные» (substantivized 'those of little faith') is the Gospel phrase (cf. Matthew's ὀλιγόπιστοι). Paisy fears Alyosha has joined them, and «горестно» (grievously) marks the pain of the question.

Алеша остановился и как-то неопределенно взглянул на отца Паисия, но снова быстро отвел глаза и снова опустил их к земле.  
Alyosha stopped and gazed somehow uncertainly at Father Paisy, but again quickly looked away and again dropped his eyes to the ground.
> Perfective verbs and anaphoric «снова»: «Отвел» and «опустил» are perfective past, two completed gestures; the repeated «снова… снова» (again… again) marks them as a recurrence of s157's movement. «Их» (them) refers back to «глаза», his eyes.

Стоял же боком и не повернулся лицом к вопрошавшему.  
He stood sideways and did not turn his face toward the one who had questioned him.
> Imperfective state vs. perfective non-event: «Стоял боком» (imperfective) describes the standing posture as a continuing state; «не повернулся» (perfective) marks the single turn that did not occur. «Боком» and «лицом» are instrumentals of manner/orientation — sideways, face-on.
> Substantivized participle «вопрошавший»: «Вопрошавший» is a past active participle of the archaic «вопрошать» (to question) used as a noun — 'the one who had questioned'. Such participle-nouns, common in this passage, replace a full relative clause and keep the register bookish.

Отец Паисий наблюдал внимательно.  
Father Paisy watched him attentively.
> Imperfective «наблюдал» for sustained watching: «Наблюдал» (was watching, observed) is imperfective past, presenting Paisy's attentive watching as an ongoing background activity against which Alyosha's gestures stand out.

— Куда же поспешаешь? К службе благовестят, — вопросил он вновь, но Алеша опять ответа не дал.  
"Where are you hurrying to? They are ringing the bell for the service," he asked again, but Alyosha once more gave no answer.
> «Благовестить» — to ring for the service: «Благовестить» (lit. 'to announce good tidings') is the church term for the single, measured tolling of the bell that summons the faithful to a service. The impersonal plural «благовестят» ('they are ringing') answers Alyosha's unspoken direction.
> Genitive of negation «ответа»: «Не дал ответа» puts the object «ответа» in the genitive under negation rather than the accusative «ответ» — the genitive of negation, idiomatic in 'gave no answer'. «Опять» stresses the repeated silence.

— Али из скита уходишь? Как же не спросясь-то, не благословясь?  
"Or are you leaving the hermitage? And how, without asking leave, without a blessing?"
> «Али» — folk/archaic 'or': «Али» is the colloquial-archaic variant of «или» ('or, or is it that…'), giving Paisy's question a homely, folk-speech warmth. The «скит» is the hermitage, the secluded inner community within the monastery where Zosima lived.
> Negated gerunds «не спросясь, не благословясь»: «Спросясь» and «благословясь» are perfective reflexive gerunds in the older -ясь form: 'without having asked leave, without having received a blessing'. The «же» and emphatic «-то» sharpen the reproachful tone.

Алеша вдруг криво усмехнулся, странно, очень странно вскинул на вопрошавшего отца свои очи, на того, кому вверил его, умирая, бывший руководитель его, бывший владыка сердца и ума его, возлюбленный старец его, и вдруг, всё по-прежнему без ответа, махнул рукой, как бы не заботясь даже и о почтительности, и быстрыми шагами пошел к выходным вратам вон из скита.  
Alyosha suddenly gave a crooked smile, and strangely, very strangely, raised his eyes to the father who was questioning him — to the very man to whom his dying guide had entrusted him, the one who had been the master of his heart and mind, his beloved elder — and suddenly, still without a word as before, he waved his hand, as though caring nothing even for respect, and with rapid steps went off toward the gates leading out of the hermitage.
> «Очи» — eyes (poetic/Slavonic): «Очи» is the elevated, Church-Slavonic plural for 'eyes' (vs. plain «глаза»), lending a solemn, almost iconographic weight to Alyosha's strange upward glance. «Усмехнулся криво» — gave a crooked, bitter half-smile — signals his inner turmoil.
> Correlative «того… кому» + gerund «умирая»: The correlative «того… кому»: «того» is accusative (object of «на» in «вскинул… на того»), while the relative «кому» is dative (governed by «вверил», entrusted). The imperfective gerund «умирая» ('as he was dying') frames the entrusting — Zosima on his deathbed gave Alyosha into Paisy's care.
> «Владыка» — sovereign, lord (and bishop): «Владыка» means 'lord, master, sovereign', and is also the title of address for an Orthodox bishop. Here it is metaphorical — Zosima the 'sovereign of his heart and mind' — with «бывший» (former) poignantly marking that this rule is now ending.
> Gerund «не заботясь» under «как бы»: «Махнул рукой» (made a dismissive wave) is followed by «как бы не заботясь» — 'as though caring nothing', a negated imperfective gerund hedged by «как бы». «О почтительности» (about respect) is prepositional after «о»; «даже и» heaps on the emphasis.

— Возвратишься еще! — прошептал отец Паисий, смотря вослед ему с горестным удивлением.  
"You will come back yet!" Father Paisy whispered, watching after him with grievous astonishment.
> Perfective future «возвратишься»: «Возвратишься» is a perfective simple future ('you will return / come back') — conjugated like a present but pointing to a single completed future act. With «еще» ('yet, still') it is Paisy's quiet, confident prophecy of Alyosha's return to faith.
> Gerund «смотря» + archaic «вослед»: «Смотря вослед ему» — 'watching after him' — pairs the imperfective gerund «смотря» with the bookish «вослед» ('after, in the wake of'), governing the dative «ему». «С горестным удивлением» (with grievous astonishment) is instrumental of manner, closing the chapter on Paisy's sorrow.
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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.