The Brothers Karamazov : Part II.
: Book VI: The Russian Monk : Chapter 3: Conversations and Exhortations of Father Zossima. The Russian Monk and his possible Significance. by Fyodor Dostoevsky @ Classic Reader
and teachers, what is the monk? In the cultivated world the
word is nowadays pronounced by some people with a jeer, and by others
it is used as a term of abuse, and this contempt for the monk is
growing. It is true, alas, it is true, that there are many sluggards,
gluttons, profligates, and insolent beggars among monks. Educated
people point to these: "You are idlers, useless members of society, you
live on the labour of others, you are shameless beggars." And yet how
many meek and humble monks there are, yearning for solitude and fervent
prayer in peace! These are less noticed, or passed over in silence. And
how suprised men would be if I were to say that from these meek monks,
who yearn for solitary prayer, the salvation of Russia will come
perhaps once more! For they are in truth made ready in peace and quiet
"for the day and the hour, the month and the year." Meanwhile, in their
solitude, they keep the image of Christ fair and undefiled, in the
purity of God's truth, from the times of the Fathers of old, the
Apostles and the martyrs. And when the time comes they will show it to
the tottering creeds of the world. That is a great thought. That star
will rise out of the East.
is my view of the monk, and is it false? Is it too proud? Look at
the worldly and all who set themselves up above the people of G has
not God's image and His truth been distorted in them? They have
but in science there is nothing but what is the object of
sense. The spiritual world, the higher part of man's being is rejected
altogether, dismissed with a sort of triumph, even with hatred. The
world has proclaimed the reign of freedom, especially of late, but what
do we see in this freedom of theirs? Nothing but slavery and
self-destruction! For the world says:
have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as
the most rich and powerful. Don't be afraid of satisfying them and even
multiply your desires." That is the modern doctrine of the world. In
that they see freedom. And what follows from this right of
multiplication of desires? In the rich, isolation and spiritual
in the poor, for they have been given rights,
but have not been shown the means of satisfying their wants. They
maintain that the world is getting more and more united, more and more
bound together in brotherly community, as it overcomes distance and
sets thoughts flying through the air.
put no faith in such a bond of union. Interpreting freedom as the
multiplication and rapid satisfaction of desires, men distort their own
nature, for many senseless and foolish desires and habits and
ridiculous fancies are fostered in them. They live only for mutual
envy, for luxury and ostentation. To have dinners visits, carriages,
rank, and slaves to wait on one is looked upon as a necessity, for
which life, honour and human feeling are sacrificed, and men even
commit suicide if they are unable to satisfy it. We see the same thing
among those who are not rich, while the poor drown their unsatisfied
need and their envy in drunkenness. But soon they will drink blood
instead of wine, they are being led on to it. I ask you is such a man
free? I knew one "champion of freedom" who told me himself that, when
he was deprived of tobacco in prison, he was so wretched at the
privation that he almost went and betrayed his cause for the sake of
getting tobacco again! And such a man says, "I am fighting for the
cause of humanity."
can such a one fight? What is he fit for? He is capable perhaps of
some action quickly over, but he cannot hold out long. And it's no
wonder that instead of gaining freedom they have sunk into slavery, and
instead of serving, the cause of brotherly love and the union of
humanity have fallen, on the contrary, into dissension and isolation,
as my mysterious visitor and teacher said to me in my youth. And
therefore the idea of the service of humanity, of brotherly love and
the solidarity of mankind, is more and more dying out in the world, and
indeed this idea is sometimes treated with derision. For how can a man
shake off his habits? What can become of him if he is in such bondage
to the habit of satisfying the innumerable desires he has created for
himself? He is isolated, and what concern has he with the rest of
humanity? They have succeeded in accumulating a greater mass of
objects, but the joy in the world has grown less.
monastic way is very different. Obedience, fasting, and prayer are
laughed at, yet only through them lies the way to real, true freedom. I
cut off my superfluous and unnecessary desires, I subdue my proud and
wanton will and chastise it with obedience, and with God's help I
attain freedom of spirit and with it spiritual joy. Which is most
capable of conceiving a great idea and serving it -- the rich in his
isolation or the man who has freed himself from the tyranny of material
things and habits? The monk is reproached for his solitude, "You have
secluded yourself within the walls of the monastery for your own
salvation, and have forgotten the brotherly service of humanity!" But
we shall see which will be most zealous in the cause of brotherly love.
For it is not we, but they, who are in isolation, though they don't see
that. Of old, leaders of the people came from among us, and why should
they not again? The same meek and humble ascetics will rise up and go
out to work for the great cause. The salvation of Russia comes from the
people. And the Russian monk has always been on the side of the people.
We are isolated only if the people are isolated. The people believe as
we do, and an unbelieving reformer will never do anything in Russia,
even if he is sincere in heart and a genius. Remember that! The people
will meet the atheist and overcome him, and Russia will be one and
orthodox. Take care of the peasant and guard his heart. Go on educating
him quietly. That's your duty as monks, for the peasant has God in his
(f) Of Masters and Servants, and of whether it is
possible for them to be Brothers in the Spirit.
course, I don't deny that there is sin in the peasants too. And the
fire of corruption is spreading visibly, hourly, working from above
downwards. The spirit of isolation is coming upon the people too.
Money-lenders and devourers of the commune are rising up. Already the
merchant grows more and more eager for rank, and strives to show
himself cultured though he has not a trace of culture, and to this end
meanly despises his old traditions, and is even ashamed of the faith of
his fathers. He visits princes, though he is only a peasant corrupted.
The peasants are rotting in drunkenness and cannot shake off the habit.
And what cruelty to their wives, to their children even! All from
drunkenness! I've seen in the factories children of nine years old,
frail, rickety, bent and already depraved. The stuffy workshop, the din
of machinery, work all day long, the vile language and the drink, the
drink -- is that what a little child's heart needs? He needs sunshine,
childish play, good examples all about him, and at least a little love.
There must be no more of this, monks, no more torturing of children,
rise up and preach that, make haste, make haste!
God will save Russia, for though the peasants are corrupted and
cannot renounce their filthy sin, yet they know it is cursed by God and
that they do wrong in sinning. So that our people still believe in
righteousness, have faith in God and weep tears of devotion.
is different with the upper classes. They, following science, want
to base justice on reason alone, but not with Christ, as before, and
they have already proclaimed that there is no crime, that there is no
sin. And that's consistent, for if you have no God what is the meaning
of crime? In Europe the people are already rising up against the rich
with violence, and the leaders of the people are everywhere leading
them to bloodshed, and teaching them that their wrath is righteous. But
their "wrath is accursed, for it is cruel." But God will save Russia as
He has saved her many times. Salvation will come from the people, from
their faith and their meekness.
and teachers, watch over the people's faith and this will not
be a dream. I've been struck all my life in our great people by their
dignity, their true and seemly dignity. I've seen it myself, I can
testify to it, I've seen it and marvelled at it, I've seen it in spite
of the degraded sins and poverty-stricken appearance of our peasantry.
They are not servile, and even after two centuries of serfdom they are
free in manner and bearing, yet without insolence, and not revengeful
and not envious. "You are rich and noble, you are clever and talented,
well, be so, God bless you. I respect you, but I know that I too am a
man. By the very fact that I respect you without envy I prove my
dignity as a man."
truth if they don't say this (for they don't know how to say this
yet), that is how they act. I have seen it myself, I have known it
myself, and, would you believe it, the poorer our Russian peasant is,
the more noticeable is that serene goodness, for the rich among them
are for the most part corrupted already, and much of that is due to our
carelessness and indifference. But God will save His people, for Russia
is great in her humility. I dream of seeing, and seem to see clearly
already, our future. It will come to pass that even the most corrupt of
our rich will end by being ashamed of his riches before the poor, and
the poor, seeing his humility, will understand and give way before him,
will respond joyfully and kindly to his honourable shame. Believe me
that things are moving to that. Equality is to be
found only in the spiritual dignity of man, and that will only be
understood among us. If we were brothers, there would be fraternity,
but before that they will never agree about the division of wealth. We
preserve the image of Christ, and it will shine forth like a precious
diamond to the whole world. So may it be, so may it be!
and teachers, a touching incident befell me once. In my
wanderings I met in the town of K. my old orderly, Afanasy. It was
eight years since I had parted from him. He chanced to see me in the
market-place, recognised me, ran up to me, and how delighted he was! He
simply pounced on me: "Master dear, is it you? Is it really you I see?"
He took me home with him.
was no longer in the army, he was married and already had two little
children. He and his wife earned their living as costermongers in the
market-place. His room was poor, but bright and clean. He made me sit
down, set the samovar, sent for his wife, as though my appearance were
a festival for them. He brought me his children: "Bless them, Father."
it for me to bless them? I am only a humble monk. I will pray for
them. And for you, Afanasy Pavlovitch, I have prayed every day since
that day, for it all came from you," said I. And I explained that to
him as well as I could. And what do you think? The man kept gazing at
me and could not believe that I, his former master, an officer, was now
before him in such
it made him shed tears.
are you weeping?" said I, "better rejoice over me, dear friend,
whom I can never forget, for my path is a glad and joyful one."
did not say much, but kept sighing and shaking his head over me
has become of your fortune?" he asked.
gave it to the monastery," I "we live in common."
tea I began saying good-bye, and suddenly he brought out half a
rouble as an offering to the monastery, and another half-rouble I saw
him thrusting hurriedly into my hand: "That's for you in your
wanderings, it may be of use to you, Father."
took his half-rouble, bowed to him and his wife, and went out
rejoicing. And on my way I thought: "Here we are both now, he at home
and I on the road, sighing and shaking our heads, no doubt, and yet
smiling joyfully in the gladness of our hearts, remembering how God
brought about our meeting."
have never seen him again since then. I had been his master and he my
servant, but now when we exchanged a loving kiss with softened hearts,
there was a great human bond between us. I have thought a great deal
about that, and now what I think is this: Is it so inconceivable that
that grand and simple-hearted unity might in due time become universal
among the Russian people? I believe that it will come to pass and that
the time is at hand.
of servants I will add this: In old days when I was young I was
often "the cook had served something too hot, the
orderly had not brushed my clothes." But what taught me better then was
a thought of my dear brother's, which I had heard from him in
childhood: "Am I worth it, that another should serve me and be ordered
about by me in his poverty and ignorance?" And I wondered at the time
that such simple and self-evident ideas should be so slow to occur to
our minds.
is impossible that there should be no servants in the world, but act
so that your servant may be freer in spirit than if he were not a
servant. And why cannot I be a servant to my servant and even let him
see it, and that without any pride on my part or any mistrust on his?
Why should not my servant be like my own kindred, so that I may take
him into my family and rejoice in doing so? Even now this can be done,
but it will lead to the grand unity of men in the future, when a man
will not seek servants for himself, or desire to turn his fellow
creatures into servants as he does now, but on the contrary, will long
with his whole heart to be the servant of all, as the Gospel teaches.
can it be a dream, that in the end man will find his joy only in
deeds of light and mercy, and not in cruel pleasures as now, in
gluttony, fornication, ostentation, boasting and envious rivalry of one
with the other? I firmly believe that it is not and that the time is at
hand. People laugh and ask: "When will that time come and does it look
like coming?" I believe that with Christ's help we shall accomplish
this great thing. And how many ideas there have been on earth in the
history of man which were unthinkable ten years before they appeared!
Yet when their destined hour had come, they came forth and spread over
the whole earth. So it will be with us, and our people will shine forth
in the world, and all men will say: "The stone which the builders
rejected has become the cornerstone of the building."
we may ask the scornful themselves: If our hope is a dream, when
will you build up your edifice and order things justly by your
intellect alone, without Christ? If they declare that it is they who
are advancing towards unity, only the most simple-hearted among them
believe it, so that one may positively marvel at such simplicity. Of a
truth, they have more fantastic dreams than we. They aim at justice,
but, denying Christ, they will end by flooding the earth with blood,
for blood cries out for blood, and he that taketh up the sword shall
perish by the sword. And if it were not for Christ's covenant, they
would slaughter one another down to the last two men on earth. And
those two last men would not be able to restrain each other in their
pride, and the one would slay the other and then himself. And that
would come to pass, were it not for the promise of Christ that for the
sake of the humble and meek the days shall be shortened.
I was still wearing an officer's uniform after my duel, I talked
about servants in general society, and I remember everyone was amazed
at me. "What!" they asked, "are we to make our servants sit down on the
sofa and offer them tea?" And I answered them: "Why not, sometimes at
least?" Everyone laughed. Their question was frivolous and my answer
but the thought in it was to some extent right.
(g) Of Prayer, of Love, and of Contact with other Worlds.
man, be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your
prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it,
which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer
is an education. Remember, too, every day, and whenever you can, repeat
to yourself, "Lord, have mercy on all who appear before Thee to-day."
For every hour and every moment thousands of men leave life on this
earth, and their souls appear before God. And how many of them depart
in solitude, unknown, sad, dejected that no one mourns for them or even
knows whether they have lived or not! And behold, from the other end of
the earth perhaps, your prayer for their rest will rise up to God
though you knew them not nor they you. How touching it must be to a
soul standing in dread before the Lord to feel at that instant that,
for him too, there is one to pray, that there is a fellow creature left
on earth to love him too! And God will look on you both more
graciously, for if you have had so much pity on him, how much will He
have pity Who is infinitely more loving and merciful than you! And He
will forgive him for your sake.
have no fear of men's sin. Love a man even in his sin, for
that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth.
Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love
every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love the animals, love the
plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the
divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to
comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the
whole world with an all-embracing love. Love the animals: God has given
them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble it,
don't harass them, don't deprive them of their happiness, don't work
against God's intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to the
they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the
earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness
after you -- alas, it is true of almost every one of us! Love children
especially, for they too are sin they live to
soften and purify our hearts and, as it were, to guide us. Woe to him
who offends a child! Father Anfim taught me to love children. The kind,
silent man used often on our wanderings to spend the farthings given us
on sweets and cakes for the children. He could not pass by a child
without emotion. That's the nature of the man.
some thoughts one stands perplexed, especially at the sight of men's
sin, and wonders whether one should use force or humble love. Always
decide to use humble love. If you resolve on that once for all, you may
subdue the whole world. Loving humility is marvellously strong, the
strongest of all things, and there is nothing else like it.
day and every hour, every minute, walk round yourself and watch
yourself, and see that your image is a seemly one. You pass by a little
child, you pass by, spiteful, with ugly words, you
may not have noticed the child, but he has seen you, and your image,
unseemly and ignoble, may remain in his defenceless heart. You don't
know it, but you may have sown an evil seed in him and it may grow, and
all because you were not careful before the child, because you did not
foster in yourself a careful, actively benevolent love. Brothers, love
but one must know how to acquire it, for it is hard to
acquire, it is dearly bought, it is won slowly by long labour. For we
must love not only occasionally, for a moment, but for ever. Everyone
can love occasionally, even the wicked can.
brother asked the
that sounds senseless, but
for all is like an ocean, all is
touch in one place sets up movement at the other end of the earth. It
may be senseless to beg forgiveness of the birds, but birds would be
happier at your side -- a little happier, anyway -- and children and
all animals, if you were nobler than you are now. It's all like an
ocean, I tell you. Then you would pray to the birds too, consumed by an
all-embracing love, in a sort of transport, and pray that they too will
forgive you your sin. Treasure this ecstasy, however senseless it may
seem to men.
friends, pray to God for gladness. Be glad as children, as the birds
of heaven. And let not the sin of men confound you in your doings. Fear
not that it will wear away your work and hinder its being accomplished.
Do not say, "Sin is mighty, wickedness is mighty, evil environment is
mighty, and we are lonely and helpless, and evil environment is wearing
us away and hindering our good work from being done." Fly from that
dejection, children! There is only one means of salvation, then take
yourself and make yourself responsible for all men's sins, that is the
truth, you know, friends, for as soon as you sincerely make yourself
responsible for everything and for all men, you will see at once that
it is really so, and that you are to blame for everyone and for all
things. But throwing your own indolence and impotence on others you
will end by sharing the pride of Satan and murmuring against God.
the pride of Satan what I think is this: it is hard for us on earth
to comprehend it, and therefore it is so easy to fall into error and to
share it, even imagining that we are doing something grand and fine.
Indeed, many of the strongest feelings and movements of our nature we
cannot comprehend on earth. Let not that be a stumbling-block, and
think not that it may serve as a justification to you for anything. For
the Eternal judge asks of you what you can comprehend and not what you
cannot. You will know that yourself hereafter, for you will behold all
things truly then and will not dispute them. On earth, indeed, we are,
as it were, astray, and if it were not for the precious image of Christ
before us, we should be undone and altogether lost, as was the human
race before the flood. Much on earth is hidden from us, but to make up
for that we have been given a precious mystic sense of our living bond
with the other world, with the higher heavenly world, and the roots of
our thoughts and feelings are not here but in other worlds. That is why
the philosophers say that we cannot apprehend the reality of things on
took seeds from different worlds and sowed them on this earth, and
His garden grew up and everything came up that could come up, but what
grows lives and is alive only through the feeling of its contact with
other mysterious worlds. If that feeling grows weak or is destroyed in
you, the heavenly growth will die away in you. Then you will be
indifferent to life and even grow to hate it. That's what I think.
(h) Can a Man judge his Fellow Creatures?
Faith to the End.
particularly that you cannot be a judge of anyone. For no one
can judge a criminal until he recognises that he is just such a
criminal as the man standing before him, and that he perhaps is more
than all men to blame for that crime. When he understands that, he will
be able to be a judge. Though that sounds absurd, it is true. If I had
been righteous myself, perhaps there would have been no criminal
standing before me. If you can take upon yourself the crime of the
criminal your heart is judging, take it at once, suffer for him
yourself, and let him go without reproach. And even if the law itself
makes you his judge, act in the same spirit so far as possible, for he
will go away and condemn himself more bitterly than you have done. If,
after your kiss, he goes away untouched, mocking at you, do not let
that be a stumbling-block to you. It shows his time has not yet come,
but it will come in due course. And if it come not, no M if not
he, then another in his place will understand and suffer, and judge and
condemn himself, and the truth will be fulfilled. Believe that, believe
for in that lies all the hope and faith of the
without ceasing. If you remember in the night as you go to sleep,
"I have not done what I ought to have done," rise up at once and do it.
If the people around you are spiteful and callous and will not hear
you, fall down before them and b for in truth you
are to blame for their not wanting to hear you. And if you cannot speak
to them in their bitterness, serve them in silence and in humility,
never losing hope. If all men abandon you and even drive you away by
force, then when you are left alone fall on the earth and kiss it,
water it with your tears and it will bring forth fruit even though no
one has seen or heard you in your solitude. Believe to the end, even if
all men went astray and you were left t bring your
offering even then and praise God in your loneliness. And if two of you
are gathered together -- then there is a whole world, a world of living
love. Embrace each other tenderly and praise God, for if only in you
two His truth has been fulfilled.
you sin yourself and grieve even unto death for your sins or for
your sudden sin, then rejoice for others, rejoice for the righteous
man, rejoice that if you have sinned, he is righteous and has not
the evil-doing of men moves you to indignation and overwhelming
distress, even to a desire for vengeance on the evil-doers, shun above
all things that feeling. Go at once and seek suffering for yourself, as
though you were yourself guilty of that wrong. Accept that suffering
and bear it and your heart will find comfort, and you will understand
that you too are guilty, for you might have been a light to the
evil-doers, even as the one man sinless, and you were not a light to
them. If you had been a light, you would have lightened the path for
others too, and the evil-doer might perhaps have been saved by your
light from his sin. And even though your light was shining, yet you see
men were not saved by it, hold firm and doubt not the power of the
heavenly light. Believe that if they were not saved, they will be saved
hereafter. And if they are not saved hereafter, then their sons will be
saved, for your light will not die even when you are dead. The
righteous man departs, but his light remains. Men are always saved
after the death of the deliverer. Men reject their prophets and slay
them, but they love their martyrs and honour those whom they have
slain. You are working for the whole, are acting for the future. Seek
no reward, for great is your reward on this earth: the spiritual joy
which is only vouchsafed to the righteous man. Fear not the great nor
the mighty, but be wise and ever serene. Know the measure, know the
times, study that. When you are left alone, pray. Love to throw
yourself on the earth and kiss it. Kiss the earth and love it with an
unceasing, consuming love. Love all men, love everything. Seek that
rapture and ecstasy. Water the earth with the tears of your joy and
love those tears. Don't be ashamed of that ecstasy, prize it, for it is
a gift of G it is not given to many but only to the
(i) Of Hell and Hell Fire, a Mystic Reflection.
and teachers, I ponder, "What is hell?" I maintain that it is
the suffering of being unable to love. Once in infinite existence,
immeasurable in time and space, a spiritual creature was given on his
coming to earth the power of saying, "I am and I love." Once, only
once, there was given him a moment of active lifting love, and for that
was earthly life given him, and with it times and seasons. And that
happy creature rejected the priceless gift, prized it and loved it not,
scorned it and remained callous. Such a one, having left the earth,
sees Abraham's bosom and talks with Abraham as we are told in the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and beholds heaven and can go up
to the Lord. But that is just his torment, to rise up to the Lord
without ever having loved, to be brought close to those who have loved
when he has despised their love. For he sees clearly and says to
himself, "Now I have understanding, and though I now thirst to love,
there will be nothing great, no sacrifice in my love, for my earthly
life is over, and Abraham will not come even with a drop of living
water (that is the gift of earthly active life) to cool the fiery
thirst of spiritual love which burns in me now, though I despised it on
there is no more life for me and will be no more time! Even
though I would gladly give my life for others, it can never be, for
that life is passed which can be sacrificed for love, and now there is
a gulf fixed between that life and this existence."
talk of hell fire in the material sense. I don't go into that
mystery and I shun it. But I think if there were fire in material
sense, they would be glad of it, for I imagine that in material agony,
their still greater spiritual agony would be forgotten for a moment.
Moreover, that spiritual agony cannot be taken from them, for that
suffering is not external but within them. And if it could be taken
from them, I think it would be bitterer still for the unhappy
creatures. For even if the righteous in Paradise forgave them,
beholding their torments, and called them up to heaven in their
infinite love, they would only multiply their torments, for they would
arouse in them still more keenly a flaming thirst for responsive,
active and grateful love which is now impossible. In the timidity of my
heart I imagine, however, that the very recognition of this
impossibility would serve at last to console them. For accepting the
love of the righteous together with the impossibility of repaying it,
by this submissiveness and the effect of this humility, they will
attain at last, as it were, to a certain semblance of that active love
which they scorned in life, to something like its outward expression...
I am sorry, friends and brothers, that I cannot express this clearly.
But woe to those who have slain themselves on earth, woe to the
suicides! I believe that there can be none more miserable than they.
They tell us that it is a sin to pray for them and outwardly the
Church, as it were, renounces them, but in my secret heart I believe
that we may pray even for them. Love can never be an offence to Christ.
For such as those I have prayed inwardly all my life, I confess it,
fathers and teachers, and even now I pray for them every day.
there are some who remain proud and fierce even in hell, in spite
of their certain knowledge and contemplation o
there are some fearful ones who have given themselves over to Satan and
his proud spirit entirely. For such, hell is voluntary and ever
they are tortured by their own choice. For they have cursed
themselves, cursing God and life. They live upon their vindictive pride
like a starving man in the desert sucking blood out of his own body.
But they are never satisfied, and they refuse forgiveness, they curse
God Who calls them. They cannot behold the living God without hatred,
and they cry out that the God of life should be annihilated, that God
should destroy Himself and His own creation. And they will burn in the
fire of their own wrath for ever and yearn for death and annihilation.
But they will not attain to death....
Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov's manuscript ends. I repeat, it is
incomplete and fragmentary. Biographical details, for instance, cover
only Father Zossima's earliest youth. Of his teaching and opinions we
find brought together sayings evidently uttered on very different
occasions. His utterances during the last few hours have not been kept
separate from the rest, but their general character can be gathered
from what we have in Alexey Fyodorovitch's manuscript.
elder's death came in the end quite unexpectedly. For although
those who were gathered about him that last evening realised that his
death was approaching, yet it was difficult to imagine that it would
come so suddenly. On the contrary, his friends, as I observed already,
seeing him that night apparently so cheerful and talkative, were
convinced that there was at least a temporary change for the better in
his condition. Even five minutes before his death, they said afterwards
wonderingly, it was impossible to foresee it. He seemed suddenly to
feel an acute pain in his chest, he turned pale and pressed his hands
to his heart. All rose from their seats and hastened to him. But though
suffering, he still looked at them with a smile, sank slowly from his
chair on to his knees, then bowed his face to the ground, stretched out
his arms and as though in joyful ecstasy, praying and kissing the
ground, quietly and joyfully gave up his soul to God.
news of his death spread at once through the hermitage and reached
the monastery. The nearest friends of the deceased and those whose duty
it was from their position began to lay out the corpse according to the
ancient ritual, and all the monks gathered together in the church. And
before dawn the news of the death reached the town. By the morning all
the town was talking of the event, and crowds were flocking from the
town to the monastery. But this subject will be treated in the next
I will only add here that before a day had passed something
happened so unexpected, so strange, upsetting, and bewildering in its
effect on the monks and the townspeople, that after all these years,
that day of general suspense is still vividly remembered in the town.}