The Brothers Karamazov

[191] There was a man ...: the begi

[192]Naked came I. . .: from Job, with some alterations: Zosima significantly adds “into the earth” and from habit concludes Job’s words “blessed be the name of the Lord” with the liturgical formula “henceforth and forevermore” (the whole phrase is an exclamation repeated three times near the end of the Orthodox liturgy).

[193]Let my prayer arise ...: the full phrase is “Let my prayer arise in thy sight as incense”; sung at Vespers during the censing of the church. In the services of Holy Week, people customarily kneel while the verses are sung. The Book of Job is read at Vespers on Holy Monday and Tuesday.

[194]unto ages of ages: a liturgical formula (cf. the Latin in saecula saeculorum).

[195]work: a parish priest would often have to do his own farming as well as serve his parish.

[196]Read to them of Abraham and Sarah ...: see Genesis 11-35. The words “How dreadful is this place” (Genesis 28:17) belong to the episode of Jacob’s dream of the ladder, not that of his wrestling with the angel.

[197] Joseph: Genesis 37-50.

[198]havinguttered ... the great word ...: Jacob’s prophecy about Judah (Genesis 49:10) is regarded by Christians as referring to Christ.

[199]Saul’s speech: Acts 13:16-41.

[200] Alexei, the man of God: see note 3 to page 50 in section 1.2.3.

[201]Mary of Egypt: a fifth-century saint greatly venerated in Orthodoxy; a prostitute who became a Christian and spent forty-seven years in the desert in prayer and repentance.

[202]And I told him of how a bear . . .: an episode from the life of St. Sergius of Radonezh (1314-99), one of the greatest figures in the history of the Russian Church, founder of an important monastery in Zagorsk, near Moscow.

[203] for the day and the hour . . see Revelation 9:15.

[204] 1826: the “important event” must have been the Decembrist uprising of 14 December 1825, aimed at limiting the power of the tsar.

[205] Then the sign . . .: see Matthew 24:30, Christ’s words about his Second Coming.

[206]Russian translation: the language of the Russian Church is Old Slavonic, not Russian. The New Testament was translated into Russian early in the nineteenth century.

[207]for the day and the hour . .: see note 17 to page 296 in section 2.6.2.

[208]Thisstar ...: see Matthew 2:2.

[209]kulaks and commune-eaters: abusive terms for peasants who act against the communal life of the village for their own private gain. Kulak literally means “fist.”

[210] their wrath ...: Genesis 49:7.

[211] in accordance with the Gospel: see Matthew 20:25-26,23:11; Mark 9:35,10:43.

[212] The stone . . .: see Matthew21:42 (quoting Psalm 118:22-23); the passage isoften quoted in Orthodox services.

[213] he who draws the sword . . .: see Matthew 26:52.

[214]for the sake of the meek . . .: see Matthew 24:22, Mark 13:20. Zosima alters the passage without distorting its meaning.

[215]great andbeautiful: see note 2 to page 71 in section 1.2.6.

[216]Much on earth . . .: Victor Terras rightly considers the passage from here to the end of the sub-chapter to be “probably the master key to the philosophic interpretation, as well as to the structure,” of B.K. (see Terras, p. 259).

[217]Rememberespecially . . .: see Matthew 7:1-5.

[218] the only sinless One: Christ (see also note 15 to page 246 in section 2.5.4).

[219]no longer able to love: Zosima’s thought here and in the long paragraph that follows is drawn from the homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian (see note 7 to page 27 in section 1.1.5), e.g., Homily 84 (Greek numbering).

[220]the richman and Lazarus: see Luke 16:19-31. “Abraham’s bosom” is the place of blessed rest for the righteous.

[221] time will be no more: see Revelation 10:6.

[222]one may pray for them as well, suicide is considered among the greatest sins; the Church forbids the burial of suicides by established rites and does not hold memorial services for them. Zosima’s broad notions of love and forgiveness are traced by some commentators to the teachings of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724-83).

[223] sucking his own blood ...: an image from St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 73 (Greek numbering).

[224]schëmahieromonk: (from the Greek) a hieromonk who also wears a special vestment, or schema, indicating a higher monastic degree calling for special ascetic discipline.

[225] eight-pointed cross: the typical cross of the Russian Church.

[226]aer: (from the Greek) a square of cloth used to cover the chalice and paten containing the holy gifts on the altar.

[227] How believest thou: see note 4 to page 233 in section 2 5.3. Absurd in this context.

[228]Tomorrow they will sing . . .: “As the body of a monk or schëmamonk is carried from his cell to the church, and after the funeral service to the cemetery, the stikhera [verses on biblical themes] ‘What Earthly Joy’ are sung. If the deceased was a schëmahieromonk, the canon My Helper and Defender’ is sung” (Dostoevsky’s note).

[229]gescheft: a Yiddish word that has entered Russian, meaning “a little business” or “shady dealing.”

[230]And the angel wept ...: in a letter to his publisher, N. A. Lyubimov (16 September 1879), Dostoevsky refers to this “fable” as “a gem, taken down by me from a peasant woman.”

[231]Alyoskenka, little man of God: see note 3 to page 50 in section 1.2.3; the diminutive here is contemptuous.

[232]seven devils: Rakitin is thinking of Mary Magdalene; see Mark 16:9, Luke 8:1-2.

[233]Cana of Galilee: see John 2:1-11. Father Paissy reads from this passage further on.

[234] the lake of Ge

[235]Lyagavy: see note 1 to page 278 in section 2.5.7.

[236]Pushkinobserved: in his Table-Talk, notes modeled on Hazlitt’s Table Talk (1821), whose English title Pushkin borrowed; written during the 1830s, unpublished in the poet’s lifetime.

[237]Enough: refers to “Enough. A Fragment from the Notes of a Deceased Artist” (1865) by Turgenev, a piece Dostoevsky particularly disliked.

[238]Varvara: St. Barbara, fourth-century virgin and martyr.

[239] ’I wrote in this regard . . .: M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826-89), journalist, novelist, and satirist, was one of Dostoevsky’s leading adversaries (see also note 2 to page 78 in section 1.2.7). The Contemporary, a journal founded by Pushkin in 1836, became an organ of Russian revolutionary democrats; it was closed by the authorities in 1866. Shchedrin was one of its editors for a time. Dostoevsky teases his opponents (as Turgenev earlier) by associating them with Madame Khokhlakov.

[240]And naught ...: from Pushkin’s Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820); the line flashesthrough Mitya’s mind in slightly altered form.

[241]Phoebus: Apollo, in his function as sun god.

[242]Mastriuk ...: quotation from the historical ballad “Mastriuk Temriukovich,” in which Mastriuk has his clothes stolen while lying unconscious.