The Brothers Karamazov

^[182]you go right, I’ll go left ...: see perhaps Genesis 13:9. The left is the “sinister” side, associated with the devil, especially in depictions of the Last Judgment. Ivan hunches up his left shoulder in a moment; Smerdyakov often squints or winks with his left eye.

^[183]Pater Seraphicus: “Seraphic Father.” An epithet applied to St. Francis of Assisi; also an allusion to Goethe’s Faust, part 2, act 5, lines 11918-25. Ivan’s sarcasm is not without respect.

^[184] this contemplator: see the end of B.K. 1.3.6.

^[185]servant Licharda: Licharda (a distortion of “Richard”) is the faithful servant in The Tale of Prince Bova, a sixteenth-century Russian version of a medieval romance of French origin widely spread in Europe. Licharda is used by the evil queen in her plot to murder the king.

^[186] His name is Gorstkin . . .: “Lyagavy,” Gorstkin’s nickname, means “bird dog.”

^[187] Great Lent: the forty-day fast preceding Easter; called the “Great Lent” in the Orthodox Church to distinguish it from “lesser” fasts during the liturgical year.

^[188] Holy Week: see note 6 to page 168 in section 2.4.1.

^[189]One Hundred and Four Sacred Stories . . .: a Russian translation of a German collection of Bible stories edited by Johannes Hiibner (1714). According to his wife, Dostoevsky had this book as a child and “learned to read with it.”

^[190] analogion: (from Greek) lectern; a stand in the middle of the church on which the Bible is placed during readings.

^[191] There was a man ...: the beginning of the Book of Job; here and in the following, Zosima paraphrases from memory.

^[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.