The Brothers Karamazov

^[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 Gennesaret: the Sea of Galilee.

^[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 flashes through 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.

^[243] Gullible . . .: lines from F. Tyutchev’s translation (1851) of Schiller’s “Victory Banquet” (“Das Siegesfest,” 1803), where the reference is to Clytemnestra.

^[244]I am sad . . .: Mitya is, of course, rewriting Hamlet here.

^[245]Yet one last tale ...: cf. the first line of the monk Pimen’s speech in Pushkin’s historical tragedy Boris Godunov (1824-25), proverbial among Russians.