The Brothers Karamazov

NOTES

Biblical references, unless otherwise noted, are to the King James Version. Parenthetical references are to Victor Terras, A Karamazov Companion: Commentary on the Genesis, Language, and Style of Dostoevsky’s Novel (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1981). The Brothers Karamazov is abbreviated B.K. and sections are identified by part, book, and chapter numbers: for example, 1.3.2 signifies part 1, book 3, chapter 2.

Dedication

Anna Grigorievna Dostoevsky, née Snitkin (1846-1918), was Dostoevsky’s second wife.

^[1] the chafings of a mind imprisoned: quotation from Mikhail Lermontov’s poem “Do not, do not believe yourself . . “(1839).

^[2] Now lettest thou ...: from the prayer of St. Simeon (Luke 2:29), read at Vespers in the Orthodox Church.

^[3] Proudhon and Bakunin: Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-65), French philosopher, a principal socialist theorist. Mikhail Bakunin (1814-76), Russian radical activist, a leader of the First International, later a major theorist of anarchism.

^[4] February revolution . . .: the three-day revolution in 1848 that ended the reign of Louis-Philippe and proclaimed the Second Republic.

^[5] souls: before the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, Russian estates were evaluated according to the number of “souls,” or adult male serfs, living on them.

^[6] provincial marshal of nobility: the highest elective office in a province, before the reforms of the 1860s. Governors and administrators were appointed by the tsar.

^[7] ecclesiastical courts: courts exercising canon law rather than civil law. The Judicial Reform Act of 1864 raised the question of their continued existence, which was much debated in the press, by Dostoevsky among others.

^[8] lover of mankind: an epithet for Christ in many Orthodox prayers and liturgical exclamations.

^[9] holy fools: a “holy fool” (or “fool in God,” or “fool for Christ”—yurodivyi in Russian) could be a harmless village idiot (cf. “Stinking Lizaveta,” B.K. 1.3.2), but there are also saintly persons or ascetics whose saintliness is expressed as “folly.” Holy fools of this sort were known early in Orthodox tradition. The term reappears several times in B.K., notably in reference to Alyosha.

^[10] Il faudrait les inventer. “They would have to be invented.” A variation of Voltaire’s Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer (“If God did not exist, he would have to be invented”).

^[11] J’ai vu . . .: “I saw the shade of a coachman scrubbing the shade of a carriage with the shade of a brush.” A popular quotation from a seventeenth-century French parody of the Aeneid (book 6, the descent to the underworld) by Charles Perrault and others.

^[12] Apostle Thomas: John 20:24-29.

^[13] Tower of Babel: Genesis 11:1-9.

^[14] If thou wilt be perfect. . .: see Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21, Luke 18:22.

^[15] Sinai and Athos: the monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai and the many monasteries on Mt. Athos in Greece, both ancient and still active Orthodox monastic centers.

^[16] Tartar yoke: the period of Tartar domination of Russia (1237-1480), the Tartars, or Tatars, who invaded Russia from Central Asia, were of Turkish and Mongol origin.

^[17] the fall of Constantinople: Constantinople (Istanbul), capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and ecclesiastical center of Orthodoxy, fell to the Turks in 1453.

^[18] Paissy Velichkovsfey: (1722-94), “the father of the Russian elders” (G. P. Fedotov, The Russian Religious Mind [Belmont, Mass , 1975], 2:394), canonized by the Russian Church in 1988. Dostoevsky owned a copy of the 1854 edition of his translation of the homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian, a seventh-century monk; the book is mentioned twice in B.K. St. Isaac, whose spiritual influence has been very great, seems also to have influenced Dostoevsky’s elder Zosima, particularly in his reflections on hell and divine love (see Terras, pp. 22-23).

^[19] Kozelskaya-Optina: pilgrims of all classes visited this celebrated hermitage, among them Dostoevsky, who drew from it a number of details for the monastery in : B. The elder Zosima is thought to be modeled in part on the elder Amvrosy of Optina (1812-91), canonized by the Russian Church in 1988, six months after the hermitage was restored to the Church by the Soviet authorities.

^[20] All catechumens, depart: an exclamation that occurs at a certain point in the Orthodox liturgy. A catechumen is a person preparing for baptism, hence not yet “in” the Church The catechumens are asked to depart, only the “faithful” remaining for the Eucharist. This monk, by his disobedience, made himself “unfaithful”—hence his departure.

^[21] Ecumenical Patriarch: title of the Patriarch of Constantinople, the highest administrative authority of the Greek Orthodox Church and its exarchies.

^[22] Who made me ...: see Luke 12:14.

^[23] Un chevalier parfait: “A perfect knight.”

^[24] von Sohn: victim of an actual murder case in Petersburg in 1870.

^[25] When in Rome ...: a substitute for the Russian saying Fyodor Pavlovich actually uses: “Don’t take your ordo | monastic rule ] to another monastery,” which is more apropos.

^[26] hieromonks: a hieromonk is a monk who is also a priest.

^[27] schism: the reforms of the patriarch Nikon (1605-81) caused a split, or “schism,” in the Russian Orthodox Church, the “Old Believers” refusing to accept his changes.

^[28] punctuality . . .: a popular saying in Russia, attributed to Louis XVIII.

^[29] Napravnik: E F. Napravnik (1839-1916), Russian composer, first Kapellmeister, or director, of the Mariinsky (now Kirov) Theater, the imperial opera and ballet theater in Petersburg.

^[30] Diderot: Denis Diderot (1713-84), French philosopher and writer, founder of the Encyclopédie, an atheist and materialist. He was invited to Russia in 1733 by the empress Catherine the Great (1729-96) and spent five months there.

^[31] Metropolitan Platon: (1737-1812), bishop of the “metropolis” of Moscow, a famous preacher and Church activist.

^[32] The fool hath said . . .: Psalms 14:1, 53:1.

^[33] Princess Dashkova ... and ... Potiomkin: Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (1743-1810), writer, president of the Russian Academy, and a close friend of the empress Catherine. Grigory Alexandrovich Potiomkin (1739-91), general and statesman, the most famous and influential of Catherine’s lovers.

^[34] Blessed . . .: Luke 11:27.

^[35] Teacher ... what should I do ... :see Luke 10:25, Mark 10:17, Matthew 19:16.

^[36] father of a lie ... son of a lie ...: see John 8:44, where the “father” refers to the devil. The phrase and its correction may be a first hint at later developments concerning Ivan.

^[37] some holy wonder-worker ...: the reference is to St. Denis of Paris (third century ad); the source, however, is not the Lives of the Saints, but Voltaire, who tells this jesting story about St. Denis in the notes to his play The Maid of Orleans (1774).

^[38] read from the Lives of the Saints . . .: Miusov and his French informant are unaware (which is the point) that saints’ lives are not read in the Orthodox liturgy.

^[39] three months short of three years old. Dostoevsky’s son Alexei died at this age in 1878.

^[40] Rachel of old . . .: Matthew 2:18 (quoti’ jjeremiah 31:15).

^[41] Alexei, the man of God: St. Alexis, a Greek anchorite who died around 412 a.d., is much loved in Russia, where he is known as “Alexei, the man of God.” There is a folk legend of his life, from which Dostoevsky may have drawn. Alexei Karamazov is referred to several times as a “man of God.”

^[42] And there is more joy ...: see Luke 15:7.

^[43] Lise: Madame Khokhlakov often uses this French form of her daughter’s name, as do the narrator and Alyosha.

^[44] burdock ...: words spoken by Bazarov, the atheist hero of Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons (1862).

^[45] ecclesiastical courts: set note 2 to page 16 in section 1.1.3 above.

^[46] Ultramontanism: the doctrine of absolute papal supremacy favored by members of the Italian party in the Roman Catholic Church, who were “across the mountains” (ultramontane) from their French opponents, the “Gallican” party. The controversy dates to the 1820s.

^[47] a kingdom ...: see John 18:36 for the true sense of these words.

^[48] holy gifts: the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist.

^[49] times and seasons: see Acts 1:7,1 Thessalonians 5:1-2.

^[50] Pope Gregory the Seventh: pontificate 1073-85; canonized. One of the greatest and most powerful of the popes of Rome, known for his struggle against the emperor Henry IV, whom he humbled at Canossa.

^[51] third temptation of the devil: the devil’s third temptation of Christ; see Matthew 4:1-11. A foreshadowing of Ivan Karamazov’s Grand Inquisitor.

^[52] December revolution: the coup d’état in 1851 that ended the French Second Republic; a year later Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was made emperor.

^[53] to set. . . in heaven: a conflation of Colossians 3:2 and Philippians 3:20.

^[54] regierender Graf von Moor: “reigning Count von Moor.” Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) wrote his historical drama The Robbers in 1781. There are references to Schiller’s plays and poetry and to the notion from The Robbers of “the great and beautiful” all through B.K.

^[55] Anna with swords: the medal of the Order of St. Anne, a military and civil distinction; the swords indicate the colonel’s military status. Decorations worn on the neck were not as “high” as decorations worn on the breast.

^[56] across a handkerchief: alludes to Schiller’s play Cabal and Love (1784), in which such a challenge is made.

^[57] her who loved much: see Luke 7:47. The passage is grotesquely misinterpreted by Fyodor Pavlovich.

^[58] the Church calendar: a yearly listing of saints’ and feast days; in this case it would not prove anything.

^[59] obedience: the term for a task imposed on a monk by his superior or spiritual director.

^[60] what’s the meaning of this dream: a journalistic commonplace of the 1860s and 1870s, used by Dostoevsky’s ideological adversary M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin among others; a paraphrase of a line from Pushkin’s “The Bridegroom”. “Well then, what is your dream about?” It betrays Rakitin as a “liberal.”

^[61] Pushkin . . .: several of Pushkin’s poems celebrate women’s “little feet,” for which the liberals of the 1860s censured him. Rakitin himself will soon “sing” of a woman’s feet (B.K. 4.11.2 and4.11.4).

^[62] On the one hand . . .: Rakitin borrows this phrase from Saltykov-Shchedrin’s Unfinished Conversations, pt. 1 (1873);again he labels himself (see Terras, p. 162).

^[63] archimandrite: superior of a monastery; now often honorary.

^[64] your noble reverence: an absurdly incorrect way to address the superior of a monastery.

^[65] von Sohn: see note 2 to page 36 in section 1.2.1.

^[66] plus de noblesse que de sincérité: “more nobility than sincerity.” And vice versa.

^[67] the Holy Fathers. Fyodor Pavlovich apparently believes that “secret confession” was instituted by the early fathers of the Church, which it was not.

^[68] flagellationism: the practice of self-flagellation as a way of purification from sin; never accepted by the Church.

^[69] Synod: a council of bishops instituted (contrary to canon law) by Peter the Great (1672-1725) to administer the Russian Orthodox Church, answerable to the tsar himself, who thus became the de facto head of the Church.

^[70] Robbers: see note 2 to page 71 in section 1.2.6.

^[71] Eliseyev Brothers: famous Petersburg provisioners. The shop has survived intact, is still a provisioners’, and is often still referred to as Eliseyevs’.

^[72] seven councils a hyperbolic reference to the seven “ecumenical councils” that were held between 325 and 787 A.D.

^[73] six fingers: such malformations, to some minds, implied the work or even the presence of “unclean spirits.” Hence Grigory later calls the child a “dragon.”

^[74] the Book of Job: references to the Book of Job appear frequently in B.K. and are a key to one of its themes: the “justification of suffering,” i.e., theodicy.

^[75] Isaac the Syrian: see note 7 to page 27 in section 1.1.5.

^[76] Flagellants: see note 5 to page 88 in section 1.2.8.

^[77] state councillor: rank of the fifth grade in the civil service, corresponding to the military rank of colonel.

^[78] Smerdyashchaya: “Stinking [woman]” in Russian. Smerdyakov’s name thus means roughly “(son) of the stinking one.”

^[79] Glory ...: the verses are by Dmitri Fyodorovich himself.

^[80] Do not believe . . .: from “When from the Darkness of Error”(1865) by Nikolai Nekrasov (1821-78); one of Dostoevsky’s favorite poems, about a rescued prostitute.

^[81] the golden fish ...: allusion to the well-known folktale about the magic fish, of which Pushkin made a poetic version, “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish” (1833).

^[82] Oman . . .: the line is Goethe’s, from “The Divine” (1783).

^[83] An die Freude: Schiller’s famous ode “To Joy” (1785), from which Dmitri will quote a little further on.

^[84] And a ruddy-mugged Silenus: from “Bas-relief” (1842) by Apollon Maikov (1821-79), a friend of Dostoevsky’s.

^[85] Darkly hid in cave and cleft...: stanzas 2-4 from Schiller’s “Eleusinian Festival” (1798). The version here is adapted from an anonymous English translation of 1843, as is the version of the ode “To Joy” that follows.

^[86] That men to man . . .: from “Eleusinian Festival, ‘ stanza 7.

^[87] Joy is the mainspring . . .: Schiller’s “Tojoy,” stanzas 4 and 3.

^[88] Paul de Koch (1794-1871), French writer, author of innumerable novels depicting petit bourgeois life, some of which were considered risqué.

^[89] There was sweet confusion ...: verses of unknown origin, possibly by Dostoevsky himself (Terras, p. 176).

^[90] bring up my life from the Pit: Jonah 2:6 (Revised Standard Version).

^[91] Balaam’s ass: Numbers 22:30. The ass of the false prophet Balaam suddenly speaks to its master.

^[92] The Lord God created ... :see Genesis 1:3-5,14-17.

^[93] falling sickness: Dostoevsky prefers this old term for epilepsy.

^[94] Evenings on a Farm near Dikanha: the first book of tales by Nikolai Gogol (1809-52).

^[95] Smaragdov’s Universal History: a common Russian textbook of the earlier nineteenth century.

^[96] Kramskoy: I. N. Kramskoy (1837-87), well-known Russian painter. The Contem-plator was first exhibited in 1878.

^[97] a Russian soldier . . .: an actual event, which Dostoevsky wrote about in his Diary of a Writer (1877).

^[98] Jesuits: popularly considered masters of casuistry.

^[99] my fine young Jesuit: in wording and rhythm, an ironic paraphrase of a line from Pushkin’s Tale of Tsar Saltan (1831): “Greetings, my fine young prince.”

^[100] in the Scriptures . . .: see Matthew 17:20,21:21; Mark 11:23; Luke 17:6.

^[101] For as you measure ...: see Matthew 7:2, Mark 4:24, Luke 6:38. Fyodor Pavlovich misquotes.

^[102] Tout cela c’est de la cochonnerie: “That’s all swinishness.”

^[103] Best of all . . .: after the emancipation of 1861, peasants had their own courts, along-side the official courts, and often used whipping as a punishment.

^[104] il y a du Piron là-dedans: “there’s a bit of the Piron in him’ Alexis Piron (1689-1773), French poet, the author of many songs, satires, and epigrams; witty, but often licentious.

^[105] Arbenin: protagonist of Mikhail Lermontov’s play Masquerade; the protagonist of A Hero of Our Time (1840) is Pechorin.

^[106] all five: Dmitri confuses the number of cardinal points with the number of continents, considered to be five in the nineteenth century.

^[107] the rite of holy unction, in the Orthodox Church, a sacrament of healing, consisting of anointing with oil and remission of sins, administered to the sick and the dying.

^[108] on behalf of all and for all: a liturgical formula often repeated or alluded to in B.K.

^[109] falling asleep: in Orthodox understanding, death is a “falling asleep in the Lord.”

^[110] prosphora: a small, round yeast bread specially prepared for the sacrament of the Eucharist; the Greek word means “offering.”

^[111] blessed: the Russian word blazhennyi can mean either “blessed” or “silly, odd,” as in the English phrase “blessed idiot.”

^[112] Holy Week: the last week of Lent, between Palm Sunday and Easter; each of the days is called “Great and Holy.”

^[113] Laodicea: a council of the Church held in Laodicea (modern Latakia, Syria) in the mid fourth century a.d.

^[114] Pentecost: the feast celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles (Acts 2:1-4), fifty days after Easter.

^[115] in the form of a dove: the Holy Spirit appeared “like a dove” only once, at Christ’s baptism in the Jordan (see Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke 3:22).

^[116] Elijah: Luke 1:17 (Revised Standard Version).

^[117] the gates of hell: Matthew 16:18.

^[118] Den Dank, Dame, begehr ich nicht: “Madame, I want no thanks.” From Schiller’s ballad “The Glove” (1797).

^[119] And in all nature . . .: lines from Pushkin’s poem “The Demon” (1823).

^[120] Chernomazov: Arina Petrovna inadvertently brings out the implicit meaning of Alyosha’s surname: cherny is Russian for “black”; however, in the Turkish and Tartar languages, kara also means “black” (the root, maz, in Russian conveys the idea of “paint” or “smear”).

^[121] Now I’m like Famusov ...: Famusov, Chatsky, and Sophia are characters in A. S. Griboyedov’s celebrated comedy Woe from Wit (1824), in which the last scene takes place on a stairway.

^[122] An invincible power . . .: the Russian original was heard and written down by Dostoevsky in Moscow ca. 1839. Smerdyakov sings the last stanza a bit further on.

^[123] You opened her matrix: a biblical expression (see Exodus 13:2, 12; 34:19); Grigory often uses such language, and Smerdyakov has picked up some of it, e.g., “nativity” just before.

^[124] father of the present one: Napoleon 1 was the uncle, not the father, of Napoleon III.

^[125] Petrovka: a street in the center of Moscow.

^[126] sticky little leaves . . .: allusion to Pushkin’s poem “Chill Winds Still Blow” (1828).

^[127] professions de foi: “professions of faith.”

^[128] a tinge of nobility: a borrowing from Pushkin’s epigram “A tsar was once told . . .” (1825): “Flatterers, flatterers, try to preserve / A tinge of nobility even in your baseness.”

^[129] And how believest thou ...: this first half of Ivan’s question comes from the Orthodox order for the consecration of a bishop; in response the bishop-elect recites the Creed.

^[130] an old sinner . . .: Voltaire. The quotation comes from his Epistles, 111, “To the Author of a New Book on the Three Impostors” (1769); cf. note 3 to page 24 in section 1.1.4.

^[131] the Word . . .: see John 1:1-2.

^[132] John the Merciful: a saint, patriarch of Alexandria (611-19). The episode comes, however, from Flaubert’s “La Légende de Saint-Julien - l’Hospitalier” (1876), “Saint Julian the Merciful” in Turgenev’s Russian translation (1877). Ivan significantly substitutes the name John (Ioann, in Russian, i.e., Ivan) for Julian: Flaubert’s Julian is a parricide.

^[133] they ate ...: see Genesis 3:5.

^[134] as Polonius says ... .Hamlet, 1.3.129 (we have substituted an appropriate line from the passage Dostoevsky quotes in Russian translation).

^[135] image and likeness: here, as just earlier, Ivan plays perversely on Genesis 1:26 (“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”).

^[136] on its meek eyes: from “Before Evening,” a poem from the cycle About the Weather (1859) by Nikolai Nekrasov.

^[137] Tartars: see note 5 to page 27 in section 1.1.5.

^[138] A little girl ...: this and the preceding story are both based on actual court cases. Dostoevsky discussed the first at length in Diary of a Writer (1876); the defense attorney there, V. D. Spassovich, is thought to be a possible model for Fetyukovich in B.K.

^[139] I even forget where I read it: the story actually appeared in the Russian Herald (1877, no. 9), where B.K. was also published serially The article was entitled “Memoirs of a Serf.“

^[140] the liberator of the people: Alexander II, tsar from 1855 to 1881; the emancipation of the serfs was the most important of his many reforms.

^[141] paradise ... fire from heaven: Ivan combines biblical and Greek motifs, the paradise of Genesis with the revolt of Prometheus, who “stole fire from heaven” against the will of Zeus.

^[142] the hind lie down with the lion: a variation on Isaiah 11:6,65:25.

^[143] Just art thou ...: a variation on several biblical passages: cf. Revelation 15:3-4, 16:7,19:1-2; Psalm 119:137.

^[144] I hasten to return my ticket: allusion to Schiller’s poem “Resignation” (1784).

^[145] and for all: echoes an Orthodox liturgical phrase (cf. note 2 to page 164 in section 2.4.1).

^[146] the only sinless One: Christ. The words come from the Hymn of the Resurrection sung at Matins in the Orthodox Church.

^[147] Le bon jugement. . .: “The Compassionate Judgment of the Most Holy and Gracious Virgin Mary.”

^[148] pre-Petrine antiquity: before the reign of Peter the Great, tsar of Muscovy (1682-1721), then emperor of Russia (1721-25), who moved the capital from Moscow to Petersburg.

^[149] The Mother of God Visits ...: a Byzantine apocryphal legend, translated into Old Slavonic in the early Russian middle ages.

^[150] I come quickly: the “prophet” is St. John; see Revelation 3:11,22:7,12,20.

^[151] Of that day . . .: see Mark 13:32, Matthew 24:36.

^[152] Believe . . .: from the last stanza of Schiller’s poem ”Sehnsucht” (“Yeaming,” 1801). The Russian version, translated here, differs considerably from the original.

^[153] a horrible new heresy: Lutheranism.

^[154] A great star . . .: misquotation of Revelation 8:10-11: the star Wormwood.

^[155] God our Lord . . .: the exclamation “God is the Lord, and has revealed himself to us” is sung at Matins and in the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church. Ivan misunderstands the Old Slavonic (the language of the Russian Church) to the point of reversing its meaning—a not uncommon mistake.

^[156] Bent under the burden . . .: the last stanza of F. I. Tyutchev’s poem “These poor villages . . .” (1855).

^[157] In (he splendid auto-da-fé ...: a somewhat altered quotation from A. I. Polezhayev’s poem “Coriolanus” (1834). The Portuguese auto da fé means “a (judicial) act of faith,” i.e., the carrying out of a sentence of the Inquisition, usually the public burning of a heretic.

^[158] as the lightning ...: see Matthew 24:27, Luke 17:24.

^[159] scorched squares: also from Polezhayev’s poem.

^[160] ad majorem . . .: “for the greater glory of God,” the motto of the Jesuits (correctly ad majorem Dei gloriam).

^[161] Talitha cumi: “damsel arise” in Aramaic: Mark 5:40-42. Ivan bases this “second appearance” of Christ on Gospel accounts.

^[162] fragrant with laurel and lemon: an altered quotation from scene 2 of Pushkin’s “The Stone Guest,” a play on the Don Juan theme, set in Seville (one of Pushkin’s “Little Tragedies”).

^[163] qui pro quo: Latin legal term: “one for another,” i.e., mistaken identity.

^[164] I want to make you free: see John 8:31-36.

^[165] to bind and loose: see Matthew 16:19.

^[166] ”tempted” you: see Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13.

^[167] Who can compare ...: see Revelation 13:4,13 (also note 10 to page 244 in section 2.5.4).

^[168] Tower of Babel: see note 2 to page 26 in section 1.1.5.

^[169] Instead of the firm ancient law: according to Christ’s words in the Gospel (Matthew 5:17-18), he came not to replace but to fulfill the law given to Moses. The Inquisitor (or Ivan) overstates his case.

^[170] If you would know ... see Matthew 4:6. The text is misquoted, and the last two clauses are added.

^[171] Come down ...: an abbreviated misquotation of Matthew 27:42 (see also Mark 15:32).

^[172] Your great prophet . . .: again, St. John (see Revelation 7:4-8).

^[173] locusts and roots: see Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6; the allusion is to John the Baptist.

^[174] Exactly eight centuries ago . . .: in 755 ad, eight centuries before the Inquisitor’s time (mid sixteenth century), Pepin the Short, king of the Franks, took the Byzantine exarchate of Ravenna and the Pentapolis (“five cities”: i.e., Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinnigaglia, and Ancona) from the Lombards and turned the territories over to Pope Stephen II, thus initiating the secular power of the papacy.

^[175] And it is then that the beast ... “Mystery!”: combines the Great Beast from Revelation 13 and 17 with lines from scene 2 of Pushkin’s “Covetous Knight” (another of the “Little Tragedies”): “Submissive, timid, blood-bespattered crime / Comes crawling to my feet, licking my hand, / Looking me in the eye . . .” (see Terras, p. 235).

^[176] It is said . . .: see Revelation 17:15-16.

^[177] that the number be complete: see Revelation 6:11 (Revised Standard Version).

^[178] Dm: “I have spoken.”

^[179] filthy earthly lucre: see Titus 1:7.

^[180] imagine that even the Masons . . .: Freemasons, a secret society of mutual aid and brotherhood who organized their first “grand lodge” in London in 1717 and from there spread to most parts of the world; considered heretical by the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.

^[181] dark squares: an altered quotation from Pushkin’s poem “Remembrance” (1828).

^[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] having uttered ... 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] This star ...: 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 and beautiful: 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] Remember especially . . .: 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 rich man 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] Pushkin observed: 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.

^[246] You see, sir, when the Son of God. . .: one of many variations on the theme of hell in B.K. Andrei’s version may derive from a popular verse legend, “The Dream of the Most Holy Mother of God,” itself based on apocryphal accounts of Christ’s descent into hell.

^[247] Panie: Polish forms of address, as well as Polish words and phrases, appear throughout this chapter. Pan means “sir” or “gentleman.” Panie (pronounced PAN-yeh) is the form of direct address for a gentleman, pani (pAN-ee) for a lady; panowie (_Og-fe-vyeh) is the plural of panie. For the Polish phrases, Dostoevsky most often supplies his own translation in parentheses; we do the same.

^[248] krôlowa ...: Grushenka is right; the word is close to the Russian koroleva (“queen”).

^[249] lajdak: “scoundrel.”

^[250] Agrippina: the Polish form of Agrafena.

^[251] Dead Souls: the reference is to an episode at the end of part 1, ch. 4 of Gogol’s satirical masterpiece (1842).

^[252] Piron: see note 4 to page 135 in section 1 3.8.

^[253] Is that you, Boileau ...: from an epigram by 1. A. Krylov (1769-1844), on a bad translation of Nicolas Boileau’s Art poétique.

^[254] You’re Sappho ... : an epigram by K. N. Batyushkov (1787-1855), on a bad woman poet; legend has it that Sappho died by throwing herself into the sea.

^[255] Çi-gît Piron . . .: “Here lies Piron who was nothing, Not even an academician.”

^[256] To Poland . .: the action of B.K. is set in the mid 1860s, shortly after the Polish uprising of 1863; Mitya, as a former Russian officer, is making an unusually conciliatory gesture (see Terras, p. 303).

^[257] To Russia ...: Pan Vrublevsky declines to be conciliatory. Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned Poland for the first time in 1772, a disaster that awakened the Polish national spirit.

^[258] Pan Podvysotsky: in a letter to his publisher, N. A. Lyubimov (16 November 1879), Dostoevsky notes that he had heard this same anecdote three separate times over the years.

^[259] gonor: Mitya uses the Polish word honor (pronounced gonor in Russian) rather than the Russian word chest’.

^[260] panienochka: Maximov makes a Russian diminutive of pani.

^[261] Dance cottage . . .: from a popular Russian dance song.

^[262] ”new” song: in a letter to his publisher (see note 12 to page 426 in section 3.8.7), Dostoevsky notes that he copied this song down himself “from real life” and calls it “an example of recent peasant creativity.”

^[263] You see, I learned ... : Maximov’s self-mockery; the sabotiere is a peasant clog-dance (French sabot, “clog”).

^[264] Let this terrible cup ...: see Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42; referring to Christ’s agony in Gethsemane.

^[265] The piggy . . .: refrain of several Russian folksongs.

^[266] Its legs ...: from a riddle song.

^[267] podlajdak: Mitya adds a Russian prefix meaning sub- to the Polish word for “scoundrel.”

^[268] Ah, hallway ...: another popular dance song, about a peasant girl who defies her father out of love for a young man (see Terras, p. 310).

^[269] the Jurisprudence: the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in Petersburg.

^[270] state councillor: see note 1 to page 99 in section 1.3.2.

^[271] The Soul’s journey through Torments: according to a purely popular Christian notion, as a person’s soul ascends towards heaven after death, it meets evil spirits that try to force it down to hell. Only the souls of the righteous avoid these “torments” (there are said to be twenty of them) The point here is that Mitya’s soul, figuratively, is not merely suffering but rising; the “journey” is one of purification.

^[272] Diogenes’ lantern: Diogenes the Cynic (404-323? b.c.), a Greek philosopher, is said to have gone about with a lantern in broad daylight, “looking for a man.”

^[273] Be patient ... an imprecise quotation from “Silentium” (1836), a famous poem by F. Tyutchev.

^[274] of the twelfth grade: one of the lowest grades (there were fourteen) of the imperial civil service.

^[275] the thunder has struck: refers to a Russian proverb that Dostoevsky quotes in a letter to his publisher (see note 12 to page 426 in section 3.8.7) “Unless thunder strikes, a peasant won’t cross himself.”

^[276] dry and sharp: from the poem “Before Rain” (1846) by Nikolai Nekrasov.

^[277] Smaragdov: see note 5 to page 125 in section 1.3.6.

^[278] Oh, children . . .: beginning of the fable “The Cock, the Cat, and the Mouse”(1802) by 1.1. Dmitriev (1760-1837).

^[279] A Kinsman . . .: a book translated from the French, published in Moscow in 1785.

^[280] who taught you all that: Kolya’s ideas throughout his harangue are drawn from the liberal press of the time. Again, as with Madame Khokhlakov, Dostoevsky is teasing his opponents, here by reflecting their ideas through a schoolboy’s mind. There is, of course, a serious point to it, connected with one of the major themes of B.K., the influence of the word.

^[281] if there were no God . . .: see note 3 to page 24 in section 1.1.4 and note 5 to page 234 in 2.5.3.

^[282] Candide: Voltaire’s satirical-philosophical tale (1759).

^[283] Belinsky ... Onegin: refers to the “Ninth Essay on Pushkin” (1844-45) by the influential liberal critic Vissarion Belinsky (1811-48). Onegin and Tatiana are the hero and heroine of Pushkin’s novel in verse Evgeny Onegin (1823-31).

^[284] Les femmes tricottent: “Women are knitters.”

^[285] The Bell: the two lines of verse Kolya quotes are from an anti-government satire that appeared in the émigré magazine North Star (no. 6,1861) and elsewhere, but not in The Bell, published in London by Alexander Herzen (1812-70), where a sequel to it appeared. The “Third Department” was the imperial secret police, whose headquarters were near the Chain Bridge in Petersburg.

^[286] If I forget thee . . .: see Psalm 137, “By the rivers of Babylon . . .”

^[287] Skotoprigonyevsk: roughly “Cattle-roundup-ville.”

^[288] They want to setup ...: the question of a monument to Pushkin began to be discussed in the press in 1862; on 6 June 1880 the monument was finally unveiled. Dostoevsky gave a famous address on the occasion.

^[289] vous comprenez . . .: “you know, this business and the terrible death of your papa.”

^[290] like a Swede at Poltava: a common Russian saying; the original has “like a Swede,” the “at Poltava” being implied. Charles XII of Sweden was roundly defeated at Poltava in 1709 by Peter the Great.

^[291] wisdom: in this context, the Old Slavonic word premudrost’ (wisdom) most likely refers to the Scriptures.

^[292] Apocryphal Gospels: accounts of the life of Christ (such as the Gospels of Thomas or James) not accepted as canonical.

^[293] Claude Bernard: French physiologist (1813-78), whose Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine defined the basic principles of scientific research.

^[294] de thoughtibus ...: Mitya’s variation on the Latin saying de gustibus non est disputandum (“there is no arguing over taste”).

^[295] image and likeness: see note 4 to page 239 in section 2.5.4.

^[296] Ah, what a charming little foot . . .: Dostoevsky’s (not Rakitin’s) jesting response to D. D. Minaev’s parody of a poem by Pushkin. Minaev (1835-89) was a poet of civic themes.

^[297] to the uttermost farthing: see Matthew 5:26.

^[298] Alyosha was startled . . .: Katerina Ivanovna suddenly addresses Ivan in the familiar second person singular, indicating greater intimacy than social conventions would have allowed them.

^[299] with obvious coldness: here Ivan suddenly addresses Alyosha in the formal second person plural.

^[300] Ah, Vanka’s gone ....: Vanka is a diminutive of Ivan. The song must unconsciously remind Ivan of his departure on the eve of the catastrophe (see Terras, p. 381).

^[301] Licharda: see note 2 to page 269 in section 2.5.6.

^[302] The Homilies . . .: see note 7 to page 27 in section 1.1.5.

^[303] qui frisait la cinquantaine: “who was pushing fifty.”

^[304] Thomas believed ...: see note 1 to page 26 in section 1.1.5.

^[305] c’est noble ... c’est chivaleresque: “it’s noble, it’s delightful ... it’s chivalrous.”

^[306] I donated ten roubles ... . that is, to a fund to help liberate Slavs under Turkish domination in the Balkans.

^[307] Satan sum ...: the devil adapts a famous line from the Roman playwright Terence (190-159 b.c.): homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto (“I am a man, nothing human is alien to me”).

^[308] C’est de nouveau, n’est-ce pas?: “That’s something new, isn’t it?”

^[309] the waters above the firmament: see Genesis 1:7.

^[310] Gattsuk ...: A. A. Gattsuk (1832-91) was a Moscow publisher who published a yearly almanac in the 1870s and 1880s.

^[311] great ... beautiful: see note 2 to page 71 in section 1.2.6.

^[312] Le diable n’existe point: “The devil does not exist.”

^[313] and various little vaudevilles ... Khlestakov: the quoted line is spoken by Khlestakov, the impostor-hero of Gogol’s comedy The Inspector-General (1836).

^[314] Je pense donc je suis: “I think, therefore I am,” the well-known phrase of the philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650).

^[315] a certain department .... see note 5 to page 555 in section 4.10.6.

^[316] rejected all ...: the quoted words are spoken by Repetilov in Griboyedov’s Woe from Wit (see note 1 to page 221 in section 2.5.1)

^[317] the ‘mellowing . . .’: a commonplace in the eighteenth-century debate on the progress of civilization.

^[318] the desert fathers ...: first line of a poem by Pushkin (1836) that goes on to paraphrase the fourth-century Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, recited in weekday services during the Great Lent.

^[319] the actor Gorbunov: I. F. Gorbunov (1831-96), a personal friend of Dostoevsky, also a writer and talented improvisor.

^[320] Ah, mon père ...: “Ah, father, it is such pleasure for him, and so little trouble for me.” This witticism goes back to an anonymous epigram on the French actress Jeanne-Catherine Gaussain (1711-67).

^[321] great and beautiful: again, see note 2 to page 71 in section 1.2.6.

^[322] Belinsky: see note 3 to page 555 in section 4.10.6.

^[323] I did think ...: Dostoevsky plays in this passage on the names of certain decorations and of certain publications: the “Lion and Sun” was a Persian order, which might be awarded to a Russian serving in the Caucasus; the “North Star” was a Swedish order, but also a Russian radical almanac; “Sinus,” the Dog Star, is also the hero of Voltaire’s Micro-mégas (1752), The devil teases Ivan with being a liberal.

^[324] Mephistopheles . . .: see Goethe, Faust, part 1, lines 1335-36.

^[325] à la Heine: Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), German poet and essayist of irreverent wit.

^[326] Ah, mais c’est bête enfin!: “Ah, but how stupid, really!”

^[327] Luther’s inkstand: it is said that Martin Luther (1483-1546) was tempted by the devil while translating the Bible and threw his inkstand at him.

^[328] Monsieur sait-il ...: “Does the gentleman know what the weather is like? One wouldn’t put a dog outside . . “The first half of a joke, the punch line being: “Yes, but you are not a dog.” The whole joke appears in Dostoevsky’s notebooks of 1876-77.

^[329] Le mot de l’énigme: “the key to the riddle.”

^[330] the doors of heaven open: see Revelation 4:1.

^[331] Herrnhufer or “Moravian Brother”: the Herrnhufers emerged as a religious sect in eighteenth-century Saxony and subsequently spread to Russia. Their beliefs were rooted in the teachings of the fifteenth-century Moravian Brethren.

^[332] Gott der Vater ...: Herzenstube teaches Mitya to say “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit” in German.

^[333] Bread and circuses!: in Latin, panem et circenses; bitter words addressed by the poet Juvenal (65?-128 a.d.) to the Romans of the decadent period (Satires 10.81).

^[334] Le diable . . .: see note 10 to page 641 in section 4.11.9.

^[335] then he cried out with a frenzied cry: a Hebraism reminiscent of the cries of those possessed by evil spirits; cf. Acts 8:6-7, Luke 8:28, Matthew 8:29, Mark 9:26.

^[336] ”accursed” questions: God versus reason, human destiny, the future of Russia, and so forth; questions that concerned Dostoevsky himself (see Terras, p. 412).

^[337] new open courts . . .: the judicial reform of 1864 introduced public jury trials in Russia.

^[338] least Hamletian question . . .: refers to Hamlet 3.1.78; not a quotation.

^[339] he lived among us: first line of Pushkin’s poem to the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855).

^[340] A great writer ... comparison: the line “Ah, troika . . .” comes from Gogol’s Dead Souls, Sobakevich, Nozdryov, and Chichikov are the grotesque heroes of the novel.

^[341] like to the sun ...: a line from the ode “God” (1784) by the great Russian poet G. R. Derzhavin (1743-1816).

^[342] après moi le déluge: “after me the flood,” attributed to Louis XV, and also to his favorite, the Marquise de Pompadour.

^[343] dark mysticism ... witless chauvinism: criticisms often leveled at Dostoevsky by his opponents, here treated good-humoredly.

^[344] what lies beyond: see note 3 to page 694 in section 4.12.6.

^[345] We’ll close Kronstadt . . .: island and port on the Gulf of Finland; in the nineteenth century Russia was a major exporter of wheat.

^[346] strike the heart ... : quotation from Pushkin’s poem ”Reply to Anonymous”(1830).

^[347] Udolpho: refers to The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), a gothic novel by the English writer Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), very popular in Russia in the earlier nineteenth century.

^[348] the power to bind and to loose: see Matthew 16:19,18:18; rather loosely applied by Fetyukovich.

^[349] The crucified lover of mankind . .: the quotation is a conflation of John 10:11,14-15, with the last phrase added by Fetyukovich. On the epithet “lover of mankind,” see note 1 to page 18 in section 1.1.4.

^[350] Fathers, provoke not ...: cf. Colossians 3:21. Fetyukovich “adulters” by what he omits (see Colossians 3:20).

^[351] vivos voco!: “I call the living.” From the epigraph to Schiller’s “Song of the Bell,” used in turn as an epigraph by the radical journal The Bell (see note 5 to page 555 in section 4.10.6).

^[352] With what measure ye mete ... : see note 1 to page 133 in section 1.3.8; Fetyukovich goes on to reverse the meaning of this “precept.”

^[353] ’metal and ‘brimstone’: refers to a passage from the play Hard Days (1863) by Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-86), in which a merchant’s wife is afraid to hear these biblical words.

^[354] Drive nature out the door . . .: quotation from a Russian translation of La Fontaine’s “La Chatte métamorphosée en femme” (The cat changed into a woman), Fables 2.18.

^[355] These people . . .: see Matthew 25:35-43.

^[356] It is better . . .: the majestic voice is Peter the Great’s; the words are a slightly altered quotation from his Military Code (1716).

^[357] For Thou art our God ...: the phrase appears in many Orthodox prayers, particularly in the Hymn of the Resurrection sung at Matins.

^[358] Thou art angry, Jupiter . . .: a well-known saying in Russia. Its ultimate source is unknown, but a somewhat similar phrase occurs in a dialogue by the Greek satirist Lucian. See N.S. Ashukin and M. G. Ashukina, Krylatye Slova (Winged words) (Moscow, 1986), pp. 721-22.

^[359] I will break the sword . . .: a sword was broken over the condemned man’s head in the ceremony known as “civil execution” (see Terras, p. 436). Dostoevsky underwent such an “execution” on 22 December 1849, and described it in a letter to his brother Mikhail written that same day.

^[360] Good God, gentlemen ...: refers to an actual case, involving the actress A. B. Kairova, which Dostoevsky wrote about in his Diary of a Writer (May 1876).

^[361] to the last Mohicans: James Fenimore Cooper’s novel The Last of the Mohicans (1826) was very popular in Russia; Dostoevsky owned a French translation of it.

^[362] fillet: a narrow band with a prayer of absolution written on it, customarily placed on the head of the deceased in Russian funeral services.

^[363] may his memory ... ages of ages: liturgical language echoing the service they have all just attended; the prayer “Memory Eternal,” sung at the very end of the funeral service, refers to God’s memory.