The Sin Collector

MASHA

The Torments, or St. Theodora’s Journey Through the Tollhouses read the cover. This one was a reprint. The foreword maintained that, thanks to the intervention of a lay monk named Grigory, a ninth-century nun named Theodora had conveyed the story of her own death—a tale of the agonies of hell and the blessings of heaven. But most important of all was this: in her revelation to Grigory, Theodora described how she passed through twenty stations of torment, which she called aerial tollhouses, and was tried for her sins at each one. In Greek and Russian Orthodox literature, The Torments was the most complete and lively description of the transition from temporal life to eternal destiny. And so, Masha read, as everything inside her trembled (she was so close now, she could reach out and touch the killer), after death the human soul, guided by angels, ascends a divine ladder past a series of tollhouses. At each stop, the soul is beset by evil demons called the Torments.

She remembered Gluzman shouting at her, The Torments! Wallow not in fornication, but rather pay the tolls for your sins!

She continued to read. At each tollhouse, the Torments put the soul on trial for its sins. The souls of the righteous are saved, but the demons spear the sinners on their flaming lances and carry them into the everlasting darkness. The foreword noted that the poet Batyushkov had called this journey an “epic of death,” designed to terrify the medieval reader. Well, Batyushkov could go to hell, she didn’t have time for him. Masha flipped impatiently through the introduction and started in hungrily on the main text.

And then came Death, roaring like a lion; its appearance was a terrible sight… Masha scanned the pages quickly, feeling like she might be sick. As we rose from the earth to the heights of heaven, we were soon met by the spirits of the first Torment, where souls are tried for the sins of Idle Speech; that is, for speaking without thought or without need, or uttering what is vile and shameless.

He couldn’t ever shut up, she heard Slava’s girlfriend complain. Not even in bed!

Masha pulled out her notebook and began sketching a new table. Torment 1: Idle Speech. Who: Slava Ovechkin. Where: Bersenevskaya Waterfront. Connection to Heavenly Jerusalem: Tsar’s Gardens (Garden of Gethsemane).

She turned back to the book. Thence we ascended and drew near the second tollhouse, where I underwent the Torment of Falsehood. Here I was tried for every false word: failure to keep oaths, the use of God’s name in vain, and false testimony.

She went for it, all in, said the exhausted mother, the pink stroller swimming before Masha’s eyes. She even testified in court—

Masha swallowed. We reached then the third tollhouse, the Torment of Denunciation and Slander. She remembered Snegurov’s recorded voice: The packet wasn’t mine… But I know someone who could have benefited from making me look bad, who could have tipped off the press, who could have planted the packet, no problem.

She kept reading. We reached the fourth tollhouse, for Gluttony, and evil spirits immediately rushed forth to meet us. Their faces resembled those of sensuous gluttons and despicable drunkards.

Kolyan, wrote Masha. Kutafya Tower. Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

As we conversed, we reached the tollhouse of Sloth, where sinners are tried for all those days and hours they have spent in idleness. Here, too, are detained the parasites who did no work themselves, but rather lived off the labor of others, and men hired to work who took their wages with no regard to the performance of the tasks which they had undertaken.

Masha had to think about that one. Then she remembered the address: Lenivka Street, which even sounded like “Lazy Street.” The Jaffa Gate, the western gates of Jerusalem. Gebelai! A hired architect who took his wages with no regard to the performance of the tasks which he had undertaken.

As her chart filled up, it began to take on a horrifying clarity. There was the seventh tollhouse, for Avarice, and the eighth, featuring the Torment for Usury, where there stand accused those who gain riches by the ill use of their neighbors, the bribe collectors, and those who take what belongs to others. The all-powerful governor’s wife could fit either of those. It went on and on. Theft. Murder. Pride. Disrespect for one’s elders. Envy. Masha’s hand shook as she wrote Katya’s name. The Moskva River… the Jordan. Lubyansky Drive… the Mount of Olives. Masha’s cheeks were burning, and her pen flew over the paper. She was on his trail, and running fast.

The dark shadow was just up ahead, leading her to a meeting place known only to the Sin Collector himself.