Michael Amity takes a look at one of Fyodor’s finest.
Constantine, in 312, began a plight to unite Christianity under one religious orthodoxy, centered in the Roman Empire’s new Capitol, Constantinople. He was both the Bishop and the King of his empire, and wouldn’t bow to the pope the way the Western Roman Emperors were forced to–out of fear of excommunication and eternal damnation of the soul. In the 5th century, the popes decided that power was to be officially shared between the pope and the kings of each nation—known as the Two Swords Theory—the power of the earth (temporal) goes to the king, and the power of the spirit (sacred) goes to God. Since the soul was considered superior to the body, so the pope was superior to the king, and no matter which king ruled, the Vatican would still hold the most power.
In Russia, the Two Swords Theory never adopted. Russia was founded by Vikings in the 9th century. Their form of Christianity was taken from Constaninople, not Rome. Their tzars believed in autocracy and orthodoxy, and therefore, the Monarch held all the power.
Fyodor Dostoevsky was an author keen to explore “the dark place that is the Russian soul.” His father owned serfs, and was brutal to them and was murdered by his own serfs. He started in millitary school but couldn’t be a soldier because he was an epileptic. He began to write and became involved with revolutionaries. He began circulating propeganda in support of forming a liberal democracy and was caught and imprisoned for treason and almost killed by firing squad, but served 10 years instead.
Dostoevsky emerged from prison inspired to fulfill a creative purpose. He became increasingly convinced of the ability of the Russian Orthodox Church to foster a mystical union of love with God. He was extremely sensuous and creative during this time, gambling, drinking and writing several masterpieces including Crime and Punishment to pay his debts. Then he married and had his son, Alexei, who was the light of his life, and gave him all the joy he never had. But unfortunately, he passed his disease of epilepsy down to his son. Still upbeat, Dostoevsky began planning for his next grand novel, a masterpiece as he saw it that would tackle the questions and themes related to love and hate, good and evil that Dostoevsky himself grappled with during his lifetime.
He began working on The Brothers Karamazov, but while writing it, his son died from a seizure at age 3. The death of Dostoevsky’s son further fueled his questioning of the nature of good and evil, of Russia’s place in the world, and of the meaning of God.
The Brothers Karamazov starts with a quote from the Gospel of John: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
The novel is about a dysfunctional family. It opens with a father, Fyodor, who is a cruel drunk and has four sons—in Dostoevsky’s mind, each of the four sons represents a part of the Russian soul: the violent and sensuous Dmitri, who’s just like his father (they even share a mistress); the misguided Ivan, trying to import Western ideas, the strong in faith and conviction Alexei, the true spirit of Russia, who is schooled at a monestary by a preacher of love; and the mysterious and vile Smerdyakov, who was an epileptic, and was born from his father and a mistress.
The father and Dmitri argue over an inheritence and Alexei offers to help resolve the tension by bringing the family together for a discussion. The father is found dead and Dmitri is seen with blood on him and he is put on trial. Ivan and Alexei get to know eachother better. Ivan mocks Alexei’s religion. They debate love and reason. Ivan says he wrote a poem for Alexei and wants to read it to him. This poem is the centerpiece of the novel. It’s set in Ceville, Spain during the 16th centruy Inquisition, and involves an encounter between the Grand Inquisitor and Jesus.
The Grand Inquisitor is proudly killing heretics. Jesus appears in the town square and begins performing miracles. The soldiers bow at his feet, but are then instructed to arrest him. The Inquisitor goes to Jesus and says:
You are Jesus, the Christ, I know that you are He. And let me tell you this, I will have you burned alive tomorrow. Your crowd will know you are Jesus and they will burn you alive, because you see you have failed. The whole of your faith was a failure.
You think people want freedom but people want absolute rule! You think they want love, but you’re wrong! They want to hate. You had your chance, remember? When the Devil tempted you–The Devil, that’s who we serve, for he has the real understanding of power and what men want. You were hungry, you hadn’t eaten for 40 days, and the Devil said ‘Turn these stones into bread.’ You said, ‘Man does not live by bread alone,’ but you were wrong. That’s all he wants, is a full stomach. Give the people bread and they will do anything you tell them. Time and time again people have turned away from freedom in order to be fed.
Then the Devil said, ‘Cast yourself down and let the angels of God catch you.’ And you, Jesus, said, ‘No. It is written you should not tempt thy God.’ But that would’ve been a miracle and everyone would’ve accepted your message, for man, along with bread wants miracles, not knowledge. He wants simply an absolute belief. The greater the miracle, the more unreasonable it is, the more they’ll believe. The Devil then offered you the entire world as your kingdom and you refused him. You said, ‘No, my kingdom is not of this Earth.’ Again, you’re wrong. Everyone wants to rule the world. People want a world government to take away any and all responsibility from them having to do anything–and that’s what we’re working towards. So tomorrow it’ll be my privelege to burn you and set your soul free from this evil world.
And Jesus then looked at him, returning love for hate. After a moment, the Inquisitor decides to let Jesus go out the back door of the prison, saying, ‘you’re not worth it.’
Ivan turns to Alexei with his pessimistic views of mankind, of sufferring, despair and hopelessness and says. “Freedom and love of God have no meaning whatsoever. War, slavery and hate are constants of history, not love. All your love will mean nothing.”
The reader is left to wonder: Why does man choose hate over love? That’s the mystery.
The story concludes with a graveside service held for a child who had been loved by Alexei but tormented by his peers. At the service the children, out of true love and forgiveness, weep for the boy they once teased mercilessly. When one of the children at the service asks about resurrection, Alexei responds with an affirmation of the story of Christ and the tradition of Easter: God has destroyed death. Yes, we’ll all rise up from the grave, and we will walk hand in hand, out of the grave and into life.
Away from the random chances of life and the misery of death, Dostoevsky guides us with this powerful creative statement on the unconquerable human spirit. Out of death comes life.