St. Basil\u2019s Cathedral, adjacent to Red Square and the Kremlin in Moscow
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Three passages excerpted for my notes from Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov<\/em>, unabridged, translated by Constance Garnett (New York: Signet Classics, Penguin Books, 1980):<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Father Zossima to Madame Hohlakov, who has expressed her religious doubts and anguish to him:<\/p>\n
\u201c[T]here\u2019s no proving it, though you can be convinced of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cHow?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cBy the experience of active love. \u00a0Strive to love your neighbor actively and constantly. \u00a0In so far as you advance in love you will grow surer of the reality of God and of the immortality of your soul. \u00a0If you attain perfect self-forgetfulness in the love of your neighbor, then you will believe without doubt. \u00a0Doubt will no longer be able to enter your soul. \u00a0This has been tried. \u00a0This is certain.\u201d \u00a0(64)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then these two gems:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBe not proud. \u00a0Be proud neither to the little nor to the great. \u00a0Hate not those who reject you, who insult you, who abuse and slander you. \u00a0Hate not the atheists, the teachers of evil, the materialists \u2014 and I mean not only the good ones \u2014 for there are many good ones among them, especially in our day \u2014 hate not even the wicked ones. \u00a0Remember them in your prayers thus: \u00a0Save, O Lord, all those who have none to pray for them. \u00a0Save too all those who will not pray.\u201d \u00a0(164)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember always, young man,\u201d Father Paissy began, without preface, \u201cthat science which has become a great power in the last century, has analyzed everything divine handed down to us in the holy books. \u00a0After this cruel analysis the learned of this world have nothing left of all that was sacred. \u00a0But they have only analyzed the parts and overlooked the whole, and indeed their blindness is marvelous. \u00a0Yet the whole still stands steadfast before their eyes, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. \u00a0Has it not lasted nineteen centuries? \u00a0Is it not still a living, a moving power in the individual soul and in the masses of people? \u00a0It is still strong and living even in the souls of atheists, who have destroyed everything! \u00a0For even those who have renounced Christianity and attack it still follow the Christian ideal. \u00a0And neither subtlety nor the ardor of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ of old. \u00a0When it has been attempted, the result has been only grotesque.\u201d \u00a0(171)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Three passages excerpted for my notes from Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, unabridged, translated by Constance Garnett (New York: Signet Classics, Penguin Books, 1980): \u00a0 Father Zossima to Madame Hohlakov, who has expressed her religious doubts and anguish to him: \u201c[T]here\u2019s no proving it, though you can be convinced of it.\u201d \u201cHow?\u201d \u201cBy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1014,8940,8937,909,3139,6390],"class_list":["post-83321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-atheism","tag-atheists","tag-dostoyevsky","tag-faith","tag-love","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>