Arseny is walking around in Zapskovye, where little boys lie in wait for him. They knock him down, onto the boards of the roadway. Several pairs of hands press him into the boards, though he does not resist. The boy whose hands remain free nails the edges of Arseny’s shirt to the boards. Arseny watches the boys laugh and then he laughs, too. He laughs along with them each time the boys nail his shirt to the roadway. And he silently asks God not to cast blame on them for this. He could neatly tear his shirt away from the nails but does not. Arseny wants to do something nice for the boys. He abruptly stands and the hem of his shirt tears away with a loud rip. The boys are rolling on the ground with laughter. For the rest of the day, Arseny searches the trash for scraps of fabric and sews them on to replace the torn-off hem. The boys laugh even more when they see the new patches on his shirt.
It gets quiet when they run away. Only one boy remains, and he approaches Arseny and embraces him. And weeps. Arseny’s heart sinks because he knows this boy pities him but is embarrassed to show it in front of the others. He wants the boy to be joyful because he recognizes the features of another child in this boy’s features. And Arseny weeps, too. He kisses the boy on the forehead and runs away because his heart is ready to burst. Arseny chokes on his sobs. He runs and the sobbing shakes him and tears fly from his cheeks in all directions, sprouting all sorts of humble plants on the roadside.
The Velikaya River rises in the spring and the wooden roadways float in places. It is muddy in Zapskovye. The priest John wades through the mud on his way home. He hears the juicy squishing of mud behind his back. He slowly turns. In front of him stands a person covered in mud, holding a knife. Priest John silently presses his hand to his chest. A recollection of Arseny’s premonition flashes in his head. In his heart there sounds a prayer that he has no time to pronounce. The person inflicts twenty-three knife blows. With each swing of his arm, he grunts and groans from the strain. Priest John is left to lie in the mud. The person’s tracks are lost in that very place. They say it is as if there was not even a person, only a muddy splash. Which leapt up behind priest John’s back and immediately spread along the road. A short while later an inhuman shriek is heard. It floats across the Velikaya River and the Pskova River, extending over the entire city of Pskov. It is the priest’s wife shrieking.
People come from Mayor Gavriil. They say:
You, O Ustin, are an unusual person and your visits are salutary. The mayor’s wife’s teeth have been aching for three weeks now, might you help her? Many doctors have already come to her but brought no real relief. The mayor asks you to come to his house, too, hoping for your help.
Arseny looks at his visitors from Mayor Gavriil. They are waiting. They say the mayor’s wife could have come to the cemetery herself but, as it happens, she does not feel like coming to the cemetery. Arseny shakes his head. He thrusts his hand into his mouth, pulls a wisdom tooth out of his gums, and presents it to the visitors. They understand that this is, itself, the blessed man’s answer to their request. Taking all due care, they bring Arseny’s tooth to the mayor’s wife. The mayor’s wife places it in her mouth and the toothache goes away.
Mayor Gavriil and his suite come to see Arseny. He brings expensive clothing to Arseny and asks him to don it. Arseny dons it. He and Mayor Gavriil are each given a goblet of wine from another land. The mayor drinks and Arseny bows, turns to the northeast, and slowly empties his goblet onto the ground. The flowing wine forms a spiral as it falls, its polished facets glimmering. The grass thirstily soaks up the precious liquid. The sun is at its zenith. Mayor Gavriil scowls.
How can it be, holy fool Foma asks the mayor, that you don’t understand why God’s servant Ustin emptied your wine to the northeast?
The mayor does not understand and is not even inclined to hide that fact.
Well now, my dear man, says holy fool Foma, you are simply not aware of the news that on this daye there is a fire in Novgorod and God’s servant Ustin is striving to extinguish it, using makeshift methods.
Mayor Gavriil sends his people to Novgorod to make conclusive inquiries regarding what occurred. Upon their return, these people report to Mayor Gavriil that on the morning of the aforesaid day, an extremely powerful fire truly did break out but then died down around noon, through some power unfathomable to the Novgorodians. The mayor does not answer at all. He signals to the visitors to go out and they leave, bowing. The mayor lights an icon lamp. The muffled words of his prayer carry to those standing outside the doorway.
Arseny is walking to a hostelry in the clothes that were given to him. The hostelry’s patrons undress Arseny with the intention of drinking for three days and three nights with the money the clothing fetches. Arseny has a small bundle of old clothes with him and puts them right on. He sighs with relief. The hostelry guests order their first mug. When Arseny sees this, he knocks the mugs out of their hands. The mugs roll with a tinny sound, spilling their contents on the floor. The guests order a second round but Arseny again does not let them drink. One of them wants to hit Arseny in the face but the hostelry keeper bids him not to do so. The hostelry keeper knows he would be the one answering for beatings and so kicks the patrons out. The patrons call it a night and go home, sober and with money in their pockets. When they return home, their kin take away the money and are unable to find any rational explanation for its appearance. They remain completely bewildered.
And do you know, holy fool Foma asks Arseny, how many years have passed since you showed up here?
Arseny shrugs.
Well, you don’t need to know that anyway, says holy fool Foma. Live outside time for now.
Arseny tosses clods of mud at several venerable residents of Zapskovye. He can faultlessly discern small and large demons behind their backs. The residents are displeased.
There is consolation only in the fact, Arseny informs Ustina, that the demons are even more displeased.
Sometimes he throws stones at church doors. Ample quantities of demons throng there, too. They do not dare enter the churches and so huddle around the entrance.
When she sees how Arseny prays at night, the new abbess says:
During the dayes, God’s servant Ustin laughs at the worlde, at nyghte he mourns the same worlde.
Evpraksia, a carpenter’s daughter, is brought to Arseny at the monastery. A ceiling beam in the granary fell on her two months ago and she has been lying motionless ever since. Her affliction does not allow her to return to life but does not release her into death, either. And those around Evpraksia cannot understand which of those conditions she is closer to.
Evpraksia is assigned to a guest cell and prayers are recited over her there. On days with nice weather, she is carried out into the monastery yard, where prayers are recited in fresh air. The wind blows at Evpraksia’s hair but she herself remains motionless. Arseny approaches Evpraksia’s bed in the yard. He takes Evpraksia by the hand.
Life has not fully left her, Arseny tells Ustina. I sense that she may wake up. She only needs help to do so.
Arseny places his palm on Evpraksia’s forehead. His lips move. Evpraksia opens her eyes. She sees Arseny and the sisters surrounding her. It is a warm summer day. The shadows of the trees are sharply drawn. They shift in time with the sun’s movement. The linden leaves are sticky and barely tremble in the wind.
We are celebrating Evpraksia’s return, says the new abbess, but we remember, too, that it is temporary, for everything on this earth is temporary.