[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 andbeautifuclass="underline" see note 2 to page 71 in section 1.2.6.
[216]Much onearth . . .: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]Rememberespecially . . .: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 richman 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 theywill 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]Pushkinobserved: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. Panmeans “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]DeadSouls: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-gîtPiron . . .:“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]ToRussia ...: 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]PanPodvysotsky: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 gonorin 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.”