The Grand Inquisitor

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Ivan,

takes place in the sixteenth century,

And so Our Lady, shocked and weeping, falls before the throne of God and begs for mercy for all in hell—for

and pray for mercy on all without distinction.

ends by her winning from God a respite of suffering every year from Good Friday till Trinity Day, and the sinners at once raise a cry of thankfulness from hell, chanting, 'Thou art just, O Lord, in this judgment.'

'Behold, I come quickly';

My story is laid in Spain, in Seville, in the most terrible time of the Inquisition, when fires were lighted every day to the glory of God, and 'in the splendid auto da fé the wicked heretics were burnt.'

burnt by the cardinal, the Grand Inquisitor,

and, as it were, scales fall from his eyes and the blind man sees Him.

'Maiden, arise!' and the maiden arises. The little girl sits up in the coffin and looks round, smiling with wide-open wondering eyes, holding a bunch of white roses they had put in her hand.

the Grand Inquisitor, passes by the cathedral. He is an old man, almost ninety, tall and erect, with a withered face and sunken eyes,

when he was burning the enemies of the Roman Church—at this moment he is wearing his coarse, old, monk's cassock.

Is it Thou? Thou?' but receiving no answer, he adds at once. 'Don't answer, be silent.

What canst Thou say, indeed? I know too well what Thou wouldst say. And Thou hast no right to add anything to what Thou hadst said of old. Why, then, art Thou come to hinder us? For Thou hast come to hinder us, and Thou knowest that.

the Prisoner."

Alyosha,

some impossible quid pro quo?" "Take it as the last,"

case of mistaken identity,

promised, Thou hast established by Thy word, Thou hast given to us the right to bind and to unbind, and now, of course, Thou canst not think of taking it away. Why, then, hast Thou come to hinder us?'"

And could anything truer be said than what he revealed to Thee in three questions and what

on the day of the three temptations.

At the time it could not be so clear, since the future was unknown; but now that fifteen hundred years have passed, we see that everything in those three questions was so justly divined and foretold, and has been so truly fulfilled, that nothing can be added to them or taken from them.

"Judge Thyself who was right—Thou or he who questioned

which they fear and dread—for nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom. But seest Thou these stones in this parched and barren wilderness? Turn them into bread,

But dost Thou know that for the sake of that earthly bread the spirit of the earth will rise up against Thee and will strive with Thee and overcome Thee, and all will follow him, crying, "Who can compare with this beast?

"Feed men, and then ask of them virtue!"

In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, "Make us your slaves, but feed us."

understand themselves, at last, that freedom and bread enough for all are inconceivable together, for never, never will they be able to share between them!

Yet in this question lies hid the great secret of this world. Choosing "bread," Thou wouldst have satisfied the universal and everlasting craving of humanity—to find someone to worship.

So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship.

give bread, and man will worship thee, for nothing is more certain than bread.

For the secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for. Without a stable conception of the object of life, man would not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy himself than remain on earth, though he had bread in abundance.

Didst Thou forget that man prefers peace, and even death, to freedom of choice in the knowledge of good and evil? Nothing is more seductive for man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering.

Thou didst choose what was utterly beyond the strength of men, acting as though Thou didst not love them at all—Thou who didst come to give Thy life for them! Instead of taking possession of men's freedom, Thou didst increase it, and burdened the spiritual kingdom of mankind with its sufferings for ever.

There are three powers, three powers alone, able to conquer and to hold captive for ever the conscience of these impotent rebels for their happiness those forces are miracle, mystery and authority. Thou hast rejected all three and hast set the example for doing so.

of God then cast Thyself down, for it is written: the angels shall hold him up lest he fall and bruise himself,

Thou didst know then that in taking one step, in making one movement to cast Thyself down, Thou wouldst be tempting God and have lost all Thy faith in Him, and wouldst have been dashed to pieces against that earth which Thou didst come to save.

the wise spirit

Thou didst hope that man, following Thee, would cling to God and not ask

But Thou didst not know that when man rejects miracle he rejects God too; for man seeks not so much God as the miraculous.

And as man cannot bear to be without the miraculous, he will create new miracles of his own for himself, and will worship deeds of sorcery and witchcraft, though he might be a ...

Thou didst not come down from the Cross when they shouted to Thee, mocking and reviling Thee, "Come down from the cross and...

We have taken the sword of Caesar, and in taking it, of course, have rejected Thee and followed him.

Receiving bread from us, they will see clearly that we take the bread made by their hands from them, to give it to them, without any miracle.

But then I will stand up and point out to Thee the thousand millions of happy children who have known no sin. And we who have taken their sins upon us for their happiness will stand up before Thee and say: "Judge us if Thou canst and darest."