Laurus

by Eugene Vodolazkin

To avoid immortalizing serious sins, the elder did not write them down. He asked that they be conveyed directly into his ear, and he then entombed them in that ear for the ages.

Arseny remembered Arsenius the Great, who more than once regretted the things he said but never once regretted his silence.

You know, with all this hoarded junk, we will not rise in the wake of our risen Savior. A person has, my love, a lot of unnecessary property and attachments that drag him down.

In this epoch, which was anything but simple, it was important that someone in a certain place was either waiting for someone or doing the opposite: sending someone someplace, vouching for him, and asking that his travel be facilitated. In some sense, this was a confirmation that the person had a place in life before, too, and that he had not come out of nowhere and was traveling honestly around an expanse.

The Middle Ages rarely presented opportunities that brought people together twice during the course of an earthly life.

you say faith is not enough for you and you want knowledge, too. But knowledge does not involve spiritual effort; knowledge is obvious. Faith assumes effort. Knowledge is repose and faith is motion.

Essentially, knowledge about the end of the earth was more important to them than healing because, as they saw things, acknowledging the nearness of doomsday canceled out the need for healing.

He was not lonely because he did not feel that people had abandoned him. He sensed everyone he had ever met as if they were present. They continued a quiet life in his soul, regardless of whether they had gone off to another world or were still alive. He remembered all their words, intonations, and movements. Their old words gave rise to new words and integrated with more recent events and Laurus’s own words. Life continued on, in all manner of variety.

Toward November, the chunk of bread Laurus had taken from the monastery had begun to dwindle perceptibly. Laurus noticed it dwindling but that did not cause him concern. He understood: if his existence on earth still had any point, then daily bread would be given to him in good time. And that is what happened.

Among temporal indicators, the words one day came to mind ever more frequently. Laurus liked those words because they overcame the curse of time. They also confirmed the singularity and lack of repeatability of everything that had occurred: one day. One day he realized this indicator was quite enough.