[143] Just art thou ...: a variation on several biblical passages: cf. Revelation 15:3-4, 16:7,19:1-2; Psalm 119:137.
[144] I hasten to return my ticket: allusion to Schiller’s poem “Resignation” (1784).
[145] and for alclass="underline" echoes an Orthodox liturgical phrase (cf. note 2 to page 164 in section 2.4.1).
[146] the only sinless One: Christ. The words come from the Hymn of the Resurrection sung at Matins in the Orthodox Church.
[147] Le bon jugement. . .: “The Compassionate Judgment of the Most Holy and Gracious Virgin Mary.”
[148] pre-Petrine antiquity: before the reign of Peter the Great, tsar of Muscovy (1682-1721), then emperor of Russia (1721-25), who moved the capital from Moscow to Petersburg.
[149] The Mother of God Visits ...: a Byzantine apocryphal legend, translated into Old Slavonic in the early Russian middle ages.
[150] I come quickly: the “prophet” is St. John; see Revelation 3:11,22:7,12,20.
[151] Of that day . . .: see Mark 13:32, Matthew 24:36.
[152] Believe . . .: from the last stanza of Schiller’s poem ”Sehnsucht” (“Yeaming,” 1801). The Russian version, translated here, differs considerably from the original.
[153] a horrible new heresy: Lutheranism.
[154] A great star . . .: misquotation of Revelation 8:10-11: the star Wormwood.
[155] God our Lord . . .: the exclamation “God is the Lord, and has revealed himself to us” is sung at Matins and in the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church. Ivan misunderstands the Old Slavonic (the language of the Russian Church) to the point of reversing its meaning—a not uncommon mistake.
[156] Bent under the burden . . .: the last stanza of F. I. Tyutchev’s poem “These poor villages . . .” (1855).
[157] In (he splendid auto-da-fé ...: a somewhat altered quotation from A. I. Polezhayev’s poem “Coriolanus” (1834). The Portuguese auto da fé means “a (judicial) act of faith,” i.e., the carrying out of a sentence of the Inquisition, usually the public burning of a heretic.
[158] as the lightning ...: see Matthew 24:27, Luke 17:24.
[159] scorched squares: also from Polezhayev’s poem.
[160] ad majorem . . .: “for the greater glory of God,” the motto of the Jesuits (correctly ad majorem Dei gloriam).
[161] Talitha cumi: “damsel arise” in Aramaic: Mark 5:40-42. Ivan bases this “second appearance” of Christ on Gospel accounts.
[162] fragrant with laurel and lemon: an altered quotation from scene 2 of Pushkin’s “The Stone Guest,” a play on the Don Juan theme, set in Seville (one of Pushkin’s “Little Tragedies”).
[163] qui pro quo: Latin legal term: “one for another,” i.e., mistaken identity.
[164] I want to make you free: see John 8:31-36.
[165] to bind and loose: see Matthew 16:19.
[166] ”tempted” you: see Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13.
[167] Who can compare ...: see Revelation 13:4,13 (also note 10 to page 244 in section 2.5.4).
[168] Tower of Babeclass="underline" see note 2 to page 26 in section 1.1.5.
[169] Instead of the firm ancient law: according to Christ’s words in the Gospel (Matthew 5:17-18), he came not to replace but to fulfill the law given to Moses. The Inquisitor (or Ivan) overstates his case.
[170] If you would know ... see Matthew 4:6. The text is misquoted, and the last two clauses are added.
[171] Come down ...: an abbreviated misquotation of Matthew 27:42 (see also Mark 15:32).
[172] Your great prophet . . .: again, St. John (see Revelation 7:4-8).
[173] locusts and roots: see Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6; the allusion is to John the Baptist.
[174] Exactly eight centuries ago . . .: in 755 ad, eight centuries before the Inquisitor’s time (mid sixteenth century), Pepin the Short, king of the Franks, took the Byzantine exarchate of Ravenna and the Pentapolis (“five cities”: i.e., Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinnigaglia, and Ancona) from the Lombards and turned the territories over to Pope Stephen II, thus initiating the secular power of the papacy.
[175] And it is then that the beast ... “Mystery!”: combines the Great Beast from Revelation 13 and 17 with lines from scene 2 of Pushkin’s “Covetous Knight” (another of the “Little Tragedies”): “Submissive, timid, blood-bespattered crime / Comes crawling to my feet, licking my hand, / Looking me in the eye . . .” (see Terras, p. 235).
[176] It is said . . .: see Revelation 17:15-16.
[177] that the number be complete: see Revelation 6:11 (Revised Standard Version).
[178] Dm: “I have spoken.”
[179] filthy earthly lucre: see Titus 1:7.
[180] imagine that even the Masons . . .: Freemasons, a secret society of mutual aid and brotherhood who organized their first “grand lodge” in London in 1717 and from there spread to most parts of the world; considered heretical by the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.
[181] dark squares: an altered quotation from Pushkin’s poem “Remembrance” (1828).
[182] you go right, I’ll go left ...: see perhaps Genesis 13:9. The left is the “sinister” side, associated with the devil, especially in depictions of the Last Judgment. Ivan hunches up his left shoulder in a moment; Smerdyakov often squints or winks with his left eye.
[183] Pater Seraphicus: “Seraphic Father.” An epithet applied to St. Francis of Assisi; also an allusion to Goethe’s Faust, part 2, act 5, lines 11918-25. Ivan’s sarcasm is not without respect.
[184] this contemplator: see the end of B.K. 1.3.6.
[185] servant Licharda: Licharda (a distortion of “Richard”) is the faithful servant in The Tale of Prince Bova, a sixteenth-century Russian version of a medieval romance of French origin widely spread in Europe. Licharda is used by the evil queen in her plot to murder the king.
[186] His name is Gorstkin . . .: “Lyagavy,” Gorstkin’s nickname, means “bird dog.”
[187] Great Lent: the forty-day fast preceding Easter; called the “Great Lent” in the Orthodox Church to distinguish it from “lesser” fasts during the liturgical year.
[188] Holy Week: see note 6 to page 168 in section 2.4.1.
[189] One Hundred and Four Sacred Stories . . .: a Russian translation of a German collection of Bible stories edited by Johannes Hiibner (1714). According to his wife, Dostoevsky had this book as a child and “learned to read with it.”
[190] analogion: (from Greek) lectern; a stand in the middle of the church on which the Bible is placed during readings.
[191] There was a man ...: the beginning of the Book of Job; here and in the following, Zosima paraphrases from memory.