Page 486 - the-brothers-karamazov

py old Jacob was on learning that his darling boy was still
alive, and how he went to Egypt leaving his own country,
and died in a foreign land, bequeathing his great prophecy
that had lain mysteriously hidden in his meek and timid
heart all his life, that from his offspring, from Judah, will
come the great hope of the world, the Messiah and Saviour.
Fathers and teachers, forgive me and don’t be angry, that
like a little child I’ve been babbling of what you know long
ago, and can teach me a hundred times more skilfully. I
only speak from rapture, and forgive my tears, for I love
the Bible. Let him too weep, the priest of God, and be sure
that the hearts of his listeners will throb in response. Only
a little tiny seed is needed — drop it into the heart of the
peasant and it won’t die, it will live in his soul all his life,
it will be hidden in the midst of his darkness and sin, like
a bright spot, like a great reminder. And there’s no need
of much teaching or explanation, he will understand it all
simply. Do you suppose that the peasants don’t understand?
Try reading them the touching story of the fair Esther and
the haughty Vashti; or the miraculous story of Jonah in the
whale. Don’t forget either the parables of Our Lord, choose
especially from the Gospel of St. Luke (that is what I did),
and then from the Acts of the Apostles the conversion of St.
Paul (that you mustn’t leave out on any account), and from
the Lives of the Saints, for instance, the life of Alexey, the
man of God and, greatest of all, the happy martyr and the
seer of God, Mary of Egypt — and you will penetrate their
hearts with these simple tales. Give one hour a week to it
in spite of your poverty, only one little hour. And you will