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hermits in the desert, and in His well-known mercy will He
not forgive one of them? And so I’m persuaded that though
I may once have doubted I shall be forgiven if I shed tears
of repentance.’
‘Stay!’ cried Fyodor Pavlovitch, in a transport of delight.
‘So you do suppose there are two who can move mountains?
Ivan, make a note of it, write it down. There you have the
Russian all over!’
‘You’re quite right in saying it’s characteristic of the peo-
ple’s faith,’ Ivan assented, with an approving smile.
‘You agree. Then it must be so, if you agree. It’s true, isn’t
it Alyosha? That’s the Russian faith all over, isn’t it?’
‘No, Smerdyakov has not the Russian faith at all,’ said
Alyosha firmly and gravely.
‘I’m not talking about his faith. I mean those two in the
desert, only that idea. Surely that’s Russian, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, that’s purely Russian,’ said Alyosha smiling.
‘Your words are worth a gold piece, O ass, and I’ll give
it to you to-day. But as to the rest you talk nonsense, non-
sense, nonsense. Let me tell you, stupid, that we here are
all of little faith, only from carelessness, because we haven’t
time; things are too much for us, and, in the second place,
the Lord God has given us so little time, only twenty-four
hours in the day, so that one hasn’t even time to get sleep
enough, much less to repent of one’s sins. While you have
denied your faith to your enemies when you’d nothing else
to think about but to show your faith! So I consider, brother,
that it constitutes a sin.’
‘Constitute a sin it may, but consider yourself, Grigory

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