The Clash of Two Christianities in the Images of Zosima and Ferapont

Abstract

This paper considers the points of contact and repulsion between two streams of Christianity, as epitomized by two characters from the novel The Brothers Karamazov. It is necessary to stress two fundamentally different attitudes to the priest’s mission: one preaches love, calling people to live in the world and for the world, while the other puts forward an ascetic way of life in which the “imagery” of Christ is lost. While the bright nature of Zosima’s soul allows him to see the Paradise in the present, the gloomy figure of Ferapont dogmatizes some Christian truths that make the man an eternal prisoner in the fortress of sin. The gift of love of the former is the triumph of the Word and of a life where “everything is good and magnificent, because everything is truth”. In his vocabulary, there is no frenzy and hatred towards the dissenters: only sympathy for the suffering. The ascetic Ferapont, obsessed with the sinful state of the world, is one step from the Inquisition. It is impossible not to see in this man the desire to assert his spiritual authority and power, as it is shown in the scene following the death of Zosima. In his perception of the world, there is the pleasure of the Winner and the torment of the defeated, without the possibility of saving the fallen or easing his share. On his deathbed, Zosima sees a world in which there is death and birth: after all, for him the sun sets, and rises every day. Ferapont, instead, affirms a dark Christ, who “triumphed on the setting sun”.

Keywords

• dostoevsky
• christianity
• zosima
• ferapont
• collision
• dialectic