One
of my favorite passages in any novel is from The Brothers Karamazov. In the book there is a monastery which
serves as a central locale in a little Russian town. The head abbot of the
monastery is a gentle and powerful man called Father Zosima. He is soft-spoken,
humble, smiling and pure in thought. Many of the brothers in the abbey are
perturbed by his simple and seemingly unnatural way of life, but they love him
dearly. Townspeople bring their sick to Father Zosima and he heals them. Well
into the book, Father Zosima is on his deathbed and all the brothers have gathered
around him, weeping as he encourages them, for they love him dearly. They love
this simple and powerful man.
They
just don’t realize that he is powerful because he is simple…like a child.
As Father Zosima, lost in the
delirium of death’s doorstep, is rambling on exhorting his brothers to stand
firm and preach the gospel, there is a line which shakes my core and melts all
my pride. He has been retelling, and living within and between, certain stories
from the Bible and after speaking of the Messiah, he pauses mid-thought and
says,
“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 skillfully. I only speak
from rapture, and forgive my tears, for I
love the Bible.”
Oh Father Zosima, only the Kingdom
of God is a Kingdom for children.
For only children are allowed in;
children like Paul.
Oh Father Zosima, I forgive your
tears.
Forgive mine, for this Gospel,
this Great Story is…
Oh Paul, dear Paul,
the Father knows you
I long to sit and
talk with the two, now one
For you stand so
gripped and so loved
As I strain toward
the blue past the gray, the betrothed
Where you have
always been, alive and alive!
Oh Paul, dear Paul, pray for us below
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