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conversation was interrupted by Father Paissy’s reading the
Gospel. It is worthy of note, too, that no one of them sup-
posed that he would die that night, for on that evening of
his life after his deep sleep in the day he seemed suddenly to
have found new strength, which kept him up through this
long conversation. It was like a last effort of love which gave
him marvellous energy; only for a little time, however, for
his life was cut short immediately.. But of that later. I will
only add now that I have preferred to confine myself to the
account given by Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov. It will
be shorter and not so fatiguing, though, of course, as I must
repeat, Alyosha took a great deal from previous conversa-
tions and added them to it.
Notes of the Life of the deceased Priest and Monk, the
Elder Zossima, taken from his own words by Alexey Fyodo-
rovitch Karamazov.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
(a) Father Zossima’s Brother.
Beloved fathers and teachers, I was born in a distant
province in the north, in the town of V. My father was a
gentleman by birth, but of no great consequence or posi-
tion. He died when I was only two years old, and I don’t
remember him at all. He left my mother a small house built
of wood, and a fortune, not large, but sufficient to keep her
and her children in comfort. There were two of us, my el-
der brother Markel and I. He was eight years older than I
was, of hasty, irritable temperament, but kind-hearted and
never ironical. He was remarkably silent, especially at home
with me, his mother, and the servants. He did well at school,