The Church as the Unifying Center of Russian Identity?

           In Book II of The Brothers Karamazov Dostoyevsky takes the audience to the local monastery for a chaotic conglomeration of inter-character conflict.  The Karamazov clan (minus Dmitry Fyodorovich at the onset of the adventure) were joined by Pyotr Aleksandrovich Miusov, the landowner Maksimov, and the aspiring university student Pyotr Fomich Kalganov.  The visit had led to the growth of a great feeling of trepidation within Aleksey Fyodorovich, given his awareness of his family’s rather notorious ability to concoct scandals and guide themselves by a less-than-Christian moral compass.

            The intriguing aspect of the adventure in the monastery is the incorporation of characters that hail from the various social classes.  These social-specific characters each behave differently in regards to the role of the Church.

            One of the most notable social-specific characters is the lady landowner Khokhlokova.  It is evident from her dialogue that she is distanced from the common Russian populace.  Of note is also her temptation to serve as a healer.  In her dialogue with the elder Zosima, she relates that the difficulty in her fulfillment of the role as a healer would lie in her inability to distinguish the reward of gratitude from the moral responsibility of the act of providing aid.  It seems as if Dostoyevsky is drawing a distinction between the commoner-elite divide.  In order to act the elite must perceive a clear avenue to a distinct reward.  This contrasts greatly with the image of the ill Elder Zosima, who sacrifices his limited energy in order to meet with the many pilgrims and unruly guests that seem to abound on the monastery grounds.  No matter how small or how large the issue, the Elder Zosima was portrayed by Dostoyevsky as continuing to provide his wise advice, with no reference to any reward of excessive gratitude, simply a sense of sincere duty.  The lady landowner Khokhlokova, who states her love of the “fine Russian people”, seems as far away from emulating the values and struggles of her so-termed common citizens.  The elite is an a sense of foreign entity, continual observing their home from afar.    

Importantly, there is also the perception of the institution by the Europeanized and politically liberal Pyotr Aleksandrovich, that lasts throughout the entirety of the escapade.  Initially, Pyotr Aleksandrovich displays a sense of contempt toward the monastery and his visit.  As the adventure progresses though, Pyotr Aleksandrovich develops a sense of due reverence toward the institution.  He seems to come to the realization that the Church does provide a service to the individuals it consoles.  Whether this change in feeling is due to an actual shift in Pyotr Aleksandrovich’s perception of the Church, or simply spurred by the mischiefs of Fyodor Pavlovich is left unclear.

            In much of the same manner that Pyotr Aleksandrovich seems to have a change of perception, Ivan Fyodorovich’s apparently demonstrates his own gorwing appreciation of the Church’s role within society.  Initially, the first section of The Brothers Karamazov would lead one to believe that the intellectual Ivan would be the first to fervently defend any stance contrary to that of Church authority.  In contrast however, Ivan Fyodorovich hails the Church as superior entity to that of the state.  The characters in the text suggest that Ivan Fyodorovich wrote about the supremacy of the Church in jest.  Given the manner in which Ivan Fyodorovich argued for the supremacy of the Church however, it is possible to see his thinking as sincere.  Fundamentally, Ivan Fyodorovich is concerned with the maintenance of a sound society.  He espouses that the state, through imposing punitive and retroactive justice does not play an adequate enough role in governing the society toward a harmonious condition.  The Church however, has the ability to instill incentives that prevent infractions before they occur.  As such, the Church has the ability to govern a society by influencing it to accept self-governance and self-accountability.  In many respects, I feel as if Dostoyevsky, through Book II, is attempting to tout the Church as the solid foundation of traditional Russian life, and potentially the solution to the apparent tensions within society.