Father Zosima is one of my favorite characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. He serves as the spiritual mentor to Alyosha Karamazov who is the youngest brother and the novel’s moral center. Zosima’s teachings stand in direct contrast to the doubtful, intellectual rebellious and nihilism of Ivan Karamazov the other brother. In my humble opinion Dostoevsky reflects the constant conflict forces that exist within an intellectual on whether to submit or to question. Here is my favorite part from book six of the novel called The Russian Monk:
“From the house of my childhood I have brought nothing but precious memories, for there are no memories more precious than those of early childhood in one’s first home. And that is almost always so if there is any love and harmony in the family at all. Indeed, precious memories may remain even of a bad home, if only the heart knows how to find what is precious.”