I
That day the monastery was joyously greeting the ikon. For two months the
“Lady” had been traveling from place to place and now she was returning
home.
First in their three-horse coaches came the priests who had accompanied
her and who were now bringing back to the monastery the treasure which
they had collected on their travels. They looked healthy, well-fed, and
satisfied. They were followed by the motley bands of pilgrims. These
came in greater and greater numbers out of the forest, until at last the
climax was reached with the gilded covering of the ikon flashing in the
sunlight above the heads of the marchers.
Bells pealed forth; banners gleamed and waved; the singing of the choir
and the tramping of thousands of men, like an onrushing river, filled
the quiet neighborhood of the monastery with uproar and confusion.
The place awoke. In the church hymns of thanksgiving were sung. On the
square merchants and market women called out their wares from under their
linen curtains; from the “institution” came the sounds of harmonicas and
cymbals; in the huts of the village one set of pilgrims kept replacing
another at the tables on which steamed enormous samovars.
Towards evening a hard rain suddenly came up and drove the crowds and the
merchants from the bazaar. The square and the streets became quiet and no
sound was to be heard save the splashing of the huge drops in the puddles
and the flapping and blowing of the wet curtains, as they were tossed
by the storm wind. Yes, and in the church the harmonious singing still
continued and the yellow lights of the candles still flickered on.
When the clouds suddenly lifted and streamed off to the east, carrying
with them the veil of mist which had hung over the fields and woods, the
sun reappeared in the west and with its parting rays it tenderly caressed
the windows of the village and the crosses of the monastery. But the
earlier bustle did not return to the square of the bazaar. The pilgrims
all had a quiet thirst for rest after their hard journey and the day
ended with the last notes of the concluding service in the church. Even
the cymbals behind the wall of the “institution” clashed weakly and dully.
The service was ended. Within the church the candles burned out one after
the other. The pilgrims scattered. Little groups of men and women stood
at the door of the guest-house of the monastery, until the guest-master
should grant admission to those who desired lodging. A fat monk and two
lay brothers came out on the porch and began to divide the sheep from
the goats. The sheep entered the door; the goats were driven off and,
muttering, made their way to the gates. At the end of this operation,
there remained by the entrance a group of Mordvin women and a wanderer.
Apparently, their fate had already been decided by the guest-master who
reëntered the building.
In a moment the lay brothers came out, counted the women and admitted
them to the women’s apartments. The older lay brother walked up to the
solitary stranger and said with a bow:
“Forgive me, for Christ’s sake, Brother Varsonofy.... The guest-master
will not permit you to stay here.... Go in peace.”
A sick smile passed over the face of the young wanderer and I was
surprised by its peculiar, dramatic, and significant character. The man’s
face was also worthy of notice: hump-nosed, thin, and with large, glowing
eyes. A pointed hat and a hardly noticeable, but pointed, beard gave
the man an unusual appearance. The whole dry figure dressed in an old
cassock, with a thin neck and a strong profile, attracted your attention,
even against your will. The impression which it produced was clear,
alarming and disturbing.
When he heard the words of the lay brother, the stranger bowed and said:
“God will save and for this....”
As he turned to go, he suddenly staggered. He was clearly sick and
extremely tired. The good-hearted lay brother looked at him and hesitated.
“Wait, Brother Varsonofy.... I will try again.”
The stranger rested on his staff and waited expectantly. But in a moment
the brother again came out and, walking up with some embarrassment, said
with evident pity:
“No, he won’t allow it.... Father Nifont told him that a stranger ...
like you ... speaks badly ... disturbs the people.”
The stranger’s face showed how he felt. His eyes flashed, as if he were
about to speak, but he bowed and said:
“Thank you, fathers....”
And he wearily went from the door.
The lay brother looked at me questioningly. I knew that he was about to
shut the gate and so I went to the outer court. This was already empty.
The young man who sold kalaches (cakes) for the monastery was behind his
stand, but no one came to it.
The porter closed one gate behind me and then, pressing with his feet,
he started to close the second. Just then a scuffle was heard within the
gate, the tramping of several pairs of feet; the opening again widened
and in it appeared an ill-favored figure in a pilgrim’s costume, reddish
and faded. A rough, hairy hand held it by the collar and directed its
involuntary movements. A vigorous push.... The stranger flew off several
paces and fell. One wallet and then another sailed after him.... A
small book in a worn leather binding fell out in the mud and its leaves
commenced to blow in the wind.
“Look here, ...” said a deep, bass voice behind the gate. “Don’t
quarrel....”
“What’s the matter?” asked the porter.
“Why, this,” answered the bass voice. “Because of him the guest-master
sinned ... turned a man away.... And he’s a good man. Oh! Oh!... a real
sin....”
The speaker went away. The porter shut the gate, but not quite
completely; curiosity mastered him and his little eyes, his fat nose, and
his light mustache could be seen through the crack. He was following with
manifest interest the further actions of the rejected wanderer.
The latter quickly rose, gathered up his wallets, put one on his back,
and threw the other over his shoulder. Then, picking up the book, he
carefully began to clean the mud off of it. Looking around the court,
he caught sight of me and of the kalach-seller. A group of peasants
were watching the little drama from the outer gates of the square.
Deliberately the stranger assumed an air of dignity, and, with the most
demonstrative devotion, he kissed the binding of the book and made a
sarcastic bow toward the inner gates.
“I thank you, holy fathers. As ye have received the stranger and fed the
hungry....”
Suddenly noticing in the crack of the gate the mustache and nose of the
porter, he said in a different tone:
“What are you looking at? Did you recognize me?”
“I thought ... yes ... I thought you were familiar,” said the porter.
“Of course, of course!... We’re old friends! We ran off together to the
Mordvin women of Sviridov.... Do you remember now?”
The porter spat loudly and angrily, closed the gate, and threw the bolt.
But his feet, with their rough boots, could still be seen beneath the
gate.
“Don’t you remember Fenka, father?”
The feet disappeared as if ashamed.
The stranger straightened his muddy cloak and again looked around.
Attracted by the unusual conversation, some six peasants had strolled
towards the gate. They were the nearest neighbors to the monastery, Old
Believers from the villages in the vicinity, who had come to the bazaar
with an air of indifferent and even hostile curiosity. Despite its
influence at a distance, the monastery was surrounded by a ring of the
“most venomous” sectarians, as the monks expressed it. The inhabitants of
the region were positive that in the near future the monastery would be
threatened with the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. But still it continued
and attracted thousands of people to its festivals. On such days the
figures of the Old Believers furnished a grim contrast to the rejoicing
multitudes and their faces reflected their hostility and disgust. Like
the Prophet Jonah, they murmured because the Lord delayed in inflicting
the promised doom upon the accursed Nineveh.
They were now watching with malevolent curiosity the scene which was
being enacted at the door of the dishonorable habitation.
“What’s the matter? They won’t let him in, I see, ...” one said jokingly.
“It’s crowded ... with Mordvin women....”
The wanderer turned and threw a keen glance at the speaker. Suddenly his
face took on a humble expression and he walked back to the gate,—and
three times he crossed himself reverently and ostentatiously.
The peasants looked at one another in surprise; the stranger had made the
sign of the cross not with three fingers, but in the old way with only
two.
“The Lord, Who seest all things, will reward the monks according to their
mercy,” he said with a sigh. “We, brothers, will shake off the dust from
our feet, and listen here, in the temple not made with hands (he pointed
gracefully and calmly to the evening sky), to an instructive sermon on
repentance....”
The peasants crowded together; their faces expressed their delighted and
also credulous surprise. The change was too unexpected.... The idea of
holding their own meeting on the alien festival and of listening at the
very gate of the monastery to a wandering preacher, who made the sign of
the cross in the old way, clearly pleased the adherents of the old faith.
The preacher took his stand at the base of the bell-tower. The wind
ruffled his dusty, light hair.
It was hard to tell the man’s precise age, but he was clearly not old.
His face was heavily tanned and his hair and eyes seemed faded from the
action of sun and storm.
At each movement of his head, however slight, the cords of his neck
stood out prominently and trembled. The man gave you, involuntarily, the
impression of something unfortunate, wonderfully self-controlled and,
perchance, evil.
He began to read aloud. He read well, simply, and convincingly, and,
stopping now and then, he commented in his own way on what he had read.
Once he glanced at me, but he quickly shifted his eyes. I thought he did
not care for my presence. After that he turned more often to one of his
auditors.
This was a broad-shouldered, undersized peasant, whose shape might
have been fashioned by two or three blows of an axe. In spite of the
squareness of his figure, he seemed very communicative. He paid the
utmost attention to every word of the preacher and added some remarks of
his own, which expressed his almost childish joy.
“Oh, brothers ... my friends,” he said, looking around.... “It’s so true,
what he told us about repentance.... The end might come.... You know ...
and we’re such sinners ... just one little sin more and another. Yes,
yes....”
“And that means another and another, ...” broke in a second.
“Yes.... You see.... Oh!...”
With delighted eyes, he looked around the gathering....
His noisy interruption and his joy apparently did not please the
preacher. The latter suddenly stopped, turned his head quickly, and the
cords of his neck tightened like ropes.... He wanted to say something,
but he checked himself and turned a page.
The congregation had rejoiced too early. At the very time when they were
most highly exalted,—pride and excessive hope pressed hard on the ladder.
It trembled; the listeners seemed frightened; the ladder crashed down....
“He’s through!” were the sad words of the deep-voiced peasant.
“Yes, brother!” chimed in the first. And a strange thing: he turned his
sparkling eyes on all and the same joy sounded in his voice.... “Now we
have no excuse.... We mustn’t do that first little sin.”
The stranger closed his book and for a few seconds he watched the speaker
obstinately. But the peasant met his gaze with the same joy and trusting
good nature.
“Do you think so?” asked the preacher.
“Yes,” answered the man. “Judge yourself, my friend.... How long will He
suffer us?”
“Do you think so?” the preacher asked again with some emphasis, and his
voice caused signs of uneasiness to appear on the other’s face.
“You know there are limits to the long suffering of God. You know about
the Orthodox Catholic Church.”
He turned a few pages and began to read about the spiritual power of the
Orthodox Church. The faces of his hearers darkened. The preacher stopped
and said:
“The Orthodox Catholic Church.... Is she not the means of salvation? He
who seeks refuge in her need not despair. So ... if....”
A tense silence prevailed for a few seconds. The stranger was facing the
crowd of peasants and he felt that he held their feelings in his hands.
Not long since, they had been following him joyfully and it was not hard
to foresee the results of the sermon: the men of the old faith had been
ready to invite to their homes the man who had been driven from the
monastery. Now they were dumbfounded and did not know what to think.
“But if,” continued the stranger, accenting each word, “any one rejects
the one Mother Church ... expects to be saved in cellars with the rats
... if he trusts in shaved heads....”
The peasant with the deep voice suddenly turned and walked away.
His good-natured companion glanced around with an air of disillusionment
and a lack of comprehension and said half-questioningly:
“Are you shocked?... Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!...”
He followed the others. The sectarians grimly went to the gates. The
wanderer remained alone. His figure was outlined sharply against the base
of the tower and there was a strange expression in his faded blue eyes.
Evidently he had intended to gain by his sermon that lodging which the
monks had denied him. Why had he suddenly changed his tone?...
There were now only three of us in the yard: the wanderer, I and the
young fellow under the curtain of the booth. The stranger glanced at me
but at once turned away and walked up to the dealer. The young man’s face
beamed with joy....
“That was clever,” he said. “You shocked them well. They all had their
heads shaved. The devils were threshing peas. Ha, ha, ha!”
He broke out into a hearty, youthful laugh and started to put his wares
within the shop.
When he had finished, he closed the swinging doors and locked them. The
shop was well made and adapted for moving,—it was on wheels and had a low
shelf. The fellow evidently intended to sleep by his wares.
“Well, it’s time to go to bed,” he said, looking at the sky.
In the yard and behind the gates all was still and deserted. From the
bazaar the wares had all been carried away. The fellow faced the church,
crossed himself, opened the door a little way and crawled under his stand.
His hands soon appeared. He was trying to put a small screen over the
opening.
The stranger also looked up at the sky, thought a few seconds, and walked
resolutely up to the shop.
“Wait, Mikhailo! I’ll help you like a good fellow.”
The pale-faced man let go and looked out of his quarters.
“My name’s Anton,” he said simply.
“Come, Antosha, let me help you.”
“I’m very glad; thank you. It’s hard to do it from here.”
Anton’s simple face disappeared.
“Please ... move your feet a little.”
Anton obeyed. The wanderer quietly opened the door, stooped quickly,
and, to my amazement, I saw him step nimbly into the opening. A scuffle
ensued. Anton moved his feet and part of the stranger appeared outside
for a moment, but without any delay and almost instantaneously he
disappeared again within.
Interested by this unexpected turn of events, I almost instinctively
walked up to the booth.
“I’ll yell, I’ll yell,” I heard the nasal but pitiful voice of Anton.
“The fathers will beat you up again!”
“Don’t yell, Misha. What’s the matter?” argued the wanderer.
“Why do you keep calling me Misha? I tell you my name’s Anton.”
“In the monastic jargon your name will be Mikhailo. Remember that....
Hush! Quiet, Anton, keep still.”
The booth became silent.
“What for?” asked Anton. “What do you hear?”
“Listen, hear the tapping.... It’s raining.”
“Well, what of it? Tapping.... If I let out one shout, the fathers will
tap harder on you.”
“Why do you keep harping on one thing? I’ll yell and yell. You’d better
not. If you do, I’ll eat you up. I’ll tell you a good story about a
nun....”
“I see, you’ve been stealing something.”
“It’s wrong, Antosha, for you to slander a stranger. You gave me this one
kalach yourself. I ate nothing—you believe God....”
“Go ahead and eat a stale one.... I haven’t eaten them up,” and Anton
yawned so hard that he gave up all thoughts of further resistance.
“You shocked those blockheads well,” he added at the end of his strenuous
yawn. “You’ve certainly showed them up.”
“And the fathers?”
“The fathers wanted to spit at you.... You promised to tell me a story.
Why don’t you do it?”
“In a certain country, in a certain land,” began the stranger, “in a
convent with a stone wall, lived a nun, brother Antoshenka.... And such a
nun.... Oh, oh, oh!”
“Yes?...”
“Yes, she lived there, and grieved.”
Silence.
“Well?... Go on.”
Silence again.
“Well, go on. What did she grieve about?” insisted the interested Anton.
“Go to the devil, that’s what! Why did I start a story? You know I hoofed
it thirty versts to-day. She grieved about you, you fool, that’s what she
did. Let me sleep!”
Anton let out a sound of utter exhaustion.
“Well, you’re a rogue. I see your scheme,” he said reproachfully.
“All right, knave,” a minute later but more softly, and even sorrowfully.
“Yes, a knave.... I never saw such a knave before.”
All was quiet in the booth. The rain beat harder and harder on the
slanting roof, the earth grew black, the puddles disappeared in the
darkness. The monastery garden whispered something, and the buildings
behind the wall stood defenceless against the rain, which pattered on the
gutters. The guard within the enclosure beat upon his wet rattle.