STEPAN’S cell was shared among others by the former yard-porter,
Vassily, who had been sentenced to deportation for robbery, and by
Chouev, sentenced also to deportation. Vassily sang songs the whole day
long with his fine voice, or told his adventures to the other men in the
cell. Chouev was working at something all day, mending his clothes, or
reading the Gospel and the Psalter.
Stepan asked him why he was put into prison, and Chouev answered that he
was being persecuted because of his true Christian faith by the priests,
who were all of them hypocrites and hated those who followed the law of
Christ. Stepan asked what that true law was, and Chouev made clear to
him that the true law consists in not worshipping gods made with hands,
but worshipping the spirit and the truth. He told him how he had learnt
the truth from the lame tailor at the time when they were dividing the
land.
“And what will become of those who have done evil?” asked Stepan.
“The Scriptures give an answer to that,” said Chouev, and read aloud to
him Matthew xxv. 31:--“When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and
all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of
His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth His sheep from
the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats
on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come,
ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat: I
was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me
in: naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was
in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer Him,
saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, and fed Thee? or thirsty,
and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or
naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and
came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I
say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. Then shall He say also unto them
on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungred, and ye gave
Me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink: I was a stranger and
ye took Me not in: naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick, and in prison,
and ye visited Me not. Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord,
when saw we Thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or
sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? Then shall He answer
them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one
of the least of these, ye did it not to Me. And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
Vassily, who was sitting on the floor at Chouev’s side, and was
listening to his reading the Gospel, nodded his handsome head in
approval. “True,” he said in a resolute tone. “Go, you cursed villains,
into everlasting punishment, since you did not give food to the hungry,
but swallowed it all yourself. Serves them right! I have read the holy
Nikodim’s writings,” he added, showing off his erudition.
“And will they never be pardoned?” asked Stepan, who had listened
silently, with his hairy head bent low down.
“Wait a moment, and be silent,” said Chouev to Vassily, who went on
talking about the rich who had not given meat to the stranger, nor
visited him in the prison.
“Wait, I say!” said Chouev, again turning over the leaves of the Gospel.
Having found what he was looking for, Chouev smoothed the page with his
large and strong hand, which had become exceedingly white in prison:
“And there were also two other malefactors, led with Him”--it means with
Christ--“to be put to death. And when they were come to the place, which
is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one
on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus,--‘Father,
forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ And the people stood
beholding. And the rulers also with them derided Him, saying,--‘He saved
others; let Him save Himself if He be Christ, the chosen of God.’ And
the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to Him, and offering Him vinegar,
and saying, ‘If Thou be the King of the Jews save Thyself.’ And a
superscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, and Latin,
and Hebrew, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’ And one of the malefactors
which were hanged railed on Him, saying, ‘If thou be Christ, save
Thyself and us.’ But the other answering rebuked Him, saying, ‘Dost not
thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed
justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath
done nothing amiss.’ And he said unto Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when
Thou comest into Thy kingdom.’ And Jesus said unto him, ‘Verily I say
unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.’”
Stepan did not say anything, and was sitting in thought, as if he were
listening.
Now he knew what the true faith was. Those only will be saved who have
given food and drink to the poor and visited the prisoners; those who
have not done it, go to hell. And yet the malefactor had repented on
the cross, and went nevertheless to paradise. This did not strike him as
being inconsistent. Quite the contrary. The one confirmed the other: the
fact that the merciful will go to Heaven, and the unmerciful to hell,
meant that everybody ought to be merciful, and the malefactor having
been forgiven by Christ meant that Christ was merciful. This was all new
to Stepan, and he wondered why it had been hidden from him so long.
From that day onward he spent all his free time with Chouev, asking him
questions and listening to him. He saw but a single truth at the bottom
of the teaching of Christ as revealed to him by Chouev: that all men are
brethren, and that they ought to love and pity one another in order that
all might be happy. And when he listened to Chouev, everything that was
consistent with this fundamental truth came to him like a thing he had
known before and only forgotten since, while whatever he heard that
seemed to contradict it, he would take no notice of, as he thought that
he simply had not understood the real meaning. And from that time Stepan
was a different man.