Say no to the Grand Inquisitor

Nicholas Berdyaev in his book, DOSTOEVSKY, writes that the absence of an age of chivalry in Russia was disastrous for her moral values. This 1934 statement postdates the Russian Revolution but precedes most of the disastrous consequences of the reign of Stalin who probably represents a re-incarnation of the antichrist which Dostoevsky ably portrays as the Grand Inquisitor in THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV. Through the voice of a character in one of his novels, Dostoevsky even said that “Russia had only one religious mission - to give birth to the antichrist. The Grand Inquisitor (the Devil) presents a wonderful world with no suffering, no responsibility and no freedom, perfect for sheep-like, non-thinking fellow travelers to Hell. The Grand Inquisitor, full of pity for man, a democrat, a socialist, is allured by evil masquerading as good. For the Antichrist, too, wickedness looks like goodness. Note that socialism is in full accord with the Grand Inquisitor’s projected state of sociey..

How does this affect to me? Seems to me that America is losing her hold on traditional culture, that the birth of an antichrist is made possible by a people compromising their moral principles. Seems to me that Dostoevsky’s insight (and conviction) that only through God can man find his spiritual soul (conflicted though it may be) and enjoy true freedom could still lead us out of darkness today. An understanding of the horror of a Stalin and his time of godlessness should be sufficient inspiration. A simulated conversation with the Grand Inquisitor also couldn’t hurt.