Crime and Punishment & Other Great Novels of Dostoevsky
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Contents
Chapter 5 So Be It! So Be It!
Overview
The elder returns and presides over a fervent debate on Ivan’s thesis that the Church should ultimately encompass the State. Father Zossima and Father Paissy affirm this eschatological vision, while Miusov denounces it as ultramontanism. Zossima contrasts Church-led moral regeneration with State punishment. The tense exchange ends as Dmitri finally arrives.
Summary
The elder Zossima returns after a brief absence to find his guests deep in discussion. Fyodor Pavlovitch quietly needling Miusov heightens the tension, while Zossima, pale and exhausted, nonetheless invites the conversation to continue. Father Iosif introduces Ivan’s article on Church jurisdiction, and Ivan outlines his view: the Church should ultimately include the entire State, rather than accept a confined role within it.
Father Paissy enthusiastically agrees, rejecting the idea that the Church must yield to the State. Ivan argues that early Christianity was purely Church, and that the pagan residue in the State should, over time, be transformed into Church aims. Miusov dismisses this as utopian and fears ecclesiastical criminal courts, but Ivan replies that crime would be addressed by exclusion and moral regeneration rather than execution.
Pressed by Miusov, Zossima intervenes, asserting that State punishments embitter and fail to reform, while only the Church’s judgment through conscience can truly change a criminal. He maintains that the Church already shows mercy, refrains from excommunication in deference to civil penalties, and keeps communion with offenders to prevent despair, envisioning a future where society becomes the Church.
As debate sharpens, Miusov protests that this vision abolishes the State; Father Paissy clarifies that the State is to be raised into the Church, not vice versa, opposing Roman models. Miusov relates a Paris anecdote: authorities fear socialists who are also Christians more than atheists. At that moment, the long-expected Dmitri enters, surprising everyone and breaking the discussion’s momentum.
Who Appears
- Elder ZossimaWeary but engaged; affirms the Church ultimately encompassing society and stresses conscience over State punishment.
- Ivan Fyodorovitch (Ivan Karamazov)Presents his article’s thesis: the Church should include the State; argues for moral regeneration over punitive justice.
- Father PaissyFervently supports Ivan’s vision; clarifies the State must ascend into the Church, opposing Roman ultramontanism.
- Pyotr Alexandrovitch MiusovObjects to the vision as ultramontanist; recounts a Paris anecdote about fearing Christian socialists.
- Father Iosif (the librarian)Introduces Ivan’s article and enumerates the opposing ecclesiastical propositions.
- Fyodor Pavlovitch KaramazovMocks Miusov and observes the debate with ironic amusement.
- Alyosha KaramazovObserves Zossima’s exhaustion and the debate’s emotional undercurrents.
- RakitinSilent observer by the door, visibly affected by the discussion.
- Dmitri Fyodorovitch (Mitya) KaramazovArrives unexpectedly at the chapter’s end, interrupting the heated discussion.