To Ask Forgiveness of the Birds

Book excerpt: When Father Zossima was young, his dying brother asked forgiveness of the birds - "Though I can't explain it to you, I like to humble myself before them, because I don't know how to love them enough."These words became a cornerstone in Zossima's existential theology, embracing love and absurdity - love as absurdity.Speaking with visitors before his own death, Zossima recalls his brother's words: "My brother asked the birds to forgive him - that sounds senseless, but it is right - for all is like an ocean, all is flowing and blending - a touch in one place sets up movement at the other end of the earth."In Father Zossima, Dostoevsky embodies an honest, human response to the question of theodicy, marking a major development in early existentialist thought.