The Brothers Karamazov: Part 1: Book 3, Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Smerdyakov tells Grigory and Fyodor about a Russian soldier who was captured by Asians and forced “on pain of agonizing and immediate death to renounce Christianity and convert to Islam.” The soldier wouldn’t renounce his faith and, as a result, was flayed alive. Fyodor says that the soldier should be a saint and that his flayed skin should be “dispatched to some monastery.” People, he thinks, would pay lots of money to see it.

Smerdyakov says that, if he were taken captive, he would renounce his faith by his “own reason.” Once he renounces his faith, he says, he’ll be excommunicated, so he wouldn’t be lying to his tormenters if he says that he’s not a Christian. Furthermore, he was never baptized, so he’s not a Christian anyway. Grigory is dumbfounded by Smerdyakov’s speech, while Fyodor bursts “into shrill laughter.”

Smerdyakov insists that renouncing his faith would be “a little sin” and “a rather ordinary one.” Though Grigory curses him for belittling the sin, Smerdyakov explains what he means. In the Scriptures, it says that “if you have faith even as little as the smallest seed,” one could command mountains to go down into the sea—though, he makes an exception for the Karamazov property, saying that the mountain would have to go into the “stinking stream” beyond their garden because they’re far from the sea. However, the person of faith can see that the mountain won’t move, despite their commands. This means that, even those who claim to be devout, such as Grigory, don’t really “believe in a proper manner.”

Smerdyakov argues that no one in their time, “except maybe one person on the whole earth, two at most,” have such devotion, and those people can’t even be found. So, then, if everyone else seems to be an unbeliever, Smerdyakov wonders if it’s possible that “the population of the whole earth…except those two desert hermits, will be cursed by the Lord?” So, Smerdyakov has hope that, though he once doubted his faith, he’d be forgiven “if [he] shed tears of repentance.”

Fyodor shrieks for Smerdyakov to stop speaking so that he can ask him if he really believes that there are two hermits, “somewhere in the Egyptian desert,” who can move mountains. He and Ivan conclude that Smerdyakov’s superstition is typical among Russians. Alexei says that Smerdyakov’s faith isn’t Russian at all, but Fyodor is more focused on the detail about the two desert dwellers, which he believes is typically Russian, and Alexei agrees with that part.

Fyodor asserts that people are unbelievers “out of carelessness” and because God has given people little time to repent. This makes it more absurd to renounce one’s faith when there’s nothing else to think about but the fate of one’s soul. That is “precisely the time” to show religious devotion.

Smerdyakov agrees that faith may be “tantamount” and that, if one believes, it would be truly sinful to convert to Islam instead of “[enduring] torments.” However, he says, one would never suffer torments if one’s faith could truly move mountains and crush tormenters. However, if the person of faith tries to move mountains and nothing happens, should they not doubt “in such a terrible hour of great moral fear?” The devout would also think that they wouldn’t reach the Kingdom of Heaven because, if the mountain doesn’t move at one’s word, then “they must not trust much in [one’s] faith there.” So, why then, should one “be flayed to no purpose?” On top of this, one can lose one’s mind to fear, making it impossible to reason. One can only trust in the mercy of God and trust that one will be forgiven.