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makes one's heart more joyful; only understand that a man who has
started on that path will have to choose, and it sometimes happens that
God's side and the Devil's weigh so equally that the scales oscillate,
and it is then that the great choice has to be made. At that point any
interference from outside is terribly dangerous and tormenting. It is as
though a man were making such terrible efforts to draw a weight over a
ridge that the slightest touch would cause him to break his back.
LYÚBA. Why should he suffer so?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. That is as though a mother were to ask why she
should suffer. There can be no childbirth without suffering, and it is
the same in spiritual life. One thing I can tell you. Borís is a true
Christian, and consequently is free, and if you cannot as yet be like
him, or believe in God as he does, then believe in God through him.
MARY IVÁNOVNA [behind door] May I come in?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. You may always come in. What a reception I'm having
here to-day.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Our priest, Vasíly Nikonórovich, has come. He is going to
the Bishop, and has resigned his living!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Impossible!
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