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Abstract:

This article examines the possibility of F.M. Dostoevsky’s reference in The Brothers Karamazov (generally in the chapter “Rebellion. The Grand Inquisitor”) to a interpretation on John the Divine’s Apocalypse little known nowadays: The Triumph of the Christian Faith by J.H. Jung-Stilling, a German theologian of the 18th c., quite popular in the first half of the 19th c. in different spiritual groups of the Russian society. According to several researchers, Biblical quotes in Dostoevsky’s works can be considered as interpretation. When comparing the functions fulfilled by the hidden Apocalypse quotes in Ivan Karamazov’s “The Grand Inquisitor” to the interpretation of the same quotes in The Triumph of the Christian Faith, we can see that on a number of occasions the interpretations corresponds. Moreover, sometimes Ivan Karamazov, the narrator or Dostoevsky himself explicitly argues with Jung-Stilling’s interpretations; in all cases, when we see a hidden Apocalypse quote in the novel The Brothers Karamazov, there is a hidden allusion to Jung-Stilling’s interpretation. The possibility of using The Triumph of the Christian Faith when analyzing the role and functioning of Apocalypse quotes in the novel The Brothers Karamazov helps us better understand the author’s intention, while a direct juxtaposition with the Biblical text can cause some problems. The article faces the problem of incorrect sourcing a quote or an idea in fiction and states that it is necessary to refer to a relatively unknown source for creating an adequate commentary to a work of fiction.