The godless and inhumane as catalysts for change : Zosima’s decaying corpse and Alyosha Karamazov’s path to authentic faith in The Brothers Karamazov

Abstract

There comes a point in one’s life when God is but an obscure image, an echo of former times when certainty was more readily available, an illusion shattered by more profound truths. The boundary between certainty and doubt, faith and scepticism, subjectivity and objectivity, is navigated with trepidation and angst. Whether it be Viktor Frankl facing the harshest unimaginable cruelties at Auschwitz, Thérèse of Lisieux battling suicidal ideation on her deathbed, or Alyosha Karamazov dumbfounded by the terrible stench reeking from Elder Zosima’s decaying corpse, there comes a shocking point in one’s spiritual path when one is faced with the most difficult questions: Where is God in all this? Does he even exist? If not, am I to believe that all my endeavours at persevering in the faith have been futile? Is all this just an illusion?