It Preaches the Antichrist!

[JM]

An interesting quote from Dostoevsky's THE IDIOT:



"Roman Catholicism is even worse than Atheism itself, in my opinion! Yes, that's my opinion! Atheism only preaches a negation, but Catholicism goes further: it preaches a distorted Christ, a Christ calumniated and defamed by themselves, the opposite of Christ! It preaches the Antichrist, I declare it does, I assure you it does! This is the conviction I have long held, and it has distressed me, myself... Roman Catholicism cannot hold its position without universal political supremacy, and cries: 'Non possumus!' To my thinking Roman Catholicism is not even a religion, but simply the continuation of the Western Roman Empire, and everything in it is subordinated to that idea, faith to begin with. The Pope seized the earth, an earthly throne, and grasped the sword; everything has gone on in the same way since, only they have added to the sword lying, fraud, deceit, fanaticism, superstition, villainy. They have trifled with the most holy, truthful, sincere, fervent feelings of the people; they have bartered it all, all for money, for base earthly power. And isn't that the teaching of Antichrist? How could Atheism fail to come from them? Atheism has sprung from Roman Catholicism itself. It originated with them themselves. Can they have believed themselves? It has been strengthened by revulsion from them; it is begotten by their lying and their spiritual impotence! Atheism! Among us it is only the exceptional classes who don't believe, those who ... have lost their roots. But over there, in Europe, a terrible mass of the people themselves are beginning to lose their faith - at first from darkness and lying, and now from fanaticism and hatred of the church and Christianity."

 

[Ivan]

To my thinking Roman Catholicism is not even a religion, but simply the continuation of the Western Roman Empire, and everything in it is subordinated to that idea, faith to begin with.

That sentence is quite striking.

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

That one goes in my quotes section. Thanks

 

[DMcFadden]

Now what will the ECT folks say about that quote?

 

[Grymir]

Sigh, that was so good, I think I may have to read the book.

 

[Staphlobob]

Dostoevski was a rival to Tolstoi. The former wrote with deep emotional and theological concerns while the latter tended to focus more on historical panorama.

"The Idiot" is intended to be a type of Christ.

But Dostoevski has had something of a cultural impact upon us. E.g., the caracter "Columbo" was based on the detective in his book "Crime and Punishment."

BTW, was Dostoevski Russian Orthodox? Or had he, like Tolostoi, given up on that institution?

 

[JM]

Dostoevsky was devout Russian Orthodox, Tolstoy was excommunicated.

 

[Pergamum]

An interesting quote from Dostoevsky's THE IDIOT:



Roman Catholicism cannot hold its position without universal political supremacy, and cries: 'Non possumus!'

Roman Catholicism cries, "NO POSSUMS!"


HA! I need Latin help here, I keep picturing hairy varmints.

 

[py3ak]

In The Brothers Karamazov there is a remarkable prophecy of the recrudescence of Eastern Orthodoxy, "This star will rise in the East". Up to the present time that prophecy seems to remain unfulfilled. But it may give an indication of Dostoyevsky's view.

But whatever may be the case practically, I have a hard time believing that Eastern Orthodoxy is much of an improvement over Rome.

 

[staythecourse]

I agreed with the quote in part. World supremacy and anti-Christ seem to go together in my understanding.

Main Entry:
non pos·su·mus Listen to the pronunciation of non possumus
Pronunciation:
ˈnän-ˈpä-sə-məs, ˈnōn-
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Latin, we cannot
Date:
1883

: a statement expressing inability to do something

Apparently the Catholic church is saying "We cannot live without world domination"

 

[JM]

More from masters pen:

The prince paused to get breath. He had spoken with extraordinary rapidity, and was very pale. All present interchanged glances, but at last the old dignitary burst out laughing frankly. Prince N. took out his eye-glass to have a good look at the speaker. The German poet came out of his corner and crept nearer to the table, with a spiteful smile. ‘You exaggerate the matter very much,’ said Ivan Petrovitch, with rather a bored air. ‘There are, in the foreign Churches, many representatives of their faith who are worthy of respect and esteem.’ ‘Oh, but I did not speak of individual representatives. I was merely talking about Roman Catholicism, and its essence—of Rome itself. A Church can never entirely disappear; I never hinted at that!’

‘Agreed that all this may be true; but we need not discuss a subject which belongs to the domain of theology.’

‘Oh, no; oh, no! Not to theology alone, I assure you! Why, Socialism is the rogeny of Romanism and of the Romanistic spirit. It and its brother Atheism proceed from Despair in opposition to Catholicism. It seeks to replace in itself the moral power of religion, in order to appease the spiritual thirst of parched humanity and save it; not by Christ, but by force. ‘Don’t dare to believe in God, don’t dare to possess any individuality, any property! Fraternite ou la Mort; two million heads. ‘By their works ye shall know them’—we are told. And we must not suppose that all this is harmless and without danger to ourselves. Oh, no; we must resist, and quickly, quickly! We must let out
Christ shine forth upon the Western nations, our Christ whom we have preserved intact, and whom they have never known. Not as slaves, allowing ourselves to be caught by the hooks of the Jesuits, but carrying our Russian civilization to THEM, we must stand before them, not letting it be said among us that their preaching is ‘skilful,’ as someone expressed it just now.’

‘But excuse me, excuse me;’ cried Ivan Petrovitch considerably disturbed, and looking around uneasily. ‘Your ideas are, of course, most praiseworthy, and in the highest degree patriotic; but you exaggerate the matter terribly. It would be better if we dropped the subject.’