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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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A screen adaptation
of a text by Vladimir Solovyov

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Zoyichka!

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Zoya!

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Come inside!

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Careful, or you'll slip and fall.

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Be that as it may, but now let's take
a different path, dear Nikolai.

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Are you ready to follow me?

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Yes, I am.

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Let's return to the story
of the two monks.

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Well then, back to Alexandria.

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But that's not what interests me.

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We follow the same path,

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the same conclusions,

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but we remove the essence,

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that is, the existence
of God and the Devil.

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We proceed from the next postulate:
Neither God nor the devil exists.

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What interests me here

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is that if we believe
that evil comes from within,

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then,

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which of the two men
would have taken this path,

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the three days of debauchery
in Alexandria, in your opinion?

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Which indeed?

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I don't know, it's just a hypothesis.

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It would be interesting
to assume that probably

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the initiative would be taken by him

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who feels no regret, does not repent,

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does not fall prey to despair.

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Do you remember the story?

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Sure, the story goes like this:
after spending three days in Alexandria...

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They return to the desert.

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- Together.
- Both of them.

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On the way, one of them laments,
flagellates himself...

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- He fades...
- Completely...

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He cannot forget
what happened in Alexandria...

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- Whereas the other...
- The other sings psalms

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as he goes.
And then back in their caves,

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one continues to repent,
to flagellate himself,

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00:06:32,608 --> 00:06:34,775
finally he decides to return
to Alexandria.

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- He decides to leave.
- He decides.

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He leaves everything behind.

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Because he believes
that after succumbing to debauchery,

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there is no going back.

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I think the general is leaving.

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Shall we see him out?

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In three days
he embarks for Marseilles.

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For Toulon.

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Toulon?

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Andrey Nikolaevich,
maybe I should wake him?

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00:07:37,733 --> 00:07:38,650
Yes.

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Fetch a bucket of cold water.

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Well,

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I should be leaving.

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I'll be right back.

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Why shouldn't a modern army
bear the title "Christ-loving"?

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A title!

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In that case,
is white or black a title?

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Is sweet or bitter a title?

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Is brave or cowardly a title?

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It is not I who says it,
but all law-abiding people.

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I beg your pardon!
But tell me, is there still

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a glorious and Christ-loving
Russian army?

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Why quibble over words?

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Ingrida meant something
by "Christ-loving army".

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Thank you, Madeleine.

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This is what I meant:

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Since the beginning of time,

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every military man,
soldier or marshal,

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has known that he serves
a great and good cause.

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Not only a useful or necessary cause,

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such as emptying the privy
or doing the laundry,

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but in the loftier sense,
a good, noble and honourable cause,

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a cause always served by the best men:
the elite, the rulers, the heroes.

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Our cause has always been blessed
by the Church,

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all have glorified it.

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Suddenly we discover
that we must forget all that

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and radically alter our opinion of
ourselves and of our place under the sun.

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The cause we once proudly served

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is declared wicked and baleful,

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at odds with our Lord's commandments
and human sentiments,

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a misfortune
and a dreadful evil,

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that all nations must unite against it,

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and its ultimate demise
is only a matter of time.

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00:11:05,441 --> 00:11:09,858
Have you not heard the voices
that condemn war and military service

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as vestiges of ancient cannibalism?

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Have I heard?

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Of course I have! And I've read it too.
In several languages.

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But the voices of which you speak,

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they were, to be frank,
nothing but hot air.

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We heard them
and then forgot them.

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00:11:28,316 --> 00:11:30,816
But now things have totally changed.

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00:11:30,983 --> 00:11:33,608
That is why I ask
what are we to do?

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00:11:33,775 --> 00:11:38,566
How should I, or rather any soldier,
regard himself:

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As a real human

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or as nature's Quasimodo?

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Am I allowed to have self-respect
because I served a just cause?

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00:11:47,608 --> 00:11:50,608
Or should I be aghast
at what I have done,

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should I repent
and beg all the civilians

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00:11:54,358 --> 00:11:56,941
to forgive me
now that I am proscribed?

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Begone, Michel Kutuzoff!

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There was a great man!

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What an odd way
to pose the question!

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As if we had asked the military
to do something extraordinary.

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00:12:10,025 --> 00:12:14,566
The new requirements apply not to them,
but to diplomats and other civilians,

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00:12:14,733 --> 00:12:18,983
who do not care if they are proscribed,

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00:12:19,150 --> 00:12:21,983
just as they do not care
how much you love Christ.

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This alone is demanded of them:

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to obey the orders of your superiors
unquestioningly.

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As you are not interested
in military matters,

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of course you get, as you just said,
to an odd conclusion.

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It is obvious you don't know
that in some cases

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a superior's orders

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mean neither waiting
nor asking for orders.

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Which is to say?

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Which is to say:
Imagine that on my superiors' orders

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I am placed in charge
of an entire military region.

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This means that my mission is

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to command the armies in my charge
in whatever way appropriate,

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that I must foster in them
a certain morale,

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I must act above their will
in a prudent way,

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I must tune their feelings
within a certain range,

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00:13:13,566 --> 00:13:18,025
in short, I must educate them,
in the spirit of their task.

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Therefore I am allowed,
among other things, to give others...

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to give orders
to the troops in my region,

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on my own account
and taking full responsibility.

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If I asked high command
to dictate what orders to give

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or even to provide me
with guidelines,

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wouldn't I be thought a silly old fool

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and then relegated to the reserve?

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This means that I myself must instil
a certain spirit in my armies,

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which will have been
endorsed and confirmed

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by the high command.

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But even so,

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questions on this subject
are nothing but stupidity or insolence.

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00:14:05,691 --> 00:14:07,525
But this spirit,

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the same, in essence,
from Sargon and Assurbanipal

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00:14:11,066 --> 00:14:12,733
to Wilhelm II,

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00:14:13,316 --> 00:14:15,816
is now all of a sudden challenged.

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00:14:16,525 --> 00:14:21,983
Until recently, I knew I must
foster the military spirit in my troops,

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00:14:22,150 --> 00:14:26,400
so a soldier would be ready
to strike the enemy or die.

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00:14:26,650 --> 00:14:32,650
And to do so, we must be convinced
that war is sacred.

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But now, for no reason,
we deprive them of this conviction

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and, as the erudite would say,

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martial deeds are deprived
of their moral-religious authority.

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00:14:46,983 --> 00:14:49,650
All this is dreadfully exaggerated.

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Nothing permits us to say
that opinions have changed so much.

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00:14:54,358 --> 00:14:55,400
On the one hand,

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everyone agrees that war is bad

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00:14:59,608 --> 00:15:02,358
and the more seldom it occurs
the better.

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00:15:02,525 --> 00:15:05,066
On the other hand,
serious-minded people

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understand that even today
it is an unavoidable evil.

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It is not a case of abolishing war,

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but rather of gradually confining it

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within narrower bounds.

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00:15:19,900 --> 00:15:21,441
But, in principle,

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the opinion of war has not altered.

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It remains an unavoidable evil,
a calamity that must be borne.

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Nothing more?

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00:15:33,733 --> 00:15:34,608
Yes.

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Have you ever cast a glance
at the Orthodox calendar?

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At the calendar?

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Have you noticed
what saints are to be found there?

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All kind of saints.

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What of their occupations?

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Every variety, I suppose.

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Actually, they do not differ very much.

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How so?
Could it be they are all soldiers?

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Not all of them, but half.

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Again you exaggerate.

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00:16:01,150 --> 00:16:02,233
Certainly...

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It is not a case of classifying them
for the sake of statistics.

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I mean only that all the saints
of our Russian Church

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fall under just two categories.

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They are either monks
of various rank,

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or princes, who, in those days,
were definitely soldiers.

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00:16:23,275 --> 00:16:26,608
We have no other saints
of the male sex.

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Either monks or soldiers.

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00:16:28,858 --> 00:16:30,941
But you forget the holy fools!

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Not at all!

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00:16:33,233 --> 00:16:36,358
But the holy fools
are a different kind of monk.

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00:16:36,525 --> 00:16:40,900
They are to monasticism
what Cossacks are to the army.

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00:16:41,775 --> 00:16:46,108
If among the Russian saints
you can find me just one priest,

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merchant, state official,

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00:16:48,816 --> 00:16:51,858
secretary, bourgeois or peasant,

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00:16:52,108 --> 00:16:56,733
in short, any occupation
besides monk or soldier,

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00:16:57,150 --> 00:17:00,941
then I'll give you my entire winnings
the next time I go to Monte Carlo.

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Keep your treasure
and half your calendar!

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00:17:05,650 --> 00:17:09,733
Explain to me just what you mean
to insinuate by this discovery?

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00:17:09,900 --> 00:17:13,983
Do you mean only monks and soldiers
can provide a moral example?

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00:17:14,733 --> 00:17:16,233
You are not even close.

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00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:19,775
I myself know virtuous people
among the clergy,

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00:17:19,941 --> 00:17:23,691
among bankers,
public officials and peasants.

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00:17:24,108 --> 00:17:26,483
And the most virtuous person
I can remember

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00:17:26,650 --> 00:17:30,025
was the nanny who served
in the household of a friend.

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00:17:30,191 --> 00:17:31,608
But that to one side.

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00:17:31,775 --> 00:17:35,775
I mentioned the saints
because I wish to know why there are

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00:17:35,941 --> 00:17:38,525
so many soldiers among the monks...

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00:17:38,691 --> 00:17:41,525
favoured over every other occupation,

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00:17:41,691 --> 00:17:46,275
if we have always regarded
the art of war as a tolerable evil...

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It is obvious that all Christians,

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00:17:48,608 --> 00:17:51,108
whose thinking is reflected,

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00:17:51,358 --> 00:17:53,066
and not only the Russian ones,

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00:17:53,150 --> 00:17:55,275
because in France
it's more or less the same,

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00:17:55,358 --> 00:17:56,941
not only honour,

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00:17:57,066 --> 00:18:00,400
but honour especially
the military profession.

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00:18:00,566 --> 00:18:03,858
Of all occupations,
only that of arms was deemed capable

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00:18:03,941 --> 00:18:07,066
of elevating the best specimens
to the rank of saints.

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00:18:07,191 --> 00:18:10,691
Which is at odds with the current
anti-war campaign, my dear Edouard.

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00:18:10,775 --> 00:18:11,733
There you have it!

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00:18:11,900 --> 00:18:13,941
Did I say there has been no change?

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00:18:14,108 --> 00:18:16,733
It's obvious it is already happening.

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00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:18,900
The sacred halo

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00:18:19,066 --> 00:18:22,275
that once crowned the army,
in the eyes of the mob, is fading.

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00:18:22,483 --> 00:18:24,525
That is where we are heading.

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00:18:24,691 --> 00:18:26,691
But who, in effect,
will be harmed by it?

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00:18:26,858 --> 00:18:30,691
The clergy, probably,
since only they deal in haloes.

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00:18:30,858 --> 00:18:34,900
Rest assured, dear Edouard,
pious accommodations have already begun.

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00:18:35,066 --> 00:18:37,483
For our magazine
I follow religious literature.

220
00:18:37,650 --> 00:18:43,316
In two issues I found
that Christianity condemns war.

221
00:18:43,483 --> 00:18:46,400
- Impossible!
- I couldn't believe it either.

222
00:18:46,566 --> 00:18:48,816
- I can show you.
- Show me what?

223
00:18:48,983 --> 00:18:50,108
You see?

224
00:18:50,691 --> 00:18:55,191
Although the absurd militarist system
is doomed to extinction,

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00:18:55,358 --> 00:18:57,275
the army will be preserved.

226
00:18:57,858 --> 00:19:00,775
As long as it is tolerated
and seen as indispensable,

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00:19:00,941 --> 00:19:03,233
we will demand of it
the same military virtues.

228
00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:07,316
You're apt to butcher the cow
and then demand its milk.

229
00:19:08,108 --> 00:19:11,066
Who will give you
the military virtues you demand,

230
00:19:11,233 --> 00:19:12,650
when the principal virtue,

231
00:19:12,816 --> 00:19:16,025
without which the others
matter not a whit, is courage?

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00:19:16,191 --> 00:19:20,691
That doesn't stand up if we don't believe
in the holiness of our cause.

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00:19:20,858 --> 00:19:24,983
How is that possible,
if we declare war to be perfidy and murder,

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00:19:25,150 --> 00:19:28,441
tolerable only in the extreme,
when it is unavoidable?

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00:19:28,608 --> 00:19:30,941
We don't demand
soldiers accept such a thing,

236
00:19:31,108 --> 00:19:33,316
they only have to believe themselves
the best in the world!

237
00:19:33,483 --> 00:19:35,275
Nikolai has already explained it to you.

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00:19:35,441 --> 00:19:37,941
Don't loot our wallets, that's all!

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00:19:38,108 --> 00:19:40,191
Where are we, on the moon?

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00:19:40,358 --> 00:19:43,441
Would you keep soldiers
in an absolute void?

241
00:19:43,691 --> 00:19:48,691
If military service is deemed
an unavoidable evil for the time being,

242
00:19:48,858 --> 00:19:54,108
no one will devote his life
to a military career.

243
00:19:54,483 --> 00:19:58,275
Except perhaps some nature's rejects,
who have nowhere else to go.

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00:19:58,441 --> 00:20:01,941
I have always thought that, after
the introduction of military service,

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00:20:02,108 --> 00:20:04,941
the dissolution of armies
and then states themselves,

246
00:20:05,108 --> 00:20:06,733
will only be a question of time.

247
00:20:06,900 --> 00:20:10,025
A time not far away,
given the current haste of history.

248
00:20:10,108 --> 00:20:11,816
Perhaps you are right.

249
00:20:11,983 --> 00:20:14,358
I am certain that you are right.

250
00:20:14,525 --> 00:20:18,275
Although such an idea
has never crossed my mind.

251
00:20:18,525 --> 00:20:20,691
Marvellous!
Just think of it!

252
00:20:20,775 --> 00:20:25,316
In its extreme form, militarism gives
rise to compulsory military service.

253
00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,275
Thanks to this,
not only will militarism perish,

254
00:20:29,358 --> 00:20:33,108
but also its old age foundations.
Wonderful!

255
00:20:33,191 --> 00:20:35,733
How nice that Olga has brightened up.

256
00:20:35,816 --> 00:20:40,150
So far she has displayed a gloominess
unworthy of a true Christian.

257
00:20:40,316 --> 00:20:43,025
Because there is too much sadness
around us.

258
00:20:43,525 --> 00:20:46,941
The only joy left is the thought
that reason will triumph.

259
00:20:47,108 --> 00:20:51,400
It is plain that in Europe and Russia
militarism is self-devouring.

260
00:20:51,566 --> 00:20:55,983
But what joy and what triumph
will spring from it, it's hard to tell.

261
00:20:56,275 --> 00:20:59,733
Do you doubt that war and militarism
are an absolute evil

262
00:20:59,900 --> 00:21:03,400
from which mankind
must liberate itself?

263
00:21:03,900 --> 00:21:07,358
That the total and immediate destruction
of this cannibalism

264
00:21:07,525 --> 00:21:10,191
will constitute the triumph
of reason and the good?

265
00:21:10,358 --> 00:21:12,150
I am convinced of the opposite.

266
00:21:12,316 --> 00:21:13,483
How so?

267
00:21:13,733 --> 00:21:16,525
War is not an absolute evil

268
00:21:16,691 --> 00:21:19,108
and peace is not an absolute good.

269
00:21:19,275 --> 00:21:23,983
Or put simply, a good war
is as possible as a bad peace.

270
00:21:25,858 --> 00:21:29,358
Now I see how your position
differs from Ingrida's.

271
00:21:29,525 --> 00:21:32,775
She thinks war is always good
and peace always bad.

272
00:21:32,983 --> 00:21:34,358
Not at all!

273
00:21:34,775 --> 00:21:36,608
I too understand perfectly

274
00:21:36,775 --> 00:21:39,733
that war can sometimes
be a very bad thing,

275
00:21:39,900 --> 00:21:43,066
particularly when we are defeated,
as, for example, at Austerlitz.

276
00:21:43,233 --> 00:21:45,816
And peace can be a wonderful thing,

277
00:21:45,983 --> 00:21:48,733
such as that of Nystad
or Kuchuk-Kainardji.

278
00:21:48,900 --> 00:21:52,233
Behold a variation on the famous words
of the Kaffir or Hottentot

279
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:57,150
who told a missionary he understood
the difference between good and evil:

280
00:21:57,316 --> 00:21:59,858
Good is when I steal
another man's women and cattle,

281
00:22:00,025 --> 00:22:02,025
and evil is when he steals mine.

282
00:22:02,191 --> 00:22:04,816
- Both the African and I were joking.
- Obviously.

283
00:22:04,983 --> 00:22:06,858
He unwittingly, I deliberately.

284
00:22:07,025 --> 00:22:09,983
What about you, Edouard,
who are so well educated,

285
00:22:10,150 --> 00:22:14,566
what do you have to say about war,
from the moral standpoint?

286
00:22:14,900 --> 00:22:17,900
I wouldn't let scholasticism
and metaphysics

287
00:22:18,066 --> 00:22:21,025
alter such a clear
and historically determined problem!

288
00:22:21,191 --> 00:22:22,858
Clear from what point of view?

289
00:22:23,025 --> 00:22:26,233
Mine, the typical, European one,

290
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:30,525
about to be adopted
by educated people everywhere.

291
00:22:30,691 --> 00:22:32,233
Forgive me if I laugh!

292
00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:36,025
Evidently, it consists
in viewing everything as relative

293
00:22:36,191 --> 00:22:37,983
and not allowing any differentiation

294
00:22:38,150 --> 00:22:40,650
between what we are
and are not permitted,

295
00:22:40,816 --> 00:22:43,400
between good and evil.
That's it, isn't it?

296
00:22:43,566 --> 00:22:48,525
My dear Olga, such an argument
is of no help in solving the problem.

297
00:22:48,691 --> 00:22:50,608
Take me, for example,

298
00:22:50,983 --> 00:22:55,108
I allow that morally, good and evil
are absolutely opposed.

299
00:22:55,275 --> 00:22:58,983
But it's clear to me that war and peace
do not fall under this category.

300
00:22:59,150 --> 00:23:02,983
You cannot view war as only black,
and peace as only white.

301
00:23:03,191 --> 00:23:05,941
A contradiction in terms
will then arise.

302
00:23:06,525 --> 00:23:09,775
If something evil in itself,
for example, murder,

303
00:23:09,941 --> 00:23:13,316
can become good in the case of war,
as you say,

304
00:23:13,941 --> 00:23:17,358
where does that leave the absolute
difference between good and evil?

305
00:23:17,525 --> 00:23:19,525
How much easier you make your task!

306
00:23:19,691 --> 00:23:21,566
All murder is an absolute evil,

307
00:23:21,733 --> 00:23:22,775
war is murder,

308
00:23:22,941 --> 00:23:25,066
therefore war is an absolute evil.

309
00:23:25,233 --> 00:23:27,316
It's a first-category syllogism.

310
00:23:27,483 --> 00:23:29,525
Except that you forget,
my dear Olga,

311
00:23:29,691 --> 00:23:32,150
that both premises,
both the major and the minor,

312
00:23:32,316 --> 00:23:33,650
have still to be proven.

313
00:23:33,816 --> 00:23:37,025
Consequently,
the conclusion is left hanging too.

314
00:23:37,191 --> 00:23:39,733
Didn't I say
we've reverted to scholasticism?

315
00:23:39,900 --> 00:23:41,900
What exactly are we talking about?

316
00:23:42,066 --> 00:23:46,150
You therefore argue that to kill,
to take someone's life,

317
00:23:46,316 --> 00:23:48,441
is in any given situation
an absolute evil?

318
00:23:48,608 --> 00:23:49,816
Without a doubt.

319
00:23:49,983 --> 00:23:51,900
But is to be killed

320
00:23:52,191 --> 00:23:53,608
an absolute evil?

321
00:23:54,900 --> 00:23:57,150
For the Hottentots it is, obviously.

322
00:23:57,941 --> 00:24:00,275
But were we not talking
about moral evil?

323
00:24:00,441 --> 00:24:04,066
This exists only in the deeds
of a rational being,

324
00:24:04,233 --> 00:24:08,358
deeds that depend on his will,
rather than chance.

325
00:24:08,525 --> 00:24:12,275
To be killed is therefore the same
as to die of cholera or influenza.

326
00:24:12,441 --> 00:24:16,316
Not only it's not an absolute evil,
but it's not even an evil.

327
00:24:16,691 --> 00:24:19,108
Socrates and the Stoics
knew it already.

328
00:24:19,191 --> 00:24:21,316
I would leave
the ancients out of this.

329
00:24:21,483 --> 00:24:25,650
The absolute you cite,
in morally assessing murder, is shaky.

330
00:24:25,816 --> 00:24:27,025
From what you say,

331
00:24:27,191 --> 00:24:31,525
absolute evil means to do to a man
something that is not evil in itself.

332
00:24:31,691 --> 00:24:34,400
As you like, but it is shaky.

333
00:24:34,650 --> 00:24:36,483
But let us leave this aside,

334
00:24:36,650 --> 00:24:39,525
otherwise we really do revert
to scholasticism.

335
00:24:39,983 --> 00:24:41,066
So,

336
00:24:41,233 --> 00:24:42,525
in the case of a murder,

337
00:24:42,775 --> 00:24:45,608
the evil is not the physical act
of taking someone's life,

338
00:24:45,775 --> 00:24:50,650
rather it resides in the moral cause,
in the murderer's intention to do evil.

339
00:24:50,900 --> 00:24:53,066
- Is that not so?
- Evidently.

340
00:24:53,233 --> 00:24:54,483
Without the intention,

341
00:24:54,650 --> 00:24:57,275
it would not be murder,
but misfortune or carelessness.

342
00:24:57,441 --> 00:25:01,983
Therefore, without the intention,
it would be the same as botched surgery.

343
00:25:02,191 --> 00:25:05,525
But we can imagine
a different situation,

344
00:25:05,941 --> 00:25:09,650
where the intention does not take
as its main aim the killing of a man,

345
00:25:09,858 --> 00:25:12,983
but consents to murder
in a case of extreme necessity.

346
00:25:13,150 --> 00:25:16,900
Would such a murder
be an absolute evil?

347
00:25:18,025 --> 00:25:21,775
Certainly,
since there was the intention to kill.

348
00:25:22,608 --> 00:25:28,066
Might the intention to kill not coincide
with the intention to do evil

349
00:25:28,233 --> 00:25:31,316
and therefore might the crime
not be an absolute evil,

350
00:25:31,483 --> 00:25:33,191
even subjectively speaking?

351
00:25:33,358 --> 00:25:35,733
I have heard this argument
a thousand times!

352
00:25:35,900 --> 00:25:37,983
That father who,
in a deserted place,

353
00:25:38,150 --> 00:25:41,525
sees a brute hurl himself
at his innocent daughter,

354
00:25:41,691 --> 00:25:44,483
ready to subject her to a base villainy,

355
00:25:44,650 --> 00:25:49,525
and who, finding no other solution,
kills the attacker.

356
00:25:49,900 --> 00:25:52,816
For adding effect, I'll say
that the daughter is a child.

357
00:25:52,983 --> 00:25:56,316
What is remarkable is not
that you've heard it a thousand times,

358
00:25:56,483 --> 00:25:59,358
but that nobody has heard
those who think like you

359
00:25:59,525 --> 00:26:02,150
put forward a valid objection
to this simple argument.

360
00:26:02,316 --> 00:26:04,733
- What objection?
- There you go!

361
00:26:04,900 --> 00:26:05,941
Well,

362
00:26:06,316 --> 00:26:09,108
if you don't want to put forward
any objection,

363
00:26:09,275 --> 00:26:12,025
then demonstrate straightforwardly
and positively

364
00:26:12,191 --> 00:26:14,150
that in every case, without exception,

365
00:26:14,316 --> 00:26:16,733
not to use force in the battle with evil

366
00:26:16,900 --> 00:26:20,691
is better than to use it
and to risk killing an evil-doer.

367
00:26:20,858 --> 00:26:24,066
Is there a specific proof
for an isolated case?

368
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:29,150
Once you allow that, in general,
murder is evil in a moral sense?

369
00:26:29,316 --> 00:26:32,316
It is clear that, in every case,
it will still be an evil.

370
00:26:32,483 --> 00:26:37,525
Nobody objects that in general,
it is better not to kill than to kill.

371
00:26:37,691 --> 00:26:40,566
But the question concerns
particular cases.

372
00:26:40,900 --> 00:26:43,233
If the general rule is
"thou shalt not kill",

373
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:45,025
it is therefore absolute

374
00:26:45,191 --> 00:26:49,858
and without no exceptions
or individual circumstances.

375
00:26:50,275 --> 00:26:53,358
I cannot accept
that the problem be put so formally.

376
00:26:53,566 --> 00:26:56,108
Let us say
that in this exceptional case,

377
00:26:56,275 --> 00:26:58,650
which you have invented
as an argument,

378
00:26:58,816 --> 00:27:03,775
let us allow that it is better to kill
than not to kill.

379
00:27:04,525 --> 00:27:07,983
Evidently, I do not allow it,
but let us say you are right.

380
00:27:08,150 --> 00:27:11,233
Let us even say that the given situation
is not fiction, but reality,

381
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:13,983
although it is extremely rare
and exceptional.

382
00:27:14,733 --> 00:27:19,316
But what we are talking about here
is war, a universal phenomenon.

383
00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,691
Do you contend that Napoleon

384
00:27:23,566 --> 00:27:26,441
found himself in a situation similar

385
00:27:26,608 --> 00:27:30,816
to that of the father forced to defend
his daughter from a monster?

386
00:27:30,983 --> 00:27:33,525
An improvement on earlier.
Bravo, Olga!

387
00:27:34,275 --> 00:27:36,858
You skilfully avoid
an annoying question.

388
00:27:37,066 --> 00:27:41,316
Let us rework the example,
lest the details blunt its meaning.

389
00:27:41,483 --> 00:27:44,108
No need for the father
or the little girl.

390
00:27:44,275 --> 00:27:48,483
Parental love will lead the father
to kill the villain,

391
00:27:48,650 --> 00:27:49,733
without wondering

392
00:27:49,900 --> 00:27:53,275
whether he does so in accordance
with the supreme moral principle.

393
00:27:53,441 --> 00:27:55,483
Therefore, instead of a father,

394
00:27:55,650 --> 00:27:57,483
let us take a childless moralist,

395
00:27:57,650 --> 00:28:03,275
before whose very eyes a defenceless
creature is attacked by a vile brute.

396
00:28:03,650 --> 00:28:04,900
According to you,

397
00:28:05,066 --> 00:28:08,525
ought he to stand aloof
and preach virtue,

398
00:28:08,691 --> 00:28:11,525
while the hellish brute
tortures his victim?

399
00:28:11,775 --> 00:28:13,483
Will the moralist

400
00:28:13,775 --> 00:28:17,066
feel no moral obligation
to stop the brute by force,

401
00:28:17,233 --> 00:28:20,191
even at risk of killing him?

402
00:28:20,650 --> 00:28:22,691
And if, on the contrary,

403
00:28:22,858 --> 00:28:25,816
he allows the crime to be committed,
in keeping with his fine maxims,

404
00:28:25,983 --> 00:28:29,316
do you not think his conscience
will reprove him

405
00:28:29,483 --> 00:28:32,733
and he will be ashamed of himself
to the point of revulsion?

406
00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:35,150
Perhaps the moralist
will feel everything you say

407
00:28:35,316 --> 00:28:38,025
if he does not believe
in the reality of moral order.

408
00:28:38,358 --> 00:28:41,525
Or if he has forgotten that God
is to be found not in might but in right.

409
00:28:41,691 --> 00:28:43,400
Very well said.

410
00:28:43,691 --> 00:28:46,358
What will you say to that, Nikolai?

411
00:28:47,983 --> 00:28:50,816
I will say that I would like it
to be said better.

412
00:28:50,983 --> 00:28:54,733
That is, more directly, simply
and to the point.

413
00:28:55,733 --> 00:28:59,691
Did you mean that a moralist
who believes in divine justice

414
00:28:59,858 --> 00:29:02,441
ought, without stopping
the brute by force,

415
00:29:02,608 --> 00:29:06,275
to pray to God that He prevent
the commission of the evil,

416
00:29:06,441 --> 00:29:08,441
either through a moral miracle,

417
00:29:08,608 --> 00:29:11,608
for example the criminal's contrition,

418
00:29:11,775 --> 00:29:15,691
or through a physical miracle,
such as his sudden paralysis?

419
00:29:15,858 --> 00:29:17,566
No need of paralysis.

420
00:29:17,733 --> 00:29:19,358
The villain might take fright

421
00:29:19,525 --> 00:29:23,025
or something might divert him
in one way or the other.

422
00:29:23,191 --> 00:29:25,316
It is not important what.

423
00:29:25,816 --> 00:29:27,900
The miracle resides not in the event,

424
00:29:28,066 --> 00:29:32,483
but in its causal connection
with the prayer and its moral object.

425
00:29:32,983 --> 00:29:36,775
At all events, Olga's solution
for preventing a crime

426
00:29:36,941 --> 00:29:39,441
is to pray to God
that He perform a miracle.

427
00:29:39,608 --> 00:29:41,233
Whence that conclusion?

428
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:45,650
Since I believe the world is guided
by a good and rational principle,

429
00:29:45,816 --> 00:29:49,900
I also believe that the world moves
only in accordance with that principle,

430
00:29:50,066 --> 00:29:52,191
which is to say, the will of God.

431
00:29:52,650 --> 00:29:53,900
Forgive me, dear Olga,

432
00:29:54,066 --> 00:29:55,275
but how old are you?

433
00:29:55,816 --> 00:29:58,150
If you know the answer,
why ask the question?

434
00:29:58,316 --> 00:30:00,650
For dialogue's sake, I assure you.

435
00:30:01,025 --> 00:30:02,650
Let us say twenty-six.

436
00:30:02,941 --> 00:30:04,025
A little older.

437
00:30:04,191 --> 00:30:08,775
Then you will perhaps have seen,
heard, or read in the newspapers

438
00:30:08,941 --> 00:30:12,150
that evil and immoral acts
are committed everywhere in the world.

439
00:30:12,316 --> 00:30:13,275
Yes. So?

440
00:30:13,441 --> 00:30:17,316
In other words, the moral order,
justice and the divine will,

441
00:30:17,483 --> 00:30:19,858
do not come about by themselves.

442
00:30:20,025 --> 00:30:21,191
Clearly,

443
00:30:21,358 --> 00:30:25,108
if evil exists, then the gods
either cannot or will not prevent it.

444
00:30:25,275 --> 00:30:29,066
Therefore, the gods do not exist
as a good and omnipotent force.

445
00:30:29,233 --> 00:30:31,608
- Not a new idea, but fair.
- How can you say so?

446
00:30:31,775 --> 00:30:33,941
See where our conversation has led!

447
00:30:34,108 --> 00:30:36,650
Philosophy bewilders the mind.

448
00:30:36,816 --> 00:30:39,400
Because it is a false philosophy,
my dear Ingrida!

449
00:30:40,275 --> 00:30:44,691
As if the divine will depend on
how we view good and evil.

450
00:30:44,858 --> 00:30:47,358
It does not depend on
any representation

451
00:30:47,525 --> 00:30:51,483
but rather it is closely connected
to a true notion of the good.

452
00:30:51,816 --> 00:30:56,108
Otherwise, if good and evil
are equally indifferent to the deity,

453
00:30:56,275 --> 00:30:58,108
then you contradict yourself
once and for all.

454
00:30:58,275 --> 00:30:59,775
And why is that, may I ask?

455
00:30:59,941 --> 00:31:04,816
Because if the deity is indifferent
that a vile brute,

456
00:31:05,066 --> 00:31:09,108
driven by bestial passion,
defiles a defenceless creature,

457
00:31:09,900 --> 00:31:13,066
then the deity would not oppose
that person among us

458
00:31:13,233 --> 00:31:17,483
who, out of pity for the victim,
destroyed the beast.

459
00:31:18,483 --> 00:31:21,483
For you will hardly uphold
so absurd a notion that

460
00:31:21,650 --> 00:31:26,025
killing an innocent creature
would not be evil in the eyes of God,

461
00:31:26,191 --> 00:31:29,525
whereas killing a vile brute
would be evil.

462
00:31:29,816 --> 00:31:34,150
It seems absurd to you because
you view it from the wrong direction.

463
00:31:34,483 --> 00:31:35,525
From the moral standpoint,

464
00:31:35,691 --> 00:31:38,816
not the victim but the murderer
is important.

465
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:41,775
You called the malefactor a "brute",

466
00:31:41,941 --> 00:31:44,150
that is,
a man without reason or conscience.

467
00:31:44,316 --> 00:31:46,441
What moral evil
can then exist in his actions?

468
00:31:46,608 --> 00:31:49,691
But do we speak of a "brute"
in the literal sense?

469
00:31:50,525 --> 00:31:54,150
It would be as if I told my daughter:
"That's silly, my angel,"

470
00:31:54,316 --> 00:31:57,108
and you chided me
that angels aren't silly!

471
00:31:57,316 --> 00:31:58,733
This is off the point...

472
00:31:58,900 --> 00:32:02,775
Forgive me, but I take it the brigand
was called a "brute" metaphorically

473
00:32:02,983 --> 00:32:04,858
and that he possesses
neither tail nor hooves.

474
00:32:05,025 --> 00:32:10,358
But we refer to his literal
lack of reason and conscience.

475
00:32:11,108 --> 00:32:14,275
A man of conscience could never
consent to such a thing!

476
00:32:14,441 --> 00:32:16,191
You're playing on words again!

477
00:32:16,358 --> 00:32:18,400
It is clear that a man
who behaves like a brute

478
00:32:18,566 --> 00:32:22,941
loses his reason and conscience,
in that he no longer hears their voice.

479
00:32:23,108 --> 00:32:25,733
But that he altogether lacks
reason and conscience

480
00:32:25,900 --> 00:32:27,733
is something
you will have to demonstrate.

481
00:32:27,900 --> 00:32:29,108
Until then,

482
00:32:29,275 --> 00:32:32,650
I shall continue to believe
that the man-brute differs from us two

483
00:32:32,816 --> 00:32:35,650
not by the absence
of reason and conscience,

484
00:32:35,983 --> 00:32:38,733
but because he acts despite them,

485
00:32:38,900 --> 00:32:40,941
driven by his brutish whims.

486
00:32:41,150 --> 00:32:43,525
A selfsame brute
is latent in each of us,

487
00:32:43,691 --> 00:32:46,816
but as a rule, we keep it chained.

488
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:51,025
That man released his brute
and now obeys it.

489
00:32:51,191 --> 00:32:53,275
He has a chain, but does not use it.

490
00:32:53,441 --> 00:32:54,483
Precisely.

491
00:32:54,650 --> 00:33:00,066
And if Olga does not agree,
defeat her with her own weapon!

492
00:33:01,108 --> 00:33:04,691
If the villain is a mere brute
without reason or conscience,

493
00:33:04,858 --> 00:33:09,816
to kill him would be the same as killing
a wolf or a tiger attacking a man.

494
00:33:10,483 --> 00:33:14,525
As far as I know,
the Humane Society has not yet outlawed it.

495
00:33:14,858 --> 00:33:17,400
Have you forgotten that,
whatever the man's condition,

496
00:33:17,566 --> 00:33:20,191
be it atrophy
of the reason and conscience

497
00:33:20,358 --> 00:33:22,150
or conscious immorality,

498
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:24,483
if such a thing is at all possible,

499
00:33:24,775 --> 00:33:26,816
then it concerns not him,
but you yourselves.

500
00:33:26,983 --> 00:33:29,525
For your reason and your conscience
have not atrophied,

501
00:33:29,691 --> 00:33:33,441
nor do you wish
to disobey their commands.

502
00:33:34,358 --> 00:33:37,566
Therefore you will not kill that man,
whoever he may be.

503
00:33:37,816 --> 00:33:42,858
Of course I would not kill him
if my reason and conscience forbade it.

504
00:33:43,025 --> 00:33:46,941
But imagine
they told me something different,

505
00:33:47,108 --> 00:33:49,358
something that seemed to me
more reasonable and honest.

506
00:33:49,525 --> 00:33:51,441
Interesting. Please go on!

507
00:33:52,566 --> 00:33:53,733
Firstly,

508
00:33:53,900 --> 00:33:57,191
the reason and conscience
are able to count to three.

509
00:33:57,400 --> 00:33:58,441
Is that so!

510
00:33:58,608 --> 00:34:00,983
Wherefore the reason and conscience,

511
00:34:01,150 --> 00:34:04,108
unless they wish to lie,
will not say "two" instead of "three"...

512
00:34:04,275 --> 00:34:06,900
- Nikolai, please...
- I don't follow.

513
00:34:07,066 --> 00:34:07,941
In your opinion,

514
00:34:08,108 --> 00:34:11,691
reason and conscience tell me
only about myself and the brigand,

515
00:34:11,858 --> 00:34:13,983
whom I am not allowed to harm.

516
00:34:14,150 --> 00:34:17,316
But there is also a third,
equally important person:

517
00:34:17,483 --> 00:34:20,400
the victim of aggression,
who demands my help.

518
00:34:20,566 --> 00:34:22,400
You keep forgetting her.

519
00:34:22,566 --> 00:34:26,441
But conscience does not,
and God's will is that I save the victim,

520
00:34:26,608 --> 00:34:29,483
while sparing the attacker
as best I can.

521
00:34:29,900 --> 00:34:32,441
But her I must assist at any cost.

522
00:34:32,858 --> 00:34:35,275
By verbal persuasion, if possible,

523
00:34:35,441 --> 00:34:37,275
if not, then by force,

524
00:34:37,608 --> 00:34:42,066
and if my hands are tied,
there remains but one solution:

525
00:34:42,483 --> 00:34:43,733
prayer.

526
00:34:44,191 --> 00:34:48,900
As to the solution, I leave it to you
to decide which is the better.

527
00:34:49,191 --> 00:34:50,941
To me, one thing is certain,

528
00:34:51,316 --> 00:34:54,858
I have to save the victim,
that is what my conscience tells me.

529
00:34:55,025 --> 00:34:58,275
Breach to the centre! Hurrah!

530
00:34:58,983 --> 00:34:59,941
Well, Nikolai,

531
00:35:00,108 --> 00:35:03,066
I take care
not to have too broad a conscience.

532
00:35:03,316 --> 00:35:07,608
Mine tells me, quite bluntly,
not to kill, full stop.

533
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:11,900
It seems to me that our discussion
has made no progress.

534
00:35:12,066 --> 00:35:15,650
Suppose I agreed with you

535
00:35:15,816 --> 00:35:20,191
that anyone might allow himself to kill,
what then?

536
00:35:20,816 --> 00:35:24,775
Do you think that Tamburlaine,
or Alexander the Great, or Lord Kitchener

537
00:35:24,941 --> 00:35:30,066
and their armies killed
to save innocents from evil-doers?

538
00:35:30,566 --> 00:35:34,066
Even though comparing Tamburlaine
with Alexander the Great

539
00:35:34,233 --> 00:35:37,691
risks affecting
the progress of our discussion,

540
00:35:37,858 --> 00:35:42,525
and inasmuch as this is the second time
you have rushed into the topic,

541
00:35:42,691 --> 00:35:46,400
allow me a historical reference
that will help us see the connection

542
00:35:46,566 --> 00:35:50,400
between the question of personal defence
and defence of the state.

543
00:35:51,816 --> 00:35:54,316
The place is Kiev,
the time, the 12th century.

544
00:35:54,483 --> 00:35:55,816
The crown princes

545
00:35:55,983 --> 00:35:58,483
who, it seems,
shared your opinion of war

546
00:35:58,650 --> 00:36:01,691
and chose to fight only in self-defence,

547
00:36:01,858 --> 00:36:05,066
refused to go to war
against the Polovtsians.

548
00:36:05,316 --> 00:36:08,983
They did not want to subject their people
to the calamities of war.

549
00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:13,608
To this, the great Prince
Vladimir the Monomachos replied:

550
00:36:14,150 --> 00:36:17,941
"You pity the yokels,
but forget that once spring arrives..."

551
00:36:18,108 --> 00:36:21,566
Nikolai, please, mind your language!

552
00:36:22,233 --> 00:36:24,358
- But it's from the chronicle!
- It doesn't matter.

553
00:36:24,525 --> 00:36:28,775
Since you don't know it by heart,
say it in your own words.

554
00:36:28,941 --> 00:36:31,983
Anyway, it sounds stupid:
"once spring arrives".

555
00:36:32,150 --> 00:36:35,941
As if what comes next is:
"Flowers bloom, nightingales trill."

556
00:36:36,108 --> 00:36:37,775
And from your mouth...

557
00:36:38,108 --> 00:36:41,108
a "yokel" pops out!

558
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:42,650
Very well.

559
00:36:42,941 --> 00:36:47,691
"Once spring arrives,
the peasant will go out to plough.

560
00:36:47,858 --> 00:36:50,566
"The Polovtsian will come,
kill the peasant,

561
00:36:50,733 --> 00:36:52,191
"steal his horse,

562
00:36:52,358 --> 00:36:55,233
"then hordes of Polovtsians will come,
massacre the peasants,

563
00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:58,108
"enslave their wives and children,

564
00:36:58,275 --> 00:37:00,608
"steal their cattle,
and burn down their village.

565
00:37:00,775 --> 00:37:03,691
"Don't you want to protect them?
I do.

566
00:37:03,858 --> 00:37:06,775
"That's why I call you
to fight the Polovtsians."

567
00:37:07,483 --> 00:37:09,275
Ashamed, the princes now obeyed,

568
00:37:09,441 --> 00:37:12,525
and under Vladimir Monomachos
the country knew peace.

569
00:37:12,691 --> 00:37:15,191
But later they reverted to their pacifism,

570
00:37:15,358 --> 00:37:18,400
giving themselves up
to scandalous living.

571
00:37:19,108 --> 00:37:22,525
For Russia,
it all ended with the Mongol yoke,

572
00:37:23,025 --> 00:37:25,316
and as for the descendants
of those princes,

573
00:37:25,483 --> 00:37:29,233
it ended with the feast served by history
in the form of Ivan the Terrible.

574
00:37:29,775 --> 00:37:31,066
I don't understand.

575
00:37:31,733 --> 00:37:35,483
First, you describe a situation
none of us is familiar with

576
00:37:35,650 --> 00:37:37,983
and probably never will be,

577
00:37:38,275 --> 00:37:42,358
then you cite a Vladimir Monomachos
who probably never existed

578
00:37:42,525 --> 00:37:44,066
and who is anyway
none of our concern.

579
00:37:44,233 --> 00:37:46,066
Speak for yourself, Olga!

580
00:37:46,608 --> 00:37:50,733
But Olga,
aren't you a Rurikovitch?

581
00:37:51,275 --> 00:37:52,525
Yes, I am.

582
00:37:52,733 --> 00:37:56,525
According to you, I ought to be
interested in Rurik, Sineus and Truvor.

583
00:37:56,691 --> 00:37:59,733
Don't get me wrong,
but he who doesn't know his ancestors

584
00:37:59,900 --> 00:38:04,316
is like a child who thinks
he was delivered by the stork.

585
00:38:05,650 --> 00:38:08,775
What about those unfortunates
who have no ancestors?

586
00:38:09,441 --> 00:38:10,858
You know...

587
00:38:11,358 --> 00:38:14,525
This morning,
before coming down for breakfast,

588
00:38:15,066 --> 00:38:17,691
Andrei Nikolaevich handed me a letter,

589
00:38:17,858 --> 00:38:21,150
then he made this confession
out of the blue:

590
00:38:21,483 --> 00:38:25,608
"Only once in my life have I felt
complete moral satisfaction,

591
00:38:25,775 --> 00:38:27,733
"even a form of ecstasy.

592
00:38:28,316 --> 00:38:32,400
"And this good deed
has been and always will be

593
00:38:32,941 --> 00:38:35,025
"my most beautiful and purest memory."

594
00:38:36,483 --> 00:38:39,316
But his only good deed was a crime,

595
00:38:39,775 --> 00:38:41,275
and not a minor one,

596
00:38:41,441 --> 00:38:44,233
for in 15 minutes
he slaughtered more than 1,000 men.

597
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,191
And where is the good in that?

598
00:38:47,525 --> 00:38:49,816
It is not easy for me to talk about it.

599
00:38:50,733 --> 00:38:54,400
Forgive me, but I cannot recount it
without great emotion,

600
00:38:54,566 --> 00:38:56,858
so strongly did it shake me.

601
00:38:57,025 --> 00:38:58,441
Tell us, Ingrida!

602
00:38:58,608 --> 00:39:01,650
Better I read you
a passage from his letter.

603
00:39:02,816 --> 00:39:04,316
It concerns cannons

604
00:39:04,608 --> 00:39:07,025
and the last war against the Turks.

605
00:39:07,608 --> 00:39:10,441
He was in the Cossack army.
After 3 October...

606
00:39:10,608 --> 00:39:11,941
3 October?

607
00:39:12,483 --> 00:39:15,733
The Battle of Aladja Dagh.

608
00:39:18,858 --> 00:39:19,941
Listen.

609
00:39:22,108 --> 00:39:24,483
I had with me
the dragoons of Nizhny Novgorod,

610
00:39:24,650 --> 00:39:26,233
300 Cossacks from Kuban,

611
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:28,983
and a battery of mounted artillery.

612
00:39:29,525 --> 00:39:30,775
The terrain was desolate.

613
00:39:30,941 --> 00:39:32,608
Up the mountains it was beautiful,

614
00:39:32,775 --> 00:39:36,775
but down in the valley there were
just burnt villages and barren fields.

615
00:39:37,691 --> 00:39:40,441
One day, it was October 28,

616
00:39:40,608 --> 00:39:46,066
I arrived in a valley where, by the map,
there was an Armenian village.

617
00:39:46,983 --> 00:39:49,858
At the entrance to the village
there was a bend in the road.

618
00:39:50,108 --> 00:39:53,775
My Cossacks were already there,
standing stock-still.

619
00:39:54,233 --> 00:39:55,691
I galloped up to them.

620
00:39:55,858 --> 00:39:59,983
Before I saw it,
I knew from the stench of roasted flesh,

621
00:40:00,150 --> 00:40:03,191
that the Bashi-Bazouks
had left behind their kitchen.

622
00:40:04,525 --> 00:40:09,483
They captured a convoy of Armenians
unable to save themselves,

623
00:40:09,900 --> 00:40:12,358
and dealt with them
in their own fashion.

624
00:40:12,775 --> 00:40:17,275
They lit fires under the carts,
having tied the Armenians to them.

625
00:40:17,441 --> 00:40:19,733
Some upright, some upside down,

626
00:40:19,900 --> 00:40:22,400
some on their backs,
some on their stomachs,

627
00:40:22,775 --> 00:40:24,900
hanging over the flames,

628
00:40:25,233 --> 00:40:27,108
roasted over a low flame.

629
00:40:28,233 --> 00:40:31,775
The women's breasts had been
chopped off, their bellies split open.

630
00:40:31,941 --> 00:40:33,691
I won't go into details.

631
00:40:34,316 --> 00:40:35,525
Apart from one,

632
00:40:35,858 --> 00:40:37,608
which I can picture even now.

633
00:40:38,483 --> 00:40:41,358
A woman, stretched out on her back,

634
00:40:41,525 --> 00:40:45,566
her neck and shoulders
bound to the cart axle,

635
00:40:45,733 --> 00:40:48,191
so that she wouldn't be able
to turn her head.

636
00:40:48,358 --> 00:40:51,275
She had neither been burned
nor flayed alive,

637
00:40:51,441 --> 00:40:53,983
only her face was mutilated,

638
00:40:54,191 --> 00:40:56,733
it was plain she had died of terror.

639
00:40:57,858 --> 00:40:59,025
In front of her

640
00:40:59,191 --> 00:41:01,983
was a stake planted in the ground,

641
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:05,608
to which a naked baby was tied.

642
00:41:06,316 --> 00:41:07,983
Undoubtedly her son.

643
00:41:08,608 --> 00:41:11,191
Completely burned,
no eyes in his sockets.

644
00:41:12,483 --> 00:41:15,983
Next to him smouldered
a charcoal grill.

645
00:41:20,650 --> 00:41:23,566
At first,
I was gripped by deathly grief,

646
00:41:23,733 --> 00:41:27,566
I looked around in disgust,
acting mechanically.

647
00:41:27,733 --> 00:41:29,775
I gave the order:
"Forward at a brisk pace!"

648
00:41:29,941 --> 00:41:31,650
We entered the burned village.

649
00:41:31,816 --> 00:41:34,816
It had been pillaged,
razed to the ground.

650
00:41:35,066 --> 00:41:38,941
Suddenly, from a dry well,
a kind of ghost emerged.

651
00:41:39,233 --> 00:41:41,900
Having emerged, dirty and tattered,

652
00:41:42,066 --> 00:41:47,191
he fell to the ground
and released a lament in Armenian.

653
00:41:47,650 --> 00:41:49,983
I pulled him to his feet
and questioned him.

654
00:41:50,150 --> 00:41:52,983
He was an Armenian from another village,

655
00:41:53,358 --> 00:41:54,816
a good boy.

656
00:41:55,233 --> 00:42:00,233
He was there for business,
just as the inhabitants were about to flee.

657
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:03,316
No sooner had they set out
than the Bashi-Bazouks struck.

658
00:42:03,483 --> 00:42:06,358
A large number...
40,000, he reckoned.

659
00:42:07,525 --> 00:42:12,316
He had heard the screams
and anyway knew how it ended.

660
00:42:12,775 --> 00:42:17,525
He then heard the Bashi-Bazouks
were returning by a different path.

661
00:42:17,900 --> 00:42:22,025
"They're going to our village", he said,
"and will do the same to my people."

662
00:42:22,191 --> 00:42:23,941
He wept continually,

663
00:42:24,650 --> 00:42:26,358
wringing his hands.

664
00:42:27,608 --> 00:42:31,191
All of a sudden,
it was as if I was enlightened.

665
00:42:32,150 --> 00:42:36,691
My heart melted and it was as if
the world smiled at me once more.

666
00:42:37,316 --> 00:42:41,275
I asked the Armenian
how long it had been since they left.

667
00:42:41,441 --> 00:42:44,191
He reckoned
it had been about three hours ago.

668
00:42:44,358 --> 00:42:47,858
"How long to your village on horseback?"

669
00:42:48,025 --> 00:42:49,316
"Five hours."

670
00:42:49,733 --> 00:42:53,483
I gave the Armenian a horse
and followed him

671
00:42:53,650 --> 00:42:56,150
through the gorge,
with the whole detachment.

672
00:42:56,316 --> 00:43:00,483
I no longer know
how we climbed those mountains.

673
00:43:01,858 --> 00:43:04,233
We had just emerged
from the final gorge,

674
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,441
and were about to join
the main road,

675
00:43:07,900 --> 00:43:10,775
When suddenly,
I saw the Armenian galloping toward us,

676
00:43:10,941 --> 00:43:12,441
signalling us.

677
00:43:12,608 --> 00:43:13,983
They were there.

678
00:43:14,233 --> 00:43:17,525
I went to the vanguard,
focused my telescope:

679
00:43:17,775 --> 00:43:20,816
it was indeed them,
horsemen as far as the eye could see.

680
00:43:20,983 --> 00:43:25,441
Not 40,000, but about
three or four thousand, maybe even five.

681
00:43:26,066 --> 00:43:29,608
The devil's imps saw us
and turned to face us.

682
00:43:29,775 --> 00:43:34,691
Just as we came at their left flank,
they started shooting at our Cossacks.

683
00:43:34,858 --> 00:43:37,858
Those Asiatics
were firing European rifles

684
00:43:38,025 --> 00:43:40,316
almost like they were human beings!

685
00:43:43,441 --> 00:43:46,191
Here and there,
Cossacks fell from their horses.

686
00:43:46,858 --> 00:43:50,525
I therefore ordered my men
to fire on these demons,

687
00:43:50,691 --> 00:43:53,566
making a dispersed attack,

688
00:43:53,733 --> 00:43:57,275
and once they had provoked them,
to retreat to the cannons.

689
00:43:57,858 --> 00:43:59,941
I placed one company
to conceal the cannons,

690
00:44:00,108 --> 00:44:03,191
and lined up the Nizhny men
on the left of the battery.

691
00:44:04,025 --> 00:44:08,608
After exchanging a few shots,
the Cossacks withdrew, whooping.

692
00:44:09,066 --> 00:44:11,233
The demons gave chase.

693
00:44:11,566 --> 00:44:14,566
By now they were hurtling,
no longer even shooting.

694
00:44:14,733 --> 00:44:17,191
They galloped straight at us.

695
00:44:18,983 --> 00:44:23,441
I said to myself
that the hour of God's will had arrived.

696
00:44:24,566 --> 00:44:27,733
The company split in two,
revealing the cannons.

697
00:44:27,900 --> 00:44:30,108
I ordered the battery to fire.

698
00:44:30,441 --> 00:44:33,941
And God blessed all my six shots.

699
00:44:34,108 --> 00:44:37,441
Never in my life had I heard
such demonic howling!

700
00:44:37,608 --> 00:44:41,441
Before they knew what hit them,
the second salvo came.

701
00:44:41,608 --> 00:44:45,525
When I looked to see,
the horde was in rout.

702
00:44:45,691 --> 00:44:50,233
The third salvo struck them from behind,
wreaking mayhem.

703
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:53,608
They were stampeding,
trampling each another.

704
00:44:53,775 --> 00:44:57,483
Then, with the dragoons
and Cossacks from the left flank,

705
00:44:57,650 --> 00:44:59,983
we butchered them.

706
00:45:00,650 --> 00:45:04,733
Few escaped.
The sword finished the cannons' work.

707
00:45:04,900 --> 00:45:08,108
Some threw down their weapons,
dismounted,

708
00:45:08,275 --> 00:45:09,858
begging for "aman".

709
00:45:10,066 --> 00:45:11,733
I did not intervene,

710
00:45:11,900 --> 00:45:15,358
my men knew
it was not the time for "aman",

711
00:45:15,525 --> 00:45:18,316
and the Cossacks and Dragoons
cut them all down.

712
00:45:19,358 --> 00:45:21,191
The task was finished.

713
00:45:21,608 --> 00:45:24,316
In my soul
I felt the Lord's Resurrection.

714
00:45:24,483 --> 00:45:26,441
We gathered our dead.

715
00:45:26,816 --> 00:45:29,816
37 men had entrusted their souls to God.

716
00:45:37,691 --> 00:45:42,400
We laid them on level ground
and closed their eyes.

717
00:45:44,025 --> 00:45:47,108
We had a non-commissioned officer,
Odarchenko,

718
00:45:47,275 --> 00:45:51,858
a remarkable old man,
with a good knowledge of holy writ.

719
00:45:52,941 --> 00:45:58,316
I told him, "We are campaigning,
we are no good at hallelujahs,

720
00:45:58,650 --> 00:46:02,858
"stand in for the priest,
chant the funeral rite for our dead."

721
00:46:08,316 --> 00:46:11,150
And he chanted the rite as was befitting.

722
00:46:11,316 --> 00:46:14,233
But we had no priest
to forgive their sins.

723
00:46:15,025 --> 00:46:18,983
When Odarchenko
recited the names of the dead soldiers,

724
00:46:19,150 --> 00:46:22,566
who had fallen on the field of honour
for the faith,

725
00:46:22,733 --> 00:46:24,400
for tsar and country,

726
00:46:25,066 --> 00:46:30,066
I truly felt they were not empty words,
or ordinary titles,

727
00:46:30,441 --> 00:46:33,816
but that there really was
a Christ-loving army

728
00:46:34,316 --> 00:46:36,733
and that war was, is,
and will be,

729
00:46:36,816 --> 00:46:38,483
until the end of time,

730
00:46:38,608 --> 00:46:41,400
a great, honourable and holy thing.

731
00:46:53,608 --> 00:46:57,275
After he buried his dead,
filled with such enlightenment,

732
00:46:57,441 --> 00:47:01,191
did he remember the foes
he had slain in their hundreds?

733
00:47:01,816 --> 00:47:04,233
Thank God they were able
to get themselves thence

734
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:06,691
before the corpses could remind them.

735
00:47:06,858 --> 00:47:08,525
You have ruined everything.

736
00:47:08,691 --> 00:47:10,316
How can you say so?

737
00:47:10,941 --> 00:47:13,191
What would you have liked him to do?

738
00:47:13,483 --> 00:47:16,400
To give those jackals a Christian burial?

739
00:47:16,816 --> 00:47:20,650
Who were neither Christians nor Muslims,
but the devil knows what?

740
00:47:20,816 --> 00:47:25,650
And even if he had been insane enough
to order a funeral service for them

741
00:47:25,816 --> 00:47:28,150
to be held
alongside that for the Cossacks,

742
00:47:28,316 --> 00:47:32,025
you would have accused him
of not respecting their religion.

743
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:34,108
What! The poor things,

744
00:47:34,275 --> 00:47:37,608
who glorified the devil
and worshiped fire all their lives,

745
00:47:37,775 --> 00:47:40,066
to subject them post mortem

746
00:47:40,233 --> 00:47:44,150
to coarse, superstitious Christian rites!

747
00:47:46,358 --> 00:47:48,441
He had other concerns.

748
00:47:49,025 --> 00:47:53,275
He ordered the officers
to forbid the men

749
00:47:53,441 --> 00:47:56,941
from going within twenty paces
of the corpses.

750
00:47:57,483 --> 00:48:01,233
He had seen
that the Cossacks were itching

751
00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:04,233
to loot the dead, as was customary.

752
00:48:04,566 --> 00:48:08,150
Who knows what pestilence
they might have caught from those devils.

753
00:48:08,650 --> 00:48:11,441
May they rot in hell!

754
00:48:13,025 --> 00:48:14,941
Do I understand correctly?

755
00:48:15,358 --> 00:48:19,025
You were afraid that the Cossacks,
by looting the Bashi-Bazouk corpses,

756
00:48:19,191 --> 00:48:23,191
might have spread contagion
in your husband's camp?

757
00:48:23,816 --> 00:48:25,275
It seems obvious to me.

758
00:48:25,441 --> 00:48:27,650
Behold the "Christ-loving army"!

759
00:48:28,775 --> 00:48:29,983
The Cossacks?

760
00:48:30,275 --> 00:48:33,400
Nothing but brigands!
They always have been.

761
00:48:33,858 --> 00:48:36,566
Does it not seem to you
that we are talking in the abstract?

762
00:48:36,733 --> 00:48:39,650
Yes, it seems to me
that something is amiss.

763
00:48:39,900 --> 00:48:43,108
I do not understand
what you want from me.

764
00:48:43,275 --> 00:48:46,983
Olga is surprised that the sublime,
almost saintly Cossacks

765
00:48:47,150 --> 00:48:50,733
proved to be, as you say,
"nothing but brigands".

766
00:48:52,275 --> 00:48:55,525
How can war be
"a great, honourable and holy thing"

767
00:48:55,691 --> 00:48:59,941
if, as you say, it is the struggle
of brigands against other brigands?

768
00:49:00,108 --> 00:49:04,400
So that is what it was: "The struggle
of brigands against other brigands."

769
00:49:05,483 --> 00:49:09,108
But this is about
a different kind of brigand...

770
00:49:09,733 --> 00:49:12,650
If you do not believe that theft

771
00:49:12,816 --> 00:49:17,608
is the same as roasting babies
under their mothers' eyes...

772
00:49:19,608 --> 00:49:22,066
This is what I still have
to read to you:

773
00:49:22,941 --> 00:49:24,483
My dear Ingrida,

774
00:49:24,775 --> 00:49:28,400
My conscience is so pure,
as I look back on it now,

775
00:49:28,566 --> 00:49:34,358
that I still regret not having died
after I ordered the last salvo.

776
00:49:35,108 --> 00:49:38,608
And I am in no doubt that,
had I died that moment,

777
00:49:38,816 --> 00:49:41,900
I would have gone
straight before God,

778
00:49:42,066 --> 00:49:44,900
along with my 37 Cossacks,

779
00:49:45,233 --> 00:49:47,525
and we would have received
a place in heaven

780
00:49:47,691 --> 00:49:50,400
next to the good thief of the Gospels.

781
00:49:50,900 --> 00:49:54,316
Not for nothing is he in the Gospels.

782
00:49:55,775 --> 00:49:57,441
But, my dear Ingrida,

783
00:49:57,608 --> 00:49:59,316
the Gospels do not say

784
00:49:59,483 --> 00:50:02,358
that only Christians
can be likened to the good thief.

785
00:50:03,275 --> 00:50:05,900
Why are you so antagonistic toward me?

786
00:50:06,358 --> 00:50:10,733
Where did he draw any distinction
between nations or religions?

787
00:50:11,483 --> 00:50:15,108
Are the Armenians
of the same nation or faith as us?

788
00:50:15,900 --> 00:50:20,275
Are not the "devil's imps" humans too?

789
00:50:20,441 --> 00:50:22,275
Did he say that in every man
can be good and evil?

790
00:50:22,441 --> 00:50:24,733
That in every thief,
coward or Bashi-Bazouk

791
00:50:24,900 --> 00:50:27,191
lies hidden a good thief?

792
00:50:27,483 --> 00:50:29,733
Who can understand you?

793
00:50:29,900 --> 00:50:31,191
She is right.

794
00:50:31,566 --> 00:50:35,525
Either you say the evil man
is an irresponsible brute,

795
00:50:35,691 --> 00:50:40,066
or that a Bashi-Bazouk
who roasts children over a low flame

796
00:50:40,233 --> 00:50:42,858
might prove to be
the good thief of the Gospels!

797
00:50:43,025 --> 00:50:47,733
And all this only to avoid
calling evil by its name.

798
00:50:49,066 --> 00:50:52,650
What matters to me
is not that in every man

799
00:50:52,816 --> 00:50:55,358
can be found the seeds of good and evil.

800
00:50:56,191 --> 00:51:00,566
What is important is not that grape juice
can make both wine and vinegar.

801
00:51:00,733 --> 00:51:05,608
What is important is whether the bottle
contains wine or vinegar.

802
00:51:06,441 --> 00:51:08,483
For if it is vinegar

803
00:51:08,650 --> 00:51:12,066
and I drink it and serve it to others,

804
00:51:12,233 --> 00:51:15,441
under the pretext that even so,
it is still made of grape juice,

805
00:51:15,608 --> 00:51:18,858
I do nobody a service,

806
00:51:19,191 --> 00:51:21,775
but rather I give us all a stomach ache.

807
00:51:23,650 --> 00:51:25,566
All men are brothers.

808
00:51:26,191 --> 00:51:27,400
Perfect.

809
00:51:27,858 --> 00:51:29,400
Glad to hear it.

810
00:51:30,233 --> 00:51:31,525
What then?

811
00:51:32,066 --> 00:51:33,900
Brothers can differ.

812
00:51:35,150 --> 00:51:39,775
Why shouldn't I wish to know
which is Cain and which Abel?

813
00:51:40,691 --> 00:51:44,608
What if my brother Cain
skins my brother Abel,

814
00:51:44,816 --> 00:51:48,316
and I, not being indifferent
to my brothers,

815
00:51:48,483 --> 00:51:50,608
box Cain's ears

816
00:51:50,775 --> 00:51:54,025
to stop him doing it again.

817
00:51:54,650 --> 00:51:57,650
"Should I stand aloof
or should I hit him?"

818
00:51:58,025 --> 00:51:59,483
Why this dilemma?

819
00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:03,275
Because we cannot find
a third way, Olga.

820
00:53:02,775 --> 00:53:03,858
Olga,

821
00:53:04,691 --> 00:53:07,608
earlier you suggested
that we pray to God

822
00:53:08,483 --> 00:53:14,233
that He intervenes
to mend a devil's ways.

823
00:53:16,150 --> 00:53:18,691
You seem to have abandoned this course.

824
00:53:18,941 --> 00:53:21,608
I too believe that prayer is the path,

825
00:53:22,066 --> 00:53:25,233
but it cannot replace deed.

826
00:53:28,816 --> 00:53:30,691
The pious, for example,

827
00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:33,108
pray before meals,

828
00:53:33,858 --> 00:53:37,816
but in order to chew,
they use their own jaws.

829
00:53:39,066 --> 00:53:40,816
I refuse to believe that,

830
00:53:41,150 --> 00:53:42,900
without praying,

831
00:53:43,858 --> 00:53:47,566
Andrei Nikolaevich
ordered his artillery to fire.

832
00:53:48,358 --> 00:53:51,108
Such a prayer is obviously
a blasphemy.

833
00:53:51,858 --> 00:53:54,941
It is not to pray that counts,
but rather to do God's will.

834
00:53:55,108 --> 00:53:56,316
Meaning?

835
00:53:57,608 --> 00:54:00,983
He who is deeply imbued
with the spirit of the Gospels

836
00:54:01,150 --> 00:54:03,358
will find within him, when needed,

837
00:54:03,650 --> 00:54:07,275
the ability to use words,
deeds and appearances

838
00:54:07,608 --> 00:54:11,775
to sway his blind brother who wants
to kill or commit some other evil.

839
00:54:12,150 --> 00:54:15,358
This will produce in him
such a strong impression

840
00:54:15,525 --> 00:54:19,650
that it will make him
turn back onto the right path.

841
00:54:20,150 --> 00:54:21,650
Heavens above!

842
00:54:22,275 --> 00:54:26,191
You mean that, faced with Bashi-Bazouks
who roast babies over a low flame,

843
00:54:26,358 --> 00:54:30,066
he ought to have made moving gestures

844
00:54:30,233 --> 00:54:32,608
and uttered moving words?

845
00:54:32,775 --> 00:54:34,400
Words, my dear Olga,

846
00:54:34,566 --> 00:54:37,608
given the distance between them
and the lack of a shared language,

847
00:54:37,775 --> 00:54:40,608
would likely have been out of place.

848
00:54:41,066 --> 00:54:45,816
As for moving gestures,
whatever you might say,

849
00:54:45,983 --> 00:54:49,983
nothing better than that
could have been found.

850
00:54:50,691 --> 00:54:51,650
In fact,

851
00:54:52,025 --> 00:54:54,900
in what language and by what means

852
00:54:55,191 --> 00:54:58,608
could the general have got along
with the Bashi-Bazouks?

853
00:54:59,150 --> 00:55:03,816
I didn't say he could have treated them
in accordance with the Gospels.

854
00:55:03,983 --> 00:55:07,191
I said only that a man
filled with evangelical grace

855
00:55:07,358 --> 00:55:09,941
would have found a solution
even in that situation

856
00:55:10,108 --> 00:55:14,316
to awaken in them
the good that lies hidden in every man.

857
00:55:14,733 --> 00:55:16,441
Do you really believe that?

858
00:55:17,233 --> 00:55:18,775
I do not doubt it.

859
00:55:20,025 --> 00:55:25,400
Then you believe that Christ was imbued
with sufficient evangelical grace?

860
00:55:25,566 --> 00:55:27,233
What kind of question is that?

861
00:55:27,400 --> 00:55:32,108
I wish to know why Christ
did not use His evangelical grace

862
00:55:32,275 --> 00:55:34,691
to awaken the hidden good
in the souls of Judas,

863
00:55:34,858 --> 00:55:38,150
Herod, the Jewish high priests
and the bad thief.

864
00:55:38,941 --> 00:55:41,566
We forget this
when we speak of the good.

865
00:55:41,733 --> 00:55:45,108
But Olga,
you must sacrifice one or the other.

866
00:55:45,775 --> 00:55:49,191
Either Christ and the Gospels
as the highest authority,

867
00:55:49,358 --> 00:55:51,441
or your moral optimism.

868
00:55:52,108 --> 00:55:53,691
Because the third path,

869
00:55:54,441 --> 00:55:59,858
to regard the Gospels
as fiction or priestly distortion,

870
00:56:00,358 --> 00:56:04,441
a well-trodden path,
is barred to you once and for all.

871
00:56:05,566 --> 00:56:09,525
No matter how much you truncate
the text of the Gospels to suit you,

872
00:56:09,691 --> 00:56:11,733
what remains indisputable,

873
00:56:12,400 --> 00:56:14,900
and what is essential
to our discussion,

874
00:56:15,191 --> 00:56:17,816
is the fact that Christ was persecuted

875
00:56:18,358 --> 00:56:21,191
and killed
because His enemies hated him.

876
00:56:23,775 --> 00:56:26,525
That He remained above such evil,

877
00:56:26,691 --> 00:56:31,858
that He did not resist and forgave them,
we both understand.

878
00:56:32,525 --> 00:56:36,150
But why, in forgiving His enemies,
to put it as you would,

879
00:56:36,316 --> 00:56:39,941
did He not save their souls
from the darkness in which they lay?

880
00:56:40,316 --> 00:56:44,441
Why did He not vanquish their evil
through the power of His meekness?

881
00:56:44,733 --> 00:56:47,150
Why did He not awaken
the dormant good in them?

882
00:56:47,608 --> 00:56:51,191
Why did He not give them
the light and rebirth?

883
00:56:51,566 --> 00:56:54,775
Why did He not act upon Judas,
Herod and the high priests,

884
00:56:54,941 --> 00:56:57,733
as in the case of the good thief?

885
00:56:58,941 --> 00:57:02,358
Therefore,
He either could not or would not.

886
00:57:03,066 --> 00:57:05,650
In both cases, according to you,
it results

887
00:57:05,816 --> 00:57:10,150
that He was not sufficiently imbued
with the true evangelical spirit.

888
00:57:10,316 --> 00:57:14,358
And since we are talking about
The Gospel of Christ,

889
00:57:14,525 --> 00:57:20,066
it becomes clear that Christ was not
imbued with the true spirit of Christ.

890
00:57:20,608 --> 00:57:22,233
My congratulations!

891
00:57:23,650 --> 00:57:26,941
I am not going to engage you
in a duel of words,

892
00:57:28,316 --> 00:57:32,483
nor would I duel with Ingrida
over the love of Christ.

893
00:57:40,858 --> 00:57:42,816
Nikolai, it seems to me

894
00:57:43,400 --> 00:57:46,941
that the time to have lunch
gradually approaches.

895
00:57:47,816 --> 00:57:48,733
Yes...

896
00:57:49,525 --> 00:57:51,400
we are just about to be served.

897
00:57:52,525 --> 00:57:53,650
Perfect.

898
00:57:54,816 --> 00:57:57,775
And, of course, we cannot conclude

899
00:57:59,525 --> 00:58:02,275
such a discussion so abruptly.

900
00:58:02,816 --> 00:58:05,858
And later we shall have a game of cards.

901
00:58:07,108 --> 00:58:11,983
But we really must continue
this discussion.

902
00:58:12,441 --> 00:58:13,941
Don't you agree, Edouard?

903
00:58:14,316 --> 00:58:16,400
That we should continue
the discussion?

904
00:58:16,691 --> 00:58:19,358
And there I was glad
that it was over!

905
00:58:20,108 --> 00:58:23,733
The discussion had begun
to take on an unpleasant air,

906
00:58:23,900 --> 00:58:26,191
specific to the religious wars.

907
00:58:26,566 --> 00:58:28,691
It is no longer in fashion,
and I value my own skin.

908
00:58:28,858 --> 00:58:30,733
Don't be facetious, Edouard!

909
00:58:30,900 --> 00:58:33,316
You too must take part.

910
00:58:33,900 --> 00:58:37,608
I agree, but on one condition:
less of the religion.

911
00:58:38,191 --> 00:58:42,608
I won't say we'll exclude it altogether,
as that would be impossible.

912
00:58:42,941 --> 00:58:46,108
But let there be less of it,
for God's sake!

913
00:58:46,275 --> 00:58:49,150
That "for God's sake"
is adorable, given the context!

914
00:58:49,316 --> 00:58:54,316
If you want less of the religion,
you should do more of the talking.

915
00:58:55,066 --> 00:58:59,358
Although I would rather listen,
especially in weather like this,

916
00:58:59,525 --> 00:59:02,191
I'm prepared to sacrifice myself
for two hours

917
00:59:02,358 --> 00:59:05,150
to save our little club from civil war,

918
00:59:05,316 --> 00:59:09,150
which might have calamitous effects
on our card game.

919
00:59:09,525 --> 00:59:10,858
What a pure soul!

920
00:59:11,025 --> 00:59:12,191
Perfect!

921
00:59:12,775 --> 00:59:13,816
So...

922
00:59:14,858 --> 00:59:18,816
later we will be able to finish

923
00:59:19,025 --> 00:59:21,566
this discussion of the Gospels,

924
00:59:22,025 --> 00:59:25,858
and Olga might be able to prepare
some unbeatable argument.

925
00:59:30,275 --> 00:59:31,441
In that case,

926
00:59:31,608 --> 00:59:34,066
stay for dinner too, Edouard...

927
00:59:34,358 --> 00:59:37,441
It wouldn't be a bad thing for you
to accustom yourself to spiritual topics.

928
00:59:37,608 --> 00:59:41,608
My self-sacrifice does not go that far.
And tomorrow I depart for Nice.

929
00:59:41,775 --> 00:59:42,858
Nice?

930
00:59:43,233 --> 00:59:44,941
Such naïve diplomacy!

931
00:59:45,108 --> 00:59:48,650
But it's futile!
I deciphered your code long ago.

932
00:59:49,275 --> 00:59:52,441
We all know that when you say
"I depart for Nice,"

933
00:59:52,608 --> 00:59:55,566
it means "a party in Monte Carlo".

934
00:59:56,108 --> 00:59:57,191
A shame!

935
00:59:57,441 --> 00:59:58,983
We shall manage.

936
00:59:59,525 --> 01:00:01,483
Immerse yourself in matter

937
01:00:01,650 --> 01:00:05,816
if you are not daunted
by the thought of soon becoming spirit.

938
01:00:06,816 --> 01:00:09,483
Go to Nice, to Monte Carlo!

939
01:00:12,191 --> 01:00:15,025
And may Providence reward you
according to your merits!

940
01:00:15,191 --> 01:00:17,858
My merits have nothing to do
with Providence,

941
01:00:18,025 --> 01:00:21,691
but rather the application
of indispensable measures.

942
01:00:22,900 --> 01:00:26,108
As for winnings and other sums,
I accept Providence,

943
01:00:26,275 --> 01:00:28,525
at roulette, as in everything else.

944
01:00:29,733 --> 01:00:34,150
But we should all meet again together.

945
01:00:34,775 --> 01:00:36,358
- Olga!
- Poor child!

946
01:00:37,400 --> 01:00:38,191
Olga!

947
01:00:40,316 --> 01:00:42,358
- István!
- I'll fetch some water.

948
01:00:45,400 --> 01:00:47,483
You know, such topics...

949
01:00:52,483 --> 01:00:54,066
She is as cold as ice!

950
01:00:57,566 --> 01:00:59,275
Open her mouth, please!

951
01:01:00,400 --> 01:01:03,775
Give her room to breathe!
You are crowding her.

952
01:02:10,525 --> 01:02:14,691
Via Chernivtsi,
it is two days to Königsberg.

953
01:02:15,150 --> 01:02:19,316
So, Chernivtsi, Lemberg,
Warsaw, Vilnius.

954
01:02:22,150 --> 01:02:27,191
There is another route,
but it takes longer, around three days.

955
01:02:27,441 --> 01:02:32,358
Via Budapest, Vienna,
Prague, Berlin, Danzig.

956
01:02:32,525 --> 01:02:35,316
Then you reach Königsberg.

957
01:05:20,483 --> 01:05:21,650
Kolea...

958
01:05:42,900 --> 01:05:44,233
Done.

959
01:06:52,233 --> 01:06:53,691
Have you tried it?

960
01:06:54,691 --> 01:06:55,816
Of course.

961
01:06:56,608 --> 01:06:58,525
And you have too, haven't you?

962
01:06:58,775 --> 01:07:02,775
The moving walkway is an invention

963
01:07:02,941 --> 01:07:08,816
used for conveying
the countless visitors...

964
01:07:09,025 --> 01:07:11,316
- 50 million.
- Yes.

965
01:07:13,525 --> 01:07:15,441
Fewer, actually.

966
01:07:17,816 --> 01:07:21,525
I have always felt well
in such a company.

967
01:07:21,691 --> 01:07:23,650
At Monte Carlo, for example.

968
01:07:24,650 --> 01:07:26,483
At Monte Carlo or elsewhere.

969
01:07:27,400 --> 01:07:31,316
Nowhere is there felt the need
for a specimen of higher virtue.

970
01:07:32,858 --> 01:07:36,608
But try living in a world
with not even one polite man.

971
01:07:36,941 --> 01:07:40,358
I'm not sure I understand.
To which world do you refer?

972
01:07:41,233 --> 01:07:44,233
Imagine the soldiers, at Solferino,

973
01:07:44,400 --> 01:07:47,858
exchanging pleasantries
as they shoot at each other.

974
01:07:48,525 --> 01:07:51,400
You might as well have said
that people crossing central Africa

975
01:07:51,566 --> 01:07:53,858
require something other
than politeness.

976
01:07:54,816 --> 01:07:59,108
But I refer to everyday life,
in a civilised human society.

977
01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:00,858
Well, in that case,

978
01:08:01,275 --> 01:08:03,900
there is no need for higher virtue

979
01:08:04,191 --> 01:08:06,108
or for so-called Christianity.

980
01:08:08,316 --> 01:08:09,816
Do you nod?

981
01:08:10,108 --> 01:08:13,275
I'm thinking of a sad event
of which I recently learned.

982
01:08:13,441 --> 01:08:16,233
Our friend Miklos, who died last Monday.

983
01:08:16,400 --> 01:08:18,816
But how is it
that you recalled him now?

984
01:08:18,983 --> 01:08:20,900
Did he die
due to somebody's impoliteness?

985
01:08:21,066 --> 01:08:24,358
On the contrary,
he died due to his own politeness.

986
01:08:24,525 --> 01:08:26,900
Tell us about it, if you are able.

987
01:08:27,483 --> 01:08:29,066
There is nothing to hide.

988
01:08:29,941 --> 01:08:30,900
Our friend,

989
01:08:31,150 --> 01:08:34,858
who also regarded politeness
as the first rung of social morality,

990
01:08:35,025 --> 01:08:39,108
felt duty-bound to follow its rules
as strictly as possible.

991
01:08:39,275 --> 01:08:40,066
Meaning?

992
01:08:40,233 --> 01:08:43,525
To read every letter,
regardless of the sender,

993
01:08:43,691 --> 01:08:47,316
as well as every book and pamphlet
he was sent to review,

994
01:08:47,691 --> 01:08:50,025
to answer every letter,

995
01:08:50,191 --> 01:08:52,191
and to write every review,

996
01:08:52,566 --> 01:08:55,816
to meet absolutely
every demand made of him.

997
01:08:55,983 --> 01:08:57,108
That is enormous!

998
01:08:57,275 --> 01:09:00,608
As a result, every day
he was busy with others' affairs,

999
01:09:00,775 --> 01:09:02,983
setting aside for himself
only the nights.

1000
01:09:03,150 --> 01:09:05,316
Further, he accepted every invitation,

1001
01:09:05,483 --> 01:09:08,358
and received every guest
who found him at home.

1002
01:09:09,358 --> 01:09:12,316
As long as he was young
and could handle strong liquor,

1003
01:09:12,483 --> 01:09:15,900
this convict's life, although oppressive,

1004
01:09:16,066 --> 01:09:20,650
was not transformed into tragedy,
since wine saved him from despair.

1005
01:09:21,233 --> 01:09:24,525
When he felt like hanging himself,
he laid hands on a bottle

1006
01:09:24,691 --> 01:09:28,233
and having taken a gulp,
he bore his cross more bravely.

1007
01:09:29,066 --> 01:09:31,150
But he had a delicate constitution.

1008
01:09:31,525 --> 01:09:34,066
At the age of around forty,
he gave up drinking.

1009
01:09:34,400 --> 01:09:36,900
Without strong drink,
his penance seemed hellish,

1010
01:09:37,066 --> 01:09:38,816
and we heard
he has committed suicide.

1011
01:09:38,983 --> 01:09:42,066
All because of politeness?
He was clearly insane!

1012
01:09:42,233 --> 01:09:44,400
He had lost his equilibrium,
but he was not insane.

1013
01:09:44,566 --> 01:09:46,816
I too know of cases of insanity

1014
01:09:46,983 --> 01:09:49,566
that are enough
to make you lose your mind.

1015
01:09:50,108 --> 01:09:51,691
It is not so simple.

1016
01:09:51,858 --> 01:09:55,275
Forgive me, but politeness is not
to blame for your friend's insanity.

1017
01:09:55,441 --> 01:09:59,316
He meant that politeness
cannot be an absolute rule.

1018
01:09:59,525 --> 01:10:04,400
Absolute rules were invented
by those devoid of any sense of reality.

1019
01:10:05,025 --> 01:10:07,191
I do not allow any absolute rule.

1020
01:10:08,025 --> 01:10:10,400
I only allow only indispensable rules.

1021
01:10:11,150 --> 01:10:15,483
I know for certain that
if I do not obey the rules of hygiene,

1022
01:10:15,650 --> 01:10:18,358
both I myself and others
will be disgusted at me.

1023
01:10:18,525 --> 01:10:22,150
Not wishing to cause or experience
unpleasant sensations,

1024
01:10:22,608 --> 01:10:25,983
every day I obey the rule
of washing myself,

1025
01:10:26,358 --> 01:10:28,025
changing my underlinen,

1026
01:10:28,525 --> 01:10:31,066
and not because
it's the done thing

1027
01:10:31,525 --> 01:10:33,733
or because it's something sacred,

1028
01:10:34,108 --> 01:10:36,275
but because violation of this rule

1029
01:10:36,441 --> 01:10:39,525
is ipso facto unprofitable.

1030
01:10:39,691 --> 01:10:41,691
Such pragmatism!

1031
01:10:41,941 --> 01:10:46,691
It is the same with politeness,
of which bodily hygiene is part.

1032
01:10:47,233 --> 01:10:50,900
It's more convenient to obey the rules
than to break them.

1033
01:10:51,066 --> 01:10:52,816
Therefore I obey them.

1034
01:10:53,441 --> 01:10:56,316
If your friend deemed
that politeness required him

1035
01:10:56,483 --> 01:10:59,566
to answer every letter and request,

1036
01:10:59,733 --> 01:11:01,608
heedless of his own convenience,

1037
01:11:01,775 --> 01:11:03,525
it was no longer politeness,

1038
01:11:03,941 --> 01:11:05,858
but stupid self-sacrifice.

1039
01:11:06,191 --> 01:11:09,525
Scrupulousness became a mania
that destroyed him.

1040
01:11:09,691 --> 01:11:13,066
It is terrible to see a man die
for so stupid a reason.

1041
01:11:13,233 --> 01:11:15,733
Couldn't you make him see sense?

1042
01:11:15,900 --> 01:11:17,650
I tried everything.

1043
01:11:18,816 --> 01:11:21,566
He had a strong ally, Umberto,

1044
01:11:21,983 --> 01:11:24,733
a monk, a kind of holy fool.

1045
01:11:25,108 --> 01:11:26,941
Miklos, my friend,

1046
01:11:27,358 --> 01:11:31,358
respected him and often asked
his advice on spiritual matters.

1047
01:11:31,691 --> 01:11:34,441
Umberto immediately sniffed out
the root of his sufferings.

1048
01:11:34,608 --> 01:11:38,983
I know this monk and was sometimes
present during their talks.

1049
01:11:39,400 --> 01:11:42,733
As soon as Miklos laid out to him
his moral doubts,

1050
01:11:42,900 --> 01:11:46,566
asking him whether he was right,
or whether he had erred,

1051
01:11:46,733 --> 01:11:48,233
Umberto interrupted:

1052
01:11:48,400 --> 01:11:49,233
"Enough!

1053
01:11:49,400 --> 01:11:52,108
"There's no point
glooming over your sins.

1054
01:11:52,316 --> 01:11:53,525
"Listen to what I say:

1055
01:11:53,816 --> 01:11:55,941
"Sin 539 times a day..."

1056
01:11:56,108 --> 01:11:58,275
539 times?

1057
01:11:58,441 --> 01:12:00,108
- 539 times.
- How healthy.

1058
01:12:00,275 --> 01:12:01,275
A day!

1059
01:12:01,441 --> 01:12:03,233
"And above all, do not repent,

1060
01:12:03,400 --> 01:12:06,233
"anyone can repent after sinning.

1061
01:12:06,400 --> 01:12:09,108
"Sin away and never repent.

1062
01:12:10,275 --> 01:12:11,608
"If sinning is evil,

1063
01:12:11,775 --> 01:12:15,525
"remembering evil means being rancorous,
which is not good.

1064
01:12:16,358 --> 01:12:19,066
"The worst rancour
is to remember your own sins.

1065
01:12:19,233 --> 01:12:22,691
"Better you remember
the evil done to you by others,

1066
01:12:23,233 --> 01:12:25,733
"it will help you in future
to avoid them.

1067
01:12:25,900 --> 01:12:29,858
"As for the evil you yourself do,
erase it completely from memory.

1068
01:12:30,525 --> 01:12:34,066
"The only mortal sin is sorrow,
because it gives rise to despair,

1069
01:12:34,233 --> 01:12:38,275
"and despair goes beyond sin,
it is the very death of the soul.

1070
01:12:39,566 --> 01:12:42,150
"And then, what other sins are there?

1071
01:12:42,316 --> 01:12:43,525
"Drunkenness?

1072
01:12:44,900 --> 01:12:47,691
"An intelligent man
drinks as much as he can hold,

1073
01:12:48,608 --> 01:12:50,816
"if he can't hold it,
he doesn't drink.

1074
01:12:51,025 --> 01:12:54,233
"But a fool gets drunk
even on spring water.

1075
01:12:54,400 --> 01:12:57,566
"It means that not wine,
but stupidity is to blame.

1076
01:12:57,983 --> 01:13:00,608
"Out of stupidity,
some inflame themselves with wine

1077
01:13:00,775 --> 01:13:04,108
"not only on the outside,
but on the inside too,

1078
01:13:04,650 --> 01:13:10,150
"they are inflamed and burn,
I have seen it myself," said Umberto.

1079
01:13:10,316 --> 01:13:12,358
Of what evil do we speak

1080
01:13:12,525 --> 01:13:15,858
when before your very eyes,
you spout the flames of hell?

1081
01:13:17,025 --> 01:13:19,441
"As for breaking the 6th commandment,

1082
01:13:19,608 --> 01:13:21,650
"with hand on heart, I say:

1083
01:13:22,025 --> 01:13:24,816
"to judge is not easy,
but to praise is impossible.

1084
01:13:24,983 --> 01:13:26,358
"I don't recommend it!

1085
01:13:26,525 --> 01:13:28,691
"Certainly, it is a great pleasure,

1086
01:13:28,858 --> 01:13:30,400
"no doubt about it,

1087
01:13:30,566 --> 01:13:33,733
"but thereafter comes despair,
which shortens life."

1088
01:13:36,108 --> 01:13:37,858
He used to say:

1089
01:13:38,691 --> 01:13:40,858
"In youth, when one is still raw,

1090
01:13:41,025 --> 01:13:44,566
"desire is great, but after that,
you control yourself.

1091
01:13:44,941 --> 01:13:49,858
"Then you start raking up the past,
tormenting yourself with questions:

1092
01:13:50,191 --> 01:13:54,775
"How did I lose my innocence,
purity and bodily cleanliness?

1093
01:13:54,941 --> 01:13:58,608
"It is utter stupidity,
it means becoming the devil's buffoon.

1094
01:13:58,775 --> 01:14:03,441
"And devil is flattered to see
that your soul, rather than rising,

1095
01:14:03,608 --> 01:14:06,066
"still flounders in the mud.

1096
01:14:07,025 --> 01:14:08,650
"My advice is this:

1097
01:14:09,400 --> 01:14:15,066
"As soon as the devil appears,
tempting you with repentance,

1098
01:14:15,525 --> 01:14:18,066
"spit in the wind and tell him:

1099
01:14:18,233 --> 01:14:19,650
"These are my grave sins,

1100
01:14:19,816 --> 01:14:22,650
"and this is
how much I think they're worth!

1101
01:14:22,816 --> 01:14:26,650
"He will leave you alone,
I speak from experience", said Umberto.

1102
01:14:29,816 --> 01:14:31,983
"What other sins are there?

1103
01:14:32,441 --> 01:14:34,483
"You're not going to steal, are you?

1104
01:14:34,650 --> 01:14:38,566
"And even if you did, it's not serious.
Nowadays everyone steals.

1105
01:14:38,733 --> 01:14:42,858
"Stop worrying about trifles
and seek to avoid sorrow.

1106
01:14:43,233 --> 01:14:45,525
"When you remember your sins,

1107
01:14:45,691 --> 01:14:48,650
"when you ask yourself
whether you have upset anyone,

1108
01:14:48,816 --> 01:14:50,483
"go to the theatre instead.

1109
01:14:50,900 --> 01:14:53,150
"Go out with friends.

1110
01:14:53,358 --> 01:14:54,900
"Read farces.

1111
01:14:55,566 --> 01:14:58,608
"And if you really want a rule,
this is it:

1112
01:14:59,233 --> 01:15:00,900
"Be strong in faith,

1113
01:15:01,233 --> 01:15:06,191
"not for the fear of sin,
but for the joy of living with God."

1114
01:15:07,150 --> 01:15:08,400
Do you hear that?

1115
01:15:10,066 --> 01:15:12,900
"Without God it is terrible.

1116
01:15:13,650 --> 01:15:15,608
"Study the word of God.

1117
01:15:16,275 --> 01:15:19,691
"If you read carefully,
every verse is a pearl.

1118
01:15:19,858 --> 01:15:23,608
"Pray from your heart,
at least once or twice a day.

1119
01:15:30,150 --> 01:15:31,900
"And of course, don't forget to wash..."

1120
01:15:32,066 --> 01:15:33,650
That's for you.

1121
01:15:34,108 --> 01:15:37,191
"A sincere prayer
is the best soap for the soul.

1122
01:15:37,358 --> 01:15:40,900
"Fast for a healthy stomach and innards,

1123
01:15:41,233 --> 01:15:43,108
"don't think about
other people's affairs,

1124
01:15:44,316 --> 01:15:47,400
"don't engage in good works
if you have other business,

1125
01:15:47,566 --> 01:15:50,441
"be generous to the paupers
who cross your path,

1126
01:15:50,816 --> 01:15:54,066
"donate to churches and monasteries
without keeping score,

1127
01:15:54,275 --> 01:15:57,150
"since the balance
will be settled in Heaven.

1128
01:15:57,316 --> 01:16:00,150
"In this way,
you will be healthy in body and soul.

1129
01:16:00,858 --> 01:16:05,608
"Ignore the bigots who look to sway
your soul, since theirs are empty."

1130
01:16:09,775 --> 01:16:12,900
These words had an effect on our friend,

1131
01:16:13,108 --> 01:16:17,441
but could not halt the tide of
impressions that overwhelmed him.

1132
01:16:17,775 --> 01:16:22,733
But your monk, in his own fashion,
says more or less the same as I do.

1133
01:16:22,900 --> 01:16:24,775
What an astounding moralist!

1134
01:16:24,941 --> 01:16:28,358
Sin and do not repent: That I like.

1135
01:16:28,525 --> 01:16:31,275
I assume he does not say
the same thing to everyone.

1136
01:16:31,441 --> 01:16:35,483
I think he takes a different tone
with fools or villains.

1137
01:16:36,108 --> 01:16:37,150
Quite right.

1138
01:16:37,483 --> 01:16:40,858
When he observes excess scruple,
he becomes philosophical,

1139
01:16:41,025 --> 01:16:42,316
even fatalistic.

1140
01:16:43,400 --> 01:16:48,066
Umberto also stirred the interest
of a very intelligent old lady.

1141
01:16:48,525 --> 01:16:51,733
She was of the Russian faith,
but educated abroad.

1142
01:16:51,900 --> 01:16:56,025
On hearing of him, she wanted him
to be her spiritual adviser.

1143
01:16:56,775 --> 01:16:59,650
But he would not let her voice
her spiritual concerns.

1144
01:16:59,816 --> 01:17:03,316
"Why fret over such foolery?"
he said.

1145
01:17:03,733 --> 01:17:04,941
"To what avail?

1146
01:17:05,108 --> 01:17:09,441
"If it bores me, a mere peasant,
how could it be of any interest to God?

1147
01:17:09,608 --> 01:17:13,858
"Enough! You're a wizened old crone
and you'll never be more than that."

1148
01:17:15,691 --> 01:17:18,566
She herself told me the story,
with tears of laughter.

1149
01:17:24,650 --> 01:17:27,608
She tried to contradict him,

1150
01:17:29,275 --> 01:17:33,941
but he won the argument with a tale
from the Lives of the Holy Fathers.

1151
01:17:34,191 --> 01:17:35,483
What tale?

1152
01:17:36,775 --> 01:17:40,191
A story Umberto used to tell us,
Miklos and me.

1153
01:17:40,358 --> 01:17:41,650
A beautiful story,

1154
01:17:42,025 --> 01:17:44,691
but it would take too long
to tell it now.

1155
01:17:44,858 --> 01:17:46,233
Do you hear?

1156
01:17:47,441 --> 01:17:48,358
Yes.

1157
01:17:48,525 --> 01:17:50,108
Yes, it's Christmas Eve.

1158
01:17:50,733 --> 01:17:51,983
Ii is to...

1159
01:17:52,150 --> 01:17:53,358
to herald Christmas.

1160
01:17:53,525 --> 01:17:54,983
It is the tradition here.

1161
01:17:55,233 --> 01:17:57,566
- Do you want to listen to them?
- Certainly.

1162
01:17:58,441 --> 01:18:00,441
We would like to go outside, please.

1163
01:18:02,025 --> 01:18:03,775
It is a male choir, isn't it?

1164
01:18:05,566 --> 01:18:08,150
Yes, the villagers carol at every house.

1165
01:18:11,108 --> 01:18:12,650
Quick, quick!

1166
01:19:31,566 --> 01:19:33,483
Let's have some tea.

1167
01:19:46,233 --> 01:19:48,025
A little brandy, perhaps?

1168
01:21:46,275 --> 01:21:49,400
Tell Madame to come quickly,
the Count is unwell.

1169
01:21:49,566 --> 01:21:50,650
Tell her!

1170
01:22:05,941 --> 01:22:07,233
Kolea!

1171
01:22:10,733 --> 01:22:14,816
Fetch Dr. Blumenfeld,
the count is bleeding.

1172
01:22:15,066 --> 01:22:16,108
Quickly!

1173
01:23:32,233 --> 01:23:35,191
29th, Saint Thomas à Becket,

1174
01:23:35,358 --> 01:23:39,441
30th, Sunday of the Holy Family,

1175
01:23:39,608 --> 01:23:42,691
31st, Saint...

1176
01:23:44,441 --> 01:23:47,400
Saint Silvester I, Pope,

1177
01:23:47,650 --> 01:23:51,400
1st, St. Mary, Mother of God...

1178
01:23:57,608 --> 01:23:59,441
Sárika, come here!

1179
01:24:00,858 --> 01:24:02,441
Smell this!

1180
01:24:05,483 --> 01:24:07,441
Is that normal?

1181
01:24:07,900 --> 01:24:09,608
Smell it again!

1182
01:24:15,233 --> 01:24:17,025
I've told you before!

1183
01:24:17,900 --> 01:24:19,525
Go and fetch him!

1184
01:24:27,108 --> 01:24:29,733
Water, please. Five glasses.

1185
01:26:14,066 --> 01:26:15,691
Taste it.

1186
01:26:22,150 --> 01:26:23,566
Drink it all!

1187
01:26:26,608 --> 01:26:27,608
Go on.

1188
01:26:29,150 --> 01:26:30,566
Go on.

1189
01:26:39,941 --> 01:26:42,400
It happened last week,

1190
01:26:44,150 --> 01:26:46,150
it happened this week,

1191
01:26:50,316 --> 01:26:52,275
if it happens again...

1192
01:26:58,483 --> 01:26:59,483
Jancsi.

1193
01:26:59,941 --> 01:27:01,608
What about the samovar?

1194
01:27:10,150 --> 01:27:11,983
They will have tea now.

1195
01:27:12,566 --> 01:27:15,025
We serve dinner at eight.

1196
01:27:15,358 --> 01:27:19,108
Go to the kitchen
and correct everything, everything.

1197
01:27:19,275 --> 01:27:22,566
Because if it happens again,

1198
01:27:23,816 --> 01:27:25,941
I will be very, very upset.

1199
01:27:26,566 --> 01:27:28,025
Do you understand?

1200
01:27:28,900 --> 01:27:29,858
Go.

1201
01:27:56,858 --> 01:28:01,233
For a cough, butter a quince,
boil it thoroughly,

1202
01:28:01,400 --> 01:28:04,191
then eat the quince
and drink the liquid.

1203
01:28:04,983 --> 01:28:08,816
For bad breath,
boil white willow leaf

1204
01:28:08,983 --> 01:28:11,941
and wash your mouth ten times...

1205
01:28:12,150 --> 01:28:13,525
Careful!

1206
01:28:15,983 --> 01:28:18,150
You wash your mouth ten times.

1207
01:28:18,650 --> 01:28:24,566
For a cramp, rub the spot,
three Tuesdays in a row,

1208
01:28:24,900 --> 01:28:27,941
with the dust from the peel of a quince.

1209
01:28:38,191 --> 01:28:40,775
Truly sensational!

1210
01:28:41,816 --> 01:28:44,525
- Pardon?
- They killed that girl.

1211
01:28:44,858 --> 01:28:46,025
Who?

1212
01:28:46,275 --> 01:28:48,275
From the Cabaret.

1213
01:28:53,691 --> 01:28:55,566
Turcsánsky...

1214
01:28:56,983 --> 01:28:58,358
Elsa.

1215
01:29:10,608 --> 01:29:12,150
Now we lift you up.

1216
01:29:13,983 --> 01:29:15,941
Gently, gently!

1217
01:29:17,025 --> 01:29:18,025
Easy does it.

1218
01:29:21,233 --> 01:29:22,441
Easy.

1219
01:29:31,108 --> 01:29:33,858
She was called Elsa the Witch.

1220
01:29:34,566 --> 01:29:35,900
Who?

1221
01:29:37,316 --> 01:29:39,275
The husband, Schmitt...

1222
01:29:39,483 --> 01:29:40,775
Miksa.

1223
01:29:42,108 --> 01:29:44,691
The tycoon, with the furniture factory.

1224
01:29:45,108 --> 01:29:46,691
I read about it.

1225
01:29:54,108 --> 01:29:55,858
We've finished.

1226
01:30:05,358 --> 01:30:06,566
Easy...

1227
01:30:18,816 --> 01:30:20,608
- What about the tea?
- Straight away.

1228
01:30:20,775 --> 01:30:23,858
Chamomile, marigold, lavender, mint.

1229
01:30:27,650 --> 01:30:29,900
We lift him up slowly.

1230
01:30:36,400 --> 01:30:38,191
Gently, gently.

1231
01:30:43,316 --> 01:30:44,691
Alright.

1232
01:30:49,691 --> 01:30:51,483
Now a little higher.

1233
01:31:06,191 --> 01:31:08,233
Are you comfortable?

1234
01:31:25,441 --> 01:31:26,400
Olga?

1235
01:31:26,566 --> 01:31:27,608
I'm here!

1236
01:31:28,150 --> 01:31:30,108
- Do you still need me?
- No.

1237
01:31:39,483 --> 01:31:42,775
Yesterday, European nations
were united in the struggle for defence,

1238
01:31:42,941 --> 01:31:45,733
today are they united
in spreading civilisation?

1239
01:31:46,441 --> 01:31:47,525
Excuse me...

1240
01:31:56,733 --> 01:31:58,858
The bad politics of the Bourbons...

1241
01:31:59,233 --> 01:32:01,191
- Did you call me?
- What do you want?

1242
01:32:01,358 --> 01:32:04,900
- Did you call me?
- No, damn it! Leave me alone.

1243
01:32:05,941 --> 01:32:08,608
This is precisely what we call
an ugly story.

1244
01:32:09,858 --> 01:32:12,608
Let me invite you to take tea
in the library.

1245
01:32:13,650 --> 01:32:16,775
It's not a question of words,
political mistakes must be paid for.

1246
01:32:16,941 --> 01:32:19,358
Let them see it as something mystical,
if they like.

1247
01:32:19,525 --> 01:32:23,858
Admit that your political remedy
is ultimately tedious.

1248
01:32:24,025 --> 01:32:26,858
Had I not been interrupted,
I would have finished with the topic

1249
01:32:27,025 --> 01:32:29,650
and given the floor
to a more entertaining speaker.

1250
01:32:29,816 --> 01:32:32,441
Don't be angry, I was joking.

1251
01:32:32,608 --> 01:32:35,358
Quite the contrary,
I find you highly witty

1252
01:32:35,608 --> 01:32:39,025
for your age and condition.

1253
01:32:39,275 --> 01:32:42,358
All I was saying is that now
we are united with Europe

1254
01:32:42,525 --> 01:32:44,775
in our task of civilising Turkey.

1255
01:32:44,941 --> 01:32:48,066
That is why
we must have a common strategy.

1256
01:32:51,150 --> 01:32:54,400
Well then, dear Nikolai,
do you have Turkish tea for us?

1257
01:32:54,566 --> 01:32:56,150
Turkish tea? No.

1258
01:32:56,316 --> 01:32:58,441
That was cutting, Madeleine.

1259
01:32:58,941 --> 01:33:01,233
I would not have dared
with Turkish tea.

1260
01:33:02,025 --> 01:33:04,441
It's ordinary Russian tea.

1261
01:33:06,608 --> 01:33:08,108
The best.

1262
01:33:08,275 --> 01:33:10,608
Exactly, the best tea.

1263
01:33:12,025 --> 01:33:14,816
I'm thinking of a Chinese dictum,

1264
01:33:14,983 --> 01:33:18,816
related to me
by our friend, the Ambassador.

1265
01:33:21,025 --> 01:33:23,858
It goes like this:

1266
01:33:52,108 --> 01:33:54,150
Although we are still powerless
in Turkey,

1267
01:33:54,316 --> 01:33:59,150
we can play a key role in Central Asia
and the Far East in particular,

1268
01:33:59,316 --> 01:34:04,150
where, it seems, universal history
is about to shift its centre of gravity.

1269
01:34:05,066 --> 01:34:07,483
Thanks to its position,

1270
01:34:07,650 --> 01:34:11,108
Russia can do more there
than any other nation,

1271
01:34:11,316 --> 01:34:13,233
apart from England, of course.

1272
01:34:13,608 --> 01:34:15,983
Therefore our policy in this respect

1273
01:34:16,150 --> 01:34:20,483
must aim for a permanent agreement
with the English,

1274
01:34:20,650 --> 01:34:23,316
lest our civilising partnership

1275
01:34:23,483 --> 01:34:27,900
deteriorate into absurd animosity
or undignified rivalry.

1276
01:34:28,525 --> 01:34:31,441
Never in people's lives
or in that of nations

1277
01:34:32,108 --> 01:34:36,316
have I heard of a case
where hostility or envy between partners

1278
01:34:36,483 --> 01:34:39,316
has made
either stronger, richer, happier.

1279
01:34:40,566 --> 01:34:44,150
Intelligent people know this
and I think

1280
01:34:44,316 --> 01:34:47,608
an intelligent nation such as Russia
will act on it.

1281
01:34:47,775 --> 01:34:51,816
To be at odds with the English
in the Far East would be insane.

1282
01:34:51,983 --> 01:34:56,650
Not to mention the disadvantage
of quarrelling in front of strangers.

1283
01:34:56,816 --> 01:35:01,983
Or do you think we're more akin
to the yellow-faced Chinese

1284
01:35:02,150 --> 01:35:04,733
than to the fellow countrymen
of Shakespeare and Byron?

1285
01:35:04,900 --> 01:35:06,650
It is a delicate matter.

1286
01:35:07,358 --> 01:35:09,566
Just remember,

1287
01:35:09,733 --> 01:35:13,608
if we accept my viewpoint
and recognise that at present

1288
01:35:14,108 --> 01:35:16,941
Russia's policy must set itself
two tasks alone:

1289
01:35:17,108 --> 01:35:19,108
To preserve the peace in Europe,

1290
01:35:19,608 --> 01:35:22,566
since any war in Europe would,
at this point,

1291
01:35:22,733 --> 01:35:26,025
be an absurd and criminal civil war,

1292
01:35:26,483 --> 01:35:31,441
and to civilise the barbarian peoples
within our sphere of influence.

1293
01:35:31,608 --> 01:35:33,941
We shall see that these two tasks

1294
01:35:34,108 --> 01:35:37,400
are of intrinsic value,
and mutually support each other,

1295
01:35:37,566 --> 01:35:39,816
astonishingly so,

1296
01:35:39,983 --> 01:35:42,691
as each is conditional
upon the other.

1297
01:35:43,108 --> 01:35:46,441
If the Chinese knew
that Europe was behind us,

1298
01:35:46,608 --> 01:35:48,691
do you think
we would be powerless in Asia?

1299
01:35:49,650 --> 01:35:53,400
But if they see Europe
not behind Russia, but against it,

1300
01:35:54,025 --> 01:35:58,691
they might even think
to attack our borders,

1301
01:35:59,483 --> 01:36:03,775
forcing us to defend our borders
on two fronts 10,000 km apart.

1302
01:36:04,108 --> 01:36:07,358
I don't believe in the bogeyman
of a Mongol invasion,

1303
01:36:07,525 --> 01:36:10,900
because I do not allow
the possibility of war in Europe,

1304
01:36:11,066 --> 01:36:12,441
but should there be a war,

1305
01:36:12,608 --> 01:36:15,400
we would also have to fear
the Mongols.

1306
01:36:15,691 --> 01:36:20,150
According to you, war in Europe
and a Mongol invasion are unlikely,

1307
01:36:20,316 --> 01:36:25,025
but I don't believe at all in this
"solidarity of the European nations"

1308
01:36:25,191 --> 01:36:27,650
or in a future universal peace.

1309
01:36:27,816 --> 01:36:29,441
It is unnatural,

1310
01:36:29,775 --> 01:36:31,525
a chimaera.

1311
01:36:32,191 --> 01:36:35,483
Not for nothing do we sing in church:

1312
01:36:35,650 --> 01:36:38,108
"Peace on earth
and goodwill to man."

1313
01:36:38,275 --> 01:36:40,983
In other words, there will be peace

1314
01:36:41,150 --> 01:36:44,316
only when there is goodwill to man.

1315
01:36:44,483 --> 01:36:47,691
But where is this goodwill?

1316
01:36:48,025 --> 01:36:49,691
Have you seen it?

1317
01:36:51,691 --> 01:36:55,733
There is only one European power
to which we both feel

1318
01:36:55,900 --> 01:36:59,566
a genuine and sincere goodwill:
the Principality of Monaco.

1319
01:36:59,733 --> 01:37:02,233
And our peace with it is very stable.

1320
01:37:03,441 --> 01:37:08,233
But let us consider the Germans
and those Englishmen of ours,

1321
01:37:08,775 --> 01:37:11,108
since their interests are ours too,

1322
01:37:11,275 --> 01:37:14,650
since their contentment
is ours too, is it not?

1323
01:37:14,941 --> 01:37:18,775
This solidarity with the Europeans
will never be possible over here.

1324
01:37:18,941 --> 01:37:20,275
How can it not be possible,

1325
01:37:20,441 --> 01:37:24,066
when it already exists?
When it is in the nature of things?

1326
01:37:24,233 --> 01:37:28,358
We are in solidarity with the Europeans
because we too are Europeans.

1327
01:37:28,525 --> 01:37:31,691
Ever since the 18th century,
it has been an accomplished fact.

1328
01:37:31,858 --> 01:37:34,358
Neither the savagery
of the Russian masses

1329
01:37:34,525 --> 01:37:37,108
nor the chimaeras of the Slavophiles
will alter anything.

1330
01:37:37,275 --> 01:37:40,025
Are then the Europeans
in solidarity among themselves?

1331
01:37:40,191 --> 01:37:42,108
The French and the Germans,
for example,

1332
01:37:42,275 --> 01:37:44,650
or the English
with the one and the other?

1333
01:37:44,900 --> 01:37:50,275
Apparently, even the Swedes have shed
their solidarity with the Norwegians.

1334
01:37:51,733 --> 01:37:53,275
I shall say only this:

1335
01:37:53,441 --> 01:37:56,983
before declaring ourselves Europeans,
let us at least wait

1336
01:37:57,150 --> 01:37:59,775
until the European nations are united.

1337
01:37:59,941 --> 01:38:03,525
We can hardly tear ourselves to pieces
out of solidarity with Europeans,

1338
01:38:03,691 --> 01:38:06,275
when they are
at daggers drawn among themselves.

1339
01:38:06,566 --> 01:38:08,816
Now they're at daggers drawn!
Don't worry.

1340
01:38:08,983 --> 01:38:12,858
Neither between Sweden and Norway,
nor even between France and Germany,

1341
01:38:13,025 --> 01:38:15,608
will there be a rupture.

1342
01:38:15,775 --> 01:38:16,816
So much is obvious.

1343
01:38:16,983 --> 01:38:18,358
Only in our country

1344
01:38:18,525 --> 01:38:20,941
do so many people believe that France

1345
01:38:21,233 --> 01:38:24,150
is a bunch of adventurers
fit for prison.

1346
01:38:24,316 --> 01:38:25,650
That is where they belong.

1347
01:38:25,816 --> 01:38:29,941
Let them voice their nationalism there
and preach war with Germany.

1348
01:38:30,650 --> 01:38:35,316
It would be good if nationalist animosity
could be put in prison.

1349
01:38:35,483 --> 01:38:37,691
But I think you're wrong.

1350
01:38:37,900 --> 01:38:39,150
Naturally,

1351
01:38:39,316 --> 01:38:40,941
I said it with a grain of salt.

1352
01:38:41,316 --> 01:38:44,900
Obviously,
Europe is not yet a unified whole.

1353
01:38:45,316 --> 01:38:49,691
Even if regional separatism
existed even in the 16th century,

1354
01:38:49,858 --> 01:38:51,566
it was giving up the ghost,

1355
01:38:51,733 --> 01:38:55,941
and state unity, now a reality,
had begun to take shape.

1356
01:38:56,108 --> 01:38:57,566
The same as in Europe now:

1357
01:38:57,733 --> 01:39:00,775
although there are still
regional antagonisms,

1358
01:39:00,941 --> 01:39:04,275
particularly among the masses
and ill-educated politicians,

1359
01:39:04,441 --> 01:39:07,316
they cannot lead
to any significant action.

1360
01:39:07,483 --> 01:39:10,566
They cannot cause a war in Europe!

1361
01:39:10,816 --> 01:39:12,816
Does it matter
that the French and Germans

1362
01:39:12,983 --> 01:39:16,275
bear each other no goodwill,
as long as they don't fight?

1363
01:39:16,441 --> 01:39:18,566
And that will not happen.

1364
01:39:18,608 --> 01:39:22,900
If we concede Europe to be a whole,
it does not follow that we are European.

1365
01:39:23,525 --> 01:39:27,941
For the last 20 years, there has been
a widespread opinion that Europe,

1366
01:39:28,108 --> 01:39:30,150
that is, the aggregate
of the Romano-German peoples,

1367
01:39:30,316 --> 01:39:34,691
constitutes a unified
cultural and historical type.

1368
01:39:35,150 --> 01:39:37,650
But we Russians
belong not to this type,

1369
01:39:37,816 --> 01:39:40,858
but to another, the Greco-Slavic.

1370
01:39:41,025 --> 01:39:44,233
We are familiar with those gentlemen
who rail against Europe

1371
01:39:44,400 --> 01:39:46,733
and our Greco-Slavonic origins,

1372
01:39:46,900 --> 01:39:48,733
casting themselves headlong

1373
01:39:48,900 --> 01:39:52,983
into preaching Confucianism,
Buddhism, Tibetanism,

1374
01:39:53,150 --> 01:39:55,941
and other Indo-Mongolian barbarities.

1375
01:39:56,691 --> 01:40:01,191
Their distance from Europe is directly
proportional to their attraction to Asia.

1376
01:40:01,691 --> 01:40:04,316
Russia was, is and will always act

1377
01:40:04,566 --> 01:40:07,316
as Europe's buffer against Asia.

1378
01:40:08,566 --> 01:40:09,733
That is why

1379
01:40:10,608 --> 01:40:15,275
more than other European countries,
our homeland

1380
01:40:15,441 --> 01:40:18,483
is influenced by the Asian element,

1381
01:40:18,650 --> 01:40:21,025
hence our imaginative originality.

1382
01:40:21,191 --> 01:40:23,858
Not even Byzantium was original
in and of itself,

1383
01:40:24,025 --> 01:40:26,691
but rather through Asian influence.

1384
01:40:27,066 --> 01:40:29,400
In our case,
from the very beginning,

1385
01:40:29,566 --> 01:40:31,566
particularly since Batu Khan,

1386
01:40:31,733 --> 01:40:34,441
the Asian element
has permeated our being,

1387
01:40:34,608 --> 01:40:36,608
become our second nature,

1388
01:40:37,233 --> 01:40:39,733
prompting the Germans to say of us:

1389
01:40:39,900 --> 01:40:42,691
"They have two souls in one breast,

1390
01:40:42,858 --> 01:40:45,816
"and one wants to break free
of the other."

1391
01:40:46,150 --> 01:40:48,608
- I hope I didn't mangle it.
- No, very nice.

1392
01:40:49,400 --> 01:40:53,066
It would be impossible for us
to break free of our second nature,

1393
01:40:53,233 --> 01:40:54,733
for real,

1394
01:40:54,900 --> 01:40:57,941
and it would be pointless,
since we are indebted to it.

1395
01:40:58,108 --> 01:41:03,191
But lest this clash tear us apart,
as you said, Ingrida,

1396
01:41:03,650 --> 01:41:08,025
it is necessary that one alone
triumph and dominate.

1397
01:41:08,191 --> 01:41:10,025
The best, of course!

1398
01:41:10,525 --> 01:41:15,025
That is, the most intellectually robust,
the one most capable of progress,

1399
01:41:15,191 --> 01:41:17,900
the one richest in potential.

1400
01:41:18,733 --> 01:41:23,775
It happened under Peter the Great,
but the deep affinity with Asia,

1401
01:41:24,108 --> 01:41:27,275
although suppressed once and for all,
continues

1402
01:41:27,441 --> 01:41:28,900
to urge others

1403
01:41:29,191 --> 01:41:32,733
foolishly to dream
of the chimerical solution

1404
01:41:32,983 --> 01:41:36,191
to a historical problem already solved.

1405
01:41:36,400 --> 01:41:38,191
Hence Slavophilia,

1406
01:41:38,566 --> 01:41:42,608
the theory of the cultural-historical
original type, and so on.

1407
01:41:43,316 --> 01:41:45,691
In reality,
we are irrevocably European,

1408
01:41:45,858 --> 01:41:48,858
with an Asian sediment
in the depths of our soul.

1409
01:41:49,233 --> 01:41:50,941
As far as I am concerned,

1410
01:41:51,483 --> 01:41:53,816
it is a grammatical evidence,
so to speak.

1411
01:41:54,150 --> 01:41:56,566
What is "Russian",
grammatically speaking?

1412
01:41:58,941 --> 01:42:00,066
An adjective.

1413
01:42:01,066 --> 01:42:04,150
With which noun does it agree?

1414
01:42:04,316 --> 01:42:05,608
With the noun "man":

1415
01:42:05,775 --> 01:42:07,941
"a Russian man",
"the Russian people".

1416
01:42:08,108 --> 01:42:10,900
No, it's too broad, too vague.

1417
01:42:11,316 --> 01:42:15,608
Papuans and Eskimos are also men,
but I refuse to share my noun

1418
01:42:15,775 --> 01:42:17,900
with Papuans and Eskimos.

1419
01:42:18,941 --> 01:42:22,733
Nonetheless there are important things
humans have in common.

1420
01:42:23,150 --> 01:42:24,566
Love, for example.

1421
01:42:24,858 --> 01:42:26,441
That's even broader:

1422
01:42:26,608 --> 01:42:30,025
how could I deem love
as essentially individualising,

1423
01:42:30,191 --> 01:42:33,108
knowing that it belongs
to animals and all creatures?

1424
01:42:33,275 --> 01:42:35,108
I, for example, am a meek man.

1425
01:42:35,275 --> 01:42:40,566
In love, I am closer to a white dove
than to black Othello,

1426
01:42:40,733 --> 01:42:42,316
even if Othello is a man.

1427
01:42:42,483 --> 01:42:47,150
From a certain age, every reasonable man
is in solidarity with white doves.

1428
01:42:47,316 --> 01:42:49,441
What was that?

1429
01:42:50,316 --> 01:42:51,733
It was a play on words,

1430
01:42:51,900 --> 01:42:54,525
not for you,
but for His Excellency...

1431
01:42:54,691 --> 01:42:57,983
Joking aside! This is not
the Comic Opera, as far as I know.

1432
01:42:58,275 --> 01:43:02,650
I meant that the true noun
for the adjective "Russian"

1433
01:43:02,816 --> 01:43:04,525
is the word "European".

1434
01:43:05,025 --> 01:43:06,775
We are Russian Europeans,

1435
01:43:06,941 --> 01:43:09,358
the same as the English,
the French and the Germans.

1436
01:43:09,816 --> 01:43:11,150
If I feel myself to be European,

1437
01:43:11,316 --> 01:43:15,983
is it not stupid to demonstrate
that I am Russo-Slavic

1438
01:43:16,150 --> 01:43:17,358
or Greco-Slavic?

1439
01:43:17,525 --> 01:43:20,525
I know for a fact that I am a European,

1440
01:43:20,691 --> 01:43:23,733
just as I know I am a Russian,
a Franco-Russian, even.

1441
01:43:25,275 --> 01:43:27,983
I can and perhaps even must

1442
01:43:28,150 --> 01:43:30,733
be charitable to every man and animal.

1443
01:43:30,900 --> 01:43:33,441
But if I am to feel solidarity,

1444
01:43:34,108 --> 01:43:35,691
to feel at home,

1445
01:43:35,983 --> 01:43:38,816
it will not be
with the Zulus or Chinese,

1446
01:43:38,983 --> 01:43:40,441
but only

1447
01:43:40,650 --> 01:43:42,358
with the nations

1448
01:43:42,525 --> 01:43:46,400
that have created and preserved
this treasury of high civilisation

1449
01:43:46,566 --> 01:43:50,400
on which I nourish my soul and which
provides me with supreme delights.

1450
01:43:50,566 --> 01:43:51,900
Are you sure?

1451
01:43:52,941 --> 01:43:56,483
First of all, these chosen nations
had to take shape,

1452
01:43:56,650 --> 01:44:00,900
to gain strength and to survive
against inferior elements.

1453
01:44:01,066 --> 01:44:03,191
War was necessary,
war was sacred.

1454
01:44:04,191 --> 01:44:06,233
Now they have taken shape,

1455
01:44:06,483 --> 01:44:08,025
they have acquired power

1456
01:44:08,191 --> 01:44:12,150
and they have nothing more to fear,
except internal strife.

1457
01:44:12,441 --> 01:44:15,566
Everywhere today,
an age of peace is heralded,

1458
01:44:15,733 --> 01:44:19,775
an age of peaceful expansion
of European civilisation.

1459
01:44:20,566 --> 01:44:23,066
All must become Europeans.

1460
01:44:23,775 --> 01:44:26,525
The notion of European
must coincide with that of man,

1461
01:44:27,566 --> 01:44:31,358
and the notion of European civilisation,
with that of mankind.

1462
01:44:32,275 --> 01:44:35,691
- This is the meaning of history.
- This is becoming serious...

1463
01:44:36,233 --> 01:44:38,691
First they were only Greek Europeans,

1464
01:44:39,025 --> 01:44:40,900
then Roman Europeans,

1465
01:44:41,150 --> 01:44:42,900
then all the rest appeared,

1466
01:44:43,066 --> 01:44:46,025
first in the West,
then in the East,

1467
01:44:46,441 --> 01:44:48,441
Russian Europeans appeared,

1468
01:44:49,816 --> 01:44:52,525
across the ocean, American Europeans,

1469
01:44:53,025 --> 01:44:55,650
now is the turn
of the Turkish Europeans,

1470
01:44:55,816 --> 01:44:59,150
the Persian, Indian, Japanese,
and even Chinese Europeans.

1471
01:44:59,525 --> 01:45:02,691
"European" is a notion

1472
01:45:03,025 --> 01:45:06,566
with a well-defined content
and which is constantly growing.

1473
01:45:07,316 --> 01:45:12,191
Regarding this, notice the difference:
every man is just as human as any other.

1474
01:45:12,900 --> 01:45:14,566
Therefore, if we take

1475
01:45:14,816 --> 01:45:17,983
so abstract a notion as a noun,

1476
01:45:18,150 --> 01:45:22,275
we will arrive at
egalitarian non-differentiation

1477
01:45:22,441 --> 01:45:23,608
and we will not grant

1478
01:45:23,775 --> 01:45:28,233
the nation of Shakespeare and Newton
any greater weight than the Papuans.

1479
01:45:28,400 --> 01:45:32,275
Excuse me,
but it is taking longer than expected.

1480
01:45:32,441 --> 01:45:34,025
Don't worry.

1481
01:45:34,191 --> 01:45:36,025
I'll be back in half an hour.

1482
01:45:36,400 --> 01:45:38,900
- Will you be needing me, Olga?
- No, thank you.

1483
01:45:41,025 --> 01:45:42,316
As I was saying,

1484
01:45:42,483 --> 01:45:45,691
first and foremost it is absurd,
and deleterious in practice.

1485
01:45:46,983 --> 01:45:50,983
If my noun is not "man",
that biped devoid of content,

1486
01:45:51,150 --> 01:45:53,358
but cultural man,

1487
01:45:53,691 --> 01:45:55,358
that is, the European,

1488
01:45:56,150 --> 01:45:58,316
then absurd egalitarianism
no longer has any place.

1489
01:45:58,608 --> 01:46:02,400
The notion of "European"
or, in other words, "culture",

1490
01:46:02,566 --> 01:46:04,691
contains a sure criterion

1491
01:46:04,858 --> 01:46:06,316
for determining,

1492
01:46:06,483 --> 01:46:08,608
by comparison, the quality or value

1493
01:46:08,775 --> 01:46:10,900
of the different races,
nations, individuals.

1494
01:46:11,900 --> 01:46:13,400
These differences in value

1495
01:46:13,566 --> 01:46:16,941
must be taken into account
by a healthy policy.

1496
01:46:17,108 --> 01:46:19,316
Otherwise,
if we place on the same level

1497
01:46:19,483 --> 01:46:21,358
relatively civilised Austria

1498
01:46:21,525 --> 01:46:23,941
and some semi-savage Hertzegovans,

1499
01:46:24,108 --> 01:46:26,025
it will lead us straight

1500
01:46:26,608 --> 01:46:29,566
to the absurd,
dangerous adventures

1501
01:46:29,733 --> 01:46:33,358
yearned for
by the last Mohicans of Slavophilia.

1502
01:46:33,691 --> 01:46:36,191
There are Europeans and Europeans.

1503
01:46:36,358 --> 01:46:37,358
Is that so?

1504
01:46:41,150 --> 01:46:43,775
When the long-awaited time comes,

1505
01:46:43,941 --> 01:46:46,400
hopefully very soon,
when Europe, that is,

1506
01:46:46,566 --> 01:46:48,025
the civilised world

1507
01:46:48,566 --> 01:46:51,775
will genuinely coincide,
in its dimensions,

1508
01:46:51,941 --> 01:46:54,066
with the whole population of the globe,

1509
01:46:54,233 --> 01:46:58,650
there will remain in the bosom
of a mankind united and at peace

1510
01:46:58,816 --> 01:47:00,733
those natural gradations

1511
01:47:00,941 --> 01:47:04,816
and nuances of cultural value
that history has laid down,

1512
01:47:04,983 --> 01:47:09,483
according to which our relations
with various peoples must be adjusted.

1513
01:47:09,650 --> 01:47:13,733
And in the triumphant, universal
kingdom of the higher civilisation,

1514
01:47:13,900 --> 01:47:17,358
it will be as in the Kingdom of Heaven:

1515
01:47:17,525 --> 01:47:19,566
"One is the light of the sun,

1516
01:47:19,733 --> 01:47:23,233
"one is the light of the moon,
one is the light of the stars,

1517
01:47:23,400 --> 01:47:25,983
"for star differs from star
in its brilliance."

1518
01:47:26,150 --> 01:47:28,025
That is what the Catechism says.

1519
01:47:29,733 --> 01:47:33,108
When the target is so close
but has not been reached,

1520
01:47:33,275 --> 01:47:34,775
we must guard

1521
01:47:34,941 --> 01:47:38,525
against the errors
of undifferentiated egalitarianism.

1522
01:47:39,316 --> 01:47:42,150
Recently,
the papers have reported a conflict

1523
01:47:42,316 --> 01:47:44,400
between England and Transvaal.

1524
01:47:45,275 --> 01:47:49,525
It seems the Africans
threaten England with war.

1525
01:47:51,900 --> 01:47:54,983
Already I see all kinds
of journalists and politicians,

1526
01:47:55,150 --> 01:47:58,483
from here and maybe even
all across the continent,

1527
01:47:58,650 --> 01:48:00,983
waging a campaign against England

1528
01:48:01,150 --> 01:48:04,525
and taking the side
of those oppressed Africans.

1529
01:48:04,691 --> 01:48:06,066
How shameful!

1530
01:48:06,233 --> 01:48:09,150
If only those wretched cowherds

1531
01:48:09,316 --> 01:48:12,483
had had the flair
to accept their Dutch origins.

1532
01:48:12,650 --> 01:48:17,275
Holland is a real nation,
honourable, patently superior.

1533
01:48:17,441 --> 01:48:20,733
But no! They consider themselves
a nation apart

1534
01:48:21,483 --> 01:48:24,150
and they want to build
an African homeland of their own.

1535
01:48:24,316 --> 01:48:25,441
The scoundrels!

1536
01:48:25,608 --> 01:48:27,025
First of all,
do not use derogatory words,

1537
01:48:27,191 --> 01:48:31,191
then explain what the Transvaal is
and what kind of people live there?

1538
01:48:31,358 --> 01:48:33,441
A mixture of Europeans and blacks:

1539
01:48:33,608 --> 01:48:36,358
Neither white nor black, but brown.

1540
01:48:36,525 --> 01:48:38,566
Another calembour, apparently.

1541
01:48:39,275 --> 01:48:42,650
- Not one of the best.
- A calembour for a Boer.

1542
01:48:42,816 --> 01:48:45,941
If you do not like that colour,
there is also the Orange Republic.

1543
01:48:46,108 --> 01:48:47,483
Wonderful...

1544
01:48:48,483 --> 01:48:50,316
But seriously, the Boers

1545
01:48:50,483 --> 01:48:53,025
are still Europeans,
but of the bad variety.

1546
01:48:53,941 --> 01:48:56,400
Isolated from their glorious homeland,

1547
01:48:56,566 --> 01:49:00,525
they have, to a large extent,
lost their civilisation.

1548
01:49:00,691 --> 01:49:03,983
Surrounded by savages,
they have grown savage and harsh.

1549
01:49:04,150 --> 01:49:06,275
To place them
on the same level as the English

1550
01:49:06,441 --> 01:49:10,025
or worse, to wish for their victory
in the war with England,

1551
01:49:10,191 --> 01:49:11,733
is inconceivable!

1552
01:49:12,608 --> 01:49:15,608
But the same Europeans sympathise
with the mountain tribes of the Caucasus,

1553
01:49:15,775 --> 01:49:18,691
who oppose you,
fighting for their freedom.

1554
01:49:18,983 --> 01:49:22,941
And Russia is far more civilised
than the Circassians.

1555
01:49:23,108 --> 01:49:24,525
On that we agree.

1556
01:49:24,691 --> 01:49:26,191
Setting aside

1557
01:49:26,358 --> 01:49:29,525
the reasons for Europe's sympathy
for the Caucasus savages,

1558
01:49:29,691 --> 01:49:33,525
I shall say only
that we must assimilate

1559
01:49:34,150 --> 01:49:36,691
the global European spirit,

1560
01:49:37,150 --> 01:49:40,150
not the follies
of this or that European.

1561
01:49:40,316 --> 01:49:44,733
Certainly, I would deeply regret it
if England were forced

1562
01:49:44,900 --> 01:49:46,941
to employ the obsolete

1563
01:49:47,108 --> 01:49:49,775
and historically blameworthy means
that is war

1564
01:49:49,941 --> 01:49:52,191
to appease
those arrogant barbarians.

1565
01:49:52,358 --> 01:49:55,483
But if war proves inevitable,

1566
01:49:55,650 --> 01:49:57,650
because of Zulu savagery,

1567
01:49:57,816 --> 01:50:01,525
encouraged
by continental envy of England,

1568
01:50:01,691 --> 01:50:05,816
then naturally,
I will hope the war concludes

1569
01:50:05,983 --> 01:50:08,400
with the African brigands crushed,

1570
01:50:08,566 --> 01:50:12,441
so that we shall never again hear
of their independence.

1571
01:50:14,316 --> 01:50:18,150
Were they to prevail,
possible given the context,

1572
01:50:19,233 --> 01:50:21,608
it would be the triumph of barbarity
over civilisation,

1573
01:50:21,775 --> 01:50:25,316
and for me as a Franco-Russian,
i.e. a European,

1574
01:50:25,691 --> 01:50:27,816
it would be a day of national mourning.

1575
01:50:28,316 --> 01:50:29,775
No, I disagree.

1576
01:50:31,233 --> 01:50:33,858
Why shouldn't we sympathise
with the Boers

1577
01:50:34,025 --> 01:50:35,650
the same as we do with Wilhelm Tell?

1578
01:50:35,816 --> 01:50:38,941
Well, if they had created
their own legend,

1579
01:50:39,108 --> 01:50:42,733
if they had inspired artists
like Schiller or Rossini,

1580
01:50:43,150 --> 01:50:45,900
if they had produced
a Jean-Jacques Rousseau,

1581
01:50:46,066 --> 01:50:47,191
we would speak differently.

1582
01:50:47,358 --> 01:50:49,191
But they all came afterward.

1583
01:50:49,816 --> 01:50:52,608
Even the Swiss were originally
nothing but shepherds.

1584
01:50:52,775 --> 01:50:53,733
And not only they.

1585
01:50:53,900 --> 01:50:58,566
When they rebelled against the English
to gain independence,

1586
01:50:58,733 --> 01:51:01,483
were the Americans
notable for their education? No.

1587
01:51:01,650 --> 01:51:03,150
Even if they were not brown,

1588
01:51:03,316 --> 01:51:05,691
they had red skin
and scalped their enemies.

1589
01:51:05,858 --> 01:51:07,066
Read Mayne Reid.

1590
01:51:07,233 --> 01:51:09,858
But even so,
La Fayette sympathised with them.

1591
01:51:10,025 --> 01:51:11,108
And he was right.

1592
01:51:11,275 --> 01:51:15,483
Because now all the religions
have been assembled in Chicago,

1593
01:51:15,650 --> 01:51:18,691
they have held an exhibition,
an amazing thing.

1594
01:51:19,691 --> 01:51:23,900
They intended to do the same in Paris
for the exhibition,

1595
01:51:24,066 --> 01:51:25,691
but nothing came of it.

1596
01:51:25,858 --> 01:51:27,941
An abbot did his utmost,

1597
01:51:28,108 --> 01:51:30,108
Father Victor Charbonnel.

1598
01:51:30,441 --> 01:51:33,858
He wrote me some letters.
A very nice man.

1599
01:51:34,858 --> 01:51:36,816
But all the religions declined.

1600
01:51:36,983 --> 01:51:39,400
The Grand Rabbi said:
"For religion,

1601
01:51:39,566 --> 01:51:42,816
"we have the Bible,
an exhibition is superfluous."

1602
01:51:42,983 --> 01:51:43,941
Poor Charbonnel,

1603
01:51:44,108 --> 01:51:47,066
out of sorrow,
has abandoned Christ.

1604
01:51:48,150 --> 01:51:52,358
The newspapers say he has retired,
and was quite an admirer of Renan.

1605
01:51:52,816 --> 01:51:54,400
He ended up badly,

1606
01:51:54,566 --> 01:51:57,525
they say either he married

1607
01:51:58,025 --> 01:52:00,066
or succumbed to drink.

1608
01:52:00,733 --> 01:52:03,400
Your Neplyuev ended up the same,

1609
01:52:03,566 --> 01:52:05,691
but he was disillusioned
with all religions.

1610
01:52:07,816 --> 01:52:10,108
That idealist wrote to me

1611
01:52:10,316 --> 01:52:12,566
saying he has faith only in humanity.

1612
01:52:12,733 --> 01:52:15,525
But how to exhibit humanity
at the Paris Exhibition?

1613
01:52:15,900 --> 01:52:17,816
It seems to me utter folly!

1614
01:52:18,108 --> 01:52:19,608
But the Americans

1615
01:52:19,775 --> 01:52:21,400
did do a very good job.

1616
01:52:21,566 --> 01:52:24,941
Representatives of every religion
answered their call.

1617
01:52:25,108 --> 01:52:27,358
They appointed a Catholic bishop
as chairman,

1618
01:52:27,525 --> 01:52:30,733
who read the Lord's Prayer in English,

1619
01:52:30,900 --> 01:52:34,191
and the Chinese and Buddhist
idolater priests

1620
01:52:34,483 --> 01:52:39,025
politely answered:
"Oh, yes! All right, sir!

1621
01:52:39,816 --> 01:52:41,650
"We wish nobody any ill,

1622
01:52:41,816 --> 01:52:46,441
"we ask only
that your missionaries leave us alone.

1623
01:52:46,775 --> 01:52:47,900
"Because

1624
01:52:48,233 --> 01:52:51,400
"your religion is very good for you,

1625
01:52:51,566 --> 01:52:54,483
"and it is not our fault
if you do not follow it,

1626
01:52:54,650 --> 01:52:57,525
"but our religion is the best for us."

1627
01:52:58,316 --> 01:53:00,733
And it all ended well,

1628
01:53:00,900 --> 01:53:04,066
there was no fighting,
to everyone's surprise.

1629
01:53:04,233 --> 01:53:06,816
That's Americans today.

1630
01:53:06,983 --> 01:53:12,483
Who knows? Today's Africans
might one day become Americans like that.

1631
01:53:12,816 --> 01:53:14,608
Anything is possible, of course.

1632
01:53:15,316 --> 01:53:17,983
Even a rascal can become a scientist.
Until then,

1633
01:53:18,150 --> 01:53:20,483
a sound thrashing will do him good.

1634
01:53:20,650 --> 01:53:22,316
What an expression!

1635
01:53:22,775 --> 01:53:25,775
You have succumbed to vice.
Is it because of Monte Carlo?

1636
01:53:25,941 --> 01:53:29,525
Whose company do you keep there?
The families of croupiers?

1637
01:53:34,941 --> 01:53:36,733
Anyway, it's your business.

1638
01:53:38,108 --> 01:53:42,691
I merely ask you to shorten
your exposition on political wisdom.

1639
01:53:42,983 --> 01:53:44,358
It is time that we conclude.

1640
01:53:44,650 --> 01:53:49,316
I was about to sum up
and link to what I said at the start.

1641
01:53:49,483 --> 01:53:52,608
I don't believe you,
you won't conclude by yourself.

1642
01:53:52,775 --> 01:53:56,441
I really must help you
clarify your position.

1643
01:53:57,900 --> 01:54:00,358
You said, didn't you,

1644
01:54:00,983 --> 01:54:02,441
that in the olden days,

1645
01:54:02,650 --> 01:54:05,608
there existed God and war,

1646
01:54:06,191 --> 01:54:10,275
but now, instead of God,
we have culture and peace?

1647
01:54:13,608 --> 01:54:14,983
That was it, wasn't it?

1648
01:54:15,733 --> 01:54:17,525
In a way, yes.

1649
01:54:18,066 --> 01:54:19,358
Perfect.

1650
01:54:19,941 --> 01:54:23,775
I neither know nor can explain
what God is,

1651
01:54:23,941 --> 01:54:25,316
but I can sense Him.

1652
01:54:25,900 --> 01:54:29,775
As for your culture,
it stirs nothing in me.

1653
01:54:30,191 --> 01:54:32,316
Therefore, in brief,
explain to me what it is.

1654
01:54:33,733 --> 01:54:37,233
What culture is, what it consists of,
you already know.

1655
01:54:37,441 --> 01:54:40,275
It is the whole treasury
of thought and genius,

1656
01:54:40,441 --> 01:54:43,233
created by the elect minds
of elect peoples.

1657
01:54:43,400 --> 01:54:44,400
Yes,

1658
01:54:44,566 --> 01:54:48,358
but that can mean anything,
and there is considerable diversity.

1659
01:54:49,608 --> 01:54:53,316
Let us take Voltaire, Bossuet,
the Madonna, Nana,

1660
01:54:53,483 --> 01:54:55,525
Alfred de Musset, Filaret.

1661
01:54:55,691 --> 01:54:59,900
How can you lump them all together
and then replace God with them?

1662
01:55:01,358 --> 01:55:06,191
I also meant that we shouldn't bother
about culture as a historical treasure.

1663
01:55:06,358 --> 01:55:08,191
Culture was created, it exists.

1664
01:55:08,566 --> 01:55:12,316
We can still hope there will be
other Shakespeares and Newtons,

1665
01:55:12,483 --> 01:55:15,691
but that does not depend on us
and is of no practical interest.

1666
01:55:16,775 --> 01:55:18,358
Culture also has

1667
01:55:18,525 --> 01:55:20,983
a practical or, if you like, moral side,

1668
01:55:21,358 --> 01:55:25,525
that is precisely what in private life
is known as politeness, courtesy.

1669
01:55:26,358 --> 01:55:29,441
To a superficial eye
it may seem unimportant,

1670
01:55:29,608 --> 01:55:32,316
but it has a vast and unique meaning

1671
01:55:32,483 --> 01:55:37,316
because only this can take on
a universal, obligatory character.

1672
01:55:37,941 --> 01:55:42,108
We cannot demand of anyone lofty virtue,
or superior intelligence or genius,

1673
01:55:42,275 --> 01:55:45,775
but we can demand of all
that they show politeness.

1674
01:55:49,483 --> 01:55:52,358
It is the minimum
of common feeling and morality,

1675
01:55:55,025 --> 01:55:57,941
which allows people
to live like human beings.

1676
01:56:00,733 --> 01:56:03,483
We clearly cannot reduce culture
to politeness,

1677
01:56:03,733 --> 01:56:06,900
but it is the indispensable condition
for every culture.

1678
01:56:07,650 --> 01:56:10,150
Just as writing and reading
are indispensable

1679
01:56:10,316 --> 01:56:12,191
to the mind's education.

1680
01:56:16,566 --> 01:56:19,233
Even if the latter
entails more than that.

1681
01:56:29,775 --> 01:56:31,066
What is it?

1682
01:56:38,691 --> 01:56:40,983
Edouard, if you could see your face...

1683
01:56:41,150 --> 01:56:42,650
What's happening?

1684
01:56:48,400 --> 01:56:50,066
What is it?

1685
01:56:51,191 --> 01:56:52,483
I don't know.

1686
01:56:52,775 --> 01:56:54,858
Please, Edouard, continue!

1687
01:56:55,066 --> 01:56:59,316
Excuse me, I lost the thread
of what you were saying.

1688
01:56:59,483 --> 01:57:01,275
- No, he'd just finished.
- I was saying...

1689
01:57:01,441 --> 01:57:05,150
We should not be concerned
with culture in general,

1690
01:57:05,775 --> 01:57:08,941
as a historical treasure,
it was created, it exists.

1691
01:57:09,650 --> 01:57:13,483
We can still hope there will be
new Shakespeares and Newtons,

1692
01:57:13,650 --> 01:57:17,525
but that does not depend on us
and is of no practical interest.

1693
01:57:18,191 --> 01:57:20,775
Culture also has another aspect,

1694
01:57:21,066 --> 01:57:23,900
a practical or, if you like,
moral aspect,

1695
01:57:24,066 --> 01:57:26,525
that is precisely what in private life

1696
01:57:27,066 --> 01:57:30,483
is called politeness, courtesy.

1697
01:57:33,316 --> 01:57:34,566
Really?

1698
01:57:35,400 --> 01:57:36,691
Strange...

1699
01:57:41,608 --> 01:57:42,983
Excuse me.

1700
01:57:43,191 --> 01:57:45,733
Now we really are at the Comic Opera.

1701
01:57:51,316 --> 01:57:54,775
- Nobody comes.
- Yes, strange that nobody comes.

1702
01:57:54,941 --> 01:57:56,400
Is this a joke?

1703
01:58:00,483 --> 01:58:02,650
How strange that nobody comes.

1704
01:58:08,191 --> 01:58:09,900
It is strange, isn't it?

1705
01:58:11,358 --> 01:58:14,233
Perhaps it is the carollers
from earlier.

1706
01:58:17,858 --> 01:58:19,358
But where is Olga?

1707
01:58:23,816 --> 01:58:27,525
Is she in the house?
Strange that nobody comes.

1708
01:58:38,816 --> 01:58:40,108
István!

1709
01:58:47,650 --> 01:58:49,316
Maybe we ought to go and see.

1710
01:58:49,483 --> 01:58:51,150
Edouard is uneasy.

1711
01:58:53,150 --> 01:58:54,733
Ring again!

1712
01:58:56,150 --> 01:58:59,525
It's not usual in this house.

1713
01:59:01,025 --> 01:59:05,858
Do you see where you have brought
our dear Nikolai's house?

1714
01:59:06,025 --> 01:59:07,650
Everything is out of joint.

1715
01:59:22,858 --> 01:59:24,566
What's with this silence?

1716
01:59:25,608 --> 01:59:27,150
Don't worry.

1717
01:59:29,816 --> 01:59:31,400
Zoyichka! Zoya!

1718
01:59:31,566 --> 01:59:33,275
- I'll go and see.
- You'd...

1719
01:59:42,733 --> 01:59:44,858
What's going on?

1720
01:59:45,316 --> 01:59:47,150
Answer me, what's going on?

1721
02:01:06,900 --> 02:01:07,983
Ingrida!

1722
02:04:59,066 --> 02:05:00,400
Easy...

1723
02:05:05,483 --> 02:05:06,275
Gently.

1724
02:05:06,441 --> 02:05:07,566
Mind the door.

1725
02:05:10,150 --> 02:05:11,150
Ready.

1726
02:05:13,441 --> 02:05:14,775
Here we are.

1727
02:05:14,983 --> 02:05:16,608
- Now.
- Yes.

1728
02:05:25,358 --> 02:05:26,650
Here you are...

1729
02:05:34,400 --> 02:05:35,775
Are you comfortable?

1730
02:05:35,941 --> 02:05:37,108
István...

1731
02:05:37,608 --> 02:05:38,566
Yes?

1732
02:05:39,025 --> 02:05:43,400
What do you think of this:
"Arise, life's accursed,

1733
02:05:44,775 --> 02:05:47,483
"Arise, those condemned to hunger!"

1734
02:05:47,650 --> 02:05:51,566
I think it refers
to the foundry workers.

1735
02:05:52,983 --> 02:05:57,025
Those who want to work less
but earn more...

1736
02:05:58,441 --> 02:05:59,608
Their wages...

1737
02:05:59,900 --> 02:06:01,900
What about this line?

1738
02:06:02,983 --> 02:06:06,066
"The International
will be the human race."

1739
02:06:07,941 --> 02:06:09,775
István, I need your help.

1740
02:06:09,941 --> 02:06:10,941
Sure.

1741
02:06:12,775 --> 02:06:16,441
In another week
you will have recovered.

1742
02:06:20,400 --> 02:06:22,525
Tell me when you finish.

1743
02:06:22,691 --> 02:06:23,775
Yes, sir.

1744
02:07:34,108 --> 02:07:36,441
So you think it is the Antichrist?

1745
02:07:37,566 --> 02:07:38,775
Of course not.

1746
02:07:39,066 --> 02:07:41,983
There are hints as to his nature,

1747
02:07:42,150 --> 02:07:44,316
but he has not yet arrived.

1748
02:07:44,900 --> 02:07:48,733
Then explain him to us
as simply as possible.

1749
02:07:49,650 --> 02:07:51,983
I cannot guarantee
it will be simple.

1750
02:07:52,441 --> 02:07:54,816
It is not easy to achieve
genuine simplicity,

1751
02:07:54,983 --> 02:07:59,108
and illusory, artificial, false
simplicity is the most sinful.

1752
02:08:00,150 --> 02:08:03,983
According to an ancient maxim,
which a late friend used to repeat:

1753
02:08:04,691 --> 02:08:07,400
"Simplicity can easily be deceptive."

1754
02:08:08,150 --> 02:08:10,650
Not even that is so simple.

1755
02:08:10,816 --> 02:08:14,025
The same as in the folk saying,
probably.

1756
02:08:17,025 --> 02:08:18,400
Which is?

1757
02:08:19,400 --> 02:08:22,650
"Simplicity is the worst theft."

1758
02:08:24,025 --> 02:08:26,691
Simplicity is worse than theft.

1759
02:08:26,858 --> 02:08:27,983
Exactly.

1760
02:08:28,275 --> 02:08:29,941
Now I understand.

1761
02:08:30,108 --> 02:08:33,650
A pity the Antichrist cannot be
explained through proverbs.

1762
02:08:33,816 --> 02:08:35,650
Then enlighten us.

1763
02:08:36,525 --> 02:08:37,691
Very well.

1764
02:08:38,400 --> 02:08:39,566
But before I do,

1765
02:08:39,733 --> 02:08:42,816
tell me whether you recognise
the existence

1766
02:08:43,066 --> 02:08:45,525
and power of Evil in the world?

1767
02:08:46,400 --> 02:08:48,566
We wouldn't wish to recognise them,

1768
02:08:49,566 --> 02:08:51,108
but we are forced to do so.

1769
02:08:51,941 --> 02:08:53,775
Death is no small matter,

1770
02:08:53,941 --> 02:08:55,816
an evil none escapes.

1771
02:08:57,275 --> 02:09:00,483
I think the final enemy
to be defeated will be death.

1772
02:09:00,816 --> 02:09:02,566
And as long as it is undefeated,

1773
02:09:02,816 --> 02:09:06,316
it is clear that Evil
is stronger than Good.

1774
02:09:08,400 --> 02:09:10,400
What do you think, Ingrida?

1775
02:09:11,233 --> 02:09:14,608
Of course Evil exists,
the same as Good exists.

1776
02:09:15,025 --> 02:09:18,025
If God exists,
then the devil also exists.

1777
02:09:18,691 --> 02:09:21,275
As long as God permits,
of course.

1778
02:09:21,816 --> 02:09:24,816
For the time being,
I refrain from comment.

1779
02:09:24,983 --> 02:09:27,941
But I am curious
as to other opinions.

1780
02:09:28,441 --> 02:09:30,858
I understand Olga's way of thinking,

1781
02:09:31,025 --> 02:09:34,941
that is, it's obvious to me
it isn't really a way of thinking,

1782
02:09:35,108 --> 02:09:37,941
but quite simply a pretence,

1783
02:09:38,275 --> 02:09:40,150
which makes no sense.

1784
02:09:40,691 --> 02:09:44,525
But the obviously more consistent
religious viewpoint

1785
02:09:44,691 --> 02:09:46,275
is what interests me more,

1786
02:09:46,525 --> 02:09:49,983
although I've encountered it
only in its bureaucratic form

1787
02:09:50,191 --> 02:09:51,816
and it doesn't satisfy me.

1788
02:09:52,691 --> 02:09:56,775
I would very much like
to hear about this,

1789
02:09:56,941 --> 02:10:01,191
not some pious homilies,
but a human opinion.

1790
02:10:02,566 --> 02:10:07,858
Of the stars that rise in the mind
of him who reads the scriptures,

1791
02:10:08,775 --> 02:10:12,816
none, I think,
is brighter or more astonishing

1792
02:10:13,025 --> 02:10:15,233
than that which shines
in the Gospels.

1793
02:10:15,400 --> 02:10:16,733
Behold the poet.

1794
02:10:17,816 --> 02:10:19,150
No, wait!

1795
02:10:21,400 --> 02:10:25,775
"Think not that I have come
to send peace on earth.

1796
02:10:25,941 --> 02:10:28,941
"I came not to send peace,
but a sword."

1797
02:10:30,691 --> 02:10:32,983
He came to bring us the Truth,

1798
02:10:33,150 --> 02:10:35,775
and the Truth, like the Good,
is a sword, it divides.

1799
02:10:36,525 --> 02:10:38,400
Nor is this very clear.

1800
02:10:38,941 --> 02:10:42,025
Why then is Christ named
"Prince of Peace"

1801
02:10:42,191 --> 02:10:43,691
and why did He say

1802
02:10:43,858 --> 02:10:46,941
the peacemakers
will be named "sons of the Lord"?

1803
02:10:47,983 --> 02:10:50,858
Note that we can only reconcile
contradictory texts

1804
02:10:51,025 --> 02:10:53,650
by separating the good peace,
the true peace,

1805
02:10:53,816 --> 02:10:55,441
from the false peace,

1806
02:10:55,900 --> 02:10:57,150
the bad peace.

1807
02:10:57,816 --> 02:11:00,650
This distinction was clearly shown

1808
02:11:00,816 --> 02:11:04,816
by Him who brought true peace
and good enmity.

1809
02:11:05,691 --> 02:11:07,941
"My peace I give unto you.

1810
02:11:08,108 --> 02:11:10,775
"Not as the world giveth,
give I unto you."

1811
02:11:11,025 --> 02:11:13,566
Therefore, there is a good peace,
Christ's peace,

1812
02:11:13,775 --> 02:11:17,358
based on the division
Christ brings to the world,

1813
02:11:17,691 --> 02:11:20,941
that is, the distinction
between Good and Evil,

1814
02:11:21,108 --> 02:11:23,358
lie and truth.

1815
02:11:24,566 --> 02:11:27,025
And there is an evil, worldly peace,

1816
02:11:27,691 --> 02:11:30,483
which rests upon the confusion
or seeming reconciliation

1817
02:11:30,650 --> 02:11:33,191
of what essentially
cannot be reconciled.

1818
02:11:34,233 --> 02:11:38,525
How do you explain to us the difference
between the good and the bad peace?

1819
02:11:39,775 --> 02:11:41,483
Like Ingrida this morning,

1820
02:11:41,650 --> 02:11:44,316
when she joked about
there being "good peace",

1821
02:11:44,483 --> 02:11:47,483
like that of Nystadt
or Kuchuk-Kainardji.

1822
02:11:47,691 --> 02:11:51,900
This joke conceals a more important
and more general meaning.

1823
02:11:52,566 --> 02:11:55,900
In the spiritual struggle,
the same as in the political one,

1824
02:11:56,066 --> 02:11:57,150
a good peace

1825
02:11:57,316 --> 02:12:00,816
is that attained only when
the purpose of the war is achieved.

1826
02:12:03,150 --> 02:12:06,858
But ultimately,
why are Good and Evil at war?

1827
02:12:08,275 --> 02:12:11,525
Is it really necessary
that they confront each other?

1828
02:12:11,816 --> 02:12:16,441
Can there be hand-to-hand fighting
between them?

1829
02:12:17,566 --> 02:12:19,525
In a war,

1830
02:12:20,691 --> 02:12:23,941
when one side gains ground,
the other side, the enemy,

1831
02:12:24,150 --> 02:12:25,733
seeks reinforcements,

1832
02:12:26,233 --> 02:12:30,483
and the conflict must be solved
at the front, with cannon and bayonet.

1833
02:12:31,400 --> 02:12:34,566
But in the battle of Good against Evil,
there is no such thing.

1834
02:12:35,358 --> 02:12:38,316
When Good gains strength,
Evil is weakened at once,

1835
02:12:38,483 --> 02:12:40,650
and they never actually
confront each other.

1836
02:12:40,816 --> 02:12:42,983
Such things are figurative.

1837
02:12:44,025 --> 02:12:45,400
I think that...

1838
02:12:46,816 --> 02:12:49,150
we must merely take care

1839
02:12:49,316 --> 02:12:51,816
that the Good predominate in people,

1840
02:12:52,191 --> 02:12:54,691
for then Evil will be diminished
of itself.

1841
02:12:55,233 --> 02:12:57,816
Do you think the good
must simply become better

1842
02:12:57,983 --> 02:13:00,441
in order for the wicked
to shed their wickedness

1843
02:13:00,608 --> 02:13:02,775
and themselves to become good?

1844
02:13:03,566 --> 02:13:05,816
Yes, I do.

1845
02:13:07,025 --> 02:13:10,775
Has a good man's goodness
ever made an evil man good?

1846
02:13:10,941 --> 02:13:12,775
Or at least less evil?

1847
02:13:14,025 --> 02:13:14,983
No.

1848
02:13:17,400 --> 02:13:20,983
Never have I heard the like...

1849
02:13:23,483 --> 02:13:27,233
What you say is similar
to what you told Olga this morning.

1850
02:13:27,566 --> 02:13:28,941
In other words,

1851
02:13:29,733 --> 02:13:31,275
not even Christ,

1852
02:13:31,525 --> 02:13:34,858
in all His goodness,
could derive any good

1853
02:13:35,233 --> 02:13:37,775
from the soul of Judas Iscariot

1854
02:13:38,150 --> 02:13:40,066
or the soul of the bad thief.

1855
02:13:40,691 --> 02:13:44,566
Olga should answer your question,
remember to ask her when she comes.

1856
02:13:45,858 --> 02:13:49,525
Since I don't believe she is Antichrist,
I don't believe she'll come.

1857
02:13:50,275 --> 02:13:53,025
I believe even less
in her theological astuteness.

1858
02:13:53,608 --> 02:13:57,316
In order for the question
not to hamper our discussion,

1859
02:13:57,900 --> 02:14:02,608
I shall present the objection
that Olga might express.

1860
02:14:03,816 --> 02:14:06,150
"Why did Christ not use His goodness

1861
02:14:06,316 --> 02:14:08,900
"to restore the souls of Judas and company?"

1862
02:14:10,150 --> 02:14:13,608
Simply because the age
was too ignorant

1863
02:14:13,983 --> 02:14:18,150
and only few souls
had attained the moral level

1864
02:14:18,316 --> 02:14:20,400
at which can be perceived

1865
02:14:20,608 --> 02:14:22,691
the intrinsic power of truth.

1866
02:14:23,108 --> 02:14:25,775
Judas and company
had not sufficiently evolved.

1867
02:14:27,066 --> 02:14:30,025
As Christ told His Disciples:

1868
02:14:31,233 --> 02:14:33,150
"The works that I do,

1869
02:14:33,608 --> 02:14:36,400
"greater works than these shall you do."

1870
02:14:37,400 --> 02:14:42,525
At the advanced stage of moral development
we have now attained,

1871
02:14:42,941 --> 02:14:45,191
the true disciples of Christ can,

1872
02:14:45,566 --> 02:14:48,566
by the power of their meekness
and non-violence,

1873
02:14:49,275 --> 02:14:53,066
work miracles superior
to those of 18 centuries ago.

1874
02:14:53,233 --> 02:14:54,983
If I may!

1875
02:14:55,275 --> 02:14:58,608
If they can, then why don't they?

1876
02:15:00,275 --> 02:15:02,983
Or perhaps you have seen
such new miracles?

1877
02:15:03,816 --> 02:15:05,275
So it is that Olga,

1878
02:15:05,441 --> 02:15:08,858
not even after 18 centuries
of moral development

1879
02:15:09,025 --> 02:15:10,400
of the Christian awareness,

1880
02:15:10,566 --> 02:15:13,858
still cannot enlighten
my darkened soul.

1881
02:15:14,191 --> 02:15:17,108
And I remain the same cannibal

1882
02:15:17,275 --> 02:15:18,691
as before I met her.

1883
02:15:19,566 --> 02:15:23,858
The same as up until now,
more than anything in the world,

1884
02:15:24,233 --> 02:15:26,858
after God and Russia,
I favour the military art,

1885
02:15:27,025 --> 02:15:28,941
and the artillery in particular.

1886
02:15:30,275 --> 02:15:34,816
After all, I have met
apostles of non-violence before,

1887
02:15:35,400 --> 02:15:38,150
and of a different calibre
than our dear Olga.

1888
02:15:39,150 --> 02:15:40,066
Please,

1889
02:15:40,400 --> 02:15:43,191
why take such a personal stance?

1890
02:15:43,941 --> 02:15:45,400
What do you expect of me?

1891
02:15:45,816 --> 02:15:49,816
I've presented to you on Olga's behalf
a Gospel text she had forgotten.

1892
02:15:50,066 --> 02:15:52,941
"That's good, or not so good

1893
02:15:53,108 --> 02:15:55,275
"I can't answer for
other people's dreams."

1894
02:15:56,525 --> 02:16:00,025
Well, now I shall take
the defence of our dear Olga.

1895
02:16:01,400 --> 02:16:05,983
She would have shown intelligence
if she had answered Ingrida thus:

1896
02:16:07,275 --> 02:16:10,525
"I myself and people like me,
whom you have met,

1897
02:16:10,941 --> 02:16:15,066
"regard ourselves
as true disciples of Christ

1898
02:16:15,316 --> 02:16:16,775
"only with regard to..."

1899
02:16:17,816 --> 02:16:19,608
Dinner is served.

1900
02:16:19,816 --> 02:16:20,983
Yes, very well.

1901
02:16:23,816 --> 02:16:26,066
- Sorry, what were you saying?
- Nothing.

1902
02:16:26,400 --> 02:16:27,816
I was saying that,

1903
02:16:28,941 --> 02:16:32,191
were I to speak on Olga's behalf,

1904
02:16:33,400 --> 02:16:35,650
this is how I would
have answered Ingrida:

1905
02:16:36,941 --> 02:16:40,108
"I myself and people like me,
whom you have met,

1906
02:16:40,275 --> 02:16:42,983
"regard ourselves
as true disciples of Christ,

1907
02:16:43,150 --> 02:16:45,941
"only with regard
to our thoughts and deeds,

1908
02:16:46,108 --> 02:16:49,608
"not because we think
we have acquired a higher power.

1909
02:16:50,691 --> 02:16:53,483
"Certainly,
somewhere there exist or will exist,

1910
02:16:53,650 --> 02:16:54,816
"one fine day,

1911
02:16:55,816 --> 02:16:57,983
"better Christians than us,

1912
02:16:58,400 --> 02:17:01,608
"and they would be able
to enlighten even you."

1913
02:17:03,400 --> 02:17:06,816
This answer, certainly,
would be convenient,

1914
02:17:06,983 --> 02:17:09,233
since it appeals
to an unknown authority.

1915
02:17:09,941 --> 02:17:11,441
But no matter.

1916
02:17:12,816 --> 02:17:15,441
They would say, for example:

1917
02:17:16,066 --> 02:17:17,566
"We cannot do anything.

1918
02:17:17,941 --> 02:17:20,441
"Neither more
nor the same as Christ did,

1919
02:17:20,608 --> 02:17:23,775
"neither less nor even close."

1920
02:17:24,233 --> 02:17:27,191
What then may we logically
deduce therefrom?

1921
02:17:27,358 --> 02:17:30,275
We may deduce only one thing.

1922
02:17:30,441 --> 02:17:34,400
That Christ's words:
"Greater works than these shall you do",

1923
02:17:34,566 --> 02:17:38,108
were not addressed to those men
but to others,

1924
02:17:38,525 --> 02:17:40,358
who resemble them not at all.

1925
02:17:41,858 --> 02:17:42,775
However,

1926
02:17:43,275 --> 02:17:45,025
we may imagine

1927
02:17:45,816 --> 02:17:48,816
that a man will fulfil
the teachings of Christ

1928
02:17:48,983 --> 02:17:51,608
as to loving one's enemy
and turning the other cheek.

1929
02:17:52,066 --> 02:17:53,858
And also through Christ,

1930
02:17:54,025 --> 02:17:57,191
he will be able to turn,
by his meekness,

1931
02:17:57,358 --> 02:17:59,316
evil souls into good souls.

1932
02:18:00,441 --> 02:18:04,191
Not long ago,
such an experiment was performed.

1933
02:18:04,358 --> 02:18:05,566
Not only did it fail,

1934
02:18:05,733 --> 02:18:08,775
but it proved exactly
the opposite of your claims.

1935
02:18:11,400 --> 02:18:14,691
There lived a man of boundless meekness,

1936
02:18:15,316 --> 02:18:17,566
who not only forgave every insult,

1937
02:18:18,025 --> 02:18:21,400
but answered every evil deed
with greater and greater good.

1938
02:18:21,566 --> 02:18:22,483
What then?

1939
02:18:23,066 --> 02:18:25,358
Did he shake his enemy's soul
to its foundations?

1940
02:18:25,525 --> 02:18:27,566
Did he cause him to be morally reborn?

1941
02:18:28,150 --> 02:18:31,525
Alas, he only has harshened
the villain's heart,

1942
02:18:31,691 --> 02:18:33,858
and he died a wretched death
by his hand.

1943
02:18:35,358 --> 02:18:37,650
But please, let us take our seats
at the dinner table.

1944
02:18:46,150 --> 02:18:48,233
Who were you talking about?

1945
02:18:48,691 --> 02:18:50,108
Who was this man?

1946
02:18:50,400 --> 02:18:52,150
Where and when did he live?

1947
02:18:52,691 --> 02:18:54,858
Not long ago, in St. Petersburg.

1948
02:18:55,025 --> 02:18:56,650
I thought you knew him.

1949
02:18:56,983 --> 02:18:58,525
He's Delarue, the Chamberlain.

1950
02:18:58,691 --> 02:19:01,358
Never heard of him in my life...

1951
02:19:24,983 --> 02:19:27,650
You argued that the meaning of History

1952
02:19:27,983 --> 02:19:30,358
resides in the fact
that natural humanity,

1953
02:19:30,525 --> 02:19:33,900
initially composed of peoples
of greater or lesser savagery,

1954
02:19:34,066 --> 02:19:37,733
which differed from each other,
and either ignored or fought each other,

1955
02:19:37,900 --> 02:19:40,983
gradually gives birth to a better,
more educated condition,

1956
02:19:41,150 --> 02:19:42,400
the civilised world.

1957
02:19:42,566 --> 02:19:43,650
Or European world.

1958
02:19:43,816 --> 02:19:45,608
Which grows and expands

1959
02:19:45,775 --> 02:19:49,941
to encompass every remaining people
left behind by this movement of history,

1960
02:19:50,483 --> 02:19:54,650
bringing them together in a unitary whole,
pacifist, international, in solidarity.

1961
02:19:55,941 --> 02:19:59,441
"The establishment of everlasting
international peace."

1962
02:19:59,941 --> 02:20:01,858
That was how you put it, wasn't it?

1963
02:20:02,400 --> 02:20:04,858
The imminent realisation these words

1964
02:20:05,025 --> 02:20:09,316
will lead to far more civilisational
successes than might now appear.

1965
02:20:09,483 --> 02:20:12,483
Think of how much Evil will,
necessarily, have atrophied

1966
02:20:12,650 --> 02:20:13,858
and how much Good,

1967
02:20:14,025 --> 02:20:17,108
by the nature of things,
will appear and develop.

1968
02:20:17,691 --> 02:20:21,066
How much energy will be released
for productive activities,

1969
02:20:21,441 --> 02:20:24,525
how the sciences and arts will flourish,
industry and commerce...

1970
02:20:24,691 --> 02:20:27,358
Do you include
the elimination of disease and death

1971
02:20:27,525 --> 02:20:30,566
among the imminent successes
of civilisation?

1972
02:20:30,816 --> 02:20:31,941
It goes without saying.

1973
02:20:32,108 --> 02:20:33,483
Up to a point.

1974
02:20:33,650 --> 02:20:36,233
Much has been achieved
in the medical sphere,

1975
02:20:36,400 --> 02:20:38,816
hygiene, antisepsis, organotherapy...

1976
02:20:38,983 --> 02:20:41,483
But are not these evident
positive achievements

1977
02:20:41,650 --> 02:20:45,400
counterbalanced
by an equally evident progress

1978
02:20:45,566 --> 02:20:49,316
of the degenerative psychopathic
and neuropathological phenomena

1979
02:20:49,483 --> 02:20:52,233
that go hand in hand with
the development of civilisation?

1980
02:20:52,733 --> 02:20:54,775
But what scales
could weigh such a thing?

1981
02:20:56,983 --> 02:21:00,316
In any event, it is clear that
the negative increases with the positive.

1982
02:21:00,525 --> 02:21:03,775
The sum tends toward zero.
So much for diseases.

1983
02:21:04,316 --> 02:21:06,233
Then, as for death,

1984
02:21:06,400 --> 02:21:10,150
progress has never been
anything other than zero.

1985
02:21:10,358 --> 02:21:13,858
Does the progress of civilisation
aim to eliminate death?

1986
02:21:15,608 --> 02:21:17,150
I know very well it does not.

1987
02:21:17,316 --> 02:21:20,025
This is why it's not good
to have such expectations.

1988
02:21:20,608 --> 02:21:21,650
In fact,

1989
02:21:21,941 --> 02:21:24,858
if I were certain
that I would die once and for all,

1990
02:21:25,191 --> 02:21:27,441
along with all that I love,
would I not be indifferent

1991
02:21:27,608 --> 02:21:30,858
whether various nations warred
or lived in peace,

1992
02:21:31,025 --> 02:21:33,358
if they were civilised or savage,
polite or not?

1993
02:21:33,483 --> 02:21:37,025
From a personal, selfish viewpoint,
certainly it's all the same.

1994
02:21:37,441 --> 02:21:38,733
Selfish in what way?

1995
02:21:39,316 --> 02:21:40,650
Death levels all.

1996
02:21:40,858 --> 02:21:44,108
In the face of death, selfishness
and altruism are just as absurd.

1997
02:21:44,275 --> 02:21:46,191
True. Nevertheless,

1998
02:21:46,358 --> 02:21:49,483
the absurdity of selfishness
does not stop us being selfish.

1999
02:21:49,650 --> 02:21:51,941
Likewise altruism,
insofar as it is possible,

2000
02:21:52,108 --> 02:21:53,358
does not require reason,

2001
02:21:53,525 --> 02:21:56,275
and the thought of death
changes nothing.

2002
02:21:57,233 --> 02:21:59,816
My children and my grandchildren
will die, I'm aware of it,

2003
02:21:59,983 --> 02:22:02,483
but that does not stop me
caring for them

2004
02:22:02,650 --> 02:22:04,275
as if they will live forever.

2005
02:22:04,691 --> 02:22:07,150
I work for them, first of all,
because I love them.

2006
02:22:07,316 --> 02:22:10,233
I'm glad to devote my life to them.
I like doing so.

2007
02:22:11,025 --> 02:22:12,525
It's as simple as that.

2008
02:22:13,275 --> 02:22:15,191
Yes, as long as all is well.

2009
02:22:16,650 --> 02:22:19,441
But the thought of death is still there.

2010
02:22:20,733 --> 02:22:24,858
But when bad things happen
to your children and grandchildren,

2011
02:22:25,816 --> 02:22:27,108
what joy,

2012
02:22:27,400 --> 02:22:29,108
what pleasure will you find then?

2013
02:22:29,691 --> 02:22:31,733
It's the same as with waterlilies:

2014
02:22:31,900 --> 02:22:34,316
when you pick them,
you sink in the mire.

2015
02:22:35,275 --> 02:22:39,150
But it is still your duty to care
for your children and grandchildren.

2016
02:22:39,316 --> 02:22:40,358
Of course.

2017
02:22:40,525 --> 02:22:43,358
Without having answered
or even asked the question

2018
02:22:43,525 --> 02:22:47,608
of whether your care for them
provides with them a real, definite good.

2019
02:22:48,275 --> 02:22:52,233
You care for them, not without reason,
but because you bear them a living love.

2020
02:22:52,858 --> 02:22:56,691
We can't bear the same love
for people who do not yet exist.

2021
02:22:57,525 --> 02:23:01,066
And this is where the question
that reason asks us comes in,

2022
02:23:01,233 --> 02:23:04,150
with regard to the final purpose
of our care.

2023
02:23:05,358 --> 02:23:09,566
If the answer, ultimately,
is the death of each and everyone,

2024
02:23:10,066 --> 02:23:12,775
if the final result of progress

2025
02:23:12,941 --> 02:23:14,525
and of your civilisation

2026
02:23:14,691 --> 02:23:16,900
is in every case the death of all,

2027
02:23:17,233 --> 02:23:18,691
then it is clear

2028
02:23:18,858 --> 02:23:22,400
that all civilised activity is in vain.

2029
02:23:22,566 --> 02:23:24,066
It is pointless and absurd.

2030
02:23:24,983 --> 02:23:28,483
The true Christian doctrine does not
even allow such an approach.

2031
02:23:30,483 --> 02:23:32,191
The evangelical solution

2032
02:23:32,358 --> 02:23:36,358
is clearly and thoroughly expressed
in the parable of the vineyard.

2033
02:23:37,316 --> 02:23:41,691
The servants imagined the vineyard
they were to tend for their master

2034
02:23:41,983 --> 02:23:43,358
was their own property

2035
02:23:43,941 --> 02:23:46,150
and that everything there was theirs.

2036
02:23:47,608 --> 02:23:51,400
They set about enjoying life
in the vineyard, forgot their master,

2037
02:23:51,608 --> 02:23:55,733
and slew those who reminded them
of him and their duties.

2038
02:23:57,191 --> 02:24:00,150
Almost everyone today lives like them.

2039
02:24:00,316 --> 02:24:01,525
In the absurd belief

2040
02:24:01,691 --> 02:24:05,275
that they are masters of their lives
given to them for their own pleasure.

2041
02:24:06,858 --> 02:24:08,233
It is obviously absurd.

2042
02:24:08,816 --> 02:24:11,941
If we have been sent here,

2043
02:24:13,608 --> 02:24:16,400
it was by someone's will
and for a reason.

2044
02:24:17,525 --> 02:24:20,025
But we have decided
we are like mushrooms:

2045
02:24:20,608 --> 02:24:21,858
we are born

2046
02:24:22,025 --> 02:24:23,983
and we live only for our pleasures.

2047
02:24:25,316 --> 02:24:27,191
It is clearly not good for us,

2048
02:24:27,358 --> 02:24:29,775
nor will it be
for the disobedient servant.

2049
02:24:30,150 --> 02:24:33,525
The master's will is expressed
in the doctrine of Christ.

2050
02:24:33,900 --> 02:24:37,566
Let people obey His doctrine,
and heaven will reign on earth.

2051
02:24:38,358 --> 02:24:42,316
People will then receive the greatest good
they are permitted.

2052
02:24:42,816 --> 02:24:43,733
It's all here.

2053
02:24:44,941 --> 02:24:47,191
Seek the Kingdom of God
and His righteousness,

2054
02:24:47,525 --> 02:24:49,650
and the rest will be given to you
in abundance.

2055
02:24:50,816 --> 02:24:52,858
We do not seek the rest
and we do not find it.

2056
02:24:53,983 --> 02:24:57,233
Not only do we not establish
the Kingdom of God, but we destroy it

2057
02:24:57,400 --> 02:24:59,275
with our states, our armies,

2058
02:24:59,441 --> 02:25:02,025
courts, universities and factories.

2059
02:25:04,733 --> 02:25:06,650
- Have you finished?
- Yes.

2060
02:25:12,066 --> 02:25:13,650
I have to...

2061
02:25:13,983 --> 02:25:17,316
to tell you that I simply
cannot understand your way

2062
02:25:17,483 --> 02:25:18,941
of solving the problem.

2063
02:25:19,191 --> 02:25:20,775
You seem to reason,

2064
02:25:21,108 --> 02:25:23,275
argue and explicate,

2065
02:25:24,483 --> 02:25:27,233
you wish to convince us of something,

2066
02:25:27,400 --> 02:25:29,733
and yet you put forward nothing

2067
02:25:29,900 --> 02:25:33,441
but a series of arbitrary,
meaningless statements.

2068
02:25:33,608 --> 02:25:34,900
You say, for example:

2069
02:25:35,358 --> 02:25:37,525
if we have been sent here,

2070
02:25:37,983 --> 02:25:40,233
it was by someone's will
and for a reason.

2071
02:25:40,400 --> 02:25:42,150
This seems to be the principal idea.

2072
02:25:43,025 --> 02:25:44,775
But what does it mean?

2073
02:25:45,275 --> 02:25:49,400
How do you know we were sent here
by someone, for something?

2074
02:25:49,566 --> 02:25:50,525
Who told you so?

2075
02:25:53,691 --> 02:25:55,400
It is true we exist on earth,

2076
02:25:55,608 --> 02:25:59,566
that our life consists
in fulfilling some mission or other

2077
02:25:59,733 --> 02:26:01,358
is a wholly gratuitous statement.

2078
02:26:01,525 --> 02:26:04,191
In my youth,
when I was sent on mission,

2079
02:26:04,441 --> 02:26:06,150
I knew it for certain.

2080
02:26:06,441 --> 02:26:10,400
I knew by whom and for what purpose.

2081
02:26:11,108 --> 02:26:15,275
First of all because
I had indisputable documents,

2082
02:26:15,441 --> 02:26:16,316
secondly,

2083
02:26:16,483 --> 02:26:19,483
because I had had an audience
with the late Alexander II,

2084
02:26:19,650 --> 02:26:22,150
who personally gave me instructions,

2085
02:26:22,316 --> 02:26:23,483
and thirdly,

2086
02:26:23,775 --> 02:26:26,316
because every year
I was paid 30,000 gold rubles.

2087
02:26:26,483 --> 02:26:27,566
A handsome sum!

2088
02:26:29,733 --> 02:26:31,233
If, rather than all that,

2089
02:26:32,400 --> 02:26:35,483
somebody had approached me
on the street,

2090
02:26:35,650 --> 02:26:38,275
made me a minister

2091
02:26:38,441 --> 02:26:40,608
and sent me off on a mission,

2092
02:26:40,775 --> 02:26:45,900
then I would have looked around
for a policeman

2093
02:26:46,066 --> 02:26:49,150
to arrest that lunatic
lest he take my life.

2094
02:26:49,733 --> 02:26:50,650
In our case,

2095
02:26:50,983 --> 02:26:54,650
your supposed master
did not give you indisputable documents,

2096
02:26:55,108 --> 02:26:57,316
he did not grant you a private audience,

2097
02:26:57,483 --> 02:26:59,358
he does not pay you a salary.

2098
02:26:59,525 --> 02:27:01,275
What kind of emissary are you?

2099
02:27:01,525 --> 02:27:05,066
And I refer not just to you,
but to all people,

2100
02:27:05,233 --> 02:27:07,733
whether envoys or servants,
we do not know for sure.

2101
02:27:07,900 --> 02:27:10,400
By what right? On what basis?
I do not understand.

2102
02:27:10,941 --> 02:27:14,316
My impression is
that it is a rhetorical exercise,

2103
02:27:14,608 --> 02:27:16,316
and not a very inspired one.

2104
02:27:18,858 --> 02:27:19,775
Please,

2105
02:27:20,775 --> 02:27:22,816
don't play-act again.

2106
02:27:25,066 --> 02:27:26,941
You understand perfectly

2107
02:27:27,150 --> 02:27:30,650
that Olga was not
attacking your unbelief,

2108
02:27:30,983 --> 02:27:33,941
but expositing
the general Christian view

2109
02:27:34,108 --> 02:27:36,275
according to which we all depend on God

2110
02:27:36,441 --> 02:27:38,066
and must serve Him.

2111
02:27:38,566 --> 02:27:41,066
To serve him without a wage,
this I do not understand.

2112
02:27:41,358 --> 02:27:44,608
And if this wage
is the same for all, meaning death,

2113
02:27:44,775 --> 02:27:46,150
then my compliments.

2114
02:27:46,775 --> 02:27:48,400
You will die anyway

2115
02:27:48,566 --> 02:27:50,733
and nobody will ask your opinion.

2116
02:27:52,441 --> 02:27:55,775
Precisely this "anyway"
shows us that life is not a paid job.

2117
02:27:55,941 --> 02:27:59,316
Whether or not
I am asked for my consent,

2118
02:27:59,483 --> 02:28:03,608
since my consent is not required
in order to die or be born,

2119
02:28:04,066 --> 02:28:06,191
I prefer to regard both death and life,

2120
02:28:06,358 --> 02:28:09,650
as what they are, that is,
necessities of nature.

2121
02:28:10,108 --> 02:28:12,441
Rather than tell myself
I serve a master.

2122
02:28:13,483 --> 02:28:14,816
Here is my conclusion:

2123
02:28:15,108 --> 02:28:16,775
Live your life

2124
02:28:17,233 --> 02:28:18,900
and strive to live

2125
02:28:19,441 --> 02:28:22,358
as intelligently
and as well as possible.

2126
02:28:22,525 --> 02:28:25,441
The condition
for an intelligent and good life

2127
02:28:25,608 --> 02:28:27,525
is a pacifist civilisation.

2128
02:28:28,608 --> 02:28:32,483
Besides, I assume that not even
in the realm of Christian teaching

2129
02:28:32,650 --> 02:28:36,483
does Olga's pseudo-solution
stand up to criticism.

2130
02:28:37,233 --> 02:28:39,775
But I surrender the floor
to more competent speakers.

2131
02:28:40,108 --> 02:28:41,566
What answer are we talking about?

2132
02:28:41,733 --> 02:28:43,858
The question
has neither been asked nor answered.

2133
02:28:44,025 --> 02:28:45,900
Instead, we keep
going around and around it.

2134
02:28:46,191 --> 02:28:50,483
It is as if I were to draw battalions

2135
02:28:50,650 --> 02:28:52,816
around an enemy fortress on a map

2136
02:28:52,983 --> 02:28:54,941
and imagine I had conquered it.

2137
02:29:03,733 --> 02:29:05,233
I don't understand a thing!

2138
02:29:06,733 --> 02:29:09,483
Is that all you can muster
against what I said?

2139
02:29:10,941 --> 02:29:13,608
What was genuinely hard
for me to understand

2140
02:29:13,775 --> 02:29:17,816
was the part about mushrooms
living for their own pleasures.

2141
02:29:18,150 --> 02:29:21,316
I've always thought they were
for the pleasure of gourmets,

2142
02:29:21,483 --> 02:29:23,608
served with cream or in pastry.

2143
02:29:25,483 --> 02:29:29,816
And if God's kingdom on earth
leaves death intact,

2144
02:29:29,983 --> 02:29:33,025
then it follows that people
live against their will

2145
02:29:33,191 --> 02:29:35,275
and in that kingdom,

2146
02:29:35,441 --> 02:29:37,983
we will live like mushrooms.

2147
02:29:38,150 --> 02:29:40,858
But not like
your pleasure-taking mushrooms,

2148
02:29:41,025 --> 02:29:44,358
rather as real mushrooms,
which will end up in the pan.

2149
02:29:44,900 --> 02:29:46,525
The same for humans

2150
02:29:46,941 --> 02:29:49,900
in God's kingdom on earth,

2151
02:29:50,066 --> 02:29:52,150
they will finally be devoured by death.

2152
02:29:52,483 --> 02:29:53,525
And that will be that.

2153
02:29:54,316 --> 02:29:55,858
Olga didn't say that.

2154
02:29:56,983 --> 02:29:58,900
Neither that, nor anything else.

2155
02:29:59,066 --> 02:30:02,816
Why do we overlook
the most important thing?

2156
02:30:03,066 --> 02:30:04,025
Before that,

2157
02:30:04,191 --> 02:30:07,441
I'd like to know
where you got that parable,

2158
02:30:07,608 --> 02:30:08,525
Olga,

2159
02:30:08,691 --> 02:30:10,691
whereby you expressed your opinion?

2160
02:30:11,525 --> 02:30:13,983
Or maybe you invented it yourself?

2161
02:30:15,608 --> 02:30:17,150
Invented it myself?

2162
02:30:17,441 --> 02:30:19,025
But it's from the Gospels!

2163
02:30:20,650 --> 02:30:23,150
That parable is not in any Gospel.

2164
02:30:24,150 --> 02:30:25,816
For God's sake!

2165
02:30:26,483 --> 02:30:28,400
Why are you picking on Olga?

2166
02:30:37,233 --> 02:30:39,941
There is a parable
of the vine workers in the Gospels.

2167
02:30:40,941 --> 02:30:43,316
There is something on a similar subject,

2168
02:30:43,483 --> 02:30:46,108
but its meaning and content
refer to something else.

2169
02:30:46,275 --> 02:30:48,858
This is too much!
To me, it is the same parable.

2170
02:30:49,025 --> 02:30:52,275
And besides, it seems to me
that you are splitting hairs.

2171
02:30:52,441 --> 02:30:54,650
And I don't take your word for it.

2172
02:30:54,983 --> 02:30:56,525
Nor is there any need to.

2173
02:30:56,691 --> 02:30:59,650
The parable can be found
in three of the Evangelists:

2174
02:30:59,816 --> 02:31:01,483
Matthew, Mark, and Luke,

2175
02:31:01,816 --> 02:31:04,150
but there is no noticeable difference
among them,

2176
02:31:04,316 --> 02:31:08,108
therefore let us look
at only one of them, the most detailed,

2177
02:31:08,275 --> 02:31:09,316
in Luke.

2178
02:31:10,108 --> 02:31:11,775
It is in chapter 20,

2179
02:31:12,066 --> 02:31:14,525
where we find Christ's final sermon.

2180
02:31:15,733 --> 02:31:19,066
The end was approaching,
and here we are told,

2181
02:31:19,775 --> 02:31:23,441
at the end of chapter 19
and the beginning of chapter 20,

2182
02:31:23,733 --> 02:31:26,108
how Christ's enemies,

2183
02:31:26,275 --> 02:31:28,358
the high priests and scribes,

2184
02:31:28,525 --> 02:31:31,191
made a determined attack,

2185
02:31:31,691 --> 02:31:34,900
demanding He reveal who authorised Him,

2186
02:31:35,066 --> 02:31:36,233
and to say

2187
02:31:37,316 --> 02:31:38,483
by what right

2188
02:31:38,650 --> 02:31:42,400
and by what authority He acted.
But better I read it.

2189
02:31:44,358 --> 02:31:46,608
And he taught daily in the temple

2190
02:31:47,275 --> 02:31:51,983
But the chief priests and the scribes
sought to destroy him

2191
02:31:52,525 --> 02:31:57,608
and could not find what they might do,
for all people were waiting to hear him.

2192
02:31:58,316 --> 02:32:01,941
On one of those days
as he taught the people in the temple,

2193
02:32:02,108 --> 02:32:04,941
the chief priests and the scribes
came upon him with the elders,

2194
02:32:05,275 --> 02:32:06,858
and spoke unto him, saying,

2195
02:32:07,358 --> 02:32:11,316
Tell us by what authority you do these
things, or who gave you this authority?

2196
02:32:11,775 --> 02:32:13,275
And he answered and said unto them:

2197
02:32:13,441 --> 02:32:15,983
I will ask you one thing,

2198
02:32:16,566 --> 02:32:17,525
and answer me:

2199
02:32:17,691 --> 02:32:20,983
the baptism of John,
was it from heaven, or of men?

2200
02:32:21,650 --> 02:32:23,983
And they reasoned with themselves,
saying,

2201
02:32:24,816 --> 02:32:26,816
If we shall say, From heaven,
he will say,

2202
02:32:26,983 --> 02:32:28,691
Why then believed ye him not?

2203
02:32:28,858 --> 02:32:31,775
But and if we say, Of men,
all the people will stone us,

2204
02:32:31,941 --> 02:32:34,400
for they be persuaded
that John was a prophet.

2205
02:32:34,650 --> 02:32:37,400
And they answered
that they could not tell whence it was.

2206
02:32:37,775 --> 02:32:39,108
And Jesus said unto them,

2207
02:32:39,275 --> 02:32:42,400
Neither tell I you by what authority
I do these things.

2208
02:32:42,941 --> 02:32:44,775
Why do you read this to us?

2209
02:32:45,316 --> 02:32:48,650
It was well that Christ didn't answer
when they berated Him.

2210
02:32:48,816 --> 02:32:50,816
What does this have to do
with vineyard workers?

2211
02:32:50,983 --> 02:32:52,691
Wait a minute, it all comes together.

2212
02:32:52,858 --> 02:32:55,400
You are wrong that Jesus didn't answer.

2213
02:32:55,775 --> 02:32:57,608
He answered very precisely,

2214
02:32:58,275 --> 02:32:59,483
twice even.

2215
02:32:59,858 --> 02:33:03,816
He called on a witness to His power
that they could not challenge.

2216
02:33:04,191 --> 02:33:05,733
Then He showed them

2217
02:33:05,900 --> 02:33:08,858
they had neither power
nor any right over Him,

2218
02:33:09,025 --> 02:33:11,025
as they were acting
from fear of the people,

2219
02:33:11,191 --> 02:33:12,983
submitting to the mob,

2220
02:33:13,150 --> 02:33:14,316
from fear of death.

2221
02:33:15,191 --> 02:33:17,191
But the true power, isn't it,

2222
02:33:17,650 --> 02:33:20,608
consists not in following others,
but in being followed.

2223
02:33:21,358 --> 02:33:22,858
Fearing the people

2224
02:33:23,025 --> 02:33:23,983
and heeding them,

2225
02:33:24,150 --> 02:33:25,525
they showed that power

2226
02:33:25,691 --> 02:33:27,941
eluded them
and belonged to the people.

2227
02:33:28,108 --> 02:33:30,608
It is the people Christ now addresses,

2228
02:33:30,775 --> 02:33:33,025
to accuse them of opposing Him.

2229
02:33:34,900 --> 02:33:36,150
This I like very much!

2230
02:33:53,691 --> 02:33:56,441
The content of vineyard parable

2231
02:33:56,608 --> 02:34:01,691
condemns the unworthy Jewish leaders
for opposing the Messiah.

2232
02:34:02,650 --> 02:34:03,900
As you will now see.

2233
02:34:05,816 --> 02:34:08,483
Then he began to speak to the people
this parable:

2234
02:34:09,566 --> 02:34:11,108
A man planted a vineyard,

2235
02:34:11,275 --> 02:34:14,858
let it forth to husbandmen
and went abroad for a long time.

2236
02:34:15,025 --> 02:34:17,941
At harvest time he sent a servant
to the husbandmen,

2237
02:34:18,025 --> 02:34:20,525
so they should give him
the fruit of the vineyard.

2238
02:34:20,691 --> 02:34:23,525
But the husbandmen beat him,
and sent him away empty handed.

2239
02:34:23,733 --> 02:34:26,025
And again he sent another servant

2240
02:34:26,191 --> 02:34:27,816
and they beat him also,

2241
02:34:27,983 --> 02:34:30,816
and treated him shamefully,
and sent him away empty handed.

2242
02:34:31,191 --> 02:34:34,233
And again he sent a third,
and they wounded him also

2243
02:34:34,400 --> 02:34:36,275
and cast him out.

2244
02:34:36,441 --> 02:34:38,566
Then the lord of the vineyard
said to himself:

2245
02:34:39,025 --> 02:34:40,233
What shall I do?

2246
02:34:40,400 --> 02:34:42,608
I will send my beloved son,

2247
02:34:42,941 --> 02:34:45,441
hopefully they will reverence him.

2248
02:34:45,608 --> 02:34:47,566
But when the husbandmen saw him,

2249
02:34:47,733 --> 02:34:50,191
they reasoned among themselves, saying

2250
02:34:50,816 --> 02:34:52,191
This is the heir,

2251
02:34:52,358 --> 02:34:54,733
let us kill him,
that the inheritance may be ours.

2252
02:34:54,900 --> 02:34:57,983
So they cast him out of the vineyard,
and killed him.

2253
02:34:58,400 --> 02:35:00,650
What therefore shall the lord
of the vineyard do unto them?

2254
02:35:00,816 --> 02:35:01,775
He shall come

2255
02:35:01,941 --> 02:35:05,983
and destroy these husbandmen,
and shall give the vineyard to others.

2256
02:35:06,525 --> 02:35:08,275
And when they heard it, they said:

2257
02:35:08,441 --> 02:35:09,691
God forbid.

2258
02:35:10,108 --> 02:35:13,025
And he beheld them, and said:

2259
02:35:13,275 --> 02:35:14,858
What is this that is written?

2260
02:35:15,025 --> 02:35:17,358
The stone which the builders rejected,

2261
02:35:17,525 --> 02:35:19,358
became the head of the corner.

2262
02:35:19,525 --> 02:35:22,025
Whosoever shall fall upon it
shall be broken,

2263
02:35:22,191 --> 02:35:24,816
on whomsoever it shall fall,
it will grind him to powder.

2264
02:35:25,275 --> 02:35:28,941
The chief priests and the scribes
sought to lay hands on him,

2265
02:35:29,108 --> 02:35:30,775
but they feared the people.

2266
02:35:31,400 --> 02:35:32,941
For they perceived

2267
02:35:33,108 --> 02:35:35,608
that he had spoken this parable
against them.

2268
02:35:38,733 --> 02:35:41,025
To whom and to what, I ask you,

2269
02:35:41,191 --> 02:35:43,358
does the parable of the vineyard refer?

2270
02:35:44,025 --> 02:35:46,150
I don't understand your objection.

2271
02:35:47,025 --> 02:35:49,650
The high priests and scribes
were offended

2272
02:35:49,816 --> 02:35:53,858
because they knew they were
like the workers in this parable.

2273
02:35:54,400 --> 02:35:56,650
But of what exactly were they accused?

2274
02:35:57,233 --> 02:35:59,150
Of not practising the true doctrine.

2275
02:35:59,733 --> 02:36:00,900
This much seems obvious.

2276
02:36:01,191 --> 02:36:03,900
These villains lived like mushrooms,
for their own pleasure.

2277
02:36:04,066 --> 02:36:06,400
They smoked tobacco, drank brandy,

2278
02:36:06,566 --> 02:36:09,358
they ate dead flesh,
made offerings of it to their god,

2279
02:36:09,525 --> 02:36:10,900
they also married,

2280
02:36:11,066 --> 02:36:13,650
they judged others and waged war.

2281
02:36:13,816 --> 02:36:19,108
Does such mockery befit
your age and rank?

2282
02:36:19,733 --> 02:36:21,358
Don't listen to him, Olga.

2283
02:36:22,316 --> 02:36:24,400
I am convinced...

2284
02:36:25,400 --> 02:36:26,441
I beg your pardon.

2285
02:36:28,858 --> 02:36:31,275
We are trying
to have a serious discussion with you.

2286
02:36:31,858 --> 02:36:34,025
Merely tell me,

2287
02:36:34,650 --> 02:36:37,191
in Gospel parable,

2288
02:36:38,900 --> 02:36:41,358
the vineyard workers perish

2289
02:36:41,525 --> 02:36:44,733
because they kill
their master's son and heir.

2290
02:36:44,900 --> 02:36:47,275
That is what is essential,
according to the Gospel.

2291
02:36:47,441 --> 02:36:49,150
Why do you omit this fact?

2292
02:36:50,191 --> 02:36:53,650
Because it refers to the fate of Christ,

2293
02:36:54,441 --> 02:36:56,566
which, of course,
has its own importance and value,

2294
02:36:56,733 --> 02:36:59,775
but is not essential
to the only thing necessary.

2295
02:37:00,525 --> 02:37:01,608
Namely?

2296
02:37:02,358 --> 02:37:04,400
To follow Gospel teachings

2297
02:37:04,566 --> 02:37:07,566
whereby we attain the Kingdom of God
and His righteousness.

2298
02:37:08,108 --> 02:37:09,066
Wait!

2299
02:37:09,233 --> 02:37:10,691
Wait one moment.

2300
02:37:11,566 --> 02:37:14,150
It is all mixed up in my head.

2301
02:37:14,733 --> 02:37:16,816
What is it about, in fact?

2302
02:37:18,191 --> 02:37:20,566
Nikolai,
you hold the Gospels in your hand,

2303
02:37:20,733 --> 02:37:22,608
please tell me

2304
02:37:23,650 --> 02:37:26,775
what comes next in the chapter,
after the parable.

2305
02:37:36,066 --> 02:37:37,483
It says

2306
02:37:37,733 --> 02:37:40,400
we must render unto Caesar
what is Caesar's

2307
02:37:41,441 --> 02:37:43,816
then it tells
of the resurrection of dead,

2308
02:37:43,983 --> 02:37:45,816
that the dead will be resurrected

2309
02:37:45,983 --> 02:37:48,400
because God is not of the dead,
but of the living.

2310
02:37:49,650 --> 02:37:50,691
Then,

2311
02:37:51,691 --> 02:37:53,650
it shows that Christ

2312
02:37:54,275 --> 02:37:56,650
is not the son of David,
but the son of God.

2313
02:37:57,150 --> 02:38:01,191
And the final verses are against
the hypocrisy and vanity of the scribes.

2314
02:38:02,816 --> 02:38:05,358
You see, Olga, the Gospels

2315
02:38:05,816 --> 02:38:10,275
teach that we must recognise
the state's role in worldly affairs

2316
02:38:10,441 --> 02:38:12,941
and must believe
in the resurrection of the dead

2317
02:38:13,108 --> 02:38:16,233
and that Christ
is not an ordinary man,

2318
02:38:16,400 --> 02:38:17,733
but the Son of God.

2319
02:38:21,566 --> 02:38:23,858
Can we draw conclusions from a chapter

2320
02:38:24,025 --> 02:38:26,941
written who knows when
and by who knows whom?

2321
02:38:27,525 --> 02:38:29,566
This time, I am in no doubt

2322
02:38:30,858 --> 02:38:34,941
and I don't have to look it up
to know it's in a single chapter...

2323
02:38:35,108 --> 02:38:36,233
And...

2324
02:38:39,941 --> 02:38:41,233
Sorry, I became confused,

2325
02:38:41,941 --> 02:38:43,608
but I don't agree with you.

2326
02:38:44,733 --> 02:38:48,358
I don't want to believe
that it is only in one chapter,

2327
02:38:48,525 --> 02:38:51,525
I know that in all four Gospels

2328
02:38:52,191 --> 02:38:54,608
there is talk of the resurrection,

2329
02:38:54,775 --> 02:38:56,608
as well as the divinity of Christ,

2330
02:38:56,775 --> 02:38:58,691
particularly in John,

2331
02:38:58,858 --> 02:39:00,900
which is also read at funerals.

2332
02:39:01,233 --> 02:39:05,191
As for the notion that it is unknown
when or by whom they were written,

2333
02:39:05,358 --> 02:39:07,566
even liberal German criticism allows

2334
02:39:07,733 --> 02:39:10,441
that the four Gospels
are of apostolic origin,

2335
02:39:10,608 --> 02:39:12,066
from the 1st century A.D.

2336
02:39:12,483 --> 02:39:14,941
And in the 13th edition
of Renan's "Life of Jesus",

2337
02:39:15,108 --> 02:39:18,900
I think I saw a retraction
regarding the fourth Gospel.

2338
02:39:20,358 --> 02:39:21,233
Right,

2339
02:39:21,733 --> 02:39:24,316
one must keep up with the experts.

2340
02:39:25,150 --> 02:39:28,358
The unfortunate thing is that,
whatever the Gospels might be,

2341
02:39:28,525 --> 02:39:31,733
no matter when they were written
or by whom,

2342
02:39:31,900 --> 02:39:35,358
there is no Gospel
more plausible to you, Olga.

2343
02:39:35,525 --> 02:39:37,191
None more consonant
with your doctrine.

2344
02:39:37,358 --> 02:39:39,441
What do you mean there isn't?

2345
02:39:39,650 --> 02:39:40,983
What about the fifth?

2346
02:39:41,150 --> 02:39:44,400
In which Christ does not appear,
but is only about animal sacrifice

2347
02:39:44,566 --> 02:39:46,150
and military service.

2348
02:39:46,316 --> 02:39:48,233
Oh no! You as well?

2349
02:39:48,858 --> 02:39:49,983
How shameful!

2350
02:39:51,400 --> 02:39:54,816
The more you and your cronies
tease Olga,

2351
02:39:54,983 --> 02:39:56,775
the more I shall take her side.

2352
02:39:58,275 --> 02:40:02,650
Olga, I'm certain
you want to tackle Christianity honestly.

2353
02:40:03,941 --> 02:40:06,858
Your Gospel,
although it does not resemble ours,

2354
02:40:07,233 --> 02:40:08,441
is almost the same.

2355
02:40:09,275 --> 02:40:13,441
The way they used to write books titled:
"The spirit of M. de Montesquieu",

2356
02:40:13,608 --> 02:40:15,025
"The spirit of Fénelon",

2357
02:40:15,233 --> 02:40:17,691
you and your teachers

2358
02:40:17,858 --> 02:40:20,441
have tried to write
"The Spirit of the Gospels".

2359
02:40:21,400 --> 02:40:24,441
A pity that none of you

2360
02:40:25,025 --> 02:40:27,275
has written a brochure called:

2361
02:40:27,816 --> 02:40:29,775
"The Spirit of Christianity,

2362
02:40:29,941 --> 02:40:32,775
"according to the doctrine
of so and so..."

2363
02:40:35,691 --> 02:40:38,275
You must have some kind of...

2364
02:40:38,441 --> 02:40:39,566
catechism,

2365
02:40:39,733 --> 02:40:41,358
for the rest of us,

2366
02:40:41,525 --> 02:40:42,816
we simple people,

2367
02:40:42,983 --> 02:40:45,775
lest we lose the thread
of all these variations.

2368
02:40:45,941 --> 02:40:46,941
Because,

2369
02:40:47,108 --> 02:40:47,983
in effect,

2370
02:40:48,150 --> 02:40:52,483
we are told that the essentials
are found in the Sermon on the Mount,

2371
02:40:52,650 --> 02:40:56,150
or they inform us... suddenly...

2372
02:40:56,858 --> 02:41:00,733
that first we must work the land
by the sweat of our brows,

2373
02:41:00,900 --> 02:41:04,733
although this is not in the Gospels,
but in Genesis,

2374
02:41:05,108 --> 02:41:08,150
where it is said
of the throes of labour,

2375
02:41:08,483 --> 02:41:11,191
although it is not a commandment,

2376
02:41:11,358 --> 02:41:12,775
but only a sad fate.

2377
02:41:14,400 --> 02:41:17,608
And we are also told we must
give everything to the poor,

2378
02:41:17,775 --> 02:41:20,150
then not to give anything to anyone.

2379
02:41:20,316 --> 02:41:21,983
For, money is Evil

2380
02:41:22,441 --> 02:41:25,983
and you must not do evil to others,
but only to yourself and your family.

2381
02:41:26,441 --> 02:41:28,400
For others you must only toil.

2382
02:41:28,566 --> 02:41:30,441
After that we are told

2383
02:41:30,733 --> 02:41:33,775
to do nothing, only to meditate.

2384
02:41:34,691 --> 02:41:37,733
We are even told that a woman's purpose

2385
02:41:37,900 --> 02:41:41,691
is to give birth
to as many healthy children as possible

2386
02:41:42,275 --> 02:41:45,775
and then, all of a sudden,
that there's no such thing.

2387
02:41:47,358 --> 02:41:48,441
And then,

2388
02:41:49,400 --> 02:41:51,275
apropos of what we have on our plates,

2389
02:41:52,733 --> 02:41:55,566
we are told to stop eating meat,

2390
02:41:55,733 --> 02:41:57,525
and that is the first step,

2391
02:41:57,691 --> 02:41:58,566
but

2392
02:41:59,066 --> 02:42:01,900
nobody knows why it is the first.

2393
02:42:02,066 --> 02:42:05,025
Then brandy is condemned,

2394
02:42:05,191 --> 02:42:06,316
and tobacco,

2395
02:42:06,483 --> 02:42:07,566
then pancakes.

2396
02:42:10,400 --> 02:42:13,400
And now, we discover,
my dear Ingrida,

2397
02:42:13,566 --> 02:42:17,275
that military service
is the greatest evil

2398
02:42:18,775 --> 02:42:22,400
and that the main duty of the Christian
is to refuse it,

2399
02:42:22,566 --> 02:42:25,483
but he who is conscripted

2400
02:42:25,650 --> 02:42:27,191
is already a saint.

2401
02:42:27,358 --> 02:42:31,441
Maybe I'm talking nonsense,

2402
02:42:31,608 --> 02:42:33,525
but that's not my fault.

2403
02:42:33,816 --> 02:42:36,191
It's impossible not to get confused!

2404
02:42:38,566 --> 02:42:42,025
I too think our doctrine
needs to be summarised.

2405
02:42:42,191 --> 02:42:43,025
Yes.

2406
02:42:43,733 --> 02:42:45,816
A summary is being written, apparently.

2407
02:42:47,233 --> 02:42:49,066
But until then,

2408
02:42:49,900 --> 02:42:52,275
could you, please,

2409
02:42:52,441 --> 02:42:53,983
in a few words,

2410
02:42:54,233 --> 02:42:58,733
tell us what, to you,
is the essence of the Gospel?

2411
02:43:00,400 --> 02:43:03,233
To me it is obviously
the great principle

2412
02:43:03,858 --> 02:43:06,275
of not employing violence
to oppose Evil.

2413
02:43:06,900 --> 02:43:09,025
And where does tobacco come in?

2414
02:43:10,275 --> 02:43:11,233
What tobacco?

2415
02:43:12,233 --> 02:43:15,025
I'm asking you what connection is there
between non-violence

2416
02:43:15,191 --> 02:43:18,650
and abstinence from tobacco,
brandy, meat,

2417
02:43:18,816 --> 02:43:19,941
amorous liaisons?

2418
02:43:20,733 --> 02:43:22,483
To me the connection seems clear.

2419
02:43:22,900 --> 02:43:25,400
Such depraved habits stultify man

2420
02:43:25,566 --> 02:43:28,775
and weaken the voice
of his rational or moral conscience.

2421
02:43:29,358 --> 02:43:32,483
That's why soldiers
are plied with drink before a battle!

2422
02:43:33,483 --> 02:43:35,441
Especially if it is a losing battle.

2423
02:43:36,275 --> 02:43:38,775
The principle of non-violence
is important in itself,

2424
02:43:38,941 --> 02:43:41,316
whether or not it justifies
the demands of asceticism.

2425
02:43:42,483 --> 02:43:43,525
In your opinion,

2426
02:43:43,983 --> 02:43:44,983
Olga,

2427
02:43:45,233 --> 02:43:48,108
if we don't oppose Evil by force,

2428
02:43:48,275 --> 02:43:50,108
Evil will disappear by itself.

2429
02:43:51,150 --> 02:43:54,566
Therefore, Evil persists
only because we oppose it.

2430
02:43:55,775 --> 02:43:58,150
Or because of our measures against it,

2431
02:43:58,316 --> 02:44:01,066
as it has no power of its own.

2432
02:44:01,816 --> 02:44:03,691
So Evil does not even exist,

2433
02:44:03,858 --> 02:44:07,566
it arises as a result
of the false opinion that it does exist

2434
02:44:07,733 --> 02:44:10,775
and we act accordingly, is that it?

2435
02:44:14,316 --> 02:44:15,400
Olga?

2436
02:44:16,900 --> 02:44:17,816
Yes.

2437
02:44:18,025 --> 02:44:20,441
But if Evil has no real existence,

2438
02:44:20,608 --> 02:44:24,608
how do you explain the astounding failure
of Christ's mission in history?

2439
02:44:25,233 --> 02:44:27,525
As you say, it did not succeed,

2440
02:44:27,691 --> 02:44:29,900
ultimately nothing came of it.

2441
02:44:30,066 --> 02:44:33,108
In fact, it did more harm than good.

2442
02:44:34,150 --> 02:44:35,275
Why so?

2443
02:44:35,566 --> 02:44:36,858
The odd question!

2444
02:44:38,483 --> 02:44:41,316
But you consider that Christ preached

2445
02:44:41,483 --> 02:44:42,900
the authentic good

2446
02:44:43,066 --> 02:44:47,066
with more clarity, force
and perseverance than anyone else.

2447
02:44:47,233 --> 02:44:48,066
Agreed?

2448
02:44:48,233 --> 02:44:49,066
Yes.

2449
02:44:49,233 --> 02:44:53,025
And the real Good
consists in not opposing Evil by force,

2450
02:44:53,191 --> 02:44:56,483
that is, an illusory Evil,
since Evil doesn't exist.

2451
02:45:03,400 --> 02:45:05,358
Not only did Christ preach the Good,

2452
02:45:05,525 --> 02:45:08,441
but He Himself
met the demands of that Good,

2453
02:45:08,608 --> 02:45:11,025
enduring martyrdom
without resistance.

2454
02:45:11,358 --> 02:45:15,066
According to you, Christ died
and was not resurrected. Perfect.

2455
02:45:15,400 --> 02:45:19,108
By His example, thousands of followers
met the same fate.

2456
02:45:19,275 --> 02:45:20,150
Perfect.

2457
02:45:20,566 --> 02:45:22,608
What came of that, in your opinion?

2458
02:45:24,025 --> 02:45:28,441
Would you have wanted angels to place
shining crowns on those martyrs' heads...

2459
02:45:29,066 --> 02:45:30,108
and...

2460
02:45:30,275 --> 02:45:34,733
bring them to the Garden of Heaven
in reward for their heroism?

2461
02:45:34,900 --> 02:45:36,900
No, why do you say that?

2462
02:45:37,441 --> 02:45:40,441
Like myself, I hope, you certainly wish

2463
02:45:40,608 --> 02:45:44,775
for all your family, alive or dead,
to enjoy all that is good.

2464
02:45:44,941 --> 02:45:48,191
However, not what we want matters,
but what, as you say,

2465
02:45:48,608 --> 02:45:53,275
resulted from the teachings and sacrifices
of Christ and His disciples.

2466
02:45:55,900 --> 02:45:58,691
Resulted for whom? For them?

2467
02:46:01,525 --> 02:46:02,400
For them,

2468
02:46:02,566 --> 02:46:04,941
we know that it resulted
in a cruel death.

2469
02:46:05,108 --> 02:46:08,983
Given their moral heroism,
they willingly submitted to it,

2470
02:46:09,150 --> 02:46:13,191
not to be given shining crowns,
but genuinely to do good

2471
02:46:13,816 --> 02:46:16,025
to others, to all mankind.

2472
02:46:16,691 --> 02:46:18,150
So I ask you,

2473
02:46:18,316 --> 02:46:22,608
what good did their martyrdom
do to mankind?

2474
02:46:23,983 --> 02:46:25,316
As the old saying goes:

2475
02:46:25,483 --> 02:46:28,858
"the blood of the martyrs
is the seed of the Church."

2476
02:46:31,566 --> 02:46:32,816
That's right,

2477
02:46:32,983 --> 02:46:36,525
but according to you, the Church
has distorted authentic Christianity,

2478
02:46:36,691 --> 02:46:39,358
which mankind has now almost forgotten,

2479
02:46:39,525 --> 02:46:43,108
and 18 centuries later it was necessary
to start all over again.

2480
02:46:43,275 --> 02:46:45,858
Without any guarantee of success,
that is, without hope.

2481
02:46:46,025 --> 02:46:47,400
Why without hope?

2482
02:46:48,733 --> 02:46:53,316
Surely you do not deny that Christ
and the primitive Christians

2483
02:46:53,733 --> 02:46:56,566
gave up their souls for this cause,

2484
02:46:56,733 --> 02:46:58,316
and even their lives.

2485
02:46:58,483 --> 02:47:01,816
If in the end, as you say,
nothing came out of it,

2486
02:47:02,316 --> 02:47:05,358
then on what are the hopes
of a different outcome based?

2487
02:47:06,108 --> 02:47:09,775
All this has an obvious,
constant and absolutely identical outcome

2488
02:47:09,941 --> 02:47:11,650
for the founders, distorters,

2489
02:47:11,816 --> 02:47:13,400
destroyers and reformers.

2490
02:47:13,566 --> 02:47:15,816
They all died in the past,

2491
02:47:15,983 --> 02:47:18,191
they die now, and will die in future,

2492
02:47:18,358 --> 02:47:21,066
and the cause of the Good,
the preaching of the truth,

2493
02:47:21,233 --> 02:47:24,316
has not produced
and is unlikely to produce

2494
02:47:24,483 --> 02:47:25,983
anything but death.

2495
02:47:27,733 --> 02:47:29,233
What does that mean?

2496
02:47:30,441 --> 02:47:31,775
How strange:

2497
02:47:32,233 --> 02:47:35,525
the Evil, which doesn't exist,
always triumphs,

2498
02:47:36,066 --> 02:47:38,191
and the Good always crumbles
into the abyss.

2499
02:47:51,775 --> 02:47:53,733
But do the wicked not die?

2500
02:47:53,900 --> 02:47:55,900
They do, many of them.

2501
02:47:56,816 --> 02:48:01,608
But the power of Evil
merely confirms the kingdom of death,

2502
02:48:01,775 --> 02:48:04,900
whereas the power of Good
is contradicted by it.

2503
02:48:05,441 --> 02:48:06,483
In fact,

2504
02:48:06,775 --> 02:48:09,900
Evil is evidently
more powerful than Good,

2505
02:48:10,066 --> 02:48:12,858
and if this is taken
as the sole real evidence,

2506
02:48:13,025 --> 02:48:16,275
then we must admit the world
is the result of a bad principle.

2507
02:48:17,733 --> 02:48:22,733
But how can people,
who assume they live in the real world,

2508
02:48:23,150 --> 02:48:27,191
and, consequently, recognise
the preponderance of Evil over Good,

2509
02:48:27,358 --> 02:48:30,608
say that Evil does not exist

2510
02:48:30,775 --> 02:48:33,358
and therefore needs not be fought?

2511
02:48:33,775 --> 02:48:36,066
My mind refuses
to comprehend such a thing.

2512
02:48:38,441 --> 02:48:40,316
And I expect Olga to help me.

2513
02:48:46,233 --> 02:48:46,900
First,

2514
02:48:47,066 --> 02:48:49,775
show us
how you break the impasse!

2515
02:48:50,650 --> 02:48:51,816
It's simple.

2516
02:48:52,191 --> 02:48:53,316
Evil does exist.

2517
02:48:54,358 --> 02:48:57,150
It does not manifest itself
only through the absence of Good,

2518
02:48:57,316 --> 02:48:58,691
but also through resistance

2519
02:48:58,858 --> 02:49:02,775
and a preponderance of inferior
over superior qualities

2520
02:49:02,941 --> 02:49:04,441
in every sphere of existence.

2521
02:49:05,150 --> 02:49:06,733
There is an individual Evil,

2522
02:49:07,316 --> 02:49:10,358
manifested by the fact
that what is inferior in man,

2523
02:49:10,525 --> 02:49:12,316
his bestial and violent instincts,

2524
02:49:12,483 --> 02:49:15,233
opposes his loftiest aspirations

2525
02:49:15,858 --> 02:49:18,566
and, in the vast majority of people,
dominates them.

2526
02:49:19,066 --> 02:49:20,650
There is a social Evil,

2527
02:49:21,275 --> 02:49:23,650
which resides in the fact
that the masses of people,

2528
02:49:23,816 --> 02:49:25,691
individually subservient to Evil,

2529
02:49:25,858 --> 02:49:29,816
oppose the redeeming efforts of the best
and vanquish them.

2530
02:49:30,400 --> 02:49:31,316
Finally,

2531
02:49:32,150 --> 02:49:34,816
in man there exists physical Evil,

2532
02:49:34,983 --> 02:49:38,191
when the lower material elements
of the body

2533
02:49:38,358 --> 02:49:40,316
oppose the living and luminous force

2534
02:49:40,483 --> 02:49:43,858
that unites them
in the wonderful form of the organism.

2535
02:49:44,733 --> 02:49:46,566
They oppose this form and break it,

2536
02:49:46,733 --> 02:49:49,441
destroying the real foundation
of everything that is higher.

2537
02:49:50,108 --> 02:49:52,316
It is the extreme Evil named Death.

2538
02:49:55,191 --> 02:49:57,108
And if we allow that the victory

2539
02:49:57,275 --> 02:49:58,733
of this extreme physical Evil

2540
02:49:58,900 --> 02:50:00,608
is final and absolute,

2541
02:50:00,775 --> 02:50:03,066
then we cannot regard
as a serious success

2542
02:50:03,233 --> 02:50:05,233
any of the victories of Good

2543
02:50:05,400 --> 02:50:08,316
in the moral, individual,
or social sphere.

2544
02:50:09,441 --> 02:50:10,608
Indeed,

2545
02:50:10,816 --> 02:50:12,733
let us imagine that a man of good,

2546
02:50:13,150 --> 02:50:14,483
Socrates, for example,

2547
02:50:14,650 --> 02:50:17,608
has not only triumphed
over his inner enemies,

2548
02:50:17,775 --> 02:50:19,066
his sordid passions,

2549
02:50:19,358 --> 02:50:23,650
but has also succeeded
in rectifying his public enemies,

2550
02:50:24,275 --> 02:50:26,608
in transforming Greek society.

2551
02:50:28,733 --> 02:50:30,483
What use

2552
02:50:31,525 --> 02:50:34,316
would this ephemeral,
superficial victory over Evil be,

2553
02:50:34,483 --> 02:50:37,441
if Evil ultimately triumphs over life,

2554
02:50:37,608 --> 02:50:39,525
at the deepest level of being?

2555
02:50:39,691 --> 02:50:43,483
What if the real winners
are the microbes of physical decay?

2556
02:50:45,608 --> 02:50:49,358
No moral text could ever
protect us against despair

2557
02:50:49,691 --> 02:50:51,525
and extreme pessimism.

2558
02:50:52,358 --> 02:50:53,608
I've heard this before,

2559
02:50:53,775 --> 02:50:56,691
but how do you defend yourself
in the face of despair?

2560
02:51:05,108 --> 02:51:06,650
One thing alone protects us:

2561
02:51:07,108 --> 02:51:08,608
the true Resurrection.

2562
02:51:12,483 --> 02:51:14,525
We know that the battle
between Good and Evil

2563
02:51:14,691 --> 02:51:17,400
is waged not only in the soul
and society,

2564
02:51:18,025 --> 02:51:20,191
but also more deeply,
in the physical world.

2565
02:51:20,608 --> 02:51:21,691
And here,

2566
02:51:21,858 --> 02:51:25,150
we know there has already been a victory
of the good principle of life,

2567
02:51:25,316 --> 02:51:27,358
in the form of a personal resurrection.

2568
02:51:28,108 --> 02:51:29,691
We await only one thing:

2569
02:51:29,858 --> 02:51:32,983
the victories that will come
through the resurrection of all.

2570
02:51:33,400 --> 02:51:36,025
And here, even Evil finds its meaning,

2571
02:51:36,275 --> 02:51:39,400
in that it serves the realisation,
fulfilment

2572
02:51:39,566 --> 02:51:41,858
and triumph of the Good.

2573
02:51:43,441 --> 02:51:45,691
If death is stronger than mortal life,

2574
02:51:45,858 --> 02:51:49,191
then eternal resurrection
is stronger than both.

2575
02:51:49,358 --> 02:51:50,691
The Kingdom of God

2576
02:51:50,858 --> 02:51:53,275
is the Kingdom of Life

2577
02:51:53,441 --> 02:51:55,775
which triumphs through the Resurrection.

2578
02:51:55,941 --> 02:51:59,900
And in this life, the Good is actual,
accomplished, final.

2579
02:52:00,275 --> 02:52:02,900
Here is the entire power
of Christ's work.

2580
02:52:03,066 --> 02:52:05,900
Here can be seen
His true love for us

2581
02:52:06,066 --> 02:52:07,150
and ours for Him.

2582
02:52:07,316 --> 02:52:10,858
Everything else is nothing
but a condition, a path, a phase.

2583
02:52:12,066 --> 02:52:15,691
Without faith in the actual
Resurrection of the One

2584
02:52:15,858 --> 02:52:18,941
and without the expectation
of the future resurrection of all,

2585
02:52:19,108 --> 02:52:20,900
the Kingdom of God is mere words.

2586
02:52:21,150 --> 02:52:24,650
And, in fact, it is reduced
to a kingdom of death.

2587
02:52:25,358 --> 02:52:26,525
How so?

2588
02:52:31,858 --> 02:52:33,025
But, isn't it so,

2589
02:52:33,525 --> 02:52:36,525
by not recognising Death as such,
as everyone does,

2590
02:52:36,608 --> 02:52:40,358
the fact that people have died,
die and will die,

2591
02:52:40,525 --> 02:52:43,191
you elevate death to the status
of an absolute law

2592
02:52:43,400 --> 02:52:45,650
without exceptions,
according to you.

2593
02:52:46,191 --> 02:52:49,941
What would we call the world
where Death holds absolute sway,

2594
02:52:50,108 --> 02:52:52,108
if not the "kingdom of death"?

2595
02:52:52,608 --> 02:52:55,316
And what else is
your God's Kingdom on earth,

2596
02:52:55,483 --> 02:52:59,733
if not a vain, arbitrary euphemism
for the "Kingdom of Death"?

2597
02:53:00,150 --> 02:53:02,441
I too think it is vain because

2598
02:53:02,608 --> 02:53:05,316
we don't replace a known
with an unknown value.

2599
02:53:05,900 --> 02:53:09,525
Nobody has seen God
and nobody knows what His kingdom is.

2600
02:53:10,733 --> 02:53:13,941
Whereas we have all seen people
and animals die

2601
02:53:14,108 --> 02:53:18,441
and we know that no one escapes
this world's sovereign, Death.

2602
02:53:18,608 --> 02:53:21,441
Then why replace this "a" with an "x"?

2603
02:53:21,608 --> 02:53:26,650
It would only create confusion
and horrify the little ones.

2604
02:53:26,816 --> 02:53:29,150
I don't understand
what we are talking about.

2605
02:53:30,608 --> 02:53:33,316
Certainly,
death is an interesting phenomenon.

2606
02:53:34,358 --> 02:53:35,691
We can call it "law,"

2607
02:53:35,858 --> 02:53:38,483
because it is a constant
amongst living things,

2608
02:53:38,650 --> 02:53:40,691
and inevitable for them.

2609
02:53:41,400 --> 02:53:44,233
We can also speak
of its absolute character

2610
02:53:44,400 --> 02:53:48,650
since until now no exception to it
has been observed.

2611
02:53:50,191 --> 02:53:53,066
But what vital importance can this have

2612
02:53:53,233 --> 02:53:55,108
to the true Christian doctrine,

2613
02:53:55,275 --> 02:53:57,150
which through the voice
of our conscience

2614
02:53:57,316 --> 02:54:01,025
speaks to us only
of what we must do here and now?

2615
02:54:03,150 --> 02:54:05,150
It's clear that the voice
of our conscience

2616
02:54:05,316 --> 02:54:08,858
deals only
with what we can or cannot do.

2617
02:54:10,816 --> 02:54:15,566
Our conscience is silent,
because it cannot speak of death.

2618
02:54:16,900 --> 02:54:21,025
No matter how important it is to
our present experiences and desires,

2619
02:54:22,608 --> 02:54:25,150
death does not depend of our will

2620
02:54:25,775 --> 02:54:29,066
and therefore it can have
no moral significance for us.

2621
02:54:30,483 --> 02:54:34,108
Viewed thus, death is a fact
as neutral as bad weather.

2622
02:54:36,108 --> 02:54:39,983
And if I allow as an inevitable fact
that the weather is periodically bad,

2623
02:54:40,150 --> 02:54:41,775
and suffer because of it,

2624
02:54:42,191 --> 02:54:43,650
should I call it

2625
02:54:44,025 --> 02:54:46,441
"kingdom of bad weather"
rather than "kingdom of God"?

2626
02:54:46,608 --> 02:54:48,358
No, certainly not.

2627
02:54:48,775 --> 02:54:51,025
Firstly, bad weather
reigns only in London.

2628
02:54:51,983 --> 02:54:53,816
Here, in our land,

2629
02:54:53,983 --> 02:54:56,400
we are indifferent to its kingdom.

2630
02:54:57,233 --> 02:54:59,816
Then, your analogy doesn't stand up.

2631
02:55:00,316 --> 02:55:03,608
Even in bad weather
we can glorify God.

2632
02:55:04,150 --> 02:55:06,900
Whereas the dead do not glorify God.

2633
02:55:07,066 --> 02:55:10,483
This is why, as his Excellency remarked,

2634
02:55:10,650 --> 02:55:15,525
this world might sooner be called Death's
rather than God's kingdom.

2635
02:55:18,025 --> 02:55:18,775
Please...

2636
02:55:20,358 --> 02:55:23,108
Why must you always speak
to us of names?

2637
02:55:23,275 --> 02:55:24,608
It's tedious!

2638
02:55:25,108 --> 02:55:27,525
And besides,
is it really a question of names?

2639
02:55:27,691 --> 02:55:28,900
Olga, why don't you tell us

2640
02:55:29,066 --> 02:55:31,733
what you actually understand
by the Kingdom of God

2641
02:55:31,900 --> 02:55:33,566
and His righteousness?

2642
02:55:34,691 --> 02:55:36,566
By that I understand a state,

2643
02:55:37,150 --> 02:55:39,900
in which people act only
in accordance with their conscience,

2644
02:55:40,066 --> 02:55:42,358
thereby fulfilling the will of God,

2645
02:55:42,525 --> 02:55:44,733
which prescribes for them
only the pure Good.

2646
02:55:46,358 --> 02:55:48,900
In other words, the voice of conscience,
in your opinion,

2647
02:55:49,066 --> 02:55:52,108
speaks to us only
of what we have to do here and now.

2648
02:55:53,400 --> 02:55:54,775
Of course.

2649
02:55:54,941 --> 02:55:56,941
Does the conscience tell you nothing

2650
02:55:57,108 --> 02:56:00,983
about a wrong done in adolescence,

2651
02:56:01,150 --> 02:56:02,816
to a person long dead?

2652
02:56:03,941 --> 02:56:08,108
Such a reminder means that
I must not do the same again now.

2653
02:56:08,275 --> 02:56:10,858
It's not really like that,
but it's not worth dwelling on it.

2654
02:56:11,025 --> 02:56:14,566
I wish merely to remind you
of another limit of our conscience,

2655
02:56:14,733 --> 02:56:15,858
a more obvious one.

2656
02:56:16,941 --> 02:56:20,025
Moralists long compared
the voice of the conscience

2657
02:56:20,191 --> 02:56:24,025
to the genius or demon
that accompanied Socrates,

2658
02:56:24,191 --> 02:56:27,025
protecting him from blameworthy actions,

2659
02:56:27,191 --> 02:56:30,941
but giving no positive indication
of what he had to do.

2660
02:56:31,275 --> 02:56:33,525
We can say the same thing
about the conscience.

2661
02:56:33,691 --> 02:56:34,733
How so?

2662
02:56:34,900 --> 02:56:36,816
Does my conscience not suggest

2663
02:56:36,983 --> 02:56:40,691
that I help my neighbour
if he is in need or in danger?

2664
02:56:40,983 --> 02:56:42,483
I'm glad to hear you say so.

2665
02:56:43,108 --> 02:56:45,858
But if you examine
such cases thoroughly,

2666
02:56:46,025 --> 02:56:50,191
you will see that the role
of the conscience is purely negative.

2667
02:56:50,775 --> 02:56:52,941
It merely asks you

2668
02:56:53,108 --> 02:56:56,816
not to remain indifferent or inactive
when faced with a neighbour in need,

2669
02:56:56,983 --> 02:57:00,691
but as to what exactly you should do,
and how to do it,

2670
02:57:00,858 --> 02:57:02,775
the conscience does not say.

2671
02:57:02,941 --> 02:57:03,900
Undoubtedly.

2672
02:57:04,525 --> 02:57:06,733
Because it depends on the circumstances,

2673
02:57:06,900 --> 02:57:09,775
on my situation
and that of the neighbour to be helped.

2674
02:57:10,275 --> 02:57:11,316
Obviously.

2675
02:57:11,483 --> 02:57:14,025
But gauging and understanding

2676
02:57:14,191 --> 02:57:17,733
circumstances and situations,
depend not on the conscience,

2677
02:57:18,233 --> 02:57:19,691
but on the intellect.

2678
02:57:20,733 --> 02:57:23,775
But can we separate reason
from the conscience?

2679
02:57:24,191 --> 02:57:27,525
They don't need to be separated,
only to be differentiated.

2680
02:57:27,691 --> 02:57:31,358
Precisely because in reality,
sometimes, besides separation,

2681
02:57:31,525 --> 02:57:35,025
there arises an opposition
between conscience and intellect.

2682
02:57:35,691 --> 02:57:37,525
If they were one and the same thing,

2683
02:57:37,691 --> 02:57:40,275
how could the intellect enable acts

2684
02:57:40,441 --> 02:57:43,900
not only alien to morality,
but even immoral?

2685
02:57:44,066 --> 02:57:45,775
That is what happens, is it not?

2686
02:57:46,441 --> 02:57:49,566
We might help somebody
by means of the intellect,

2687
02:57:49,733 --> 02:57:51,150
but with a bad conscience.

2688
02:57:51,816 --> 02:57:53,441
For example,

2689
02:57:54,066 --> 02:57:56,025
if I give food and drink

2690
02:57:56,733 --> 02:58:00,358
to a needy man,
heap him with charitable works,

2691
02:58:00,525 --> 02:58:03,733
in order to make him my accomplice

2692
02:58:03,900 --> 02:58:06,900
in committing a fraud
or some other evil deed.

2693
02:58:09,900 --> 02:58:11,608
Yes, it's elementary,

2694
02:58:12,108 --> 02:58:13,775
but what conclusion do you draw?

2695
02:58:14,191 --> 02:58:16,900
Well, it is this.
If the voice of the conscience,

2696
02:58:17,066 --> 02:58:20,441
essential for warning us
and admonishing us,

2697
02:58:20,608 --> 02:58:23,900
provides us with no positive

2698
02:58:24,066 --> 02:58:26,358
or well defined indications
as to how to act,

2699
02:58:26,525 --> 02:58:31,191
and our goodwill
requires the services of the intellect,

2700
02:58:31,358 --> 02:58:34,816
although the intellect
seems a doubtful servant,

2701
02:58:34,983 --> 02:58:37,150
since it is able and willing

2702
02:58:37,316 --> 02:58:38,775
to serve these two masters,

2703
02:58:39,608 --> 02:58:41,191
Good and Evil,

2704
02:58:41,525 --> 02:58:42,483
then,

2705
02:58:43,150 --> 02:58:45,358
in order to accomplish God's will

2706
02:58:46,525 --> 02:58:48,400
and to achieve the Kingdom of God,

2707
02:58:48,566 --> 02:58:49,733
what is needed,

2708
02:58:49,941 --> 02:58:53,358
besides the conscience and intellect,
is a third thing.

2709
02:58:54,150 --> 02:58:56,191
And what would this be,
according to you?

2710
02:59:08,316 --> 02:59:10,816
In short, the inspiration of the Good

2711
02:59:11,525 --> 02:59:15,400
or the positive and direct action
of the Good principle over and within us.

2712
02:59:16,108 --> 02:59:18,191
With such oversight from above,

2713
02:59:19,400 --> 02:59:23,608
the intellect and conscience
become trusty helpmeets of the Good.

2714
02:59:23,775 --> 02:59:27,025
And morality, instead of being
a behaviour always under suspicion,

2715
02:59:27,191 --> 02:59:29,316
becomes living within the Good.

2716
02:59:29,691 --> 02:59:30,900
Which is to say,

2717
02:59:31,150 --> 02:59:32,816
the organic development

2718
02:59:32,983 --> 02:59:36,858
and perfection of man as a whole,
on the interior and exterior,

2719
02:59:37,275 --> 02:59:40,233
of the person and society,

2720
02:59:40,400 --> 02:59:42,733
of the people and mankind.

2721
02:59:43,400 --> 02:59:45,983
In order that they be fulfilled
in a living union

2722
02:59:46,150 --> 02:59:48,441
of the resurrected past
and embodied future

2723
02:59:48,608 --> 02:59:50,900
in the present of the Kingdom of God,

2724
02:59:51,566 --> 02:59:53,191
which, as it is on earth,

2725
02:59:53,358 --> 02:59:55,400
will be on a new Earth,

2726
02:59:56,108 --> 02:59:58,025
united through love with a new Heaven.

2727
03:00:04,691 --> 03:00:07,816
I have nothing
against such poetic metaphors,

2728
03:00:08,983 --> 03:00:12,066
but why do you think
those who fulfil the divine will,

2729
03:00:12,233 --> 03:00:14,108
according to the Gospel,

2730
03:00:14,275 --> 03:00:16,400
lack the inspiration of the Good?

2731
03:00:16,983 --> 03:00:21,400
Not merely because in what they do
I see neither signs of such inspiration,

2732
03:00:22,108 --> 03:00:25,191
nor the urging of free
and immeasurable love,

2733
03:00:25,691 --> 03:00:28,441
for God provides without measure.

2734
03:00:29,108 --> 03:00:31,191
I don't see any good, serene peace

2735
03:00:31,358 --> 03:00:33,525
arising from the joy
of receiving these gifts,

2736
03:00:33,691 --> 03:00:35,441
even if they are only incipient.

2737
03:00:36,441 --> 03:00:39,400
If I assume
you lack religious inspiration,

2738
03:00:39,566 --> 03:00:41,483
it is because you deem it unnecessary.

2739
03:00:43,983 --> 03:00:47,983
If the good is confined to rules,
what room is there for inspiration?

2740
03:00:48,733 --> 03:00:51,400
The Rule
has been given once and for all,

2741
03:00:51,566 --> 03:00:54,150
it is fixed and identical for all.

2742
03:00:54,358 --> 03:00:56,025
He who gave the rule

2743
03:00:56,191 --> 03:00:57,608
died long ago

2744
03:00:58,900 --> 03:01:01,358
and, according to you,
He was not resurrected

2745
03:01:01,525 --> 03:01:04,525
and therefore, to us He has no living
and personal existence.

2746
03:01:05,775 --> 03:01:06,983
The absolute

2747
03:01:07,483 --> 03:01:09,066
and primordial Good

2748
03:01:09,233 --> 03:01:13,400
doesn't appear to you
as a father of the spirit and light,

2749
03:01:14,483 --> 03:01:17,150
who might enlighten and inspire you,

2750
03:01:17,858 --> 03:01:19,858
but as a master,

2751
03:01:20,441 --> 03:01:21,608
a parsimonious master,

2752
03:01:21,775 --> 03:01:23,066
who has sent you,

2753
03:01:23,233 --> 03:01:25,691
his mercenaries, to tend his vineyard,

2754
03:01:25,858 --> 03:01:28,025
while he, living abroad,

2755
03:01:28,233 --> 03:01:30,691
sends his emissaries
to bring back his earnings.

2756
03:01:33,775 --> 03:01:36,566
As if we created this image arbitrarily!

2757
03:01:38,150 --> 03:01:39,025
No.

2758
03:01:40,400 --> 03:01:45,233
But arbitrarily, you view it as the norm
for man's relationship with the deity,

2759
03:01:45,608 --> 03:01:49,233
arbitrarily purging the essence
from the Gospel text,

2760
03:01:49,525 --> 03:01:50,816
namely,

2761
03:01:51,441 --> 03:01:53,900
that he reveals to us His son and heir,

2762
03:01:54,066 --> 03:01:57,816
in whom dwells the true norm
for the relationship between God and man.

2763
03:01:57,983 --> 03:01:59,816
You see Him only as a master,

2764
03:01:59,983 --> 03:02:03,108
only the duties toward the master,
the will of the master.

2765
03:02:03,275 --> 03:02:05,233
But let me tell you that:

2766
03:02:06,983 --> 03:02:08,358
As long as your master

2767
03:02:08,525 --> 03:02:13,191
only imposes duties on you,
demands you to obey his will,

2768
03:02:13,941 --> 03:02:16,025
I don't see how you can prove to me

2769
03:02:16,191 --> 03:02:19,025
that he is the true master
rather than an impostor.

2770
03:02:21,650 --> 03:02:24,108
What if my reason and conscience tell me

2771
03:02:24,275 --> 03:02:27,108
that the will of the master
expresses the purest good?

2772
03:02:27,275 --> 03:02:29,150
I'm sorry, that's not what I meant.

2773
03:02:29,316 --> 03:02:34,316
I don't deny he wills the good,
but does that mean he himself is good?

2774
03:02:37,108 --> 03:02:38,900
How could he be otherwise?

2775
03:02:40,275 --> 03:02:41,066
I thought

2776
03:02:41,233 --> 03:02:44,191
the goodness of a man resides
not in what he requires of others,

2777
03:02:44,358 --> 03:02:46,275
but in what he himself does.

2778
03:02:48,775 --> 03:02:53,108
If you find what I say unclear,
here's a concrete historical example.

2779
03:02:53,566 --> 03:02:56,358
The Muscovite tsar, Ivan the Terrible,

2780
03:02:56,566 --> 03:02:58,191
in an well known letter,

2781
03:02:58,358 --> 03:03:00,650
asks Prince Andrei Kurbsky

2782
03:03:00,816 --> 03:03:04,608
to show his supreme goodness,
and loftiest moral heroism,

2783
03:03:05,025 --> 03:03:09,983
by ceasing to oppose Evil and accepting
to die as a martyr for the truth.

2784
03:03:10,441 --> 03:03:14,858
Here, the master's will was good,
by what he demanded of him,

2785
03:03:15,025 --> 03:03:19,650
but that doesn't mean the master,
who demanded the good was himself good.

2786
03:03:20,233 --> 03:03:24,400
Clearly, although to suffer for the truth
is the supreme moral virtue,

2787
03:03:24,566 --> 03:03:27,191
it does Ivan the Terrible no credit,

2788
03:03:27,358 --> 03:03:30,566
since in this case, he was not the martyr,
but the executioner.

2789
03:03:37,900 --> 03:03:39,733
What do you mean by that?

2790
03:03:46,900 --> 03:03:51,608
Until Olga shows me the goodness
behind her master's actions,

2791
03:03:51,775 --> 03:03:55,066
rather than merely his verbal commands
to his workers,

2792
03:03:55,233 --> 03:03:57,150
I will remain convinced

2793
03:03:57,316 --> 03:04:01,650
that this master who asks others
to do good, but himself does not,

2794
03:04:01,816 --> 03:04:05,275
who lays down obligations,
but does not show love,

2795
03:04:06,316 --> 03:04:09,775
who does not show you his face,
but lives abroad, incognito,

2796
03:04:09,941 --> 03:04:14,066
I will remain convinced he is none other
than the god of this age.

2797
03:04:14,400 --> 03:04:15,816
How awful!

2798
03:05:07,691 --> 03:05:10,150
I quote from Verdi.

2799
03:05:10,316 --> 03:05:14,733
- I'm listing every lyrical ode...
- I know, you're a melomaniac.

2800
03:05:14,900 --> 03:05:17,566
Dedicated to Bacchus.
It's kind of a game.

2801
03:05:17,733 --> 03:05:19,358
Do you recognise this one?

2802
03:05:22,733 --> 03:05:24,191
Excuse me a moment!

2803
03:05:25,941 --> 03:05:27,066
Judith?

2804
03:05:31,566 --> 03:05:33,108
One more question.

2805
03:05:33,441 --> 03:05:36,066
How is the colonel? Any less agitated?

2806
03:05:36,233 --> 03:05:37,733
Yes, he feels better.

2807
03:05:37,900 --> 03:05:39,900
Dr. Blumenfeld will arrive tomorrow.

2808
03:05:40,066 --> 03:05:43,108
He's coming tomorrow, good.
He seems a good doctor.

2809
03:05:43,275 --> 03:05:44,275
Yes.

2810
03:05:44,483 --> 03:05:45,733
And another thing, please.

2811
03:05:45,900 --> 03:05:48,983
It would be better if the door
remained shut at all times.

2812
03:05:49,150 --> 03:05:50,566
Yes, of course.

2813
03:06:15,566 --> 03:06:16,733
Yes, Edouard.

2814
03:07:24,983 --> 03:07:26,400
And look,

2815
03:07:26,983 --> 03:07:30,650
István makes his entrance
to the sound of music. Wonderful!

2816
03:07:30,983 --> 03:07:32,191
Charming.

2817
03:07:33,733 --> 03:07:38,358
Thank you. That was a short parenthesis
while we waited for you, gentlemen.

2818
03:07:38,525 --> 03:07:40,316
Always at your service.

2819
03:07:40,858 --> 03:07:44,566
If we were not holding brandy,
we would clap.

2820
03:07:45,150 --> 03:07:46,233
Grazie!

2821
03:07:46,566 --> 03:07:47,900
Forgive me...

2822
03:07:49,733 --> 03:07:52,733
I don't want to interrupt
the musical interlude,

2823
03:07:53,025 --> 03:07:56,150
but I wish with all my soul
to return to our conversation,

2824
03:07:56,316 --> 03:07:59,066
to prevent any unfortunate
misunderstanding.

2825
03:07:59,941 --> 03:08:00,983
But of course.

2826
03:08:01,150 --> 03:08:04,150
I am in no doubt, Olga,
that by some honest mistake,

2827
03:08:04,316 --> 03:08:07,316
you take the true God
to be a skilled imposter.

2828
03:08:07,483 --> 03:08:12,066
The imposter's skill is, for you,
a mitigating circumstance.

2829
03:08:12,441 --> 03:08:15,441
Nor did I understand at first
how things stood.

2830
03:08:15,608 --> 03:08:17,400
And now I am in no doubt,

2831
03:08:17,566 --> 03:08:19,733
and you will understand how I feel

2832
03:08:19,900 --> 03:08:24,150
when I gaze upon the deceptive,
devious mask of the Good.

2833
03:08:24,316 --> 03:08:27,733
- You don't have long for poetry.
- I assure you...

2834
03:08:27,900 --> 03:08:29,275
It's vexing!

2835
03:08:29,733 --> 03:08:32,650
I assure you I do not feel at all vexed.

2836
03:08:33,566 --> 03:08:36,441
A general and rather interesting question
has been posed,

2837
03:08:36,608 --> 03:08:39,275
and it surprises me
that my interlocutor believes

2838
03:08:39,441 --> 03:08:42,150
that the question
is addressed only to me,

2839
03:08:42,483 --> 03:08:44,025
but not to him.

2840
03:08:44,733 --> 03:08:49,316
You ask that I point out
my master's good deeds,

2841
03:08:49,483 --> 03:08:53,816
acts to prove he is the principle
of Good rather than Evil.

2842
03:08:54,191 --> 03:08:54,900
And you?

2843
03:08:55,066 --> 03:08:59,275
What good deeds can you show me
that do not also come from my master?

2844
03:08:59,441 --> 03:09:04,483
He has already shown you a deed
on which all the rest is founded.

2845
03:09:04,816 --> 03:09:05,775
Which one?

2846
03:09:05,941 --> 03:09:09,108
The true victory over Evil
through the true Resurrection.

2847
03:09:09,275 --> 03:09:13,233
Only thereby, I repeat,
is God's Kingdom revealed to us.

2848
03:09:13,400 --> 03:09:18,150
Without it, there is only
the kingdom of death, sin and the devil.

2849
03:09:18,525 --> 03:09:22,025
The Resurrection,
not figuratively, but literally,

2850
03:09:22,191 --> 03:09:24,400
there is the title of the true God.

2851
03:09:25,275 --> 03:09:28,233
Yes, if you wish to believe
in such a mythology.

2852
03:09:28,566 --> 03:09:32,108
I asked you for demonstrable facts,
not beliefs.

2853
03:09:32,358 --> 03:09:33,316
Olga,

2854
03:09:33,483 --> 03:09:37,483
we both come from the same faith
or, if you like, mythology,

2855
03:09:37,650 --> 03:09:39,733
but I go all the way.

2856
03:09:39,900 --> 03:09:44,191
Whereas you illogically,
arbitrarily stop even before you start.

2857
03:09:44,733 --> 03:09:47,316
But do you acknowledge
the power of the Good

2858
03:09:47,483 --> 03:09:49,483
and its future triumph on earth?

2859
03:09:49,650 --> 03:09:50,691
Yes.

2860
03:09:50,858 --> 03:09:52,775
Is it a fact or a belief?

2861
03:09:53,150 --> 03:09:55,150
It is a reasonable belief.

2862
03:09:55,483 --> 03:09:56,941
How delightful!

2863
03:09:58,566 --> 03:10:02,025
As I learned at the seminary,
reason demands,

2864
03:10:02,191 --> 03:10:05,025
that we disallow that
which is not sufficiently grounded.

2865
03:10:05,191 --> 03:10:06,858
Tell me, please,

2866
03:10:07,441 --> 03:10:11,566
as long as you recognise that Good
has the power morally to rectify

2867
03:10:11,733 --> 03:10:14,025
and perfect man and mankind,

2868
03:10:14,191 --> 03:10:19,275
on what do you base your claim that
Good is powerless in the face of death?

2869
03:10:19,941 --> 03:10:23,358
I think rather you should say
why you attribute to Good

2870
03:10:23,525 --> 03:10:26,066
a power that transcends
the moral sphere?

2871
03:10:26,275 --> 03:10:27,816
I shall tell you.

2872
03:10:28,191 --> 03:10:30,566
Once I believe
in the Good and its power,

2873
03:10:30,733 --> 03:10:35,900
and in the idea of the "power of good"
its absolute superiority is asserted,

2874
03:10:36,066 --> 03:10:39,066
then I recognise
that this power is unlimited,

2875
03:10:39,566 --> 03:10:43,108
and nothing can stop me believing
in the truth of the Resurrection,

2876
03:10:43,275 --> 03:10:44,941
historically proven truth.

2877
03:10:45,983 --> 03:10:49,400
If you had told us you were indifferent
to the Christian faith

2878
03:10:49,566 --> 03:10:51,733
and that to you,
the Resurrection is a myth,

2879
03:10:51,900 --> 03:10:53,941
I would have kept to myself
the animosity

2880
03:10:54,108 --> 03:10:57,525
to your way of thinking
that I have been unable to conceal.

2881
03:10:58,608 --> 03:11:01,941
We do not accuse of deception
him who makes a mistake.

2882
03:11:02,108 --> 03:11:04,566
And to be angry at someone
for a theoretical error

2883
03:11:04,733 --> 03:11:08,566
makes you look petty,
faithless, and heartless.

2884
03:11:09,983 --> 03:11:14,525
Whoever truly believes,
and is freed from coarseness,

2885
03:11:14,691 --> 03:11:17,566
from pettiness of soul
and from wickedness,

2886
03:11:17,733 --> 03:11:23,066
must show a good disposition when faced
with a frank and sincere opponent,

2887
03:11:23,233 --> 03:11:26,650
in other words, an honest opponent,
who denies religious truths.

2888
03:11:27,566 --> 03:11:29,400
Nowadays, it is rare.

2889
03:11:29,733 --> 03:11:35,108
You don't know how much I rejoice
at a declared opponent of Christianity.

2890
03:11:36,150 --> 03:11:38,150
In almost all of them,

2891
03:11:38,316 --> 03:11:40,650
I am prepared to see
a future Paul the Apostle,

2892
03:11:40,816 --> 03:11:46,400
whereas in the zealous defenders
of Christianity I see Judas the traitor.

2893
03:11:47,441 --> 03:11:50,941
But you, Olga,
you have expressed yourself so sincerely,

2894
03:11:51,108 --> 03:11:55,650
that I refuse to class you with
today's countless Judases and Tartuffes.

2895
03:11:56,483 --> 03:11:59,566
I already foresee a time
when I will feel toward you

2896
03:12:01,066 --> 03:12:05,566
the same good disposition awakened in me
by many atheists and nonbelievers.

2897
03:12:06,566 --> 03:12:08,525
Since, fortunately,

2898
03:12:08,816 --> 03:12:12,608
we have established
that neither atheists and unbelievers,

2899
03:12:12,775 --> 03:12:16,775
nor true Christians like Olga,
represent the Antichrist,

2900
03:12:16,983 --> 03:12:20,275
it is time that you reveal to us
his true portrait.

2901
03:12:21,650 --> 03:12:23,733
So that was what you were aiming at!

2902
03:12:23,983 --> 03:12:27,066
Of the many depictions of Christ,

2903
03:12:27,233 --> 03:12:29,816
some by artists of genius,

2904
03:12:29,983 --> 03:12:32,108
is there any that satisfies you?

2905
03:12:32,775 --> 03:12:36,066
I for one
know of no satisfactory depiction.

2906
03:12:36,400 --> 03:12:38,483
I don't even think there could be one,

2907
03:12:38,650 --> 03:12:41,358
as long as Christ
is an individual embodiment,

2908
03:12:41,525 --> 03:12:43,233
unique in his own way

2909
03:12:43,400 --> 03:12:46,108
and resembling nothing else,

2910
03:12:46,275 --> 03:12:48,775
of His own essence, the Good.

2911
03:12:49,525 --> 03:12:53,358
Not even genius would be enough
in order to depict such a thing.

2912
03:12:53,525 --> 03:12:55,691
The same goes for the Antichrist.

2913
03:12:55,858 --> 03:12:59,316
He is an embodiment of Evil
that is just as individual,

2914
03:12:59,525 --> 03:13:03,816
unique in its completeness and fullness.
We cannot show his portrait.

2915
03:13:04,191 --> 03:13:06,108
In ecclesiastical literature,

2916
03:13:06,275 --> 03:13:10,566
we find only his passport,
with his distinguishing marks.

2917
03:13:13,566 --> 03:13:16,441
And Edouard,
as you yourself confessed to us,

2918
03:13:16,608 --> 03:13:19,483
you have no knack for painting.

2919
03:13:19,650 --> 03:13:22,816
Therefore,
we don't require his portrait,

2920
03:13:23,108 --> 03:13:24,816
God forbid!

2921
03:13:25,358 --> 03:13:30,275
Rather, explain to us, Nikolai,
why he is needed

2922
03:13:30,650 --> 03:13:33,733
and what, in your opinion,
is the nature of his plan,

2923
03:13:33,900 --> 03:13:35,858
and finally, tell us

2924
03:13:37,566 --> 03:13:39,275
when he will arrive.

2925
03:13:39,941 --> 03:13:42,775
I can answer you better
than you would have thought.

2926
03:13:44,150 --> 03:13:45,775
Some years ago,

2927
03:13:46,066 --> 03:13:49,108
a fellow seminary student,
who later became a monk

2928
03:13:49,275 --> 03:13:51,983
was dying and gave me
a manuscript he cherished,

2929
03:13:52,150 --> 03:13:54,400
but which he had not been able
to publish.

2930
03:13:54,566 --> 03:13:57,441
The title is,
A Short Story of the Antichrist.

2931
03:13:57,983 --> 03:14:02,816
Although it takes the form of a fiction,
or a future history,

2932
03:14:02,983 --> 03:14:04,983
to me the work encapsulates

2933
03:14:05,150 --> 03:14:08,358
everything which, according to scripture,
to the Church and common sense,

2934
03:14:08,525 --> 03:14:11,233
can definitely be said on the subject.

2935
03:14:11,400 --> 03:14:14,983
Is it the work of our old friend,
Umberto?

2936
03:14:15,150 --> 03:14:18,025
No, he had a fancier name.

2937
03:14:18,191 --> 03:14:19,650
Pansophius.

2938
03:14:19,816 --> 03:14:22,316
Pan Sofius? A Pole?

2939
03:14:23,316 --> 03:14:24,525
Not at all.

2940
03:14:24,691 --> 03:14:27,025
He came from a family
of Russian priests.

2941
03:14:27,191 --> 03:14:29,233
If you will allow me
to go to my room,

2942
03:14:29,400 --> 03:14:33,108
I will fetch the manuscript
and read it to you. It is not thick.

2943
03:14:33,608 --> 03:14:36,650
Your room is an Ali Baba's cave.

2944
03:14:36,900 --> 03:14:38,483
Certainly, do go!

2945
03:14:39,400 --> 03:14:42,108
- But don't forget to come back!
- Naturally.

2946
03:14:47,525 --> 03:14:50,566
I don't know whether my eyesight
is dimming with age,

2947
03:14:50,816 --> 03:14:53,066
or whether something
has changed in nature,

2948
03:14:53,233 --> 03:14:58,483
but I notice that in no season or place
are the days bright any longer,

2949
03:14:58,650 --> 03:15:01,816
the perfect clarity
to which we were once accustomed,

2950
03:15:01,983 --> 03:15:03,400
regardless of clime.

2951
03:15:03,566 --> 03:15:06,775
Today, for example,
there was not a cloud in the sky,

2952
03:15:06,941 --> 03:15:09,108
we are quite far away from the sea,

2953
03:15:10,025 --> 03:15:13,983
and yet, everything seemed dusted
with something gauzy,

2954
03:15:14,400 --> 03:15:16,650
impalpable, of flawed clarity.

2955
03:15:16,816 --> 03:15:18,441
Did you notice, Ingrida?

2956
03:15:18,816 --> 03:15:21,358
Yes, it has been happening
for a few years.

2957
03:15:21,525 --> 03:15:23,983
I have been observing it
since last year.

2958
03:15:24,150 --> 03:15:26,816
Not only in the air,
but also in my soul,

2959
03:15:26,983 --> 03:15:31,150
where there is no perfect limpidity,
as you put it, Edouard.

2960
03:15:32,275 --> 03:15:34,150
I feel a kind of disquiet,

2961
03:15:34,525 --> 03:15:36,650
a sense of foreboding.

2962
03:15:36,941 --> 03:15:40,441
I'm sure that you too, Olga,
feel the same.

2963
03:15:40,858 --> 03:15:43,983
No, I notice nothing in particular.

2964
03:15:44,150 --> 03:15:46,150
The air seems to me unchanged.

2965
03:15:46,316 --> 03:15:48,066
Because you are too young.

2966
03:15:48,233 --> 03:15:50,483
You lack the terms of comparison.

2967
03:15:51,233 --> 03:15:54,233
But when we remember the seventies,

2968
03:15:54,400 --> 03:15:55,858
then we sense it.

2969
03:15:57,066 --> 03:16:00,733
I believe your first supposition
was right, Edouard.

2970
03:16:01,275 --> 03:16:03,941
It is a symptom of worsening eyesight.

2971
03:16:04,525 --> 03:16:06,858
We have grown old, no doubt about it,

2972
03:16:07,025 --> 03:16:09,275
but nor is the earth
growing any younger.

2973
03:16:09,566 --> 03:16:12,316
A kind of exhaustion
can be felt on both sides.

2974
03:16:13,275 --> 03:16:15,150
But what is even more true,

2975
03:16:16,191 --> 03:16:18,358
as Andrei Nikolaevich says,

2976
03:16:18,525 --> 03:16:22,816
is that the devil's tail scatters fog
across the created world.

2977
03:16:23,066 --> 03:16:25,941
It is also a sign of the Antichrist.

2978
03:16:27,066 --> 03:16:28,233
Yes, Ingrida,

2979
03:16:28,400 --> 03:16:29,816
no doubt about it.

2980
03:20:29,108 --> 03:20:31,275
Subtitles: Alistair Ian Blyth

2981
03:20:31,441 --> 03:20:33,566
Subtitling: HIVENTY