the state church and the people.
the last thing that kept nekhludoff in petersburg was the case of the sectarians, whose petition he intended to get his former fellow-officer, aide-de-camp bogatyreff, to hand to the tsar. he came to bogatyreff in the morning, and found him about to go out, though still at breakfast. bogatyreff was not tall, but firmly built and wonderfully strong (he could bend a horseshoe), a kind, honest, straight, and even liberal man. in spite of these qualities, he was intimate at court, and very fond of the tsar and his family, and by some strange method he managed, while living in that highest circle, to see nothing but the good in it and to take no part in the evil and corruption. he never condemned anybody nor any measure, and either kept silent or spoke in a bold, loud voice, almost shouting what he had to say, and often laughing in the same boisterous manner. and he did not do it for diplomatic reasons, but because such was his character.
"ah, that's right that you have come. would you like some breakfast? sit down, the beefsteaks are fine! i always begin with something substantial--begin and finish, too. ha! ha! ha! well, then, have a glass of wine," he shouted, pointing to a decanter of claret. "i have been thinking of you. i will hand on the petition. i shall put it into his own hands. you may count on that, only it occurred to me that it would be best for you to call on toporoff."
nekhludoff made a wry face at the mention of toporoff.
"it all depends on him. he will be consulted, anyhow. and perhaps he may himself meet your wishes."
"if you advise it i shall go."
"that's right. well, and how does petersburg agree with you?" shouted bogatyreff. "tell me. eh?"
"i feel myself getting hypnotised," replied nekhludoff.
"hypnotised!" bogatyreff repeated, and burst out laughing. "you won't have anything? well, just as you please," and he wiped his moustaches with his napkin. "then you'll go? eh? if he does not do it, give the petition to me, and i shall hand it on to-morrow." shouting these words, he rose, crossed himself just as naturally as he had wiped his mouth, and began buckling on his sword.
"and now good-bye; i must go. we are both going out," said nekhludoff, and shaking bogatyreff's strong, broad hand, and with the sense of pleasure which the impression of something healthy and unconsciously fresh always gave him, nekhludoff parted from bogatyreff on the door-steps.
though he expected no good result from his visit, still nekhludoff, following bogatyreff's advice, went to see toporoff, on whom the sectarians' fate depended.
the position occupied by toporoff, involving as it did an incongruity of purpose, could only be held by a dull man devoid of moral sensibility. toporoff possessed both these negative qualities. the incongruity of the position he occupied was this. it was his duty to keep up and to defend, by external measures, not excluding violence, that church which, by its own declaration, was established by god himself and could not be shaken by the gates of hell nor by anything human. this divine and immutable god-established institution had to be sustained and defended by a human institution--the holy synod, managed by toporoff and his officials. toporoff did not see this contradiction, nor did he wish to see it, and he was therefore much concerned lest some romish priest, some pastor, or some sectarian should destroy that church which the gates of hell could not conquer.
toporoff, like all those who are quite destitute of the fundamental religious feeling that recognises the equality and brotherhood of men, was fully convinced that the common people were creatures entirely different from himself, and that the people needed what he could very well do without, for at the bottom of his heart he believed in nothing, and found such a state very convenient and pleasant. yet he feared lest the people might also come to such a state, and looked upon it as his sacred duty, as he called it, to save the people therefrom.
a certain cookery book declares that some crabs like to be boiled alive. in the same way he thought and spoke as if the people liked being kept in superstition; only he meant this in a literal sense, whereas the cookery book did not mean its words literally.
his feelings towards the religion he was keeping up were the same as those of the poultry-keeper towards the carrion he fed his fowls on. carrion was very disgusting, but the fowls liked it; therefore it was right to feed the fowls on carrion. of course all this worship of the images of the iberian, kasan and smolensk mothers of god was a gross superstition, but the people liked it and believed in it, and therefore the superstition must be kept up.
thus thought toporoff, not considering that the people only liked superstition because there always have been, and still are, men like himself who, being enlightened, instead of using their light to help others to struggle out of their dark ignorance, use it to plunge them still deeper into it.
when nekhludoff entered the reception-room toporoff was in his study talking with an abbess, a lively and aristocratic lady, who was spreading the greek orthodox faith in western russia among the uniates (who acknowledge the pope of rome), and who have the greek religion enforced on them. an official who was in the reception-room inquired what nekhludoff wanted, and when he heard that nekhludoff meant to hand in a petition to the emperor, he asked him if he would allow the petition to be read first. nekhludoff gave it him, and the official took it into the study. the abbess, with her hood and flowing veil and her long train trailing behind, left the study and went out, her white hands (with their well-tended nails) holding a topaz rosary. nekhludoff was not immediately asked to come in. toporoff was reading the petition and shaking his head. he was unpleasantly surprised by the clear and emphatic wording of it.
"if it gets into the hands of the emperor it may cause misunderstandings, and unpleasant questions may be asked," he thought as he read. then he put the petition on the table, rang, and ordered nekhludoff to be asked in.
he remembered the case of the sectarians; he had had a petition from them before. the case was this: these christians, fallen away from the greek orthodox church, were first exhorted and then tried by law, but were acquitted. then the archdeacon and the governor arranged, on the plea that their marriages were illegal, to exile these sectarians, separating the husbands, wives, and children. these fathers and wives were now petitioning that they should not he parted. toporoff recollected the first time the case came to his notice: he had at that time hesitated whether he had not better put a stop to it. but then he thought no harm could result from his confirming the decision to separate and exile the different members of the sectarian families, whereas allowing the peasant sect to remain where it was might have a bad effect on the rest of the inhabitants of the place and cause them to fall away from orthodoxy. and then the affair also proved the zeal of the archdeacon, and so he let the case proceed along the lines it had taken. but now that they had a defender such as nekhludoff, who had some influence in petersburg, the case might be specially pointed out to the emperor as something cruel, or it might get into the foreign papers. therefore he at once took an unexpected decision.
"how do you do?" he said, with the air of a very busy man, receiving nekhludoff standing, and at once starting on the business. "i know this case. as soon as i saw the names i recollected this unfortunate business," he said, taking up the petition and showing it to nekhludoff. "and i am much indebted to you for reminding me of it. it is the over-zealousness of the provincial authorities."
nekhludoff stood silent, looking with no kindly feelings at the immovable, pale mask of a face before him.
"and i shall give orders that these measures should he revoked and the people reinstated in their homes."
"so that i need not make use of this petition?"
"i promise you most assuredly," answered toporoff, laying a stress on the word i, as if quite convinced that his honesty, his word was the best guarantee. "it will be best if i write at once. take a seat, please."
he went up to the table and began to write. as nekhludoff sat down he looked at the narrow, bald skull, at the fat, blue-veined hand that was swiftly guiding the pen, and wondered why this evidently indifferent man was doing what he did and why he was doing it with such care.
"well, here you are," said toporoff, sealing the envelope; "you may let your clients know," and he stretched his lips to imitate a smile.
"then what did these people suffer for?" nekhludoff asked, as he took the envelope.
toporoff raised his head and smiled, as if nekhludoff's question gave him pleasure. "that i cannot tell. all i can say is that the interests of the people guarded by us are so important that too great a zeal in matters of religion is not so dangerous or so harmful as the indifference which is now spreading--"
"but how is it that in the name of religion the very first demands of righteousness are violated--families are separated?"
toporoff continued to smile patronisingly, evidently thinking what nekhludoff said very pretty. anything that nekhludoff could say he would have considered very pretty and very one-sided, from the height of what he considered his far-reaching office in the state.
"it may seem so from the point of view of a private individual," he said, "but from an administrative point of view it appears in a rather different light. however, i must bid you good-bye, now," said toporoff, bowing his head and holding out his hand, which nekhludoff pressed.
"the interests of the people! your interests is what you mean!" thought nekhludoff as he went out. and he ran over in his mind the people in whom is manifested the activity of the institutions that uphold religion and educate the people. he began with the woman punished for the illicit sale of spirits, the boy for theft, the tramp for tramping, the incendiary for setting a house on fire, the banker for fraud, and that unfortunate lydia shoustova imprisoned only because they hoped to get such information as they required from her. then he thought of the sectarians punished for violating orthodoxy, and gourkevitch for wanting constitutional government, and nekhludoff clearly saw that all these people were arrested, locked up, exiled, not really because they transgressed against justice or behaved unlawfully, but only because they were an obstacle hindering the officials and the rich from enjoying the property they had taken away from the people. and the woman who sold wine without having a license, and the thief knocking about the town, and lydia shoustova hiding proclamations, and the sectarians upsetting superstitions, and gourkevitch desiring a constitution, were a real hindrance. it seemed perfectly clear to nekhludoff that all these officials, beginning with his aunt's husband, the senators, and toporoff, down to those clean and correct gentlemen who sat at the tables in the ministry office, were not at all troubled by the fact that that in such a state of things the innocent had to suffer, but were only concerned how to get rid of the really dangerous, so that the rule that ten guilty should escape rather than that one innocent should be condemned was not observed, but, on the contrary, for the sake of getting rid of one really dangerous person, ten who seemed dangerous were punished, as, when cutting a rotten piece out of anything, one has to cut away some that is good.
this explanation seemed very simple and clear to nekhludoff; but its very simplicity and clearness made him hesitate to accept it. was it possible that so complicated a phenomenon could have so simple and terrible an explanation? was it possible that all these words about justice, law, religion, and god, and so on, were mere words, hiding the coarsest cupidity and cruelty?
使聂赫留朵夫逗留在彼得堡的最后一件事，就是解决教派信徒案。他准备通过军队旧同事、宫廷侍从武官鲍加狄廖夫把他们的状子呈交皇上。他一早乘车来到鲍加狄廖夫家，碰到他还在吃早饭，但马上就要出门。鲍加狄廖夫生得矮壮结实，体力过人，能空手扭弯马蹄铁，但为人善良、诚实、直爽，甚至有点自由主义思想。尽管他具有这些特点，但同宫廷关系密切，热爱皇上和皇族。他还有一种惊人的本领，那就是生活在最上层社会，却只看到好的一面，也不参与任何坏事和不正派活动。他从来不指摘什么人，也不批评什么措施。他总是要么保持沉默，要么声若洪钟地大胆说出他要说的话，同时纵声大笑。他这样大声说笑倒不是装腔，而是出于他的性格。
“啊，你来了，太好了。你不吃点早饭吗？要不你就坐下来。煎牛排挺不错。我吃一顿饭开头和收尾都得吃点扎实的东西。哈，哈，哈！那么，你来喝点酒，”他指着一瓶红葡萄酒，大声说。“我一直在想你呢。那个状子让我来递上去。当面呈交皇上，这不成问题。不过我想，你最好还是先到托波罗夫那儿去一下。”
他一提到托波罗夫，聂赫留朵夫就皱眉头。
“这件事全得由他作主。不管怎样总归要去问他。说不定他当场就会满足你的要求的。”
“既然你这么说，我就去一下。”
“那太好了。嗯，彼得堡给你的印象怎么样？”鲍加狄廖夫大声说，“你说说，好吗？”
“我觉得我仿佛中了催眠术，”聂赫留朵夫说。
“中了催眠术？”鲍加狄廖夫重复着他的话，呵呵大笑。
“你不想吃，那也听便。”他用餐巾擦擦小胡子。“那么，你去找他吗？呃？要是他不干，那你就把状子交给我，我明天递上去，”他又大声说，从桌旁站起来，画了一个很大的十字，显然象他擦嘴一样漫不经心，然后佩上军刀。“那么，再见了，我得走了。”
“我也要走了，”聂赫留朵夫说，高兴地握了握鲍加狄廖夫强壮有力的大手，并且象每次看到健康、朴实、生气勃勃的东西那样，头脑里留下愉快的印象，在大门口同鲍加狄廖夫分手。
聂赫留朵夫虽然估计去一次不会有什么结果，他还是听从鲍加狄廖夫的劝告坐车去拜访托波罗夫，也就是那个能左右教派信徒案的人。
托波罗夫所担任的职务，从它的职责来说，本身就存在着矛盾，只有头脑迟钝和道德沦丧（托波罗夫正好具有这两种缺点）的人才看不出来。这种矛盾就在于它的职责是不择手段——包括暴力在内——维护和保卫教会，而按教义来说，教会是由上帝建立的，它绝不会被地狱之门和任何人力所动摇。这个由上帝创建并绝不会被任何力量所动摇的神的机构，却不得不由托波罗夫这类官僚所主管的人的机构来维护和保卫。托波罗夫没有看到这种矛盾，也许是不愿看到，因此他百倍警惕，唯恐有哪个天主教教士、耶稣教牧师或者教派信徒破坏地狱之门都无法征服的教会。托波罗夫也象一切缺乏基本宗教感情和平等博爱思想的人那样，确信老百姓是一种跟他截然不同的生物，有一种东西老百姓非有不可，而他即使没有也毫无关系。他自己在灵魂深处没有任何信仰，并且觉得这样精神上无拘无束，十分惬意，但唯恐老百姓也百无禁忌，因此照他自己的说法，把他们从这种精神状态中解救出来是他的神圣职责。
有本烹调书说，龙虾天生喜欢被活活煮死，同样，他充分相信老百姓天生喜欢成为迷信的人。不过，烹调书里用的是转义1，他的话却是本义。
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1原意是龙虾活煮味道才鲜美。
他对待他所维护的宗教，就象养鸿的人对待他用来喂鸡的腐肉：腐肉很招人讨厌，但鸡喜欢吃，因此得用腐肉来喂鸡。
不消说，那些伊维利亚圣母啦，喀山圣母啦，斯摩棱斯克圣母啦，都是愚昧的偶像崇拜，但既然老百姓喜欢这些东西，信仰这些东西，那就得维护这种迷信。托波罗夫就是这样想的。他根本没有考虑到，老百姓之所以容易接受迷信，就因为自古以来总是有象他托波罗夫这样残酷的人。这批人自己有了知识，看到了光明，却不把这种知识用到该用的地方，帮助老百姓克服愚昧，脱离黑暗，反而加强他们的愚昧，使他们永远处在黑暗之中。
聂赫留朵夫走进托波罗夫接待室的时候，托波罗夫正在办公室里同女修道院院长谈话。那院长是一个活跃的贵族妇女，她在俄国西部被迫改信东正教的合并派信徒1中间传布东正教，维护它的势力。
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1十六世纪末波兰某些地方东正教与天主教合并。十九世纪波兰被瓜分后，在俄国所取得的乌克兰和白俄罗斯土地上废止教会合并，重新建立东正教，强迫合并派信徒改信东正教。
在接待室里，值班官员问聂赫留朵夫有什么事。聂赫留朵夫告诉他打算为教派信徒向皇上呈送状子，值班官员就问能不能先让他看一看。聂赫留朵夫把状子交给他，他接了状子走进办公室。女修道院长头戴修道帽，脸上飘着一块面纱，身后拖着黑色长裙走出来。她拿着一串茶晶念珠，雪白的双手合抱在胸前，手指甲剔得干干净净，往出口处走去。但聂赫留朵夫还没有被请到办公室去。托波罗夫在里面看状子，一边看一边摇头。他读着这个叙述清楚、行文有力的状子，心里感到惊奇和不快。
“这状子万一落到皇帝手里，就可能引起麻烦，造成误会，”他看完状子想。他把状子放在桌上，打了打铃，吩咐手下人请聂赫留朵夫进来。
他想起这些教派信徒的案子，他早就收到过他们的状子。原来这些脱离东正教的基督徒先是受到告诫，后来送交法庭受审，法庭却判决无罪释放。于是主教会同省长就以他们的婚姻不合法为理由，硬把丈夫、妻子和孩子拆散，流放到不同地方。那些做丈夫的和做妻子的请求不要把他们拆散。托波罗夫记得当初这案子落到他手里时的情形。他当时犹豫了一下，不知道该不该制止这种事。但他知道，批准原来的决定，把这些农民家庭拆散分送到各地去，那是不会有什么害处的；倘若让他们留在原地，那就会影响其他居民，使他们也脱离东正教。再说，这事主教特别起劲，因此他就听任这个案子按原来的决定办理。
可是现在，忽然冒出一个聂赫留朵夫，一个在彼得堡交游广阔的辩护人，这个案子可能作为一个暴行提到皇帝面前，或者刊登在外国报纸上，因此他当机立断，作了一个出人意外的决定。
“您好，”他装出十分忙碌的样子，站起来迎接聂赫留朵夫，接着就开门见山地谈起案子来。
“这个案子我知道。我一看到那些人的名字，就想起这个不幸的案子，”他拿起状子向聂赫留朵夫一晃，说。“这件事您提醒了我，我很感谢。这是省当局做得过分了……”聂赫留朵夫不作声，嫌恶地瞅着这张没有血色、毫无表情象假面具一样的脸。“我这就下命令撤销决定，把他们送回原籍。”
“那我就不用把这状子递上去了？”聂赫留朵夫问。
“完全用不着。这事我答应您了，”他说时把“我”字说得特别响，显然充分相信他的诚实，他的话就是最好的保证。
“我还是现在就写个命令的好。麻烦您坐一下。”
他走到写字台旁，坐下来写。聂赫留朵夫没有坐下，居高临下地瞧着他那狭长的秃头，瞧着他那只迅速挥动钢笔的青筋毕露的手，心里感到惊奇，象他这样一个无所用心的人此刻怎么肯做这件事，而且做得这么卖力。这是什么缘故？
……
“喏，好了，”托波罗夫封上信，说，“您去告诉您那些当事人吧，”他加上说，撇一撇嘴唇，做出微笑的样子。
“那么，这些人究竟为什么受罪呀？”聂赫留朵夫接过信封，问。
托波罗夫抬起头来，微微一笑，仿佛觉得聂赫留朵夫的问题很有趣。
“这一点我没法跟您说。我只能说，我们所捍卫的人民利益太重要了，因此对宗教问题过分热心，决不会比目前普遍存在的对这种问题过分冷淡有害和可怕。”
“可是怎么能用宗教的名义来破坏善的最基本要求，弄得人家妻离子散呢？……”
托波罗夫仍旧那么宽厚地微笑着，显然觉得聂赫留朵夫的话很好玩。不论聂赫留朵夫说什么，托波罗夫从国家高度看问题，总觉得他的话很偏激，很好玩。
“从个人观点看，事情也许是这样的，”他说，“不过从国家观点看，情况就不同了。对不起，我少陪了，”托波罗夫说，低下头，伸出一只手。
聂赫留朵夫握了一下那只手，一言不发地匆匆走了出去，后悔同他握了手。
“人民的利益，”他学着托波罗夫的腔调说。“你的利益，不过是你的利益罢了，”他走出托波罗夫官邸时想。
聂赫留朵夫头脑里逐一回顾被这些伸张正义、维护宗教信仰和教育人民的机关处理过的人。他想到了因贩卖私酒而被判刑的农妇、因盗窃而被判刑的小伙子、因流浪而被判刑的流浪汉、因纵火而被判刑的纵火犯、因侵吞公款而被判刑的银行家，以及仅仅因为要从她身上弄到必要情报而被监禁的不幸的丽达，还有因反东正教而被判刑的教派信徒，还有因要求制订宪法而遭到惩罚的古尔凯维奇。聂赫留朵夫左思右想，得出明确的结论：所有这些人被捕、被关或者被流放，绝对不是因为他们有什么不义行为，或者有犯法行为，而只是因为他们妨碍官僚和富人据有他们从人民头上搜刮来的财富。
妨碍他们这种剥削行为的包括贩卖私酒的农妇，在城里闲荡的小偷，藏匿传单的丽达，破坏迷信的教派信徒和要求制订宪法的古尔凯维奇。因此聂赫留朵夫觉得十分清楚，所有那些官僚，从他的姨父、枢密官和托波罗夫起，直到政府各部里坐在办公桌旁官微职小而衣冠楚楚的先生们止，他们对于无辜的人遭殃，根本无动于衷，一心只想清除各种危险分子。
因此，他们不但不遵守宁可宽恕十个有罪的人而决不冤枉一个无辜的人这个信条，正好相反，他们宁可惩罚十个没有危险的人，以便除掉一个真正的危险分子，就象为了挖掉腐烂的皮肉，不惜把好的皮肉也一起挖掉。
这样解释当前的种种现象，聂赫留朵夫觉得真是再简单明白不过了，但就因为太简单明白，聂赫留朵夫反而犹豫不决，不敢肯定这样的解释。这样复杂的现象总不能用这样简单而可怕的理由来解释吧。所有那些关于正义、善、法律、信仰、上帝等等的话，总不能只是一些空话，用来掩盖最野蛮的贪欲和暴行吧。
