The Prayer of Alyosha

I am rereading one of the most influential books in my life, Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. 

I was struck again at the end of Book 2 by a prayer said by Alyosha, the main protagonist of the book. 

For most of Book 1 and 2 Alyosha has rushed here and there, trying to take care of his crazy, distressed family--his father and two brothers. Along with their love interests. Everyone seems like they are falling apart. Everyone is fighting. But not Alyosha. He moves from relationship to relationship offering care and kindness.

At the end of Book 2, after a very long and wearisome day, Alyosha offers up a simple and beautiful prayer for everyone in his life. It's a prayer of grace for a confused, anxious and broken world: 

"Have mercy upon them all, O Lord. Save them, the unhappy and the tormented. Set them on the right path. All ways are yours. Save them according to your wisdom. You are love. You will send joy to all."

I pray some version of this prayer all the time.

I should also mention this about The Brothers Karamazov. As I mention at the very end of Hunting Magic Eels, a lot of people miss the point of the book. Many people only read a part of the novel, Ivan's atheistic arguments against God and his story of "The Grand Inquisitor." And to be sure, Ivan's arguments against God, his description of the problem of evil, are unsurpassed in literature. And yet, the book doesn't end there. Things don't go all that well for Ivan as the book unfolds, nor does his arguments for atheism. The person who comes out as the hero of the story is Alyosha, who is sent into the world by the elder Zosima to live as a "monk in the world" in a life of loving service. 

I recently shared in a discussion group on our campus concerning The Brothers Karamazov that, when it comes to the problem of evil, Ivan might win the philosophical argument, but Alyosha wins the moral argument. Filled with the love of God, it's Alyosha, and not Ivan, who knows how to live.