Fiodor Dostoïevski
1821-1881 19th century
Faith that has passed through doubt and bears its scars, without ceasing to choose Christ.
Who was Fiodor Dostoïevski?
Sentenced to death for his ideas and pardoned at the foot of the execution post, he spent four years in a Siberian prison camp with the Gospel as his only book. A gambler in debt, an epileptic, a bereaved father, he made of his novels (Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov) a crossing of doubt and faith. Few writers have taken both atheism and Christ so seriously.
In their own words
If someone proved to me that Christ is outside the truth, and that in reality the truth were outside of Christ, I should prefer to remain with Christ rather than with the truth.
Active love, compared with love in dreams, is a harsh and dreadful thing.
Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.