LibriVox recording of The Grand Inquisitor, from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.

The Grand Inquisitor is a parable told by Ivan to Alyosha in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880). Ivan and Alyosha are brothers; Ivan questions the possibility of a personal, benevolent God and Alyosha is a novice monk. The Grand Inquisitor is an important part of the novel and one of the best-known passages in modern literature because of its ideas about human nature and freedom, and because of its fundamental ambiguity. In the tale, Christ comes back to earth in Seville at the time of the Inquisition. He performs a number of miracles (echoing miracles from the Gospels). The people recognize him and adore him, but he is arrested by Inquisition leaders and sentenced to be burnt to death the next day. The Grand Inquisitor visits him in his cell to tell him that the Church no longer needs him. The main portion of the text is the Inquisitor explaining to Jesus why his return would interfere with the mission of the church. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Cast
Narrator: Ruth Golding
Ivan Karamazov: om123
Aloysha Karamazov: Martin Geeson
The Grand Inquisitor: Denny Sayers
Audio edited by Todd

For further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.

For more free audio books, or to become a volunteer reader, please visit LibriVox.org.

Download M4B (35MB)

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews