The Grand Inquisitor

In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us.

Man is tormented by no greater anxiety than to find someone quickly to whom he can hand over that great gift of freedom with which the ill-fated creature is born.

Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom away from him.

Without a clear perception of his reasons for living, man will never consent to live, and will rather destroy himself than tarry on earth, though he be surrounded with bread".

Peacefully they will die, peacefully they will expire in Thy name, and beyond the grave they will find nothing but death. But we shall keep the secret, and for their happiness we shall allure them with the reward of heaven and eternity.

In place of the clear and rigid ancient law, You [oh Lord] made man decide about good and evil for himself, with no other guidance than Your example. But did it never occur to You that man would disregard Your example, even question it, as well as Your truth, when he was subjected to so fearful a burden as freedom of choice?

That day must come when men will understand that freedom and daily bread enough to satisfy all are unthinkable and can never be had together, as men will never be able to fairly divide the two among themselves. And they will also learn that they can never be free, for they are weak, vicious, miserable nonentities born wicked and rebellious.

I want to see with my own eyes the hind lie down with the lion and the victim rise up and embrace his murderer.

But the foolish children will have to learn some day that, rebels though they be and riotous from nature, they are too weak to maintain the spirit of mutiny for any length of time.

There exists no greater or more painful anxiety for a man who has freed himself from all religious bias, than how he shall soonest find a new object or idea to worship. But man seeks to bow before that only which is recognized by the greater majority, if not by all his fellow-men, as having a right to be worshipped; whose rights are so unquestionable that men agree unanimously to bow down to it. For the chief concern of these miserable creatures is not to find and worship the idol of their own choice, but to discover that which all others will believe in, and consent to bow down to in a mass.

It is that instinctive need of having a worship in common that is the chief suffering of every man, the chief concern of mankind from the beginning of times. It is for that universality of religious worship that people destroyed each other by sword.

There are three Powers, three unique Forces upon earth, capable of conquering for ever by charming the conscience of these weak rebels--men--for their own good; and these Forces are: Miracle, Mystery and Authority.

(…) Cristo trae a los hombres el don de la libertad, pero incapaces estos de asumir la responsabilidad e inseguridad que comporta, incapaces de decidir dónde empieza el bien y el mal, prefieren renunciar a ella y someterse al poder de aquel que les garantice el bienestar material, o lo que es lo mismo, el pan”.

Poiché il segreto dell'esistenza non consiste solo nel vivere, ma nel sapere per che cosa vivere. Se non vede chiaramente per che cosa deve vivere, l'uomo non accetterà di vivere, e piuttosto che restare sulla terra si sopprimerà, anche se intorno a lui non ci fossero che pani. Questo è vero, ma che cosa è avvenuto? Invece di impadronirti della libertà degli uomini, Tu l'hai accresciuta ancora di più! O forse avevi dimenticato che la tranquillità, e perfino la morte, è più cara all'uomo della libera scelta nella conoscenza del bene e del male? Non c'è nulla di più allettante per l'uomo che la libertà della sua coscienza, ma non c'è neanche nulla di più tormentoso.

Davanti a chi inchinarsi?'. Non c'è preoccupazione più continua e più tormentosa per l'uomo, quando è rimasto libero, che quella di trovare al più presto qualcuno davanti a cui inchinarsi. Ma l'uomo vuole inchinarsi davanti a qualcosa che sia ormai fuori discussione, talmente fuori discussione, che tutti quanti gli uomini acconsentano ad inchinarsi, tutti senza eccezione. Perché la preoccupazione di queste misere creature non è soltanto quella di cercare qualcosa davanti a cui si possa inchinare l'uno o l'altro di loro, ma è appunto quella di trovare qualcosa in cui tutti credano e davanti a cui tutti si inchinino, tutti quanti insieme. Proprio questo bisogno di comunione nell'atto di adorare è il più grande tormento di ogni uomo singolo e dell'umanità intera, fin dal principio dei secoli. Per questo bisogno si sono sterminati fra di loro con la spada. Si sono fatti degli dèi e poi si sono sfidati l'uno con l'altro: 'Lasciate i vostri dèi e venite ad adorare i nostri, se no guai a voi e ai vostri dèi! '. E sarà così fino alla fine del mondo, sarà così anche quando gli dèi scompariranno dalla terra: che importa, cadranno in ginocchio davanti agli idoli!

But the people are weak and cannot bear the burden of freedom. They need someone to guide them, to give them security, to tell them what is right and wrong.

Thou didst not come down from the cross when they shouted to Thee, mocking and reviling Thee, "Come down from the cross and we will believe that Thou art He." Thou didst not come down, for again Thou wouldst not enslave man by a miracle. Thou didst crave faith given freely, not based on a miracle. Thou didst crave for free love and not the base raptures of the slave before the might that has overawed him for ever.

Is the nature of men such, that they can reject miracle, and at the great moments of their life, the moment of their deepest, most agonizing spiritual difficulties, cling only to the free verdict of their heart?

Everything was given over by Thee to the Pope, and everything now rests with him alone; Thou hast no business to return and thus hinder us in our work.' In this sense the Jesuits not only talk but write likewise.