I BELIEVE</BR></BR>

FYODOR MIKHAYLOVICH DOSTOYEVSKY</BR></BR>

Jesus is unquestionably the primary literary symbol of the West.</BR>
Nowhere does Jesus more dominate novels as the primary literary symbol than in</BR> the Russian novels  of the nineteenth century. Both Tolstoy and</BR> Dostoyevsky were imbued with faith that marked their novels with a ready</BR> evidence of all they believed about Christ. While they rarely  stated</BR> their faith in direst creedal statements of their own, they did freely give</BR> this office to their fictional characters. Such is the case of this</BR> inclusion from THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV.</BR></BR>

“I BELIEVE THERE is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic and more perfect</BR> than the Saviour; I say to myself with jealous love that not only is</BR> there no one else like Him, but that there could be no one. I would</BR> say even more. If any one could prove to me that  Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to</BR> stay with Christ and not with truth. There is in the world only one</BR> figure of absolute beauty: Christ. That infinitely lovely figure is as a matter of course an infinite marvel.</BR>