Book 5, Chapter 4: Rebellion

⁠​​​‌​​​​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌​‌​​​​​‌​​​​​‌‌⁠“I must make you one confession,” Ivan began. “I could never understand how one can love one’s neighbors. It’s just one’s neighbors, to my mind, that one can’t love, though one might love those at a distance. I once read somewhere of John the Merciful, a saint, that when a hungry, frozen beggar came to him, he took him into his bed, held him in his arms, and began breathing into his mouth, which w