Tales Written by the Dying in Awe. Vysheslav Filevsky

the student said, “three men robbed a plant. One went to the police and repented. The two others concluded that he was a traitor and killed him. Neighbors approved of the killers’ action.”

      Teacher was surprised. “Well, so what?”

      “This is not the end of the story. One nation adhered to high ideals and was unhappy. Then it refused to consider any high matters and started to serve the low ones. And here it acquired its happiness. One living creature did not agree with his nation and continued to serve high matters. He considered his nation to be a traitor. The people understood this and despised the living creature as a traitor too. The life of the living creature transformed into suffering itself. But his conscience was clean, and in this thought, he found a happiness of the same intensity as that experienced by the nation that he betrayed. So is it right or wrong to be a traitor?”

      “You see,” Teacher explained, “betrayal is unfaithfulness to a community. To say is it right or wrong is funny in itself. But whether betrayal is good or not good is another question.

      “When a whole nation is unfaithful to something, this is undoubtedly the will of the Most High. But the execution of heaven’s will is not always useful for a soul or a body.

      “You told how repentance led to death. But for the entire nation and the man who was cast off, what matters is for whose sake the betrayal was made. If it was for the sake of serving heaven, such unfaithfulness – even to one’s own people – is the soul’s greatest good. And let the affair be finished with the body’s inglorious death! On the other hand, if an entire nation smeared high ideals with shit, refused them, and even found great happiness in low aspirations, I think that such a betrayal would lead to the degeneration of this nation – but that is heaven’s will for it. So it is not worth aching for this community. Instead, one has to praise the creator, the ways of whom are inexplicable.”

      Not to Embarrass

      A righteous man once lived on earth. All his days were spent in prayer, singing psalms, and heavenly reflection. Once he got sick, and for the restoration of his health and strength, our merciful Lord sent him into a deep sleep.

      The soul of the righteous man was glad of the freedom; it left the body for a while and flew, wandering. It found itself on the spiritual planet W. The soul flew around it, praising the Most High and enjoying its own righteousness. It never occurred to the soul that it was doing something obscene.

      Meanwhile, spiritual dark clouds had condensed around the soul, and immaterial lightning started to glow. Any minute now, the soul would be struck dead! It was surrounded by angels of the planet W, and they threatened it with a cruel death.

      “Have mercy, dear ones,” the soul said to the spirits. “I am such a righteous soul, such a prayer reader, such a psalm singer!”