One thing I learned from them: respect for dynamite. It's a powerful instrument, dynamite is--nothing like it for a convincing argument. LIPA You are only twenty-three years old. You have no beard yet, not even a moustache. SAVVA _(feeling his face)_ Yes, a measly growth; but what conclusions do you draw from that? LIPA Fear will come to you yet. SAVVA No. If I haven't been frightened so far by watching life, there's nothing else to fear. Life, yes. I embrace the earth with my eyes, the whole of it, the entire little planetoid, and I can find nothing more terrible on it than man and human life. And I am not afraid of man. LIPA _(scarcely listening to him; ecstatically)_ Yes, that's the word. That's it. Savva, dear, I am not afraid of bodily suffering either. Burn me on a slow fire. Cut me to pieces. I won't cry. I'll laugh. I know I will. But there is another thing I am afraid of. I am afraid of people's suffering, of the misery from which they cannot escape. When in the stillness of the night, broken only by the striking of the hours, I think of how much suffering there is all around us--aimless, needless suffering; suffering one doesn't even know of--when I think of that, I am chilled with terror. I go down on my knees and pray. I pray to God, saying to Him: "Oh, Lord, if there has to be a victim, take me, but give the people joy, give them peace, give them forgetfulness. Oh, Lord, all powerful as Thou art--" SAVVA Yes. LIPA I have read about a man who was eaten by an eagle, and his flesh grew again overnight. If my body could turn into bread and joy for the people, I would consent to live in eternal torture in order to feed the unfortunate. There'll soon be a holiday here in the monastery-- SAVVA I know. LIPA There is an ikon of the Saviour there with the touching inscription: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden-- SAVVA And I will give you rest." I know. LIPA It is regarded as a wonder-working ikon. Go there on the feast-day. It's like a torrent pouring into the monastery, an ocean rolling toward its walls; and this whole ocean is made up entirely of human tears, of human sorrow and misery. Such monstrosities, such cripples. After witnessing one of those scenes, I walk about as in a dream. There are faces with such a depth of misery in them that one can never forget them as long as one lives. Why, Savva, I was a gay young thing before I saw all that. There is one man who comes here every year--they have nicknamed him King Herod-- SAVVA He is here already. I've seen him. LIPA Have you? SAVVA Yes, he has got a tragic face. LIPA Long ago, when still a young man, he killed his son by accident, and from that day he keeps coming here. He has an awful face. And all of them are waiting for a miracle. SAVVA Yes. There is something worse than inescapable human suffering, however. LIPA What? SAVVA _(lightly)_ Inescapable human stupidity. LIPA I don't know. SAVVA