The Brothers Karamazov Book 6, Chapter 1 Summary

The Elder Zosima and his Visitors

  • When Alyosha arrives at the elder Zosima's quarters, he is sitting up looking relatively well, surrounded by four other monks: Father Iosif, Father Paissy, Father Mikhail (the superior), and Brother Anfim.
  • Zosima asks Alyosha if he has seen his brother, but Alyosha isn't sure which brother he is referring to at first. Zosima explains that he had seen a fate of terrible suffering in the face of his brother Dmitri and had hoped that Alyosha could save him. He tells Alyosha to find Dmitri at all costs after their conversation.
  • Zosima then says how much Alyosha reminds him of his own dead brother.
  • The narrator intervenes at this point to tell the reader that what follows in the next chapter is a narrative of Zosima's life written by Alyosha, who wrote down what he remembered of that night much later.