Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Grand Inquisitor”

“The Grand Inquisitor” has been one of the few stories that have not bore or confuse me. Stories about Christ seem to catch my attention even though I am not extremely religious. “The Grand Inquisitor” is a story about Christ coming back to earth as he said he would. Christ was walking around healing and helping people in the town. The town church heard about this and sent the Grand Inquisitor to arrest Christ and put him in prison so he did as he was told. While in prison the Grand Inquisitor went to speak to Christ in his cell. He explained to Christ that the reason they imprisoned him was because when Christ was tempted by the devil he refused all three temptations and by refusing them he gave freedom to the people to believe what they choose to believe. The church had been trying for so long to get everyone to believe in Christ and since some people had the freedom to choose otherwise they had to arrest Christ so they can keep trying to force people to believe in Christ. The Grand Inquisitor tells Christ that it is his fault that people have the freedom to believe in whatever they like since he did not accept the three temptations the devil had offered him before. This whole time Christ listens to the Grand Inquisitor with patience and respect. When he was done talking Christ kissed him on the lips and he let Christ go.