Father Vasily (Tolstoy)
Short summary
A Russian village, presumably mid-19th century. Before dawn, a peasant from Vozdrevo arrived at Father Vasily's house to fetch him for his dying wife.
Twenty-two years earlier, Father Vasily had abandoned his brilliant seminary career and dreams of the academy to support his widowed mother. He married the former priest's daughter Anna to obtain the living and served his parish devotedly. Now he prepared for the journey, performing his morning prayers while troubled by the deacon's accusations of hypocrisy.
At the peasant's house, Father Vasily administered the last sacrament to the dying woman, who kept her eyes fixed on him until she passed away. The children wailed, and the old woman lamented about the orphans left without care.
He felt for his purse... remembering that he had a half-rouble coin in it... and, regardless of the consequences, he took out the coin, and... put it on the windowsill.
Detailed summary by chapters
Chapter titles are editorial.
Chapter 1. Morning call to a dying woman
Before daybreak on an autumn morning, a cart rattled over the badly repaired road and stopped at Father Vasily's thatched house. A peasant in a cap with his kaftan collar turned up jumped out and knocked at the window with his whip, seeking the priest for someone who was sick in Vozdrevo.
The priest's wife came out angrily asking what evil spirit had brought him there. The peasant went to the kitchen, crossed himself before the icon, and sat down to wait. His wife had been suffering for a long time and, after giving birth to a stillborn child, was now dying.
Father Vasily awoke full of life and spirits, said his morning prayers, and prepared for the journey. During his prayers, he remembered the drunken deacon who had called him a hypocrite and Pharisee the day before.
These words, Pharisee and hypocrite, pained Father Vasily particularly because, although conscious of having many faults, he did not believe hypocrisy to be one of them.
After drinking his tea without milk, as it was Friday, Father Vasily took the sacred elements and went out to meet Mitri. He stepped onto the cart, and they set off over the frozen mud as fine snow began to fall.
Chapter 2. The priests sacrifice and family life
Father Vasily's family consisted of his wife, her mother, and three children. He had studied brilliantly at the seminary and dreamed of a professorship or bishopric, but his mother lived in poverty with three daughters and a drinking son.
The step he took at that time gave a suggestion of self-sacrifice and renunciation to his whole life. To please his mother he left the academy, and became a village priest.
He married Anna, the former priest's daughter, to obtain the living. Despite her romantic attachment to a student, he treated her with even greater kindness, wishing to atone for any angry feelings her attachment had awakened in him.
Their eldest son had finished seminary and was preparing for university, while their second son remained at seminary and their daughter Lena lived at home, discontented with her lot.
Chapter 3. Death in Vozdrevo and an act of charity
The two men drove mostly in silence through the uneven village road and into the meadow. When Father Vasily asked about the woman's condition, Mitri replied reluctantly that they didn't expect her to live. The priest offered comfort, saying it was God's will, but Mitri expressed his despair.
It may be God's will, but it is very hard on me, Father. I am alone. What will become of my little ones?
They reached the house around breakfast time. The woman was still alive but too weak to move, her expressive eyes showing life was not yet extinct. Father Vasily administered the sacrament while an old woman and the children watched.
When Mitri returned and asked if she was dead, the old woman confirmed she was dying. The girl burst into tears, and the three children on the stove began to howl. Mitri uncovered his wife's face and looked at her.
The white face was calm and still. He stood over the dead woman for a few minutes, then tenderly covered the face again, and crossing himself several times, turned to the priest.
The old woman began a wailing chant about the orphaned children. Moved by compassion, Father Vasily took out a half-rouble coin he had received from a landowner and placed it on the windowsill to help the family.
Chapter 4. Return home and domestic conflict
Theodore, Mitri's friend, drove Father Vasily back home. He was a sociable, merry giant with red hair and beard who had been drinking to celebrate his son being taken as a recruit. He spoke cheerfully about helping friends and made jokes about God sending Mitri another wife.
When Father Vasily returned home, he found two letters waiting - one from his son and one from the bishop. His wife asked for the half-rouble and discovered he had given it away. Her anger grew into a stormy scene, worsened by their son's letter and their inability to satisfy his demands due to her husband's carelessness.