Father Zosima then advises his suppliant, in some of the words that Father Ambrose of Optina Pustyn asked Dostoevsky to convey to Anna Grigoryevna: “Be not comforted. Consolation is not what you need. Weep and be not consoled.”
–Joseph Frank, Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet—1871-1881
***
I hung up, feeling I was exposing myself and others to the emotional vomit that was a fairly constant companion in the weeks since Mev died. Why puke on someone else? I made another resolve to stick it out.
Five minutes later, I broke down and called my next-door neighbor Sharon. “Sharon, I miss Mev.”
I was crying uncontrollably, when she said, “Oh, there’s just no comfort for you tonight.”
–Mark Chmiel, The Book of Mev
