disinterested...but then..."
"You are not angry at me?"
"I must tell everything... I loved him."
"We all love him."
"You... were his mistress?"
"By marrying me, you wanted to hide all this."
On the same day.
"I resign... immediately."
Arriving in his village, Kossotski decided very quickly to enter the monastery.
"My decision is firm."
"Perhaps you understand me."
By entering the monastery, Kossotski showed he despised
everything that seemed important to others.
"I must speak to the Father Superior."
And soon...
and he could...
"Sin is getting the better of me."
Three years later, Prince Stepan Kossotski
went into holy orders by the name of Sergius.
Four years later, Sergius was transferred to a large monastery in the capital.
"Tomorrow... will you celebrate the Mass?"
The superior was a skillful man who had achieved his ecclesiastic
career with the aid of his relations in high circles.
"And couldn't I see my old comrade, Father Sergius?"
"It's that prince, Kossotski."
"I'm happy to see you in this angelic appearance."
"Abbot... you expose me to temptations."
In order to avoid any temptation,
Sergius becomes a hermit in the far away Tambino desert.
In the nearby town.
"It's always the same. I can't stand it... I'm bored."
Makovkina, an eccentric divorcee,
disturbed all of town with her extravagances.
"Careful, it's loaded!"
"This is the road to Tambino."
"I'll spend the night over at Kossotski's."
"Dear Lord, why won't you give me faith?"
"Come get me at three o'clock in the morning."
"Allow me to come inside... I'm freezing."
"I'm not the devil, I'm just a sinner, I'm lost...
I'm looking for refuge."
"I wandered away from the path, and if I hadn't stumbled upon your cell..."
"Sit here... I'll go over there."
"Don't come in.  I'm soaked... my feet are frozen."
"Don't come in.  I must undress to dry myself ..."
"Listen, help me! I don't know what's happening to me."
"Father Sergius... Prince Kossotski!"
"I'll come back at once."
"What's wrong?"
"Let me take care of your wound."
"Go away!"
At three o'clock sharp.
"You have really won your bet.  Congratulations."
The adventure with Makovkina was starting to spread
and Father Sergius' reputation was strengthened.
"Cure him, father."
9 years went by.  More and more visitors arrived.
Next to Father Sergius' cell, some monks built a big church.
"Little Father, don't leave us."
"Until tomorrow; today I can't."
"But you don't look like a monk today, my precious."
In the evening, the merchant ordered his daughter to prepare.
"Holy Father! Bless my daughter so that she be cured of her illness.
It's been two years since she lost her reason.
She doesn't go out during the day... she's afraid of the light."
"I have seen you in my dreams."
"I saw that you would lay your hand on my chest... here, like this."
"What's possessing you... pull yourself together!"
"Really now!"
At dawn.
"We need to cut wood.  Give me the axe."
In the evening he was already far from the monastery.
"I'm going to Tambino to see Father Sergius."
"Sergius is no longer there.  Not any more."
He wanted to pray... but there was no one to pray to...
God was not there.
And he went from village to village, living off alms.
One day.
"Who are you?"
"Where's your passport?"
He was classed among the vagabonds, judged, and sent to Siberia.
THE END