GALINA SEDOVA’S BULGAKOV. LXII.

Yeshua and Woland Concludes.

“To good and evil shamefully indifferent,

From the onset of life we wilt without a fight;

Dishonorably fainthearted before danger,

And before power wretched slaves.”

 

M. Yu. Lermontov.

…Everything changes with the birth of Christ. Both God in human incarnation and the devil are now on earth, and Christ offers “resistance” to Lucifer. [The temptation in the desert, etc.] Now is the devil’s interest greatly aroused. After all, this is what he says about himself:

“I am the king of knowledge and of freedom,

I’m Heaven’s foe, I’m Nature’s evil…”

Obviously, it is impossible to imagine that having met Him after instants-ages, Lucifer would not be anxious to “perceive” Christ. Lermontov depicts such a meeting in powerful terms:

“Speechless, he was looking at his friend,

And blood was freezing in the veins,

He trembled, he sat down, he got up,

He walked, he paled, and suddenly sat down again.

In madness, he then wrung his hands,

Yet all the time kept silent…”

As we see, this passage starts with the word “speechless” and ends with “silent.” It is very strange that the other one makes no attempt to comfort his friend or otherwise help his young friend. This is certainly an allegory of friendship, but in reality there is no friendship. Lucifer the devil watches Christ, but does not interfere, as he knows only too well that this will be useless. He exhibits very strong emotions because all that Christ has been doing interests him greatly for the first time in countless ages. And when Christ’s death comes at last, Lermontov depicts the highest level of desperation in the older friend. This is how some people lose their mind.---

“…Like a madman, arms held crosswise,

There stood his friend,

He wished to laugh…

And froze, with his mouth open…

His glance then stiffened…”

Following in Lermontov’s footsteps, Bulgakov leaves unabated the devil’s [Woland’s] interest in Yeshua. Woland flies in to witness the interrogation and the crucifixion, not even trying to influence Yeshua, but affecting Pontius Pilate, as he offers him the usual way to go: by drinking a cup of poison (he makes the same offer to Andrei Fokich, and certainly to countless others), having first set Yeshua free.

Pontius Pilate is a strong personality, and although he is well aware that something very strange is happening to him, he puts up a strong defense against Woland’s attempts at intimidation. Being a Roman soldier, as he is, Pilate does not succumb to pressure, or, maybe, it is the other way round, and Bulgakov’s Russian Woland merely mocks the Roman procurator for his incapacity to see the truth (that is, to become a Christian), and for his cowardice.

There is yet another Lermontov poem where the Christ theme comes out strong, even though the poem Epitaph is ostensibly written on the occasion of his father’s death. Mark these words, however, which undoubtedly point in that Christological direction:

“You were yourself persecuted by the world,

And only evil discovered you in people.”

Unless these words are addressed to Christ, they sound ostentatious and out of place. But who is the one, in the poem, who is standing in the crowd all by himself and is not weeping? Whom does the crowd accuse of Schadenfreude, if it is not the devil?

“…But by one only was he understood.

And that one only, when the crowd, weeping,

Bent over you, he just stood there

Without wiping his eyes, immobile, cold, and speechless.

And all of them, not knowing the reason,

Were blaming him in daring rage,

As if the moment of your passing

Was a moment of bliss for him.”

Twice in his poems Lermontov makes the point that even if the devil is not directly accused of killing Christ, he is accused of gloating over Christ’s death; meanwhile, Lermontov’s devil is silent. In Bulgakov’s 2^nd chapter of Master and Margarita, the devil engages in disseminating the first chapter of Master’s novel Pontius Pilate, meaning that he is by no means silent in this matter. It goes without saying that Bulgakov offers an exceptionally interesting account of Christ’s last day on earth.

Bulgakov’s devil in Pontius Pilate differs from the devil in Master and Margarita, as in the first instance he wanted to establish as an eyewitness that God was capable of the ultimate sacrifice.