The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories · Chapter
The Three Hermits explained
A Bishop, sailing to a monastery, hears of three hermits living on a remote island.
What happens
A Bishop, sailing to a monastery, hears of three hermits living on a remote island. Intrigued, he insists on being rowed ashore to meet them. He finds three ancient men living in silent simplicity. When asked how they pray, they recite a simple, unorthodox phrase. The Bishop, moved by their piety but convinced of their ignorance, spends an entire day laboriously teaching them the Lord's Prayer. After he departs, satisfied with his work, he sees the hermits miraculously running across the water to catch up to the ship because they have already forgotten the prayer, asking him to teach them again. The Bishop, humbled, tells them to continue with their own prayer and acknowledges their direct connection to God.
Themes in this chapter
Faith, Spirituality, and Redemption
The core conflict is between institutional, taught religion (represented by the Bishop and the Lord's Prayer) and innate, simple, mystical faith (represented by the hermits and their primal prayer). The chapter questions what constitutes true piety and effective prayer.
Hypocrisy and Social Pretense
Subtly critiqued through the Bishop's initial condescension. He assumes the hermits, due to their isolation and lack of formal doctrine, are in need of his correction, a pretense of superior spiritual knowledge that is dismantled by the story's miraculous end.
Characters to notice
- The Bishop
The protagonist of the chapter. A well-meaning church official who believes it is his duty to teach the hermits the 'correct' form of prayer, only to be humbled by their profound, simple faith.
- The Fisherman
A passenger on the ship who first tells the Bishop and others about the hermits, describing his encounter with them and their physical appearance and gentle nature.
- The Captain
The ship's captain who tries to dissuade the Bishop from visiting the island, calling the hermits 'foolish old fellows,' but ultimately arranges the boat trip.
- The Three Hermits
Three ancient men living in isolation. They are characterized by silent understanding, simple needs, and a primal, effective prayer that demonstrates a direct, unmediated relationship with the divine, which ultimately humbles the Bishop.
Key passages
“"Three are ye, three are we, have mercy upon us."”
The hermits' original prayer, a simple, triadic plea for mercy that mirrors the Trinity in an instinctive, unstudied way.
This prayer is the heart of the hermits' spirituality. Its simplicity and effectiveness contrast sharply with the Bishop's complex theological instruction.
“"And all day long the Bishop laboured, saying a word twenty, thirty, a hundred times over, and the old men repeated it after him."”
The Bishop painstakingly teaches the Lord's Prayer to the hermits, who struggle to learn the unfamiliar words.
Highlights the gap between intellectual, memorized religion and the hermits' experiential faith. The Bishop's 'labour' is ironic given the effortless power of the hermits' own connection to God.
“"We do not know how to serve God. We only serve and support ourselves, servant of God."”
The oldest hermit's response when the Bishop asks how they serve God on the island.
A profound statement of humility and integrated spirituality. For the hermits, living simply and supporting one another *is* their service to God, rejecting a separation between sacred and mundane life.