"Who will get married?" - and there was only one answer: “no one will get married!” And suddenly, instead of “no one will get married,” the surname “Mertsalov” appeared in his head.(Chapter 2,XXI).

Mertsalov is a minor character, and probably few readers remember him. Meanwhile, it is of great interest to supporters of Orthodox socialism.

Just as Rakhmetov was brought out by Chernyshevsky not only in order to convey Lopukhov’s letter to Vera Pavlovna, so the meaning of Mertsalov’s image is not limited to cameo role in the development of the plot. In the image of Mertsalov, the author sought to show what was new that was emerging among the Russian clergy, and he largely succeeded in this, despite the difficulties caused by censorship restrictions.

Upon careful analysis of the text, a guess arises that precisely in order not to attract the censor’s attention to this character, Chernyshevsky tried to give him less brightness, less “convexity.” Only once does the author call him a priest, and no longer focuses on this: for example, there is no description appearance Mertsalov (accordingly, the cassock and beard are not mentioned, which would depict in the reader’s mind the appearance of a clergyman), acquaintances address him by his first name and patronymic, and not “Father Alexey” or “father”.
And, unfortunately, due to censorship, Chernyshevsky could not say everything he wanted to say about the socialist priest.

Getting to know Mertsalov, the reader finds him reading a book by the atheist Feuerbach, which the author reports in “Aesopian” language:

“Mertsalov, sitting at home alone, was reading some new work, either by Louis XIV, or someone else from the same dynasty.”(Chapter 2,XXI).

Apparently, this is “The Essence of Christianity” - the same “German book” that was brought to Vera Pavlovna by Lopukhov and mistakenly accepted by Marya Alekseevna and Storeshnikov as the work of Louis XIV:

"Well, what about German?

Mikhail Ivanovich slowly read: “On religion, an essay by Ludwig.” Louis XIV, Marya Aleksevna, composition of Louis XIV; it was Marya Aleksevna, the French king, the father of the king in whose place the current Napoleon sat. "(chapter 2,VII)

It is difficult to say what meaning Chernyshevsky put into the picture he painted: a young priest reading a book by Feuerbach. Did the arguments sway German philosopher the priest's faith? Did he find them unconvincing? We only know that Mertsalov remains a priest, and we have no reason to suspect him of disgusting hypocrisy.

Mertsalov does not break with either religion or the church, unlike Chernyshevsky himself and his friend Dobrolyubov, former seminarians who became ideological leaders of the revolutionary democratic movement. Nevertheless, he is from the cohort of “new people”, along with Lopukhov and Kirsanov.

Mertsalov takes a serious risk by marrying Lopukhov and Vera Pavlovna without the consent of the bride’s parents:

- That’s what it’s all about, Alexey Petrovich! I know that this is a very serious risk for you; it’s good if we make peace with our relatives, but what if they start a business (53)? you may be in trouble, and probably will be; but... Lopukhov could not find any “but” in his head: how, in fact, can we convince a person to put his neck in a noose for us!
Mertsalov thought for a long time, also looked for a “but” to authorize himself to take such a risk, and also could not come up with any “but”.
- How to deal with this? After all, I would like... what you are doing now, I did a year ago, but I became involuntary, just like you will be. And I’m ashamed: I should help you. Yes, when you have a wife, it’s a little scary to walk without looking back (54).
- Hello, Alyosha. My all bow to you, hello, Lopukhov: we haven’t seen each other for a long time. What are you talking about your wife? “It’s all your wives’ fault,” said a lady of about 17, a pretty and lively blonde, who had returned from her family.
Mertsalov recounted the matter to his wife. The young lady's eyes sparkled.
- Alyosha, they won’t eat you!
- There is a risk, Natasha.
“It’s a very big risk,” confirmed Lopukhov.
“Well, what to do, take a risk, Alyosha,” I ask you.
- When you don’t judge me, Natasha, that I forgot about you, running into danger, then the conversation is over. When do you want to get married, Dmitry Sergeevich?

Mertsalov is interested in socialist ideas and sympathizes with their implementation. This is evidenced by the following conversation between Vera Pavlovna, who decided to organize a sewing workshop on a socialist basis, and Lopukhov:

“My friend, you have some fun: why don’t you share it with me?
- It seems there is, my dear, but wait a little longer: I’ll tell you when it’s true. We need to wait a few more days. And this will be my great joy. Yes, and you will be happy, I know; and Kirsanov, and The Mertsalovs will like it.
- But what is it?
- Have you forgotten, my dear, our agreement: not to ask questions? I'll tell you when it's right.
Another week has passed.
- My dear, I will tell you my joy. Just advise me, you know all this. You see, I’ve been wanting to do something for a long time. I came up with the idea that I should start a sewing shop; isn't that good?
- Well, my friend, we had an agreement so that I would not kiss your hands, but that was said in general, but there was no agreement for such a case. Give me your hand, Vera Pavlovna.
- Later, my dear, when I can do it.
- When you manage to do it, then you won’t let me kiss your hand, then both Kirsanov and Alexey Petrovich, and everyone will kiss. And now I'm alone. And the intention is worth it.

Mertsalov agrees to give lectures for women sewing workers, and in addition, with his authority as a clergyman, give the event respectability in the eyes of the authorities:

“- Alexey Petrovich,” said Vera Pavlovna, who once visited the Mertsalovs, “I have a request to you. Natasha is already on my side. My workshop is becoming a lyceum of all kinds of knowledge. Be one of the professors,
- What am I going to teach them? perhaps Latin and Greek, or logic and rhetoric?
- said Alexey Petrovich, laughing.
- After all my specialty is not very interesting, in your opinion and also according to one person about whom I know who he is (71).
- No, you are needed precisely as a specialist: you will serve as a shield of good behavior and the excellent direction of our sciences.
- But it’s true. I see that without me it would be unseemly. Appoint a department.
- For example, Russian history, essays from general history.
- Perfect. But I will read this, and it will be assumed that I am an expert. Great. Two positions: professor and shield. Natalya Andreevna, Lopukhov, two or three students, Vera Pavlovna herself were other professors, as they jokingly called themselves."

Finally, Mertsalov’s wife takes over the management of one of the sewing workshops:

“Mertsalova was very good at the sewing shop that was set up on Vasilievsky, and naturally: after all, she and the workshop were very familiar with each other. Vera Pavlovna, having returned to St. Petersburg, saw that if she needed to visit this sewing shop , then perhaps occasionally, for a short time; that if she continues to be there almost every day, it is, in fact, only because her affection draws her there, and that her affection meets there; perhaps for a few times, her feelings are not completely useless visits, Mertsalova still sometimes finds it necessary to consult with her; but this takes so little time and happens less and less often; and soon Mertsalova will gain so much experience that she will no longer need Vera Pavlovna at all."(chapter 4, IV)

Mertsalov’s relationship with his wife is built on the same principles of mutual respect, friendship and trust as Lopukhov’s (there is no hint of the wife’s patriarchal subordination to her husband):

"... between another conversation they said a few words and about the Mertsalovs, who had visited the day before, they praised their concordant life, they noted that this was a rarity; everyone said this, including Kirsanov said: “yes, it’s very good in Mertsalov and that’s it, that his wife can freely reveal her soul to him,” that’s all Kirsanov said, each of the three of them thought of saying the same thing, but it happened to be said to Kirsanov, however, why did he say this? What does this mean? After all, if you understand this from a certain point of view, what will it be? It will be a praise for Lopukhov, it will be a glorification of the happiness of Vera Pavlovna with Lopukhov; of course, this could be said without thinking about anyone except the Mertsalovs, and if we assume that he was thinking about both the Mertsalovs and together about Lopukhovs, then this means that this was said directly for Vera Pavlovna, for what purpose was this said?(Chapter 3, XXIII)

The Lopukhovs and Mertsalovs are very friendly and spend a lot of time together; the interests of Mertsalov and Lopukhov are also similar: philosophy, politics, science:
“When they arrived home, after a while the guests they were waiting for gathered at their place - ordinary guests of that time: Alexey Petrovich with Natalya Andreevna, Kirsanov - and the evening passed as usual with them. How doubly gratifying it seemed to Vera Pavlovna new life with pure thoughts, in society pure people"! As usual, there was a cheerful conversation with many memories, there was also a serious conversation about everything in the world: from the historical affairs of that time (the civil war in Kansas (63), the harbinger of the current great war North and South (64), the harbinger of even greater events in more than one America, occupied this small circle: now everyone talks about politics, then very few were interested in it; among the few - Lopukhov, Kirsanov, their friends) before the then dispute about the chemical foundations of agriculture according to Liebig’s theory (65), and about the laws of historical progress, without which not a single conversation in such circles could do then (66), and about the great importance distinguishing real desires (67), which seek and find satisfaction for themselves, from fantastic ones, for which there is no, and for which there is no need to find satisfaction, like a false thirst during a fever, which, like it, has only one satisfaction: healing the body, a painful condition which they are generated through the distortion of real desires, and about the importance of this fundamental distinction, then exposed by anthropological philosophy, and about everything like that and not like that, but related. The ladies from time to time listened attentively to these eruditions, which were spoken so simply as if they were not eruditions, and intervened in them with their questions, and more - of course, they did not listen any more, they even sprinkled Lopukhov and Alexei Petrovich with water when they were already very much delighted with the great importance mineral fertilizer; but Alexey Petrovich and Lopukhov spoke unshakably about their learning.(Chapter 3, II)

In “Vera Pavlovna’s second dream,” it is Mertsalov who speaks about the great role of labor in the formation of the human personality (undoubtedly, these are echoes of what she heard from Mertsalov the day before):
“Yes, movement is reality,” says Alexey Petrovich, “because movement is life, and reality and life are one and the same. But life has labor as its main element, and therefore the main element of reality is labor, and the surest sign reality - efficiency"
"...work appears in anthropological analysis as the fundamental form of movement, which gives the basis and content to all other forms: entertainment, relaxation, fun, fun; without previous work they have no reality. And without movement there is no life, that is, reality"

There, in the “second dream” Mertsalov talks about the poor and working life in the parental family:
“My father was a sexton in a provincial town and was engaged in bookbinding, and my mother allowed seminarians into the apartment. From morning to night, my father and mother were always fussing and talking about a piece of bread. My father drank, but only when the need was unbearable - this is a real grief, or when the income was decent; then he gave his mother all the money and said: “Well, mother, now, thank God, you won’t see any need for two months; and I left myself fifty kopecks, I’ll drink it out of joy” - this is real joy. My mother was often angry, sometimes she beat me, but when, as she said, her lower back was weakened from carrying pots and irons, from washing clothes for the five of us and for five seminarians, and washing floors dirty with our twenty feet that did not wear galoshes, and caring for a cow; this is a real irritation of the nerves with excessive work without rest; and when, with all this, “the ends did not meet,” as she said, then There wasn't enough money to buy boots for one of us brothers, or to buy shoes for our sisters - then she would beat us. She would caress us when we, even stupid children, volunteered to help her in her work, or when we did something something else smart, or when she had a rare moment to rest, and her “lower back would go away,” as she said, these are all real joys...”

It is interesting that Mertsalov disappears from the pages of the novel after the return of Lopukhov-Beaumont - in this one can see a hint that the priest did not approve of the way his life was organized family life the young people he once married.