Chapter 1. Never talk to strangers

In Moscow, the poet Ivan Bezdomny and the chairman of the literary organization MASSOLIT, Mikhail Berlioz, are walking on the Patriarch's Ponds. They discuss Homeless's poem about Jesus Christ. Berlioz is trying to prove that Christ did not exist.

A passerby intervenes in the conversation. He introduces himself as a foreign professor of black magic who came to Moscow on tour. The stranger wonders if there is no God, then who controls the destiny of man? Writers claim that the man himself. The foreigner objects: man is mortal and does not even know the date of his death. Regarding the fate of Berlioz, the professor reports that his head will soon be cut off, because Annushka has already spilled the oil.

The stranger claims that Jesus existed. He begins a story about Pontius Pilate.

Chapter 2. Pontius Pilate

The procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, is suffering from a severe headache, but not all his work is completed for today. The legionnaires bring a new accused - a poorly dressed man named Yeshua Ha-Nozri. He, according to many townspeople, wanted to destroy the Yershalaim Temple.

The arrested man denies his guilt. Levi Matthew is to blame for everything, who follows Yeshua and incorrectly records his words. Ga-Nozri makes strange but surprisingly reasonable speeches, notices that the procurator is suffering from a headache and easily relieves it.

Pontius Pilate decides to abolish the death penalty for the wandering philosopher, but it turns out that Yeshua was denounced by Judas from Kiriath. He claims that Ha-Nozri opposed the power of Caesar.

Now the procurator cannot cancel the execution, but hopes to persuade the Sanhedrin to grant a pardon. This council of Jewish high priests has the right, in honor of the Passover holiday, to release one of the condemned. But the Sanhedrin grants its mercy to the murderer Varravan.

Chapter 3. Seventh proof

The foreigner's story is interrupted by Berlioz, who notes that no one can confirm the reality of those events. The professor, in turn, admits that he was there personally.

The writers step aside to consult. They decide that the stranger has gone crazy and should report this to the foreigners' bureau. The homeless man stays with the visitor, and Berlioz heads to the nearest telephone. In a hurry, he runs across the tram tracks, slips on oil, and the tram cuts off his head.

Chapter 4. The Chase

Ivan Bezdomny is shocked by what he sees. Onlookers gather around the deceased Berlioz and discuss the tragedy. It turns out that Annushka and Sadova spilled the oil. Ivan, who has just heard a prediction from a foreigner, rushes to him for an explanation.

But the professor of black magic pretends that he does not understand Russian and leaves, accompanied by a strange man in a checkered jacket and a huge black cat. The homeless man tries to catch up with them, but in vain.

Chapter 5. There was an affair in Griboedov

MASSOLIT writers chose the “Griboyedov House” for their meetings. On the ground floor of this mansion there is the best restaurant in Moscow. Twelve writers are waiting for their chairman, Berlioz, who is late for the meeting.

Suddenly the Homeless Man appears. He behaves very strangely: he looks under tables in search of a huge black cat that walks on its hind legs. The poet claims that Berlioz was killed by a foreign professor along with an unpleasant citizen in a checkered jacket and broken pince-nez. Considering Ivan crazy, he is taken to a mental hospital.

Chapter 6. Schizophrenia, as was said

The homeless man tries to explain to the doctors what danger the professor and his company pose, but no one wants to take the poet’s words seriously.

Ivan gets rowdy and demands to call the police. To calm him down, the doctor allows him to make a call. The homeless man demands that motorcyclists with machine guns be allocated to capture the spy and criminal - a professor of black magic. The police hang up. Then Ivan tries to escape through the window, but after the injection he becomes quiet. He is diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Chapter 7. Bad apartment

The director of the Variety Theater Stepan Likhodeev shares an apartment with the late Berlioz. In the morning, he discovers a stranger in the house, who introduces himself as a professor of black magic named Woland. In addition to the foreigner, in the apartment there is a strange gentleman in a broken pince-nez and a huge talking cat. A red-haired and fanged Azazello appears from the mirror. He declares that Stepan is superfluous in the apartment, he needs to be thrown out of Moscow.

The next minute Likhodeev finds himself on the seashore in Yalta.

Chapter 8. The duel between the professor and the poet

A homeless man wakes up in a hospital. He understands that it is useless to rage and talk about his suspicions. Therefore, Ivan decides to remain silent, then he will be considered normal and released. But the doctor deftly asks Homeless about everything, starting with birth. The psychiatrist professor explains: Ivan will be released, but he will again end up in a “psychiatric hospital” if he starts looking for talking cats and black magicians. The Doctor invites Homeless to calm down and describe everything that happened to him. And then they will think together what can be done.

Chapter 9. Koroviev's things

The chairman of the housing association, Nikanor Ivanovich Bosogo, after the tragic death of Berlioz, was tortured by applicants for the vacant living space. He decides to escape from the petitioners and take a look at apartment number 50 in person.

In the sealed room, Bosoy is surprised to discover a citizen in a checkered jacket. He introduces himself as Koroviev, working as a translator for a foreign professor. His patron came on tour to the Variety Theater and, at the invitation of Likhodeev, temporarily lives in apartment No. 50.

Koroviev invites Nikanor Ivanovich to draw up a contract for renting the entire apartment. Barefoot agrees. In addition to the contract amount, he receives from the translator an impressive wad of new bills. As soon as the door closes behind Nikanor Ivanovich, Koroviev telephones the police that the chairman of the housing association is speculating in currency. Five minutes later, Bosoy is arrested.

Chapter 10. News from Yalta

The financial director of the Variety Theater Rimsky and the administrator Varenukha cannot understand where Likhodeev has gone. Telegrams arrive from Yalta asking to confirm Stepan's identity. Rimsky and Varenukha decide that this is a prank played by the drunken Likhodeev.

The angry director tells Varenukha to take the telegram to the police. On the way, the administrator is attacked by a red-haired, fanged citizen and a fat man who looks like a cat. They deliver Varenukha to Likhodeev’s apartment.

Chapter 11. Ivan's split

The homeless man tries to describe the incident at the Patriarch's Ponds, but he fails. Ivan begins to regret that he did not listen to the story about Pontius Pilate. Suddenly, a stranger appears on the balcony of the ward, putting his finger to his lips, urging Ivan to remain silent.

Chapter 12. Black magic and its exposure

The performance “A Session of Magic with Subsequent Exposure” begins at the Variety Theater. Woland sits down in a chair on the stage and looks at the Moscow audience with curiosity. He comes to the conclusion that people have remained the same, but they were spoiled by the housing issue.

Koroviev fires his pistol upward, and money rains down from the ceiling into the auditorium. The public rushes for banknotes, and turmoil begins in the hall. Entertainer Bengalsky tries to defuse the situation, assuring that this is mass hypnosis. But the translator claims that the money is real. Someone from the audience advises to tear off Bengal's head, which is immediately done by a huge black cat. One woman asks Woland to take pity on the entertainer, and Bengalsky's head is returned.

Koroviev announces the opening of a ladies' Parisian fashion store on stage. Here you can exchange the latest new items of the season for free for old clothes. Women rush onto the stage to dress up in Parisian chic.

Chapter 13. The appearance of a hero

A stranger enters the Homeless Man's room through the balcony door. This is a patient from the next room who introduces himself as a master. It turns out that both ended up in a mental hospital because of Pontius Pilate. Homeless's guest wrote a novel about him.

The stranger was named master by his beloved, who was delighted with his work. But the novel was not accepted for publication, only a small excerpt was published in the magazine. Critics immediately attacked the master, and a certain Latunsky was especially furious. Desperate, the author burned his manuscripts. The beloved managed to snatch only a few pages from the fire. The master was evicted from the apartment, and then he ended up in a hospital.

Chapter 14. Glory to the Rooster!

After the professor's speech, complete confusion begins. The Parisian outfits of the ladies suddenly disappear, and half-naked women rush to hide from shame.

Rimsky decides to somehow deal with this devilry. But at this time the phone rings, and he is advised not to go anywhere or do anything. The financial director hurries to leave the theater in fear, but Varenukha enters the office and locks the door. A naked girl appears in the window and stretches out her hands to Rimsky. She breaks the glass and almost touches the financier, but then the rooster crows three times. The woman and Varenukha disappear, and Rimsky, who has turned gray with horror, urgently leaves for Leningrad.

Chapter 15. Nikanor Ivanovich's dream

Bosoy, who was arrested for currency speculation, also ends up in a psychiatric clinic because he talks nonsense during interrogation. In the hospital he has a dream: Nikanor Ivanovich is sitting in the theater hall, and on the stage the artist offers to hand over the currency. None of the spectators are burning with such a desire.

A man named Dungil is invited to the stage. He and his wife claim that they handed over all the currency. Then a girl comes out with a tray on which lies a diamond necklace and a wad of money. This is Dungil’s mistress, she kept the currency. The entertainer announces that the liar's punishment will be the wrath of his wife.

One by one, men come up to the stage and hand over money. When it’s Bosogo’s turn, he wakes up with a terrible scream.

Chapter 16. Execution

Sentenced to death penalty brought to the mountain. The procurator sets up a cordon, fearing popular unrest. But the few spectators soon disperse to hide from the unbearable heat. Only Levi Matvey remains. On the way to the place of execution, he tried to save Yeshua from a painful death and for this he stole a knife from a bread shop. But Levi failed to carry out his plan. Now he begs God to give the teacher a quick death, but the torment in the sun continues. Then Levi curses God. As if a thunderstorm is gathering in response. By order of the procurator, the crucified are killed with a spear. A terrible downpour begins, the hill becomes empty. The former tax collector removes the corpses from the pillars and takes away the body of Ga-Notsri.

Chapter 17. Restless day

From the very morning, a crowd of people crowds around the Variety Theater, waiting for the box office to open. But the entire management of the theater disappeared. We have to call the police. Law enforcement officers with a search dog can explain little. Posters for the performance disappeared, as well as an agreement with a foreign magician. Therefore, the next session is cancelled.

Accountant Lastochkin goes to hand over the proceeds, but an incredible thing happens in the office: his suit is sitting in the chairman’s place and talking. A specialist in choral singing in a checkered jacket showed up at the branch, after which all the employees were taken to a mental hospital.

Lastochkin tries to hand over the proceeds, but it turns out that the rubles have turned into currency, and the accountant is immediately arrested.

Chapter 18. Unlucky Visitors

The uncle of the late Berlioz, Poplavsky, receives a telegram from his nephew calling him to his own funeral. He has views of Berlioz's living space, and therefore urgently leaves.

In his nephew’s apartment, an astonished relative meets Koroviev, who sobs about Mikhail’s absurd death. When asked who sent the telegram, they point to the cat. Having examined Poplavsky’s passport, the cat announces that there is no place for his uncle at the funeral or in the apartment. Poplavsky is pushed out the door.

On the landing, the uncle meets the bartender Variety, who comes to Woland with a complaint that all the money in the cash register has turned into labels.

Part two

Chapter 19. Margarita

The master's beloved Margarita yearns in her husband's rich apartment. She dreamed of her beloved, whom the woman had been looking for for a long time and unsuccessfully.

Walking around Moscow, Margarita sees Berlioz's funeral. Azazello approaches her and talks about the stolen head of a dead man. He invites the woman to visit a foreigner, from whom she can learn about her lover. Margarita agrees. The red-haired man gives her a magic cream with instructions for its use.

Chapter 20. Azazello cream

Naked Margarita is smeared with cream at the specified time and turns into a beautiful witch. She writes a farewell note to her husband, gives her clothes to the housekeeper Natasha, sits on the floor brush and flies out the window, as Azazello advised.

Chapter 21. Flight

Flying past the house where the critic Latunsky lives, Margarita causes a pogrom in his apartment. Soon Natasha catches up with the woman on a fat hog. She admits that she smeared herself with the remaining cream. Borov is their neighbor Nikolai Ivanovich, who saw the girl and began to seduce her with money. The naughty Natasha smeared the cream on him too.

Soon Margarita arrives at the Sabbath, where she is greeted with great respect. A car is sent for the woman, which transports the newly-minted witch to Moscow by air.

Chapter 22. By candlelight

Koroviev takes the guest to the “bad apartment” and says that every year Satan throws a ball in one of the capitals. This year the celebration will take place in Moscow, and Margarita will be the hostess here. Inside the apartment there are huge ballrooms.

Woland plays chess with the cat Behemoth in the bedroom. The woman meets Koroviev and the witch Gella and helps rub ointment on Woland’s sore knee.

Chapter 23. Satan's Great Ball

Margarita is bathed in blood and then in rose oil. Naked, wearing heavy jewelry, she greets guests. Skeletons tumble into the hall through the fireplace and transform into brilliant ladies and gentlemen. The guests take turns kissing Margarita’s knee, and soon it swells, bringing unbearable pain. But the prom queen continues to smile sweetly.

Margarita's attention is attracted by a guest with sad eyes. The hippopotamus explains that the woman's name is Frida. She was seduced by her master and gave birth to a child. But then she strangled the baby with a handkerchief. Now every morning Frida is given this scarf.

The ball continues, Margarita pays attention to the guests. Then Woland appears in the hall with Berlioz's head, which turns into a bowl.

An employee of the Entertainment Commission, Baron Meigel, a spy and an earpiece, appears. He himself asked to visit Woland in order to find out everything about the mysterious foreigner. Maigel is killed by Azazello with a shot in the heart, and Woland fills the cup with blood and drinks. Midnight comes, the guests leave.

Chapter 24. Extracting the Master

Dinner is served in the bedroom of apartment No. 50. Margarita, Woland and his retinue are resting after a tiring ball. Woland promises to fulfill one of Margarita's wishes as a reward for her role as queen of the ball. The woman asks that Frida no longer be given a handkerchief. Her wish is granted, but Woland suggests asking for something for herself. And Margarita asks to return her beloved.

The master immediately appears in the room. Aloysius Mogarych, who reported about the madness of the former tenant, is expelled from the basement where he previously lived in order to occupy his living space. Woland returns the master's burnt manuscript, releases Varenukha, who did not like being a vampire, and leaves Natasha as a witch at her request.

Soon the master is sleeping in his basement, and Margarita is re-reading the restored manuscript.

Chapter 25. How the procurator tried to save Judas

The head of the secret service, Afranius, comes to Pontius Pilate and reports that the execution has been completed. The procurator orders to urgently and secretly bury those executed, and also to take care of the safety of Judas from Kiriath, who may be stabbed to death at night. So Pontius Pilate hints that he would like to see the informer dead.

Chapter 26. Burial

Afranius carries out the order of the procurator and reports on the death of Judas. They find Matthew Levi with the body of Yeshua, and they bury all those executed.

Pontius Pilate bitterly regrets that he could not save Ha-Nozri. He has a dream in which Yeshua did not die. The procurator wants to see Levi Matvey. He offers the former tax collector a position as his librarian, but he refuses.

Chapter 27. The end of apartment No. 50

The investigation into Woland's case is very active. Many witnesses were questioned, including Varenukha and Likhodeev. Entertainers Bengalsky, Bosoy and Bezdomny were discovered in Stravinsky's clinic.

It was decided to take the gang holed up in apartment No. 50. The police officers were fooled by Behemoth for some time, then he set the apartment on fire. In the smoke, people see three male and one female silhouettes flying out of the window.

Michael Bulgakov

Master and Margarita

Moscow 1984

The text is printed in the last lifetime edition (manuscripts are stored in the manuscript department State Library USSR named after V.I. Lenin), as well as with corrections and additions made under the dictation of the writer by his wife, E.S. Bulgakova.

PART ONE

• ...So who are you, finally?
• - I am part of that force,
• what he always wants
• evil and always does good.

Goethe. "Faust"

Never talk to strangers

One day in the spring, at an hour of unprecedentedly hot sunset, two citizens appeared in Moscow, on the Patriarch's Ponds. The first of them, dressed in a gray summer pair, was vertically challenged, well-fed, bald, carried his decent hat like a pie in his hand, and on his well-shaven face were glasses of supernatural size in black horn frames. The second, a broad-shouldered, reddish, curly-haired young man in a checkered cap pulled back on his head, was wearing a cowboy shirt, chewy white trousers and black slippers.

The first was none other than Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, chairman of the board of one of the largest Moscow literary associations, abbreviated as MASSOLIT, and editor of a thick art magazine, and his young companion was the poet Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, writing under the pseudonym Bezdomny.

Finding themselves in the shade of slightly green linden trees, the writers first rushed to the colorfully painted booth with the inscription “Beer and water.”

Yes, the first strangeness of this terrible May evening should be noted. Not only at the booth, but in the entire alley parallel to Malaya Bronnaya Street, there was not a single person. At that hour, when, it seemed, there was no strength to breathe, when the sun, having heated Moscow, fell in a dry fog somewhere beyond the Garden Ring, no one came under the linden trees, no one sat on the bench, the alley was empty.

“Give me Narzan,” Berlioz asked.

“Narzan is gone,” answered the woman in the booth, and for some reason she was offended.

“The beer will be delivered in the evening,” the woman answered.

- What is there? asked Berlioz.

“Apricot, only warm,” the woman said.

- Well, come on, come on, come on!..

The apricot gave off a rich yellow foam, and the air smelled like a barbershop. Having drunk, the writers immediately began to hiccup, paid and sat down on a bench facing the pond and with their backs to Bronnaya.

Here a second strange thing happened, concerning only Berlioz. He suddenly stopped hiccupping, his heart pounded and for a moment sank somewhere, then returned, but with a dull needle stuck in it. In addition, Berlioz was gripped by an unreasonable, but so strong fear that he wanted to immediately flee from the Patriarch's without looking back. Berlioz looked around sadly, not understanding what frightened him. He turned pale, wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, and thought: “What’s wrong with me? This never happened... my heart is racing... I'm overtired. Perhaps it’s time to throw everything to hell and go to Kislovodsk...”

And then the sultry air thickened in front of him, and from this air a transparent citizen of a strange appearance was woven. On his small head is a jockey cap, a checkered, short, airy jacket... The citizen is a fathom tall, but narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and his face, please note, is mocking.

Berlioz's life developed in such a way that he was not accustomed to unusual phenomena. Turning even paler, he widened his eyes and thought in confusion: “This can’t be!..”

But this, alas, was there, and the long citizen, through which one could see, swayed in front of him, both left and right, without touching the ground.

Here horror took over Berlioz so much that he closed his eyes. And when he opened them, he saw that it was all over, the haze dissolved, the checkered one disappeared, and at the same time the blunt needle jumped out of his heart.

- Fucking hell! - exclaimed the editor, - you know, Ivan, I almost had a stroke from the heat just now! There was even something like a hallucination,” he tried to grin, but his eyes were still jumping with anxiety, and his hands were shaking.

However, he gradually calmed down, fanned himself with a handkerchief and, saying quite cheerfully: “Well, so...”, he began his speech, interrupted by drinking apricot.

This speech, as we later learned, was about Jesus Christ. The fact is that the editor ordered the poet to write a large anti-religious poem for the next book of the magazine. Ivan Nikolaevich composed this poem in a very short time, but, unfortunately, it did not satisfy the editor at all. Homeless outlined the main thing actor his poem, that is, Jesus, in very black colors, and yet the whole poem had, in the opinion of the editor, to be written anew. And now the editor was giving the poet something like a lecture about Jesus in order to highlight the poet’s main mistake. It is difficult to say what exactly let Ivan Nikolayevich down - whether it was the graphic power of his talent or complete unfamiliarity with the issue on which he was going to write - but Jesus in his portrayal turned out to be completely like a living, although not an attractive character. Berlioz wanted to prove to the poet that the main thing is not what Jesus was like, whether he was bad or good, but that this Jesus, as a person, did not exist in the world at all and that all the stories about him are simple inventions, the most common myth.

Mikhail Bulgakov took a secret from this world creative concept his last and, probably, main work, “The Master and Margarita”.

The author's worldview turned out to be very eclectic: when writing the novel, Judaic teachings, Gnosticism, Theosophy, and Masonic motifs were used. “Bulgakov’s understanding of the world, at best, is based on the Catholic teaching about the imperfection of the primordial nature of man, which requires active external influence for its correction.” It follows from this that the novel allows for a lot of interpretations in the Christian, atheistic, and occult traditions, the choice of which largely depends on the point of view of the researcher...

“Bulgakov’s novel is not dedicated at all to Yeshua, and not even primarily to the Master himself with his Margarita, but to Satan. Woland is undeniable main character work, its image is a kind of energy node of the entire complex compositional structure of the novel.”

The very name “The Master and Margarita” “obscures the true meaning of the work: the reader’s attention is focused on the two characters of the novel as the main ones, while in the meaning of the events they are only the protagonist’s henchmen. The content of the novel is not the story of the Master, not his literary misadventures, not even his relationship with Margarita (all this is secondary), but the story of one of Satan’s visits to earth: with the beginning of it the novel begins, and with its end it ends. The master is introduced to the reader only in the thirteenth chapter, Margarita even later - as Woland’s need for them arises.”

“The anti-Christian orientation of the novel leaves no doubt... It is not for nothing that Bulgakov so carefully disguised the true content, the deep meaning of his novel, entertaining the reader’s attention with side details. But the dark mysticism of the work, despite the will and consciousness, penetrates into the human soul - and who will undertake to calculate the possible destruction that can be caused in it?..”

The above description of the novel by the teacher of the Moscow Theological Academy, candidate of philological sciences Mikhail Mikhailovich Dunaev indicates a serious problem that arises before Orthodox parents and teachers due to the fact that the novel “The Master and Margarita” is included in the literature program of state secondary schools. educational institutions. How to protect students who are religiously indifferent, and therefore defenseless against occult influences, from the influence of the satanic mysticism with which the novel is saturated?

One of the main holidays of the Orthodox Church is the Transfiguration of the Lord. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was transformed before His disciples (, ), the souls of Christians are now being transformed through life in Christ. This transformation can be extended to the world- Mikhail Bulgakov's novel is no exception.

Portrait of an era

From biographical information it is known that Bulgakov himself perceived his novel as a kind of warning, as a super-literary text. Already dying, he asked his wife to bring the manuscript of the novel, pressed it to his chest and gave it with the words: “Let them know!”

Accordingly, if our goal is not just to get aesthetic and emotional satisfaction from reading, but to understand the author’s idea, to understand why the person spent twelve recent years of our lives, in fact, our entire lives, we must treat this work not only from the point of view literary criticism. To understand the author's idea, you need to know at least something about the author's life - often its episodes are reflected in his creations.

Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) - grandson Orthodox priest, son of an Orthodox priest, professor, history teacher at the Kyiv Theological Academy, relative of the famous Orthodox theologian Fr. Sergius Bulgakov. This gives reason to assume that Mikhail Bulgakov was at least partially familiar with the Orthodox tradition of perceiving the world.

Now for many it is a wonder that there is some kind of Orthodox tradition perception of the world, but nevertheless it is so. The Orthodox worldview is actually very deep, it was formed over more than seven and a half thousand years and has absolutely nothing in common with the caricature drawn of it by essentially ignorant people in the very era in which the novel “The Master and Margarita."

In the 1920s, Bulgakov became interested in studying Kabbalism and occult literature. In the novel “The Master and Margarita”, a good knowledge of this literature is indicated by the names of demons, a description of the Satanic black mass (in the novel it is called “Satan’s ball”), and so on...

Already at the end of 1912, Bulgakov (he was then 21 years old) quite definitely declared to his sister Nadezhda: “You’ll see, I’ll be a writer.” And he became one. It must be borne in mind that Bulgakov is a Russian writer. What has Russian literature always been primarily concerned with? Research human soul. Any episode of life literary character is described exactly as much as is necessary to understand the impact it had on the human soul.

Bulgakov took the Western popular form and filled it with Russian content, speaking in a popular form about the most serious things. But!..

For a religiously ignorant reader, the novel, in a favorable case, remains a bestseller, since it does not have the foundation that is necessary to perceive the completeness of the idea embedded in the novel. In the worst case, this very ignorance leads to the fact that the reader sees in “The Master and Margarita” and includes in his worldview such ideas of religious content that would hardly have occurred to Mikhail Bulgakov himself. In particular, in certain circles this book is valued as a “hymn to Satan.” The situation with the perception of the novel is similar to the importation of potatoes into Russia under Peter I: the product is wonderful, but because no one knew what to do with it and what part of it was edible, entire villages of people were poisoned and died.

In general, it must be said that the novel was written at a time when a kind of epidemic of “poisoning” on religious grounds was spreading in the USSR. The point is this: the 1920-30s in the Soviet Union were the years when Western anti-Christian books were published in huge editions, in which the authors either completely denied the historicity of Jesus Christ, or sought to present Him as a simple Jewish philosopher and nothing more. The recommendations of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Berlioz to Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev (Bezdomny) on Patriarch's Ponds (275) are a summary of such books. It is worth talking about the atheistic worldview in more detail in order to understand what Bulgakov is making fun of in his novel.

Atheistic worldview

In fact, the question “is there a God or not” in the young Land of the Soviets was purely political in nature. The answer “God exists” required the immediate sending of the aforementioned God “to Solovki for three years” (278), which would have been problematic to implement. Logically, the second option was inevitably chosen: “There is no God.” Once again it is worth mentioning that this answer was purely political in nature; no one cared about the truth.

For educated people, the question of the existence of God, in fact, never existed - it’s a different matter; they differed in opinions about the nature and features of this existence. Atheistic perception of the world in modern form formed only in the last quarter of the 18th century and took root with difficulty, since its birth was accompanied by terrible social catastrophes such as french revolution. That is why Woland is extremely happy to find the most outspoken atheists in Moscow in the persons of Berlioz and Ivan Bezdomny (277).

According to Orthodox theology, atheism is a parody of religion. This is the belief that there is no God. The word “atheism” itself is translated from Greek as follows: “a” is the negative particle “not”, and “theos” is “God”, literally “atheism”. Atheists do not want to hear about any faith and claim that they base their statement on strictly scientific facts, and “in the realm of reason there can be no proof of the existence of God” (278). But such “strictly scientific facts” in the field of knowledge of God fundamentally do not exist and cannot exist... Science considers the world to be infinite, which means that God can always hide behind some pebble on the outskirts of the universe, and no criminal investigation department will be able to find Him (search Woland in Moscow, which is quite limited in spatial terms, and shows the absurdity of such searches like: “Gagarin flew into space, but did not see God”). No one scientific fact the non-existence of God (as well as existence) does not exist, but to assert that something does not exist according to the laws of logic is much more difficult than to assert that it exists. To be convinced that there is no God, atheists need to conduct scientific experiment: to experimentally test the religious path that claims He exists. This means that atheism calls on everyone seeking the meaning of life to religious practice, that is, to prayer, fasting and other features of spiritual life. There is obvious absurdity...

It is this very absurdity (“There is no God because He cannot exist”) that Bulgakov demonstrates to the Soviet citizen, who pathologically does not want to notice the Behemoth riding a tram and paying the fare, as well as the breathtaking appearance of Koroviev and Azazello. Much later, already in the mid-1980s, Soviet punks experimentally proved that, having a similar appearance, one could walk around Moscow only until the first meeting with a policeman. In Bulgakov, only those people who are ready to take into account the otherworldly factor of earthly events, who agree that the events of our lives occur not by the will of blind chance, but with the participation of certain specific individuals from the “otherworldly”, begin to notice all these blatant things » peace.

Biblical characters in the novel

How, in fact, can we explain Mikhail Bulgakov’s appeal to the plot of the Bible?

If you look closely, the range of issues that concern humanity throughout history is quite limited. All these questions (they are also called “eternal” or “cursed”, depending on their relation) concern the meaning of life, or, which is the same thing, the meaning of death. Bulgakov turns to the New Testament biblical story, reminding the Soviet reader of the very existence of this Book. In it, by the way, these questions are formulated with utmost precision. In fact, it also contains answers - for those who want to accept them...

“The Master and Margarita” raises the same “eternal” questions: why does a person encounter evil throughout his earthly life and where does God look (if He exists at all), what awaits a person after death, and so on. Mikhail Bulgakov changed the language of the Bible to the slang of a religiously uneducated Soviet intellectual of the 1920s and 30s. For what? In particular, in order to talk about freedom in a country that was degenerating into a single concentration camp.

Human freedom

It’s only at first glance that Woland and his company do what they want with a person. In fact, only if a person’s soul voluntarily strives for evil does Woland have the power to mock him. And here it would be worth turning to the Bible: what does it say about the power and authority of the devil?

Book of Job

Chapter 1

6 And there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord; Satan also came among them.

8 And the Lord said to Satan, Hast thou heeded thy attention to my servant Job?

12...behold, all that he has is in your hand; just don’t stretch out your hand on him.

Chapter 2

4 And Satan answered the Lord and said: ... a man will give all that he has for his life;

5 But stretch out Your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, will he bless You?

6 And the Lord said to Satan: Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.

Satan carries out the command of God and annoys Job in every possible way. Whom does Job see as the source of his sorrows?

Chapter 27

1 And...Job...said:

2 As God lives... and the Almighty, who has grieved my soul...

Chapter 31

2 What is my destiny from God above? And what is the inheritance from the Almighty from heaven?

Even such the greatest evil in the atheistic understanding, like the death of a person, occurs not at the will of Satan, but at the will of God - in a conversation with Job, one of his friends utters the following words:

Chapter 32

6 And Elihu the son of Barachiel answered: ...

21...I will not flatter any person,

22 because I do not know how to flatter: kill me now, my Creator.

So, the Bible clearly shows: Satan can only do what God, who cares first of all about the eternal and priceless soul of every person, allows him.

Satan can harm a person only with the consent of the person himself. This idea is most persistently pursued in the novel: Woland first checks the disposition of a person’s soul, his readiness to commit a dishonest, sinful act and, if such occurs, receives the power to mock him.

Nikanor Ivanovich, the chairman of the housing association, agrees to a bribe (“Strictly persecuted,” the chairman whispered quietly and looked around”), gets hold of “a contraband for two people in the front row” (366) and thereby gives Koroviev the opportunity to do nasty things to him.

The entertainer Georges Bengalsky constantly lies, is a hypocrite, and in the end, by the way, at the request of the workers, Behemoth leaves him without a head (392).

The financial director of the variety show, Rimsky, suffered, planning to “screw it, blame everything on Likhodeev, shield himself, and so on” (420).

Prokhor Petrovich, head of the Entertainment Commission, does nothing in the workplace and does not want to do anything, while expressing a desire for “the devils to take him.” It is clear that Behemoth does not refuse such an offer (458).

The employees of the Entertainment Branch fawn and cower in front of their superiors, which allows Koroviev to organize an incessant choir out of them (462).

Maximilian Andreevich, Berlioz’s uncle, wants one thing - to move to Moscow “at all costs,” that is, at any cost. Because of this feature of innocent desire, what happens to him happens (465).

The head of the Variety Theater buffet, Andrei Fokich Sokov, stole two hundred forty-nine thousand rubles, placed them in five savings banks and hid two hundred gold tens under the floor at home before suffering all sorts of damage in apartment No. 50 (478).

Nikolai Ivanovich, Margarita's neighbor, becomes a transport hog due to the specific attention given to the maid Natasha (512).

It is significant that it is precisely for the sake of determining the tendency of Muscovites to all kinds of deviations from the voice of their own conscience that a performance is staged in the Variety Show: Woland receives an answer to the “important question” that worries him: have these townspeople changed internally? (389).

Margarita, as they say, classically sells her soul to the devil... But this is a completely special topic in the novel.

Margarita

The high priestess of a satanic sect is usually a woman. In the novel she is called the "prom queen." Woland offers Margarita to become such a priestess. Why her? But because with the aspirations of her soul, her heart, she herself had already prepared herself for such service: “What did this woman need, in whose eyes some incomprehensible light always burned, what did this witch, slightly squinting in one eye, need, who adorned herself then mimosas in the spring?” (485) - this quote from the novel is taken six pages earlier than the first proposal to Margarita to become a witch. And as soon as the aspiration of her soul becomes conscious (“...oh, really, I would pawn my soul to the devil just to find out...”), Azazello appears (491). Margarita becomes the “ultimate” witch only after she expresses her full consent to “go to hell in the middle of nowhere” (497).

Having become a witch, Margarita fully feels the state to which, perhaps, she did not always consciously strive throughout her life: she “felt free, free from everything” (499). “From everything” - including from duties, from responsibility, from conscience - that is, from one’s human dignity. The fact of experiencing such a feeling, by the way, suggests that from now on Margarita could never love anyone but herself: to love a person means to voluntarily give up part of her freedom in his favor, that is, from desires, aspirations and everything else. To love someone means to give the beloved the strength of your soul, as they say, “to invest your soul.” Margarita gives her soul not to the Master, but to Woland. And she does this not at all for the sake of love for the Master, but for her own sake, for the sake of her whim: “I would pawn my soul to the devil just to find out...” (491).

Love in this world is not subject to human fantasies, but to a higher law, whether a person wants it or not. This law says that love is not won at any cost, but only by one thing - selflessness, that is, rejection of one’s desires, passions, whims and patience with the pain that arises from this. “Explain: I love because it hurts, or does it hurt because I love?..” The Apostle Paul in one of his letters has the following words about love: “... I am not looking for yours, but for you” ().

So, Margarita is not looking for the Master, but for his novel. She belongs to those aesthetic persons for whom the author is just an addition to his creation. What Margarita really cares about is not the Master, but his novel, or rather, the spirit of this novel, or even more precisely, the source of this spirit. It is to him that her soul strives, it is to him that she will subsequently be given. The further relationship between Margarita and the Master is just a moment of inertia; man is inert by nature.

The responsibility of freedom

Even after becoming a witch, Margarita does not yet lose human freedom: the decision on whether she should be the “prom queen” depends on her will. And only when she gives her consent, the sentence of her soul is pronounced: “In short! - Koroviev cried, - very briefly: will you refuse to take on this responsibility? “I won’t refuse,” Margarita answered firmly. "It's over!" - said Koroviev” (521).

It was with her consent that Margarita made it possible to celebrate the Black Mass. A lot in this world depends on the free will of a person, much more than it seems to those who now talk from TV screens about “freedom of conscience” and “universal human values”...

Black mass

The Black Mass is a mystical rite dedicated to Satan, a mockery of the Christian liturgy. In "The Master and Margarita" it is called "Satan's ball."

Woland comes to Moscow precisely to perform this ritual - this the main objective his visit and one of the central episodes of the novel. A pertinent question is: is Woland’s arrival in Moscow to perform a black mass just part of a “world tour” or something exclusive? What event made such a visit possible? The answer to this question is given by the scene on the balcony of the Pashkov house, from which Woland shows the Master Moscow.

“To understand this scene, you need to visit Moscow now, imagine yourself on the roof of the Pashkov house and try to understand: what did the person see or not see from the roof of this house in Moscow in the second half of the 1930s? Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Bulgakov describes the interval between the explosion of the Temple and the beginning of construction of the Palace of the Soviets. At that time, the Temple had already been blown up and this area was built up by “Shanghai people”. That’s why the shacks mentioned in the novel were visible there. With knowledge of the landscape of that time, this scene takes on a striking symbolic meaning: Woland turns out to be the master in the city in which the temple was blown up. There is a Russian proverb: “A holy place is never empty.” Its meaning is this: demons take up residence on the site of a desecrated shrine. The place of the destroyed iconostases was taken by the “icons” of the Politburo. So it is here: the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up and naturally a “noble foreigner” appears (275).

And this foreigner, right from the epigraph, reveals who he is: “I am part of that force that always wants evil and always does good.” But this is Woland’s autocharacteristic and it is a lie. The first part is fair, but the second... It is true: Satan wishes evil to people, but good comes out of his temptations. But it is not Satan who does good, but God, for the sake of saving the human soul, turns his machinations to good. This means that when Satan says that “desiring evil endlessly, he does only good,” he ascribes to himself the secret of divine Providence. And this is an atheistic declaration.”

In fact, everything that has to do with Woland bears the stamp of imperfection and inferiority (the Orthodox understanding of the number “666” is exactly this). At a performance in a variety show we see “a red-haired girl, good to everyone, if only the scar on her neck did not spoil her” (394), before the start of the “ball” Koroviev says that “there will be no shortage of electric light, even, perhaps, it would be good, if only there were less of it” (519). And Woland’s appearance itself is far from perfect: “Woland’s face was slanted to the side, the right corner of his mouth was pulled down, deep wrinkles were cut into his high, bald forehead, parallel to his sharp eyebrows. The skin on Woland’s face seemed to be forever burned by a tan” (523). If we take into account the teeth and eyes of different colors, the crooked mouth and lopsided eyebrows (275), it is clear that this is not a model of beauty.

But let's return to the purpose of Woland's stay in Moscow, to the black mass. One of the main, central moments of Christian worship is the reading of the Gospel. And, since the black mass is just a blasphemous parody of Christian worship, it is necessary to mock this part of it. But what to read instead of the hated Gospel???

And here the question arises: the “Pilate chapters” in the novel - who is their author? Who is writing this novel based on the plot of the novel “The Master and Margarita” itself? Woland.

Where did the Master's novel come from?

“The fact is that Bulgakov left eight major editions of The Master and Margarita, which are very interesting and useful to compare. The unpublished scenes are by no means inferior to the final version of the text in their depth, artistic power and, what is important, semantic load, and sometimes clarify and supplement it. So, if you focus on these editions, then the Master constantly talks about the fact that he writes under dictation and carries out someone’s assignment. By the way, in the official version, the Master is lamented by the misfortune that befell him in the form of an ill-fated novel.

Woland reads burned and even unwritten chapters to Margarita.

Finally, in the recently published drafts, the scene at the Patriarch's Ponds, when the conversation takes place about whether Jesus existed or not, is as follows. After Woland finished his story, Bezdomny says: “How well you talk about this, as if you saw it yourself! Maybe you should write a gospel too!” And then comes Woland’s wonderful remark: “The Gospel is from me??? Ha-ha-ha, interesting idea, though!”

What the Master writes is the “gospel of Satan,” which shows Christ as Satan would like to see Him. Bulgakov hints in Soviet censored times, tries to explain to readers of anti-Christian brochures: “Look, here’s someone who would like to see in Christ only a man, a philosopher—Woland.”

In vain the Master is ecstatically amazed at how accurately he “guessed” long-ago events (401). Such books are not “guessed” - they are inspired from the outside. The Bible, according to Christians, is an inspired book, that is, at the time of its writing, the authors were in a state of special spiritual enlightenment, influenced by God. And if Holy Bible- Inspired by God, the source of inspiration for the novel about Yeshua is also easily visible. As a matter of fact, it is Woland who begins the story of the events in Yershalaim in the scene at the Patriarch’s Ponds, and the Master’s text is only a continuation of this story. The master, accordingly, in the process of working on the novel about Pilate was under a special devilish influence. Bulgakov shows the consequences of such an impact on humans.

The price of inspiration and the secret of a name

While working on the novel, the Master notices changes in himself, which he himself regards as symptoms of mental illness. But he is wrong. “His mind is fine, his soul is going crazy.” The master begins to be afraid of the dark, it seems to him that at night some kind of “octopus with very long and cold tentacles” climbs into the window (413), fear takes possession of “every cell” of his body (417), the novel becomes “hateful” to him (563 ) and then, according to the Master, “the last thing happens”: he “takes out the heavy lists of the novel and rough notebooks from the desk drawer” and begins to “burn them” (414).

Actually, in this case, Bulgakov somewhat idealized the situation: the artist, indeed, having drawn inspiration from the source of all evil and corruption, begins to feel hatred towards his creation and sooner or later destroys it. But this is not the “last thing,” as the Master believes... The fact is that the artist begins to be afraid of creativity itself, afraid of inspiration, expecting the return of fear and despair for them: “nothing around me interests me, I’m broken, I’m bored, I want to go to the basement “- the Master says to Woland (563). And what is an artist without inspiration?.. Sooner or later, following his work, he destroys himself. Why is this to the Master?..

In the Master’s worldview, the reality of Satan is obvious and is not subject to any doubt - it is not for nothing that he immediately recognizes him in the foreigner who talked with Berlioz and Ivan at the Patriarch’s Ponds (402). But there is no place for God in the Master’s worldview—the Master’s Yeshua has nothing in common with the real, historical God-Man Jesus Christ. Here the secret of this name itself is revealed - Master. He is not just a writer, he is precisely a creator, a master of a new world, a new reality, in which, in a fit of suicidal pride, he puts himself in the role of Master and Creator.

Before the beginning of the construction of the era of “universal happiness” in our country, individual people first described this era on paper, first the idea of ​​its construction, the idea of ​​this era itself, appeared. The master created the idea of ​​a new world in which only one spiritual entity is real - Satan. The real Woland, the authentic one, is described by Bulgakov (the same one “slanted forever tanned”). And the transformed, magnificent and majestic horseman with his retinue, whom we see on last pages“The Master and Margarita” is Woland as the Master’s soul sees him. The illness of this soul has already been said...

Hell outside the brackets

The end of the novel is marked by a sort of Happy Ending. It looks like it, but it looks like it. It would seem: the Master is with Margarita, Pilate finds some state of peace, a charming picture of the retreating horsemen - only the credits and the word “end” are missing. But the fact is that during his last conversation with the Master, even before his death, Woland utters words that bring the real end of the novel beyond its cover: “I’ll tell you,” Woland turned to the Master with a smile, “that your novel will bring you more surprises.” "(563). And the Master will be destined to meet these “surprises” in the very idealistic house to which he and Margarita are heading in the last pages of the novel (656). It is there that Margarita will stop “loving” him, it is there that he will never again experience creative inspiration, it is there that he will never be able to turn to God in despair because God does not exist in the world created by the Master, it is there that the Master will not be able to accomplish the last thing that The life of a desperate man who has not found God ends on earth - he will not be able to willfully end his life with suicide: he is already dead and is in the world of eternity, in a world whose owner is the devil. In the language of Orthodox theology, this place is called hell...

Where does the novel lead the reader?

Does the novel lead the reader to God? I dare say: “Yes!” The novel, like the “Satanic Bible,” leads an honest person to himself to God. If, thanks to “The Master and Margarita,” one believes in the reality of Satan as a person, then one will inevitably have to believe in God as a person: Woland categorically argued that “Jesus really existed” (284). And what Bulgakovsky Yeshua is not God, but Bulgakov’s Satan in the “gospel of himself” himself tries in every way to show and prove. But did Mikhail Bulgakov correctly present the events that took place in Palestine two thousand years ago from a scientific (that is, atheistic) point of view? Perhaps there is some reason to assume that the historical Jesus of Nazareth is not at all the Yeshua Ha-Nozri described by Bulgakov? But then - who is He?..

So, it follows from this that the reader is logically inevitably obliged before his conscience to take the path of searching for God, the path of knowledge of God.

Alexander Bashlachev. Walking stick.

Sakharov V.I. Mikhail Bulgakov: lessons from fate. // Bulgakov M. White Guard. Master and Margarita. Minsk, 1988, p. 12.

Andrey Kuraev, deacon. Answer to a question about the novel “The Master and Margarita” // Audio recording of the lecture “On the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.”

Dunaev M. M. Manuscripts don’t burn? Perm, 1999, p. 24.

Frank Coppola. Apocalypse now. Hood. Movie.

“The Master and Margarita” is usually studied in the 11th grade. This is a complex work that is written based on the gospel of Nicodemus, a secret follower of Jesus Christ. Our help will help you remember the plot of the novel. summary by chapter. If it is too long for you, we suggest reader's diary, and also recommend reading.

Chapter 1. Never talk to strangers

In Moscow, Mikhail Berlioz, a short, plump and bald man, the head of one of the capital's leading literary associations MASSOLIT, and his companion, the poet Ivan Ponyrev, who wrote under the name Bezdomny, were walking on the Patriarch's Ponds. Surprisingly, there was no one else on the alley except them. The men drank apricot and sat down on a bench. Here another strange thing happened: Berlioz’s heart suddenly sank, and he was overcome by fear, which made him want to run wherever his eyes were looking. After that, he saw in the air a transparent citizen with a mocking face, dressed in a checkered jacket. Soon the man disappeared, so the chairman attributed the incident to heat and fatigue. Having calmed down, he began to talk with his friend about the Son of God. Berlioz ordered Bezdomny to write an anti-religious poem, but the leader was not satisfied with the result. Jesus turned out to be realistic, but it was necessary to show that he never existed.

While Berlioz was giving a lecture to Bezdomny on this topic, a man appeared in the alley. By the look a tall man over forty. His right eye was black and his left eye was green, clean-shaven, the crowns of his teeth on one side were platinum and on the other gold, richly dressed, a foreigner. He sat down with the men. The foreigner was interested in their atheism and remembered how he had talked with Kant on this topic, which surprised Berlioz and Bezdomny. The stranger asked who, if not the Almighty, controls everything on earth, to which Ivan replied that people do this. The foreigner said that they could not even know their fate in advance. After this, a suspicious person predicted to Berlioz that that evening he would lose his head because of the girl who spilled the oil. Then he advised Bezdomny to ask doctors what schizophrenia is. Later, the stranger said that he was invited to the capital of Russia as a consultant on black magic. The man was convinced of the existence of Jesus, and began to tell the story.

Chapter 2. Pontius Pilate

The Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, duly interrogated the arrested man. The prisoner called him a kind person, but the judge denied this. Next, the centurion Mark, nicknamed the Rat Slayer, at the request of Pilate, explained to the prisoner with the help of a whip that the Roman procurator should be called hegemon. The arrested man introduced himself as Yeshua Ha-Nozri from Gamala. He was educated: in addition to Aramaic, he also knew Greek. The prisoner had no relatives. The hegemon asked whether Yeshua really wanted to destroy the temple, as they said. The prisoner replied, people got everything mixed up because they did not receive the proper education. He also told about Levi Matthew, who collected taxes, but lost interest in money after listening to Yeshua’s sermons, and went with him to travel. The prisoner realized that Pilate had a headache, and he wanted his beloved dog to be nearby. When Yeshua told the hegemon about this, the malaise stopped. Pontius Pilate considered that this man was innocent, and even took a liking to the traveler. The procurator was about to pardon him, but then the secretary submitted a report from Judas from Kiriath that Yeshua considered power to be violence, and that one day it would not exist, and the kingdom of truth would come. It seemed to the hegemon that an ulcer appeared on the prisoner’s head and his teeth fell out, but soon the vision disappeared. Pontius Pilate, being a representative of the authorities, could not get away with such a crime. The procurator was afraid that if he released Yeshua, he himself would take his place on the cross. Therefore, the hegemon imposed a death sentence, but in the hope that the arrested person would be pardoned in honor of Easter. The High Priest Joseph Caiaphas reported that he had pardoned the robber Varavan. Pilate could not convince him. The convicts were taken to Bald Mountain, and the hegemon returned to the palace with a feeling of sadness.

Chapter 3. Seventh proof

By the time the consultant finished the story, it was already evening. The stranger stated that the gospels were not a reliable source. The man said that he was present at those events. Here Berlioz finally realized that the stranger was crazy. After the mentally ill person said that he would be staying in Mikhail Alexandrovich’s apartment, he left him with Ivan, and he ran around the corner to the phone. The stranger sadly asked Berlioz to finally at least believe in the existence of the devil. The writer played along and ran away.

On the way, he noticed the same man who was flying in the air, only no longer transparent, but the most ordinary one, but did not talk to him. Berlioz was not stopped by the phrase that suddenly appeared in the glass box: “Beware of the tram!” Mikhail Alexandrovich slipped and fell on the tram track. The counselor with the scarlet bandage slowed down, but it was too late. The tram ran over Berlioz, and his severed head galloped down the street.

Chapter 4. The Chase

Paralyzed by fear, Ivan Bezdomny fell onto the bench, unable to understand that his comrade was no longer there. Hearing conversations about Annushka and butter, the poet immediately remembered the stranger’s words, returned to him and blamed him for what had happened. The foreigner “stopped” understanding Russian, and the man in a checkered jacket stood up for him. Ivan guessed that they were together and tried to catch him, but his comrades began to move away with supernatural speed. In addition, they were joined by a huge cat. Ivan ran after them, and the gang split up. Checkered left on the bus, the cat tried to pay for the trip on the tram, but the conductor wouldn’t let him in, so he hitched a ride on the back and left for free. Later, Bezdomny lost that foreigner in the crowd.

Deciding that the criminal must certainly end up in apartment 47 of building No. 13, Ivan burst in, but was mistaken. There were other people in the house. Grabbing a candle and a paper icon, the poet ran out of the house and went to look for the alleged criminal on the Moscow River. The homeless man undressed and left his belongings for safekeeping with a stranger. Returning to the shore, the poet discovered that instead of his clothes there were some cast-offs. Ivan, annoyed, changed into what was left for him and went to search further.

Chapter 5. There was an affair in Griboedov

A meeting of writers under the leadership of Mikhail Berlioz was planned for that evening at Griboedov's house. The subordinates waited for their boss, discussing those who received the dachas, and suggesting why the chairman was delayed. Without waiting for him to appear, people went down to the restaurant and began to have a fun evening. Upon learning of Berlioz's sudden death, they plunged into short-lived grief.

When the half-naked poet Ivan Bezdomny found himself in a restaurant looking for a foreigner, the writers sent him to a psychiatric hospital.

Chapter 6. Schizophrenia, as was said

At the hospital, Ivan told the doctor the whole truth about the death of his comrade. He was even glad that they were listening to him, although he was outraged that he, an adequate person, was thrown into a mental hospital.

In addition to the doctors, the poet Ryukhin was also in the hospital, who testified: he reported what Bezdomny usually was like and in what condition he came to the restaurant. There, Ivan shouted and even got into fights with other writers.

From the hospital, Bezdomny called the police to detain the consultant, but no one there would listen, deciding that the poet was crazy. Bezdomny was diagnosed with schizophrenia, so he was not released. Ryukhin left, offended by Ivan, who called him mediocre.

Chapter 7. Bad apartment

The director of the capital's Variety Theater Stepan Likhodeev woke up after drinking in apartment No. 50, where he lived with Berlioz. Stepan saw his ugly reflection in the mirror, and next to him stranger. The man introduced himself as Woland, a specialist in black magic, and said that they agreed to meet an hour ago. Stepan didn't remember anything. Woland allowed him to recover from his hangover, and his memory gradually began to recover, but Stepan still did not remember this gentleman. Likhodeev studied the contract shown by Woland, where all the signatures were in place, then he went to call and, passing by Berlioz’s room, was surprised that it was sealed.

Stepan spoke with financial director Rimsky, who confirmed the conclusion of the contract. Woland was joined by Koroviev, the big cat and the short, red-haired Azazello. The company decided that it was time to get rid of Likhodeev. After this, Stepan ended up in Yalta.

Chapter 8. The duel between the professor and the poet

The homeless man wanted to go to the police to put the man from Patriarch's Ponds on the wanted list, but the doctors said that they wouldn't believe him and would send him back to the psychiatric hospital. In this regard, Ivan began to write a statement right there.

Dr. Stravinsky argued that Bezdomny was very saddened by the death of his comrade, and he needed to rest. Ivan agreed to live in the ward, where food was brought to him.

Chapter 9. Koroviev's jokes

The head of the housing association at building No. 32 bis, Nikonor Ivanovich Bosogo, began to be pestered by citizens who wanted to get the room in which the chairman of MASSOLIT lived. Exhausted by these people, the man went to the ill-fated apartment, where in a sealed room he met a man in checkered clothing, who introduced himself as Koroviev, a translator for a foreigner who lived in this apartment. At the same time, he advised Nikonor Ivanovich to look at the letter from Likhodeev, which was in his bag. In it, Stepan wrote that he was leaving for Yalta and asked to temporarily register Woland in his apartment. After a bribe of five thousand rubles and a receipt, the matter was resolved and the chairman left.

Woland expressed a desire not to see Bosogo again. Koroviev called and said that Nikonor Ivanovich was making money on foreign currency. They came to Bosom to check and found dollars on the man, and the contract disappeared along with Woland’s passport, which the chairman took for paperwork.

Chapter 10. News from Yalta

Stepan Likhodeev went to the criminal investigation department in Yalta, from where he sent a telegram to Variety to confirm his identity. Rimsky and his fellow administrator Varenukha took it as a joke, because just a few hours ago the director called them on his home phone and said that he was going to go to work. The men called Stepan back at home, and Koroviev said that he had gone for a car ride out of town. Varenukha sensed something was wrong and prepared to go to the police. The phone rang and they told me not to go anywhere. Varenukha did not listen.

On the way, he was caught by robbers, dragged into apartment No. 50, where he was met by a naked girl with burning eyes and deathly cold hands, who wanted to kiss him. This made the man faint.

Chapter 11. Ivan's split

Because of his excitement, Ivan Bezdomny could not write a coherent text about what happened. In addition, there was a thunderstorm outside the window. The poet cried from powerlessness, which worried the paramedic Praskovya Fedorovna, who closed the window with curtains and brought him pencils.

After the injections, Ivan began to come to his senses and decided that there was no need to worry so much about Berlioz’s death, since he was not even related to him. Ivan thought and mentally communicated with himself. When he was ready to fall asleep, a man appeared on his window and said: “Shh.”

Chapter 12. Black magic and its exposure

The financial director of Variety Rimsky did not understand where Varenukha was. The boss wanted to call the police, but for some reason not a single phone in the theater worked. Woland arrived to them with a man in plaid and a large cat. Entertainer Georges Bengalsky introduced the consultant, saying that there is no such thing as witchcraft, and the speaker is a master of magic.

Woland began the session with words about people. In his opinion, they had become completely different externally, and wondered whether changes had occurred internally. The magician conjured a rain of money, which Muscovites began to catch, pushing and swearing. Georges of Bengal informed the public that these were just tricks, and the money would now disappear. Someone from the audience said to tear off Georges' head. The Behemoth cat did it right away. Blood gushed from his neck. Then the cat forgave the entertainer, put his head back on and let him go. Then Woland conjured up a foreign clothing store on stage, where you could exchange your belongings for new fashionable and expensive items of clothing. The ladies immediately went there. Here one of the leaders, Arkady Sempleyarov, angrily demanded exposure. Koroviev told the audience that this man had gone to see his mistress the day before. His wife, who was sitting next to him, started a scandal. Soon Woland and his retinue disappeared.

Chapter 13. The appearance of a hero

The man who entered Ivan’s room introduced himself as a foreman and said that he had access to the balcony because he had stolen the keys. He could have escaped from the hospital, but he had nowhere to go. When Bezdomny said that he wrote poetry, the guest winced and admitted that he did not like poetry. Ivan promised not to write again. The stranger reported that a man was brought into one of the wards, who talked incessantly about the currency in the ventilation and evil spirits. When Ivan told the guest that he was in the hospital because of Pontius Pilate, he immediately perked up and asked for details. After unknown man expressed regret that the critic Latunsky or the writer Mstislav Lavrovich did not take the place of the chairman of MASSOLIT. At the end of the story, the master said that the poet had met with Satan.

An unfamiliar man told about himself. He was writing a novel about the procurator of Judea. Later the master met the woman he loved. She was married, but the marriage was unhappy. When the novel was written, the publishing house did not accept it; only a small piece was published, followed by a harsh critical article. The critic Latunsky spoke especially badly about the novel. The master burned his brainchild. The woman said that she would kill Latunsky. The master also had a friend Alozy Mogarych, who read his novel. When the woman went to her husband to break off relations with him, there was a knock on the writer’s door. He was evicted from his apartment and went to live in a psychiatric hospital. He didn’t say anything to his beloved so as not to drag her into his problems.

Ivan asked the master to tell the contents of the novel, but he refused and left.

Chapter 14. Glory to the Rooster!

Rimsky sat at his work and looked at the money that had fallen from the ceiling at the will of Woland. He heard a police trill and saw half-naked women outside the window. The new clothes for which they exchanged the old ones disappeared. The men laughed at the ladies. Rimsky wanted to call and report what had happened, but then the phone itself began to ring and female voice He said not to do this, otherwise it would be bad.

After some time, Varenukha came. He said that Stepan had not been to any Yalta, but got drunk in Pushkin with a telegraph operator and began sending comic telegrams. Rimsky decided that he would remove the offender from his post. However, the more Varenukha told, the less the financial director believed him. In the end, Rimsky realized that it was all a lie, and also noticed that the administrator did not cast a shadow. Rimsky pressed the panic button, but it did not work. Varenukha closed the door. Then, after three rooster crows, he flew out the window along with a naked girl who suddenly appeared. Soon the graying Rimsky was traveling by train to Leningrad.

Chapter 15. Nikanor Ivanovich's dream

Nikanor Bosoy, while in a psychiatric hospital, talked about dark force in apartment No. 50. They checked the home, but everything turned out to be in order. After the injection, the man fell asleep.

In a dream, he saw people sitting on the floor and a young man who was collecting currency from them. Then the cooks brought soup and bread. When the man opened his eyes, he saw a paramedic holding a syringe. After the next injection, Nikanor Ivanovich fell asleep and saw Bald Mountain.

Chapter 16. Execution

Under the command of Centurion Mark, three convicts were led to Bald Mountain. The crowd watched what was happening, no one made an attempt to save these people. After the execution, unable to withstand the heat, the spectators left the mountain. The soldiers remained.

One of Yeshua’s disciples, Levi Matthew, was on the mountain. He wanted to stab the teacher before execution in order to give him an easy death, but it didn’t work out. Then Matvey began to ask God to grant Yeshua death. It still didn’t come, so the student began to curse the Almighty. Thunderstorm began. The soldiers pierced the criminals with spears in the hearts and left the mountain. Levi carried away the body of Yeshua, at the same time untying the other two corpses.

Chapter 17. Restless day

Variety's accountant Lastochkin, who remained in the theater as the eldest, was in extreme confusion. He was embarrassed by the rumors circulating around Moscow, frightened by the disappearance of Rimsky, Likhodeev and Varenukha, discouraged by the commotion during and after the performance, and horrified by the endless calls from investigators. All documents about Woland and even posters disappeared.

Lastochkin went to the commission of spectacles and entertainment, but, instead of the chairman, he saw only an empty suit who was signing papers, and in the branch a man in checkered organized a choir, disappeared himself, and the women could not stop singing. Then Lastochkin wanted to hand over his profits, but instead of rubles he had dollars, and he was arrested.

Chapter 18. Unlucky Visitors

The uncle of the late Berlioz, Maxim Poplavsky, came from Ukraine to Moscow for his nephew’s funeral. He was somewhat surprised that he himself sent a telegram about his death. However, the uncle found benefit in Mikhail's misfortune. Having long dreamed of an apartment in the capital, he went to house number 32 bis in the hope of inheriting a relative’s space. There was no one in the housing association, and in the room he was met by a fat cat, a man in checkered clothing who called himself Koroviev, and Azazello. Together they took his passport and lowered him down the stairs.

The barman entered the apartment and reported his grief: Woland’s audience paid him with money that fell from the ceiling, and then the profit turned into garbage, and he suffered great losses. Woland said that he would soon die of cancer, so he didn’t need a lot of money. The barman immediately ran for examination. The money he used to pay the doctor also became unnecessary paperwork after the patient left.

Part two

Chapter 19. Margarita

The young, pretty and intelligent woman whom the master loved was named Margarita. Her husband was wealthy and adored his young wife. They had a very large living space in the center of Moscow and servants. However, in her heart, before the master appeared, Margarita was unhappy, since she and her husband had nothing in common. One day she came to her beloved, did not find him at home and began to worry, but she could not find him. The unfortunate heroine was very worried about his fate and was sad.

While walking, the woman met the funeral procession of Berlioz, whose head had disappeared. Margarita asked the red-haired man if there was a critic of Latunsky among these people. The man, whose name was Azazello, pointed at him. Red said that he knew where her lover was and offered to meet. He gave her a cream that needed to be used at a specified time and asked her to wait for the escort.

Chapter 20. Azazello cream

Margarita was in her room. At the right time, she smeared the cream on her skin, which made her even more beautiful, and her body became so light that, jumping, the woman hovered in the air.

The phone rang. Margarita was told to say the word “Invisible” while flying over the gate. At that moment a floor brush appeared. The woman gave her things to the maid Natasha, and she flew away on a brush.

Chapter 21. Flight

Margarita did not fly high. When she reached Latunsky’s house, she climbed into his apartment, where there was no one at that time, and began to destroy everything, at the same time flooding the neighbors. After that, Margarita flew on.

After some time, Natasha, flying on a hog, caught up with her. She also smeared herself with the cream, and at the same time rubbed it on her neighbor’s bald head, on whom the cream had an unusual effect. Then Margarita plunged into the lake, where she was met by mermaids and other witches, after which the sideburn man and the goat-legged man put the woman in the car, and she flew back to the capital.

Chapter 22. By candlelight

Margarita flew to house No. 32 bis, and Azazello took her to former apartment Berlioz and Likhodeev, where Koroviev met the woman. Where she found herself was a large hall with a colonnade and no electricity. We used candles. Koroviev said that a ball was planned, the hostess of which should be a woman named Margarita, in whom royal blood flows. It turned out that she was just a descendant of one of the French queens.

Woland immediately realized that Margarita was very smart. Natasha and the hog were also there. The maid was left with the mistress, and they promised not to kill the neighbor.

Chapter 23. Satan's Great Ball

Margarita was washed with blood, then with rose oil, after which she was rubbed with green leaves until shiny and put on very heavy clothes and jewelry. Koroviev said that the guests will be very different, but no one should be given preference. At the same time, it was necessary to devote time to everyone: smile, say a few words, turn your head slightly. The cat exclaimed: “Ball! ", after which the light came on, and corresponding sounds and smells appeared.

World celebrities such as Vietan and Strauss gathered in the hall. Margarita with Koroviev, the cat and Azazello greeted the guests - the inhabitants of the underworld, whose sins the interlocutors savored. Most of all, the hostess of the ball remembered Frida, who buried a living newborn in the forest illegitimate son, putting a handkerchief in his mouth. After that incident, that thing was placed next to her every day. After the roosters crowed, the guests began to leave.

Chapter 24. Extracting the Master

At the end of the ball, Woland asked Margarita what she would like. The woman did not take up the offer. Then he repeated it. Margarita asked to make sure that Frida was not brought a scarf. The wish was fulfilled.

The man said that she could choose something for herself. Margarita said that she wanted to live with the master at his home. Her lover was immediately nearby. Woland gave him the novel and papers for the apartment, and the slanderer Aloysius Mogarych, who obtained his housing by deception, was thrown out of the window. Margarita and the master returned home.

Chapter 25. How the procurator tried to save Judah from Kiriath

Pontius Pilate met with the head of the secret service. The man said that Yeshua called cowardice one of the worst vices.

The procurator said that Judas would soon be killed, and gave the man a heavy bag. According to Pilate, the traitor will receive money for denunciation of Yeshua, and after the murder it will be given to the high priest.

Chapter 26. Burial

Judas came out of the high priest's house and saw the girl Nisa, for whom he had long had feelings. She made an appointment with him. Near the agreed meeting place, Judas was stabbed to death, and the coins were actually thrown back to the high priest with a note about return.

At this time, Pilate had a dream that he was walking towards the Moon along the lunar path with his dog Banga and Yeshua. The companion said that from now on they will always be together. Levi Matthew told the hegemon that he wanted to kill Judas for betrayal, but Pilate himself avenged him.

Chapter 27. The end of apartment No. 50

By morning Margarita finished reading the chapter. Life in Moscow began to gradually recover. Rimsky, Likhodeev and Varenukha were found. Citizens from psychiatric hospital They interrogated them again, taking their words more seriously.

Soon people in civilian clothes came to apartment No. 50. Koroviev said that they had come to arrest them. Woland and his comrades disappeared. All that was left was the cat who started the pogrom and the fire.

Koroviev and the cat caused a row in the store. They skillfully manipulated the crowd by entering a store where they only accepted currency as payment. The heroes introduced themselves as ordinary hard workers, and Koroviev made an impassioned speech against the bourgeoisie who could arrange shopping in such a store. Then a man from the crowd of onlookers attacked the rich buyer. After frightening the sellers and customers, they started a fire.

Then the couple went to the MASSOLIT restaurant. They introduced themselves as dead writers, and the obsequious administrator let them out of harm's way, but immediately, promising to personally supervise the preparation of the fillet for the guests, he called the NKVD. The arriving operatives, without wasting time on explanations, began to shoot, and the mysterious “writers” disappeared, and before that the cat set the entire hall on fire again, spilling flames from the primus stove.

Chapter 29. The fate of the master and Margarita is determined

In the evening, Woland and Azazello stood on the terrace of one of the most attractive buildings in the capital. Stuck nearby was the “consultant’s” long sword, which cast a distinct shadow.

Soon Matthew Levi came to them. He did not greet Woland because he did not wish him health. Satan said that light without shadows would be meaningless, pointing to the sword. The ambassador said that Yeshua asks Woland to take the master to him, because he is not worthy of light, but deserves peace. Satan agreed.

Chapter 30. It's time! It's time!

Margarita was stroking her beloved master and suddenly met Azazello right in the cozy basement. Red fatally poisoned a couple in love with red wine and immediately resurrected them, declaring the will of the master. Then they set the house on fire, mounted their horses and the three of them rushed to heaven.

Flying past the hospital, the master said goodbye to Ivan, who was surprised by Margarita’s beauty. When the lovers disappeared and the paramedic entered, the former poet learned from her that the neighbor had died. Ivan reported that a lady also died in the city.

Chapter 31. On the Sparrow Hills

When the bad weather was over, a rainbow shone in the capital. After the lovers said goodbye to the capital, Woland soon took them with him.

Chapter 32. Farewell and eternal shelter

During the journey, the always cheerful Koroviev turned into a serious and thoughtful knight, Behemoth - into a thin jester, and Azazello - into a demon. The master had a braid and long cavalry boots on his feet. Woland took on the appearance of a block of darkness.

On the way, they met a man who was sitting next to his dog Banga and dreamed of going with Yeshua. At Margarita's request, Woland released Pontius Pilate. Then Satan showed them to the lovers new house with a Venetian window covered with grapes. Margarita told the master that there she would protect his sleep.

Epilogue

Life for Muscovites has improved. Everything that happened was attributed to a mass hallucination caused by skilled magicians.

Ivan Ponyrev (Bezdomny) stopped writing poetry, and often came to the place where he last spoke with Berlioz. He found new job as a professor of history and philosophy. Georges of Bengal remained alive and well, but he developed a habit of suddenly grabbing his neck, checking to see if his head was in place. Rimsky and Likhodeev changed jobs. The barman died of cancer. Aloisy Mogarych woke up on a train near Vyatka, but found himself without pants. Soon he returned to Moscow and took Rimsky's place. Ivan Ponyrev often dreamed of Pontius Pilate walking along the lunar path next to Yeshua, and a beautiful woman kissing the former poet on the forehead and leaving for the moon with her companion.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov

Master and Margarita

Moscow 1984

The text is printed in the last lifetime edition (the manuscripts are stored in the manuscript department of the State Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin), as well as with corrections and additions made under the dictation of the writer by his wife, E.S. Bulgakova.

PART ONE

...So who are you, finally?

- I am part of that force,

what he always wants

evil and always does good.

Goethe. "Faust"

Chapter 1 Never talk to strangers

One day in the spring, at an hour of unprecedentedly hot sunset, two citizens appeared in Moscow, on the Patriarch's Ponds. The first of them, dressed in a gray summer pair, was short, well-fed, bald, carried his decent hat like a pie in his hand, and on his well-shaven face were glasses of supernatural size in black horn-rimmed frames. The second, a broad-shouldered, reddish, curly-haired young man in a checkered cap pulled back on his head, was wearing a cowboy shirt, chewy white trousers and black slippers.

The first was none other than Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz, chairman of the board of one of the largest Moscow literary associations, abbreviated as MASSOLIT, and editor of a thick art magazine, and his young companion was the poet Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev, writing under the pseudonym Bezdomny.

Finding themselves in the shade of slightly green linden trees, the writers first rushed to the colorfully painted booth with the inscription “Beer and water.”

Yes, the first strangeness of this terrible May evening should be noted. Not only at the booth, but in the entire alley parallel to Malaya Bronnaya Street, there was not a single person. At that hour, when, it seemed, there was no strength to breathe, when the sun, having heated Moscow, fell in a dry fog somewhere beyond the Garden Ring, no one came under the linden trees, no one sat on the bench, the alley was empty.

“Give me Narzan,” Berlioz asked.

“Narzan is gone,” answered the woman in the booth, and for some reason she was offended.

“The beer will be delivered in the evening,” the woman answered.

- What is there? asked Berlioz.

“Apricot, only warm,” the woman said.

- Well, come on, come on, come on!..

The apricot gave off a rich yellow foam, and the air smelled like a barbershop. Having drunk, the writers immediately began to hiccup, paid and sat down on a bench facing the pond and with their backs to Bronnaya.

Here a second strange thing happened, concerning only Berlioz. He suddenly stopped hiccupping, his heart pounded and for a moment sank somewhere, then returned, but with a dull needle stuck in it. In addition, Berlioz was gripped by an unreasonable, but so strong fear that he wanted to immediately flee from the Patriarch's without looking back. Berlioz looked around sadly, not understanding what frightened him. He turned pale, wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, and thought: “What’s wrong with me? This never happened... my heart is racing... I'm overtired. Perhaps it’s time to throw everything to hell and go to Kislovodsk...”

And then the sultry air thickened in front of him, and from this air a transparent citizen of a strange appearance was woven. On his small head is a jockey cap, a checkered, short, airy jacket... The citizen is a fathom tall, but narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and his face, please note, is mocking.

Berlioz's life developed in such a way that he was not accustomed to unusual phenomena. Turning even paler, he widened his eyes and thought in confusion: “This can’t be!..”

But this, alas, was there, and the long citizen, through which one could see, swayed in front of him, both left and right, without touching the ground.

Here horror took over Berlioz so much that he closed his eyes. And when he opened them, he saw that it was all over, the haze dissolved, the checkered one disappeared, and at the same time the blunt needle jumped out of his heart.

- Fucking hell! - exclaimed the editor, - you know, Ivan, I almost had a stroke from the heat just now! There was even something like a hallucination,” he tried to grin, but his eyes were still jumping with anxiety, and his hands were shaking.

However, he gradually calmed down, fanned himself with a handkerchief and, saying quite cheerfully: “Well, so...”, he began his speech, interrupted by drinking apricot.

This speech, as we later learned, was about Jesus Christ. The fact is that the editor ordered the poet to write a large anti-religious poem for the next book of the magazine. Ivan Nikolaevich composed this poem in a very short time, but, unfortunately, it did not satisfy the editor at all. Bezdomny outlined the main character of his poem, that is, Jesus, in very black colors, and nevertheless, in the opinion of the editor, the entire poem had to be written anew. And now the editor was giving the poet something like a lecture about Jesus in order to highlight the poet’s main mistake. It is difficult to say what exactly let Ivan Nikolayevich down - whether it was the graphic power of his talent or complete unfamiliarity with the issue on which he was going to write - but Jesus in his portrayal turned out to be completely like a living, although not an attractive character. Berlioz wanted to prove to the poet that the main thing is not what Jesus was like, whether he was bad or good, but that this Jesus, as a person, did not exist in the world at all and that all the stories about him are simple inventions, the most common myth.

It should be noted that the editor was a well-read man and very skillfully pointed in his speech to ancient historians, for example, the famous Philo of Alexandria, the brilliantly educated Josephus, who never mentioned the existence of Jesus. Revealing solid erudition, Mikhail Alexandrovich informed the poet, among other things, that the place in the 15th book, in the 44th chapter of the famous Tacitus “Annals”, which talks about the execution of Jesus, is nothing more than a later fake insert.

The poet, for whom everything reported by the editor was news, listened attentively to Mikhail Alexandrovich, fixing his lively green eyes on him, and only hiccupped occasionally, cursing the apricot water in a whisper.

“There is not a single Eastern religion,” said Berlioz, “in which, as a rule, immaculate virgin would not have produced a god. And the Christians, without inventing anything new, created their own Jesus in the same way, who in fact was never alive. This is what you need to focus on...

Berlioz's high tenor resounded in the deserted alley, and as Mikhail Alexandrovich climbed into the jungle, into which only a very educated person can climb without risking breaking his neck, the poet learned more and more interesting and useful things about the Egyptian Osiris , the benevolent god and son of Heaven and Earth, and about the Phoenician god Fammuz, and about Marduk, and even about the lesser-known formidable god Vitzliputzli, who was once highly revered by the Aztecs in Mexico.

And just at the time when Mikhail Alexandrovich was telling the poet about how the Aztecs sculpted a figurine of Vitzliputzli from dough, the first man appeared in the alley.

Subsequently, when, frankly speaking, it was too late, various institutions presented their reports describing this person. Comparing them cannot but cause amazement. So, in the first of them it is said that this man was short, had gold teeth and limped on his right leg. In the second - that the man was enormous in stature, had platinum crowns, and limped on his left leg. The third laconically reports that the person had no special signs.

We have to admit that none of these reports are any good.

First of all: the person described did not limp on any of his legs, and he was neither short nor huge, but simply tall. As for his teeth, he had platinum crowns on the left side and gold ones on the right. He was wearing an expensive gray suit and foreign-made shoes that matched the color of the suit. He cocked his gray beret jauntily over his ear and carried a cane with a black knob in the shape of a poodle's head under his arm. He looks to be over forty years old. The mouth is kind of crooked. Shaven clean. Brunette. The right eye is black, the left one is green for some reason. The eyebrows are black, but one is higher than the other. In a word - a foreigner.

Passing by the bench on which the editor and the poet sat, the foreigner glanced sideways at them, stopped and suddenly sat down on the next bench, two steps away from his friends.

“German,” thought Berlioz.

“The Englishman,” thought Bezdomny, “look, he’s not hot in his gloves.”

And the foreigner looked around at the tall houses bordering the pond in a square, and it became noticeable that he was seeing this place for the first time and that it interested him.

He fixed his gaze on the upper floors, dazzlingly reflecting in the glass the sun that was broken and leaving Mikhail Alexandrovich forever, then he moved it downstairs, where the glass began to darken in the early evening, smiled condescendingly at something, squinted, put his hands on the knob, and his chin on his hands.

“You, Ivan,” said Berlioz, “very well and satirically depicted, for example, the birth of Jesus, the son of God, but the point is that even before Jesus a number of sons of God were born, like, say, the Phrygian Attis, in short speaking, not one of them was born and there was no one, including Jesus, and it is necessary that instead of the birth and, say, the arrival of the Magi, you describe the absurd rumors about this birth... Otherwise, it turns out from your story that he really born!..