Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“Love a man even in his sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth.”
- Source
- The Brothers Karamazov
- Date
- 1880
- Local voice
- Fictional character · Father Zossima
- English wording
- Constance Garnett — Translator · from Russian
Meaning of “Love a man even in his sin, for…”
Father Zossima separates care for a person from approval of wrongdoing, locating mercy inside his explicitly Christian teaching that human failure should not extinguish love.
Where does it come from?
The Brothers Karamazov, Book VI, Chapter 3, Constance Garnett translation, verified against Project Gutenberg #28054 and Wikisource. Father Zossima urges his listeners to love a person even in sin as a likeness of divine love; the statement remains explicitly Christian fictional exhortation, not uncomplicated Dostoevsky autobiography.
Why the local voice matters
Father Zossima gives this explicitly religious counsel in The Brothers Karamazov; the local speaker is Zossima, not Dostoevsky speaking autobiographically.
