“The demons are talkative; God is given to silence,” Father Zinovii was teaching. “The demons scream in your ear; God shows you. The Bolshies are active, angry and incessant — have you noticed?”
Zinovii appeared first here, then there, and everyone went towards him, many stood on their knees, asking for a blessing. In the church, people started to cross themselves so often and so expansively that it was as though a cloud of flies had appeared, like in a cow bar and everyone was waving them off.
Artiom twisted his lips, seeing those stupid movements.
“Their speech is pernicious; to hear them is to dishonor your ears and befoul them! Flee from their words!” Father Zinovii said in another place, pronouncing many of the vowels twice as long: “Dishonor your ea-ears,” “Flee-ee from their word
