Eichmanis sat for half a minute, looking at the table and lightly rolling the empty glass between his thumb and middle finger.
“They say that we have killed the Russian priesthood,” he quietly continued. “Not a bit of it. In Russia, there are forty thousand churches, and in each one, there’s a priest, and each of those priests has his superiors. While in Solovki we only have a single brigade of them — one hundred and nineteen! Even those are only the most obnoxious and pernicious. Where are all the rest? They’re still in their places. They’re still preaching about the kingdom of Antichrist. No, Feofan?” Eichmanis suddenly screamed and commanded even louder, “Shut up!”
“It would be fine if they were only preaching!” Eichmanis continued, twisting a smile as his voice became metallic and fr
