"The Grand Inquisitor" (Russian: "Вели́кий инквизи́тор") is a story within a story (called a poem by its fictional author) contained within Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1880 novel The Brothers Karamazov. It is recited by Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov, during a conversation with his brother Alexei, a novice monk, about the possibility of a personal and benevolent God. "The Grand Inquisitor" is an important par