Christ and the Grand Inquisitor
"Christ and the Grand Inquisitor", acrylic on card board, 1990, Stamatis Skliris
Christ gives no other argument when confronted with the Grand Inquisitor, an ascetic who has no material ambition, who accused him: "You did not want to bring man to you by miracles, because you wanted their freely given love rather than the servile rapture of slaves subdued forever by displays of power. And here again You overestimated man."
The epilogue of The Grand Inquisitor is startling: Christ rises and goes over to the old man and kisses him gently on his old, bloodless lips and with that kiss gives a divine response to the inquisitor’s "selfconfinement and self-imprisonment."