ZOSIMA

ZOSIMA. The name in its Greek form, Zosimos, belongs to several saints in the Orthodox calendar, in particular to the 5th-6th c. Zosimos of Palestine, monk of the community of St. Sabas and especially well known for his role in the story of Mary of Egypt (q.v.). Zosima is also the name given by Feodor Dostoevsky to the spiritual father (qq.v.) in the novel, Brothers Karamazov, one of the very few portraits of an idealized Orthodox monastic holy man in classical Russian literature, and practically the only one familiar to readers in Europe and America.