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A Religion Of Russia’s Very Own The third of Fedor Dostoevsky’s five major novels, The Devils, also erroneously titled The Possessed, is a powerful political tract inspired by an assassination in 1869 and written in 1872. His central obsession was God, whom his characters constantly search for through pain, evil and humiliations. In addition, it is a profound study of atheism depicting the disarray that followed the appearance of a modish band of radicals in a small provincial town. The Devils is a story of revolution and religion. It is commentary on both socialism and the infant Russian Nihilist movement. Dostoevsky is largely attacking Russian socialism’s tendency toward atheism and its attempt to replace Christianity with a cult of the masses. In some way he saw the direction Russia was heading before it knew it was heading that way, predicting some of the events and policies of Communist Russia. In the early 20th century Russia before the Revolution of 1917, there were many prophecies such as these concerning the coming of atheism to Russia. Now already several generations of Russian people have been raised on historical unconsciousness and atheistic prejudices as in The Devils. The possessed seem to