[9] A heretic. Literally, one who drinks milk (moloko) during the Fasts in defiance to the Orthodox Catholic Church.—TRANS.
[10] Probably a deliberate bit of insolence, as he must have known that the patronymic was “Ilitch,” not “Fomitch.”—TRANS.
[11] All priests and monks in the Orthodox Catholic Church wear the hair and beard long. Tikhon Ilitch refers to the superstition that it portends bad luck to meet an ecclesiastic when one is arranging something or going somewhere.—TRANS.
[12] Polu, meaning “half,” reduces the name to absurdity: something like “the Half-carp.”—TRANS.
[13] Referring to a famous Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow.—TRANS.
[14] The insulting nickname “khokhly” is used. The question mentioned is in the form of a rhyme, intentionally offensive. The reply is also rhymed.—TRANS.
[15] That is, to the heart of the Kremlin, in Moscow.—TRANS.
[16] A sect which denies the divinity of the Holy Spirit. They emigrated from the Caucasus to British Columbia in the ’90’s, with money furnished by Count L. N. Tolstoy, and have had many conflicts with the British authorities.—TRANS.
[17] The Little Russian nickname for the Great Russians.—TRANS.
[18] Yaroslaff the Great, son of Prince Vladimir, 1016-1054.—TRANS.