The parable, first published in 1879 in the journal "Russian Herald" in the fifth chapter of the fifth book "Pros and Cons" of the second part of the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky "The Brothers Karamazov." The author called the “Grand Inquisitor” the “peak” of his last novel. It is an allegorical story by Ivan Karamazov to Alyosha Karamazov on the topic of Christian freedom of will and freedom of conscience.