Though Dostoevsky wrote of Elder Zosima's reply as the reply of Ivan's arguments, he defends Christianity throughout the whole book and through the characters themselves. Elder Zosima is happy and respected, loved and loving, and dies peacefully and joyfully, but Ivan, who is so unhappy for the justice of humans, says, "I could never understand how one could love one's neighbor" and knocks a into the snow to freeze. "'He will freeze,' thought Ivan, and he went on his way". And at the end, his horror at the thought that he was, in a way, his father's murderer, drives him insane. Elder Zosima, however, is very different; he blesses and helps people even when he is dying, and "Alyosha almost always noticed that many, almost all, went in to the elder for the first time with apprehension (fear) and , but almost always came out with bright and happy faces". Even Ivan respects Father Zosima after meeting him and seriously "receive[s] his blessing, [and] kisse[s] his hand".