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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did Gurdjieff view his father?
(a) like an older brother who instilled high ideals in him
(b) like a fool whom he had no respect for
(c) like a friend who was somewhat beneath him
(d) like a very stern patriarch whom he feared

2. What subjects did Ponomarenko teach Gurdjieff?
(a) mathematics and history
(b) geography and history
(c) Russian and geography
(d) philosophy and Turkish

3. Why did the subject of spiritualism make a strong impression on Gurdjieff?
(a) because he wanted to believe in immortality
(b) because his dead sister appeared to him in a dream
(c) because of the recent death of his favorite sister
(d) because he wanted to take part in a seance

4. Who are the Yezidis?
(a) whirling dervishes
(b) a primitive tribe living in the Gobi desert
(c) hermits who are considered holy men
(d) a sect living in Transcaucasia called devil-worshippers

5. Gurdjieff changed his custom of drinking armagnac from liqueur glasses to drinking from what kind of glass?
(a) wine glasses
(b) shot glasses
(c) champagne glasses
(d) tumblers

6. Why did Gurdjieff go to Alexandropol?
(a) to study with another tutor
(b) to go on a vacation after his first years of study
(c) to visit his family
(d) to earn money where he was known as a good craftsman

7. When was the Essene Brotherhood established?
(a) four hundred years before the birth of Christ
(b) a thousand years before the birth of Christ
(c) during Christ's lifetime
(d) twelve hundred years before the birth of Christ

8. What was the "Sarmoung"?
(a) An ancient scroll from the Dead Sea.
(b) A garment worn by an Armenian priest
(c) A famous esoteric school which Gurdjieff and Pogassian seek
(d) A city in ancient Mesopotamia

9. What was Father Borsh's view about a youth before he attained adulthood?
(a) He was responsible for his acts.
(b) He should be severely punished for wrong doing
(c) He was a non-entity.
(d) He wasn't responsible for any of his acts

10. Which two animals did Gurdjieff feel a man should embody?
(a) the wolf and the sheep
(b) the lamb and the lion
(c) the wolf and the kid
(d) the serpent and the dove

11. What was Gurdjieff's father forced to become because of life's circumstances?
(a) a fisherman
(b) a farmer
(c) a professional carpenter
(d) a store keeper

12. Who was the fortuneteller whom Gurdjieff's aunt consulted?
(a) the idiot , Ivan Ivanovich
(b) the half-wit, Nicolai Brandikoff
(c) the half-wit, Eoung-Ashokh Mardiross
(d) the psychic, Feodor Moussorsky

13. What is it impossible to do even if one is an excellent linguist?
(a) dream in a foreign language
(b) think in a foreign language while speaking one's native tongue
(c) speak more than five languages fluently
(d) speak like a native in a foreign language.

14. Who was Kouzmin?
(a) an artillery officer and pyrotechnical expert
(b) Dean Bosh's friend
(c) the abbot of the chief monastery of the Essene Brotherhood
(d) a fellow member of the Essene Brotherhood

15. What state did Gurdjieff experience, according to Mullah Nassr Eddin's words, after many sleepless nights?
(a) "to feel oneself plunged in galoshes to the eyebrows"
(b) "to feel oneself tired to the bone"
(c) "to feel like death warmed over"
(d) "to feel oneself run over by a herd of camels"

Short Answer Questions

1. How did the stories Gurdjieff's father told him influence him in his later life?

2. What does Pogossian decide to do when they arrive in Alexandria?

3. How did Gurdjieff 's father react when misfortunes befell him?

4. Gurdjieff read books on various subjects written in what languages?

5. What did Pogossian's parents do for a living?

(see the answer keys)

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